A Career in Early Childhood Development

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira never imagined she would become an Early Childhood Development practitioner, but one day after hearing a 22 year old beautiful lady on TV mention that she was an early childhood Practitioner, she was motivated to find out more. To her surprise it was quite interesting and she decided to venture into Early Childhood Development. In this Q&A with Dr Themba Nyoni she shares insights on what it means to be an Early Childhood Development practitioner and what it takes to become one.

Themba Nyoni: Welcome to Phakama CareerTALKS. We are excited to host you. As we begin our discussion, please tell us a bit about yourself...who is Monalisa?

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira: My name is Monalisa Madzingira née Mutinhima. I did my O level at Tennyson Hlabangani High School and my Early Childhood Development training at Bulawayo Polytechnic. I'm skilled at developing profitable relationships with clients. I am a self motivated self starter who enjoys working with teams to achieve a common goal. I am naturally devoted to the service of children and enjoy the interaction thereof. I am a companionable person who loves children and very patient. I'm always smiling 😁. I have been an Early Childhood Practitioner for 5years and I must say it has been amazing.

Themba Nyoni: Wonderful! This is quite exciting! Getting someone working with young kids is a huge challenge! We know that you work at a Preschool. Tell us more about what you do?

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira: I'm glad you asked this question. A lot of people think that preschool is all about changing diapers, eating and sleeping. As an Early Childhood Practitioner I take children from as young as 2 years. So this is what I do on a daily basis. I won't go deep into it though:

🌸 I provide children with the opportunity to broaden and deepen their essential skills which will ready them for a life of learning and empower them to make positive contributions to the world around them.

Here are a few skills I help develop during our lessons and activities

1. Emotional development - I help children understand their feelings as well as of others. This includes both to recognise their feelings and to manage those feelings and their associated behaviours.

2. Social skills - Through collaborative play and learning alongside each other, children learn how to respect and get along with others which further develops their language skills, self-control. I guide children through resolving conflicts that may arise during creative play or structured learning projects.

3. Language skills - On a daily basis I teach children language skills, introducing new vocabulary, asking questions that require more than a yes or no answer to stretch their use of spoken language. Reading stories and encouraging children to make up their own story line. Through storytelling, memory games and rhyme sessions children develop their listening, attention span and communication skills. I design collaborative games that require conversation among classmates.

4.Problem Solving - Through activities like puzzles, building blocks and other assignments children learn to solve problems.

5 Creativity - When a child is encouraged to self-express through Creativity, they build confidence in themselves and can approach challenges from a new perspective. I encourage children to realise how unique they are as individuals.

6. Writing skills - I encourage children to practice their writing by giving them different kinds of writing materials like, markers so that they practice their pincer grip and learn to write through tracing, coloring and scribbling.

7.Maths skills - I provide assorted engaging objects for children to count and sort. I encourage them to compare and measure different objects only to mention a few.

I create lesson plans, crafts and activities on a daily basis for all these lessons to be interesting and fun for children.

Themba Nyoni: That’s quite a massive responsibility. You are really preparing the foundation for learning. What motivated you to be an Early Childhood Development practitioner?

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira: To be honest I've always loved being around children, I would help them with homework, play with them and even babysit. When I was in primary school, I would find myself volunteering to help with crafts for ECD children but it never crossed my mind to be an Early Childhood Development Practitioner. I always felt like it was a job for grannies until one day on a TV show "Date my Family" a 22-year-old beautiful lady mentioned that she was an early childhood practitioner. I was motivated to research and to my suprise it was quite interesting. That's when I decided to enroll and venture into Early Childhood Development.

Themba Nyoni: Looking back to when you were in High School did you ever see yourself doing what you are doing now?

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira: No, I never imagined being a full time Early Childhood Practitioner. However, I had plans to open a preschool as a retirement hobby because I always thought teaching children was for GRANNIES 😆 because that's what I grew up seeing.

Themba Nyoni: What would you say are the most exciting moments about the work that you do?

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira: Exciting moments about what I do include seeing those little souls happy, watching then grow and change and also seeing the Aha moment when a child finally understands the concepts. It's amazing!

Themba Nyoni: I fully understand the feeling. Here you are working with this young learner who has no idea how a /b/ is different from a /d/ and at the end of the year she is able to write her name! That moment must be priceless. What would you say are the most challenging moments of the work you do?

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira: Most challenging moments are when children skip school and it happens quite often, it means we keep doing the same concept over and over again.

In this industry there is a lot of paperwork or documentation involved, Researching, Planning, preparation of lessons and evaluating. The other challenge is understanding the different learning abilities and capacities of each child, having to deal with tantrums can be really challenging.

Themba Nyoni: What skills and qualities would you say are needed for someone to work as an Early Childhood Development practitioner?

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira: The skills and qualities needed to work as an early childhood practitioner are

🌸 Patience

Full of curiosity and excitement, and eager to learn, touch, and do, little kids can be impulsive and reactive. That’s why it’s so important for the adults in their lives to be patient, understanding, and calm. You need to understand that the children in your care may not always grasp what’s appropriate. It’s up to you to teach them. Show them the way and give them your unhurried time and attention.

🌸 Love for Children

Little kids can’t tie their shoes or zip their jackets. If you’re going to shape their future, you have to love the age group and all the very different personalities you’re likely to encounter.

🌸 Caring and Compassion

Children require nurturing, tenderness, and love. You need to be warm and genuine to gain their trust and attention. And you have to care about the whole person and understand them

🌸 Empathy

Imagine being little and scared? It’s been a long time since you were a child, but you need to be able to empathize with those little kids and their big emotional feelings.

🌸 Creativity

Teaching this age group requires a comfort with arts and crafts, storytelling, exercise, and educational games. It’s important to keep things fresh and try new activities to keep your students and their short attention spans engaged.

🌸 Organization

Young children thrive on structure and predictability. Being well-organized will help you multitask, respond to competing needs at the same time, and have a structure in place that keeps things running smoothly.

🌸 Communication Skills

You may be a great communicator with people your age, but how are you when it comes to children? It takes strong listening skills and the ability to articulate what you mean in a way that they’ll understand. You will also need to shift communication gears when you speak to parents, coworkers, and members of the administration.

🌸 Dedication

Your job will come with a lot of responsibility and reward. If you’re dedicated to helping young children adapt, learn, and grow during this young age, you will be effective and successful.

Themba Nyoni: Quite a vast set of amazing skill set! If someday I become Minister of Education, I’d definitely have your practitioners earning a lot of money. In Finland for instance, teachers earn as much as doctors. That is how valuable you are as layers of the foundation in learning. In terms of qualifications, what is needed for someone to do the work that you do?

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira: With 5 O levels you can study for a diploma in Early Childhood Development. Even those who did not do well in their O level can study for a certificate and grow from there.

Themba Nyoni: What career advice would you give to someone thinking about getting into Early Childhood Development?

Monalisa Mutinhima Madzingira: Early Childhood Development is the most important stage in the schooling of a child because this is the point where they are so innocent and know nothing. Just like a blank CD or sponges, they take in everything without filtering, good or bad. My advice would be you should have a positive and inspiring impact on children's lives. This can be achieved by being loving, passionate and funny. You should not think about money such that even when the job is not paying well enough you still enjoy teaching children.