Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/effective-in-service-training-plans/5010962/
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by the year 2000 the demand for child care workers will grow by 20% and the demand for preschool teachers by 35%. Where will this work force come from? Will they have the necessary education and compensation to assure us that the next generation of children will be in caring, competent hands?Currently, in most child care programs across the country, the director is a one-woman administrative show struggling with a multitude of responsibilities, not the least of which is constant staff turnover and few well-qualified applicants to fill vacated positions. If she is lucky enough to fill her staff openings, the director must then find time to squeeze in the baseline training needed, something she rarely has the time or budget for, let alone the needed expertise. Given these realities, ongoing professional development for staff members who stay is likely to be hit or miss - and they, too, may leave, feeling that this is a dead-end job.
Without a framework for thinking about in-service training and an administrative and coaching system that makes it a priority, this story is a never-ending cycle of stress and crisis. Creating a ...