Leveraging digital technology for practice innovation is a compelling challenge. Limited education and training prevent human service practitioners from incorporating technology into practice. Progress in this area will be achieved when significant changes to pedagogy support technology integration with teaching/learning partnerships in higher…

Training for child care center directors should involve experiences that are coherent and connected in a logical or cumulative fashion. Twelve key elements can serve as a framework for planning professional development training experiences for early childhood center directors. These elements relate to the content, structure, and delivery of…

This paper outlines the background of an early years training program being implemented in inner city and rural settings in the United Kingdom. The paper is based on 5 years of observations, interviews, meetings, and training initiatives with educators and parents. In their comments, educators and parents often attributed their lack of…

A study was conducted to examine the act of mothering from the perspective of women who chose to work at home full time, as mothers of their own children and as family day care providers of very young children at risk of abuse and neglect. Through life history interviews, the study examined the caregivers' present and past lives, and explored the…

A comparative study of the employment experiences of staff at nonprofit and privately owned childcare centers was conducted in the Christchurch, New Zealand, area. A total of 23 staff members at 3 nonprofit centers and 9 staff members at 2 privately owned centers responded to a survey concerning their qualifications, work history, current working…

This paper examines licensing from the provider's point of view. It is based on the premise that a healthy relationship between the licenser and licensee is based on knowledge and the free exchange of information. More specifically, four areas are examined: (1) licensing, as one of the many forms of regulation in our society; (2) legislation, as…

Described is a 2-year program to train child mental health specialists (CMHS) in providing care services to normal and emotionally disturbed children. Training of the child care professional is seen to involve three major areas: parenting (becoming aware of and dealing with the feelings of the disturbed child), clinical management (understanding…

Recent changes in the field of early childhood education that suggest patterns of emerging professionalism in Australia are discussed. These changes include the following: (1) the development of a code of ethics for the Australian early childhood profession; (2) the transitions of training institutions into universities; (3) the development of…

The role of the early childhood director has been a neglected area of research in Australia. This study set out to address the gap in understanding of directors and the administration/management function in child care and preschool settings. Through a survey of practicing directors and a series of follow-up interviews with selected respondents,…

This paper addresses, in two parts, some issues in the staffing of early childhood services. Taking an international perspective, the first part of the paper discusses: (1) the structure of the early childhood workforce; (2) the social construction of the early childhood worker; (3) gender; (4) staff to child ratios; (5) processes of transition in…

The Lerum Competence Development Project seeks to develop a model for educator inservice training to improve the quality of day care. Lerum is a small community outside Goteborg, Sweden, with approximately 35,000 inhabitants. The expansion of childcare provision within the community necessitates support of the teachers because of economic and…

This document is primarily a bibliography containing approximately 156 references on family day care. Most of the items listed are in English, but several titles are in Spanish. The document also provides a brief background on family day care, which includes an enumeration and explication of the advantages of family day care. Advantages include:…

This paper discusses the issues surrounding the establishment of a system of professional development and training for early childhood workers and practitioners in the United Kingdom. The paper focuses on what needs to be done to accomplish an effective and efficient program of continuing professional development of practitioners. The paper first…

This is the preliminary report of a project collating information from 15 European Union countries on professionals serving infants through 14-year-olds in nonformal educational settings. Findings include: (1) There is a great range of variation in the training of individuals working in non-traditional education and child care; this ranges from…

As people who "stand-in" for parents, nannies shape children. The child-caregiver relationship involves respect for the child's potential and individuality. Working with children, a nanny plays many roles: parent surrogate, primary caregiver, and one who shapes the development of the whole child and the child's moral and aesthetic…