Our latest spotlight interview is with early educator and doctoral student Becky DelVecchio

Question: 1. What experiences have you had working in early childhood education and care? 

Answer: I started teaching in 1998 at a private child care center. I was teaching toddlers and learned a lot, especially about what not to do. I was young, inexperienced and had a lot to learn! I continued my teaching career working with a diverse group of preschoolers and Head Start classroom and did that for several years before moving on to teach special education preschool in a public school.  Finally, I ended up teaching and directing at a laboratory preschool, which was my last teaching job before I started the PHD program at UMass Boston. I should mention that during most of that (since 2004) I was also teaching early childhood education courses at a community college.  I love being with children, and I love being with adults who love being with children!

Question 2. What college courses, mentorship experiences, or professional development experiences helped you most in your career and development as an educator? 

Answer: You know, all of my experiences have helped build the educator that I am today. Sometimes I was learning what not to do. Sometimes I was learning exactly what to do, and sometimes I was learning something else. I have to say though, that I have learned the most from practitioners in the field.  I've never met a teacher that couldn't teach me something.  Teachers are amazing people. They have a lot to offer if you were willing to receive those gifts. 

Question 3: What is a piece of research related to ECE that you wish the general public knew more about? 

Answer:  I wish more people knew about the benefits of nature play for young children and families.  Nature play provides benefits in all areas of development including social, emotional, cognitive and physical, and it can help with the development of environmental stewardship- something we desperately need now and moving forward.  I'd like to see more research around nature play for families as we move forward.

Question 4: What advice would you give an early educator who is just starting their career or considering an ECE Career? 

Answer: Please stay!  The first couple of years are really hard. Getting to know about all of the responsibilities and roles of an early childhood educator can feel overwhelming at times, but the more you learn, the better you get. The better you get, the better you feel so please stay! We will help you!

Question 5: Pretend it is 2030; What do you hope has changed about ECE in the past 10 years? What do you hope has stayed the same? Oh boy! That's a tricky one! 

Answer: I hope early Childhood educators are more respected, more valued, and are fairly paid as the professionals they are.  I know it sounds redundant because we often talk about the low wages of early childhood educators, but it's important. Researchers have found links between higher quality and more fairly paid teaching staff. If we want great care for our kids, we need to provide great care for educators. What I hope stays the same is the incredible joy offered to our children through high-quality early childhood programs. Childhood is an incredible time of learning, exploration, relationship-building, adventuring and self-discovery! It’s critical that no matter what, we protect this important time and these important members of our society.