Early childhood education offers many rewarding opportunities for learning and advancing your career. While your employer may offer training and resources to help, you may decide to spend additional time outside of your classroom or center to grow your career. Investing time in your professional development ensures you stay up to date on industry best practices, share and network with other educators, and expand your skillset.
Self-learning resources can be a great way to supplement what you’re learning on the job. Fortunately, there are many low-cost or free resources to check out. Here are some online professional development resources for early childhood teachers.
NAEYC and Zero to Three
We frequently recommend NAEYC and Zero to Three as trusted early childhood resources for parents and families; however, both sites also offer helpful information and professional development resources for educators. NAEYC offers many low-cost, online training materials. NAEYC also publishes a magazine called Teaching Young Children that covers best practices and industry insights. Some content is available without a membership.
For early childhood educators in classrooms serving infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms, Zero to Three offers many professional resources that are free to members.
Penn State Better Kid Care
Penn State Better Kid Care, a program of Penn State Cooperative Extension, has a library of online resources, including free news content. The website has several content areas, so you can focus on what interests you.
There are also many online learning resources, including on demand web lessons. Many of these may count towards professional development hours in your state. For educators in PA, Better Kid Care even offers a list of upcoming on-site trainings.
Soft Skills Development
In addition to technical skills development, you may also want information to help you improve your soft skills. Here are some U-GRO blog posts that can help improve your relationships with families and students in your classroom:
- Get to Know Your Students: Children’s Love Languages
- How to Communicate Effectively with Classroom Parents
- How to Build a Trusting Relationship Between Teacher and Child
Investing your own time in professional development is a great way to grow your career as an early childhood educator. In addition, make sure your employer is taking the time to invest in you as well. At U-GRO, we are focused on working with the top talent in early childhood education. We empower our teachers with ongoing training and career development.
Interested in growing your career with U-GRO? Learn more about job opportunities and apply!