Why do candidates in early childhood need to have knowledge about the whole spectrum if they are only planning to work with a specific age group?
All candidates in early childhood programs should gain competence across the full birth – age 8 span for several reasons. To truly understand the developmental progress of any child, a professional needs to understand the typical progress and milestones of development during early childhood as a whole, so they understand what comes before and after each developmental period. Candidates may eventually work in states where the early childhood certification covers a different or wider age span (as recommended by NAEYC and ATE in their joint position statement). Additionally, the inclusive nature of early childhood classrooms and the variable and episodic nature of development in the early years require early childhood professionals to have skills working with children of all ages. “Older” children may, for example, have developmental similarities to some aspects of infant/toddler development, regardless of chronological age. Furthermore, the roles that early professionals may assume acros
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