ECEs need to learn, too! (Just click here to read about why we complete professional learning hours to renew our CCS Certification!)

How Do We Learn?

In professional environments there is research on the steps it takes to learn (or improve) our skill sets.

1. Experience: We need to experience something in order to understand the new skill. This experience can be a mentor talking through a possible interaction with a child (or parent, or coworker), or it could be showing a concrete example of a new documentation model.
2. Reflect: Once we have experienced the new information, we need the time to reflect on it. We may ask questions about why the interaction was handled a certain way, or for more details on the aspects of the documentation model.
3. Think: Once we have asked some questions and reflected, we can take some time to think about how we would handle a similar interaction or how we will implement the new documentation model into our current work.
4. Apply: Lastly we apply what we have learned. This may include practising how to handle the interaction, or doing a draft with the new documentation model.

These steps can be taken on one’s own when working on a skill, or with a mentor.

Mentoring in the early learning and child care workforce is essential for the professional growth and well-being of educators, ultimately contributing to the quality of care and education provided to young children.

Click here to read a resource about adult learners that was prepared by the now dissolved Child Care Human Resources Sector Council in 2008. Unfortunately some of the links are no longer available, but the information and the texts and documents the research came from are still listed.