EDUC 655: Philosophy, Vision & Mission Statements in Early Childhood

This assignment explores the foundational elements of early childhood programs, including the definition and significance of philosophy, vision, and mission statements. It clarifies how these statements guide educators and shape program goals. The assignment then delves into a comparative analysis of home-based versus center-based programs, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of each. Home-based programs are highlighted for their smaller class sizes, personalized attention, family-like environments, and mixed-age socialisation, while center-based programs are noted for their resources, educational enrichment, and preparation for formal schooling. The assignment also acknowledges the disadvantages of each model, such as limited resources and potential lack of caregiver certifications in home-based settings, and less one-on-one attention and higher costs associated with center-based programs. References are provided to support the information.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1SOCIOLOGY
1. Define a philosophy, vision statement, and mission
statement of early childhood programs.
In early childhood programs, each and every educator has his or her own philosophy
of teaching and this guides them throughout their career of professionalism. It is to note
that philosophy is a living document and it can be defined as the academic discipline that
is concerned with the making of explicit significance and nature (Kurti, Kurti & Fleming,
2014). It is a system of principles that guide in practical affairs. Secondly, vision
statement refers to a concise working of the goals of project that helps a team and its team
members in passing the elevator test. According to Jantz (2017), vision statement is an
aspirational description about what a firm, in this case a childhood program, will like to
attain and gain in the long term future. It is an intended reality. Thirdly, the mission
statement of the early childhood programs refers to a written declaration about the core
focus and purpose of the very childhood program that normally remains unchanged.
Through this statement, the main purpose of the program is explained.
2. What are the disadvantages of home-based versus center-
based programs?
Whenever parents are making a decision about the child care of their children, they
face with two choices- the home-based childhood programs and the centre-based
childhood programs. Both these programs have their own advantages and disadvantages.
The main advantages of the home-based programs over that of the centre-based ones are
that they are smaller in class size and here more one to one attention are paid on the
individuals (Click, Karkos & Rovertson, 2013). Here, individuals get more family like
environment and this helps the children in nurturing better. Moreover, there is a presence
of mixed age groups that offer socialisation in between the siblings and this provide more

2SOCIOLOGY
flexibility as well (Raikes et al., 2014). On the other hand, the main disadvantages of the
home-based centres are that there is a presence of less resources and there is high chance
of caregivers not having additional and adequate certification or education that is required
by the larger centres to deal with the children.
Moreover, the main advantages of the centre-based programs are that there are
presence of more supplies and resources than the home-based ones and also, majority of
the teachers here have more education and certification in some specific age groups.
Children get to involve in more social environment in such programs as it is school like
environment that makes the children prepare well for their formal schooling (Rowan,
2014). With the same, it is also to note that many of the centre-based programs have more
activities related to educational enrichment like guest speakers and filed-trips. However,
this type of programs also hold some disadvantages. Firstly, there is less one-on-one
attention paid to the children and more socialisation leads to more exposure of children to
sickness and illnesses often. Apart from these, unlike the home-based programs, the
centre-based programs are more expensive and they have less flexibility in terms of
operating hours.

3SOCIOLOGY
References:
Click, P. M., Karkos, K. A., & Robertson, C. (2013). Administration of programs for young
children (9th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage.
Jantz, R. C. (2017). Vision, innovation, and leadership in research libraries. Library &
Information Science Research, 39(3), 234-241.
Kurti, R. S., Kurti, D. L., & Fleming, L. (2014). The philosophy of educational makerspaces
part 1 of making an educational makerspace. Teacher Librarian, 41(5), 8.
Raikes, H. H., Roggman, L. A., Peterson, C. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., Chazan-Cohen, R., Zhang,
X., & Schiffman, R. F. (2014). Theories of change and outcomes in home-based Early
Head Start programs. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 574-585.
Rowan, M. (2014). Co-constructing early childhood programs nourished by Inuit
worldviews. Études/Inuit/Studies, 38(1-2), 73-94.