ECE Reflection One

Reflection One: Establishing and maintaining relationships with children

Stop

I have established relationships in my centre with the other staff members by introducing myself and telling them why I am there on the first day I started and by taking the time to remember their names. From that day on I have maintained those relationships by asking questions about the centre and the children. Also by being helpful and willing to learn and be open to new ways of doing things. I also help maintain these relationships by not needing them to feel like that they have to watch over me and tell me what need to be done. I have also made these relationships stronger by using my initiative in the centre and helping out where I feel it is needed. I believe keeping my conversations with the other staff members friendly but professional has also helped kept my relationships with them positive.

Think

I feel that I have been successful at creating a relationship with other staff members I work with because I feel welcomed and respected in my centre. This also is shown through the conversations I have with the other staff members, as they take an interest in and ask question about how my assessments are going and if I need any help or ask more personal questions like how my weekend was. I believe if I hadn’t made and maintained these relationships I would not have been able to complete any of my assignments that included my work or the children at the centre. Having these relationships have helped me become more confident when interacting with the children as I feel I their support in any task or activity I lead. In my time at this centre I have learnt that communicating with others is a very important part of maintaining any type of relationship, and it’s also important to be professional when it comes to work relationships. Adults should be consistent, reliable, and realistic in their expectations and responses and should foster harmonious working relationships with other adults. (Ministry of Education,1996, p.55)

Change

Something I would do differently in the future when creating relationships with the other staff members and other students in my centre is ask more questions about their past studies and their experiences to help me in my future decisions in my studies. I would also make more of an effort to put myself out of my comfort zone and try more at making new and different relationships with people I wouldn’t normally interacted with. Something I wouldn’t change about my experience and the relationships I have made is how I kept them professional while I was in the centre because I believe this is very important in any line of work.

References

Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.