Every day across Israel, thousands of young children are entrusted to the women working in Wizo’s daycare centres. We call them caregivers. But the word barely begins to describe what they do. The earliest years of a child’s life are among the most important. It is during this formative period that foundations are laid for language, emotional security, resilience, social development and the ability to learn.
The women caring for and educating these young children are not simply keeping them safe, fed and occupied. They are helping to shape the people those children will become. And yet, too often, caring for young children is still treated as “unskilled” work. Wizo believes it is time to change that.
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This Rosh Hashanah, Wizo UK is supporting an ambitious programme that recognises early-years education for what it is: a profession requiring knowledge, judgement, emotional intelligence, expertise and enormous responsibility. In partnership with the Levinsky-Wingate Academic College, Wizo has created a pioneering three-year programme enabling experienced early-years professionals to gain a bachelor of education degree and teaching certificate in early childhood education while continuing to work full-time in Wizo daycare centres.
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For the 25 women in the programme’s second cohort, this is about far more than gaining a qualification. Many of the students are mothers, who are themselves balancing work and family. Some come from underserved communities and for many they are the first generation in their families to enter higher education. The opportunity to study for a degree might otherwise have remained out of reach.