Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/ideas-for-training-staff-right-from-the-start-changing-our-approach-to-staff-orientation/5014179/
Whenever I watch directors launch a new staff member into a classroom, my heart leaps. I see the feeling of relief and the quiet crossing of fingers, hoping this will turn out to be someone who brings stability and a positive contribution to the quality of the program. Yet, time after time, the relief is short lived and things start unraveling for the director, the new staff person, and the rest of the teachers who are longing for a solid new co-worker.The search for qualified staff is always time consuming, often tentative, and frequently discouraging. If you are fortunate to have some real choices among job applicants, people with an ECE education or several years experience, consider yourself truly blessed. If you are faced with choosing from a less qualified pool, you are certainly not alone. In either case, once you hire new staff your challenge is to keep them, and then keep them growing into your vision for your program.
Growing and keeping your staff requires simultaneous work on three fronts (even as you work on 20 others):
n budget development to adequately compensate your staff,
n working conditions and an organizational climate that reflect your vision,
n staff development and mentoring systems to support individual ...