Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/the-relationship-between-staff-education-and-training-and-quality/5010765/
It is clear that there is a strong relation between the education and training of the workforce and quality of services.- Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes Study Team, 1995
The above statement provokes a number of challenging questions: What is really meant by education? What is really meant by training? Which dimensions of training and education are most related to quality? How should we use scarce resources to support staff most effectively?
This article seeks to answer these questions by first summarizing findings from several large-scale national studies and, second, by drawing on the findings to make recommendations for policy and practice. The overall objective of this article is to provide child care directors and staff with the critical information to provide better quality care for our nation's children.
Overview of Studies Reviewing
This article will compare three national child care studies: (1) the National Day Care Study (NDCS) which investigated the quality and cost of child care centers for preschool children, toddlers, and infants in 1975-1977 (Ruopp, Travers, Glantz, and Coelen, 1979); (2) the National Child Care Staffing Study (NCCSS) which explored how staff characteristics and working conditions influenced the quality of center-based child care in 1988 (Whitebook, ...