Continuing Education Policy and Procedures
The UW Child Development Lab’s continuing education policy requires full-time staff to complete 30 hours of professional development in their first year and 25 hours annually thereafter, covering topics such as child development, health, guidance, and administrative skills. Training includes formal courses, workshops, conferences, and up to 5 hours of independent study, with mandatory certifications in Pediatric First Aid, CPR, and child abuse reporting. The Director collaborates with staff to develop individualized education plans based on feedback from parents, staff, and leadership teams, setting professional growth goals. The CDL allocates 8 paid days annually for professional development, with additional pre-approved opportunities available. Continuing education funds are budgeted for training expenses, and staff are responsible for maintaining up-to-date documentation of their training.
IV. CONTINUING EDUCATION POLICY AND PROCEDURES122
- DCF Rules Related to Continuing Education123
- All full-time staff are required to have a minimum of 30 hours of continuing education the first year, and 25 hours per year after the 1st year.
- Continuing education hours may be used to meet continuing education requirements during the year in which the hours are earned and for the 2 years following that year.
- The types of training acceptable to meet continuing education requirements shall be limited to:
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- Formal courses resulting in credits or continuing education units.
- Workshops, conferences, seminars, lectures, correspondence courses and home study courses. [PE27]
- Training offered by the center through the use of guest or staff trainers.
- Documented observation time in other early childhood programs [PE28]
- Up to 5 hours of relevant independent reading or watching of educational materials. [PE29]
- Continuing education experiences may be in the areas of early childhood education, child development, child guidance, health, caring for children with special needs, first aid, and nutrition as it pertains to child development, supervision of staff or the business or administrative aspects of the operation of the center or in communication skills.
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- Pediatric First Aid and CPR with AED training is required: All employees in regular contact with children shall obtain upon hire and maintain a current certificate of completion for these training sessions.
- Training in Child Abuse and Neglect and reporting procedure is required every two years.
- Child Development Lab Continuing Education Plan
- The Director will develop an individualized continuing education plan with each academic staff member based on joint professional development objectives and individual and program goals.
- To ensure the continual improvement of our school, identification of areas in need of professional growth happens through a variety of means. The Director takes at least annually feedback from the Parent and Family Advisory Committee, parent surveys, staff surveys, administration team, leadership team, and information from reflective practice groups to make informed decisions to create professional development plans on both an individual and staff-wide basis. This includes identifying at least two goals for the upcoming year and developing a plan to carry out these goals, delegating to staff to ensure the completion when needed.124
- The Child Development Lab is closed a total of 8 days per year which are designated as paid professional development/continuing education time. [PE30]
- There are a limited number of hours that a staff member may request to be gone from his/her regular teaching duties to attend a continuing education event. All requests for additional continuing education must be pre-approved by the Director and must be directly related to the staff member’s individual goal and career development plan.
- Documentation of training will be kept in the staff’s continuing education file at the center.
- Each staff member is responsible for keeping his/her continuing education record up to date.
- Continuing Education Budget
- Each year a designated amount of money is budgeted for continuing education. Additional funds may also be available from grants and other sources. A portion of this money is set aside to pay for center- sponsored training events such as special resource people who provide on-site training for the entire staff. The remainder of the funds will be designated to staff depending on their individualized continuing educational plan and need to fulfill the 25-hour continuing education requirement. In many instances, licensed teaching staff will be encouraged to apply their continuing education funds to credit courses that will also count towards the renewal of their State teaching license.
- Proposals for continuing education reimbursement must be approved prior to the signing up for the training. In most cases, staff pay all expenses in advance and submit the required receipts, training reimbursement form and proof of training to the Director for reimbursement after the training has passed. Expenses that qualify for reimbursement include workshop/ conference and credit course registration fees, and in some cases lodging, mileage and meals. [PE31]