“Child development is not just playwork”

The event titled “Professional Problems and Strategy Plans as Child Development and Educators Association (ÇGEDER)” was organized by Istanbul Medipol University School of Health Sciences and ÇGEDER. The conference addressed issues such as employment and education problems faced by professionals, protection of professional rights and raising awareness among colleagues, and focused on solution strategies to be followed for these problems. The opening speech of the conference was given by Research Assistant İrem Özkale, while ÇGEDER Board Member Banu Kılınç provided students with information on protecting the reputation of the profession and strengthening the association.

KILINÇ: CHILD DEVELOPMENT IS NOT JUST PLAYWORK 
Banu Kılınç, who has held various positions in the field of child development for many years and is currently developing educational programs for children, stated that the profession has begun to lose value over time. Kılınç said: “With the proliferation of open education departments, our profession has begun to lose its reputation. Child development is not just playwork. We should come together to raise the education standards of the field and raise awareness among our colleagues.” Kılınç also provided information about the association’s work: “In May 2023, our member count was only 393. Considering the number of graduates, we realized that this number was quite low. As a result, we created social media channels to reach out to our colleagues, and thanks to the work we did with an active management team, we increased our member count to 909 by May 2024.” Kılınç invited his colleagues to unite under the umbrella of ÇGEDER to protect the future of the profession and create a stronger structure: “Instead of fighting individually, we should act together with our colleagues and strengthen our professional unity and solidarity.”