Opening A School

[confusionincan]

Hi everyone,
 

I was hoping for some feedback from other parents out there.

I have planned on homeschooling, and at this point still plan to, however, I am seriously thinking about opening up a school in the distant future, say 3 - 5 years.

I would like to open a Reggio school, and am in the very very very early stages, researching reading, etc... and there is nothing Reggio based (or Sudbury based,) in this area.

So anyway, I was hoping to see what everyone thinks about credentials. I do not have any teaching credentials. I am a work-from-home mom, former small business owner, current organic farm owner, and am in university part time.

I feel like taking ECE is a waste of resources (money) for me, but I was thinking that taking a Montessori course (or 4 of them for the different age groups,) would be very helpful.

I am extrememly confident I could open a school sucessfully, and have everything including teachers, in place, but my credentials are minimal.

So does anyone agree the Montessori will be helpful, or should I pursue my ECE just to have it on paper? (Not that I won't learn anything cause I am sure I will!)

Thanks

[JudiAU]

I think you need education and experience working in a preschool to be successful. Operating a school has many legal requirements including ECE credientials for any teachers and licensing. The owner/administrator often needs to step in to help when their is sickness etc.Honestly, I think that you would have a hard time getting credientialed teachers to join your school without a formal education and formal experience in a preschool. I can't imagine a parent choosing a school where the owner didn't have that experience. Montessori training may or may not meet that goal, I think it depends on the state. And surely Montessori training would be more expensive than ECE?

Personally I think an ECE credential is a bare, bare minimum. Most of the good quality preschools in our area teachers with B.A. and teaching credientials.

[One_Girl]

You can open a daycare with the training you have now in many states.  A lot of people think that being a licensed daycare means that you have to have a certain level of education and such but it actually doesn't.  It just means you have a safety inspection and background check so are considered safe to work with children, though sometimes they have a certain number of classes you need to do to renew your license (the classes are very easy and can be done with less than a high school education), in my state you could even have misdemeanor child abuse charges and still open a daycare after a certain number of years have passed even if you lost custody of your own children forever because of those charges.  The misconception that owning, operating, or working in a daycare = being highly educated and competent in that field is a very disturbing one because it causes parents to put a lot more trust in their provider and what they say than they really should. 

If you truly want to do well then I think you need to do the ECE training.  ECE covers everything from truly play and project based to Montessori and you will have a lot more knowledge about normal childhood development as well as discipline strategies for whole groups than you have now.  All of that will help.  You could open it and just hire people with the training already if you want to do that if you have the money too.  Good management is also important in running a business.

Edited by One_Girl - 3/16/11 at 7:04pm

[elefante]

Ditto to what One_Girl said, but also- Montessori training INCLUDES ECE, ftr. I am opening a RE inspired school and have taken ECE but am currently debating whether or not I should get my Montessori certification / post-grad degree in child dev.