The Early Childhood Professional
Course Description
This course is written for all early childhood professionals, working in homes or centers.
Become a more professional child care provider as you examine standards for high-quality child care in one of our most popular courses. Learn ways to show respect for diversity among children and families and develop congenial relationships with families and staff. Learn the signs and effects of stress as well as strategies to manage stress.
See the learning outcomes and topics below for more information on what is covered in this course.
Course formats
This course is offered in both our coursebook (with required online component/testing) and our fully online format. The online format of this course includes audio narration in most course sections.
Listen to this page read aloud in a format similar to the online course:
Click here to learn more about Care Courses' training formats.
Acceptance information
This course is accepted for child care professional development training requirements in most states and for the CDA credential and for CDA renewal training requirements.
- Kentucky: The Kentucky Division of Child Care and ECE-TRIS do not accept courses that are more than 15 clock hours in length for annual professional development hours. This 20 clock hour course may only be used for CDA and CDA renewal training in Kentucky.
NAC training
The NECPA Commission, Inc. has approved this educational program as meeting the criteria for continuing education for the National Administrator Credential. Click here for more approved NAC training.
Learning outcomes
After completing The Early Childhood Professional you will be able to describe the purpose of child care and early education; recognize the characteristics of various types of child care; identify how to assess the quality of your early childhood program; identify developmentally appropriate practice in child care; and list various program requirements and rules to apply to your child care setting. Click here to read all of the learning outcomes for this course.
Topics covered
- Standards for a high-quality child care environment
- The purpose of child care and early childhood education
- Characteristics of developmentally appropriate child care
- The meaning of professionalism in child care
- Characteristics necessary for child care providers
- Duties and responsibilities of various jobs in the child care profession
- Ethical standards for child care professionals
- Respecting diversity among children and families
- Ways to analyze classrooms for an anti-bias approach
- Ways to show respect for family differences
- Ways to ensure a congenial relationship with parents
- How to plan and conduct parent conferences
- Characteristics of successful communication with parents
- Guidelines for harmonious staff relationships
- Five-step problem-solving process
- Stress management strategies
- Sources, signs, and effects of stress
- Ways to reduce stress in child care settings
- Ways to improve your own stress management skills and help children develop their own coping skills
Prerequisites
Must be able to fluently read and write English.
Instructional methodology
Read written material, view videos, listen to audio segments.
Assessment methods
Multiple choice quizzes and written assignments.
What our students say about The Early Childhood Professional
"The material is very relevant and informative. It is also written in a way that is illuminating and not tedious. We chose a career that demands dedicated, loving individuals who understand the importance of building the ideal foundation which infants and young children need in order to grow up to become self assured, intelligent and well adjusted young people and adults on all levels." - Brecksville, Ohio
"Thank-You. Everything went very well ...smoothly and quickly. The Care Courses are the, 'only way to go.' After years of taking training hours the old fashion way... I'll never take training any other way. I hope you continue to add new courses." - Salem, Oregon
"Everything went really well in this course! This is my second care course, but my first online course. Instructions were very clear and navigating through the course was very easy! The content, assignments, testing were just difficult enough without being too easy or too difficult. I will continue to purchase courses from Care Courses in the future! - New Bedford, Massachusetts
"This is the third Care Course that I have ordered. They have all been great. I keep all the books and often refer to them. What a wonderful way to learn and earn hours." - Southaven, Mississippi
"I loved downloading the course as it gave me time to read in my spare time. I could pick a time when it was quiet, and I have the course on hand when I want to go back and reread it if I want. Thank you for offering these [The Early Childhood Professional, Preschoolers in Child Care] online." - Baxter Springs, Kansas
Completion deadline
This training expires 12 months from the date of purchase. Courses must be successfully completed by their expiration date in order for the student to receive a certificate.
Care Courses® information
Care Courses® has free unlimited assistance! Call us: 1-800-685-7610, Monday through Friday, nine to five Eastern Time for help with your training or for billing and technical support questions. Or email us days, evenings and weekends: info@CareCourses.com, billing@CareCourses.com, or techsupport@CareCourses.com. Our friendly support team is here to help!
Care Courses® currently offers over 50 professional development courses and one non-credit training tutorial on the CDA process. All courses offer clock hours and an official online certificate of completion. The free CDA tutorial does not offer clock hours or a certificate.
Care Courses'® course tuition entitles one person to receive the clock hours granted by a course upon successful completion. Bundle pricing covers tuition for all the courses included in a bundle.
To receive the CEUs and Clock Hours for a course, you must adhere to and sign our honor code, follow directions on written assignments and show comprehension of the course content. You must make 70% or better on all course quizzes. Less than 70% will result in trainer review and evaluation. If review indicates the need for discussion, you will be informed that you must speak with a trainer. If you fail to get a 70% on your second attempt, we will ask you to contact us at info@carecourses.com. We will review your course and be in touch.
Clock hours and CEUs are documented on official Care Courses® certificates of completion which are accessed in the My Courses area of your account.
Please note: All course and certificate dates and times are on Eastern Time.
More information on how Care Courses® works can be found on our training process page. For a video tutorial of our online course portal, please visit our course navigation video.
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