Staff Qualifications for Licensing at Large Child Care Centers, Essay Example

The qualifications that must be met for the licensing at large child care centers for the Colorado Quality Standards and the NAEYC Accreditation Standards both require a minimum of college level coursework and training. The NAEYC is a professional membership organization that ensures maintenance of high quality standards and requirements for its members. The Colorado Quality Standards are the actual standards and minimums that must be met in order to practice as a child educator/giver. Both are meant to maintain quality assurance in terms of child education.

In order to maintain membership in NAEYC, it is required to maintain good standing in licensing and/or regulatory status within the last year, provide description of collaborative process used for candidacy materials for the program administrator, teaching staff, families and the programs governing body (Candidacy Requirements). There must also be demonstration of early childhood management and leadership among members, teachers and staff based on when the program was accredited (Candidacy Requirements).

The Colorado Quality Standards requires minimum educational requirements as well additional proof of coursework that pertains to the licensing. These pertain to any early child educator and can be found on their website in a comprehensive list. Also an early childhood training course approved by the State Department and completion of Advanced Credential Assessment (Rules Regulating). A director of a large care center who holds a Bachelor’s or Masters degree in early childhood development, special education, or early childhood education do not need to meet further requirements, however if degrees are not held, additional training hours are required. At all times there also much be a qualified substitute director available (Rules Regulating)

Minimum requirements for education staff has both its benefits and its drawbacks. The benefits of having these requirements lie in its role as a standard that any educator must meet in order to qualify for a position. This is important because higher standards usually translate to higher quality. It is also necessary for liability issues. However, many students can see a minimum qualification as a stopping point in their training and education. If the rules are to meet a certain requirement, then there is not much incentive to continuing development and further education.

References

Candidacy Requirements | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC Academy | Accreditation. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2015, from http://www.naeyc.org/academy/pursuing/candreq

Rules Regulating Child Care Centers (Less Than 24-Hour Care). (2012, July 1). Retrieved September 11, 2015.