As an early childhood educator, you should continue to sharpen your knowledge in order to stay on track as you deliver innovative classroom strategies to the children under your care. Here are the five ways you can do to stay relevant in your field:

1. Hang out with the best teachers. If you want to be better in your craft, then learn from the best. It is good to be with people who are knowledgeable in what they are doing but still know how to stay humble. Choose the best people in your workplace and learn from them either through observation or interaction. When I say best people, it is not only those brilliant colleagues of yours, but also those who are passionate and highly committed to their job. These people will make you stay motivated each and every single day.

2. Join an organization. Being affiliated with a professional organization will help you sharpen your skills. Sometimes, they provide free workshops and seminars to their members. Also, they have bi-annual or yearly publication that contains scholarly articles on early childhood education. You may look for an existing early childhood organization in your own country. If you are in Singapore, I suggest, you join the Association for Early Childhood Educators Singapore (AECES) orNational Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) if you are in the US.

3. Subscribe to daily/weekly articles. If you are active on social media, make your time worthwhile by reading articles about early childhood from reliable websites like Edutopia. Edutopia posts great education-related blogs and videos that are useful for teachers like you.

4. Be part of online groups. Search for early childhood education groups online. Choose the one that you like the most, where you think you will be engaged to learn and share ideas. As for me, I like Early Childhood Educators group managed by DarlaTheTeacher. It is an online community where early childhood educators come together to learn and share knowledge and experience from one another.

5. Attend conferences. Participating in conferences is beneficial for early childhood educators because it allows you to be updated with the latest trends in early childhood education. In the Pacific region, I recommend you to join the PECERA or Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association International Conference. In Europe, you can join the EECERA or European Early Childhood Education Research Association Annual Conference while NAEYC or National Association for the Education of the Young Children Annual Conference in the US.

All the best as you strengthen your knowledge and skills to become the better early childhood educator you want to be!