Technical Standards

VI. Competency Goal VI – To maintain a commitment to professionalism

A. Functional Area 13 (Professionalism) – Candidate makes decisions based on knowledge of early childhood theories and practices, promotes quality in child care services, and takes advantage of opportunities to improve competence, both for personal and professional growth and for the benefit of children and families.

1. Enjoys working with young children in a group setting and demonstrates a positive attitude in her/his role.

2. Understands the philosophy of the program and can describe its goals and objectives to others.

3. Continues to gain knowledge of physical, cognitive, language, emotional, and social development as a basis for planning program goals.

4. Keeps all personal information about children and families confidential.

5. Continually evaluates own performance to identify needs for professional growth.

6. Participates in peer evaluation and is able to accept comments and criticism from colleagues, supervisors, and parents in a constructive way.

7. Takes advantage of opportunities for professional and personal development by joining appropriate professional organizations and attending meetings, training courses, and conferences.

8. Keeps informed about child care practices, research, legislation, and other devel­opments in early childhood education.

9. Candidate keeps abreast of current regulatory, legislative and workforce issues and knows how they affect the welfare of young children and families.

10. Seeks information relevant to the needs of the children s/he is serving—for example, information on school readiness, bilingual development, and special needs—from professional magazines, community colleges, community services, other caregivers, and community members.

11. Recognizes that caregiver fatigue, low morale, and lack of work satisfaction decrease effectiveness and finds ways to meet her/his own needs and maintain energy and enthusiasm.

12. Works cooperatively with other staff members, accepts supervision, and helps promote a positive atmosphere in the center.

13. Learns about new laws and regulations affecting center care, children, and families.

14. Advocates for quality services and rights for children and families.

15. Works with other professionals and parents to develop effective strategies to communicate to decision makers the needs of the children and families.

16. Develops the ability to state needs for additional resources for individual children or some aspect of the program.

17. Is aware that some of the normal developmental characteristics of children (e.g., crying, messiness, dependency, willfulness, negative behavior, curiosity about genital differences) often make adults uncomfortable. The caregiver can ac­knowledge these feelings in her/himself, co-workers, and parents while minimizing negative reactions toward children.

18. Seeks information about sexual abuse and child abuse and neglect, keeps up-to-date on laws and policies concerning reporting and treatment of abuse, and learns effective ways of working with affected children and families.

19. Demonstrates ability to understand, speak, read, and write in both languages and uses these skills in all aspects of the program.

20. Increases knowledge about bilingual education by reading, attending work­shops, and consulting professionals.

21. Maintains and works to increase fluency in her/his second language.

22. Consistently provides opportunities for all children to acquire a second language.

23. Promotes the effective functioning of the bilingual program by attempting to clarify issues relating to bilingualism and multiculturalism