Child care can be an exciting and rewarding field. Working in child care presents a wonderful opportunity to have a positive impact on the lives of children and their families in your community. Research indicates the significance of a child's early years for brain development. Research also demonstrates the importance of the early childhood workforce and its impact on children and high-quality child care.

The child care and early education profession encompasses people who work with young children and families in a variety of settings, including center-based programs, school-age programs, family child care homes, group child care homes, child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs), early intervention settings, and early childhood special education programs. Early childhood education also includes professionals working with other early childhood professionals and parents.

The following information is specific to educators working directly with young children, and provides a starting point for exploring the range of career opportunities in early childhood education. The information includes resources specific to careers in early childhood education, information about national accreditation organizations for early childhood programs, and links to State and local resources.

Resources

The Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2002-03 Edition, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is a source of career information designed to provide assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. The entries "Childcare Workers," "Teachers-Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary," and "Teacher Assistants" in Occupational Outlook Handbook, each provide information about the following: nature of the work; working conditions; employment; training, other qualifications, and advancement; job outlook; earnings; related occupations; and sources of additional information. "Childcare Workers" is available on the BLS Web site at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos170.htm. "Teachers-Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary" is available on the Web at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos069.htm. "Teacher Assistants" is available on the Web at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos153.htm.

The Career Guide to Industries, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, provides information on available careers by industry. The Career Guide is a companion to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which provides information on careers from an occupational perspective. "Child-Care Services" in Career Guide to Industries 2002-03 Edition includes information about the nature of the industry, working conditions, employment, occupations in the industry, training and advancement, earnings, outlook, and sources of additional information. This resource is available on the Web at http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/pdf/cgs032.pdf.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the nation's largest organization of early childhood professionals and others dedicated to improving the quality of early childhood education programs for children birth through age 8. NAEYC produces many publications for early childhood professionals, including resources about program administration, relationships with families, professional development, the early childhood profession, careers, developmentally appropriate practice, and public policy and advocacy. NAEYC's publications specific to careers and the early childhood profession include the following:

Careers in Early Childhood Education (#505) is a brochure that describes what it takes to work with young children, as well as options for training and job opportunities.

Careers for Men in Early Childhood Education (#594) is a brochure specially developed by men for men to let them know about the many possible early childhood jobs.

Why Teach? (#220) is for high school, college students, and other adults seeking career directions. This resource presents a realistic discussion of the many dimensions of teaching young children.

Career Encounters: Early Childhood Education (#815) is a video that includes professionals at work in many roles and settings (including public school, family child care, Head Start, and corporate child care).

Men Caring for Young Children (#812) is a video that celebrates a diverse group of men who have chosen careers working with infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and young school-age children in a variety of educational environments.

Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment (#503, #504 in Spanish) presents a code of ethics for early childhood educators that offers guidelines for responsible behavior and sets forth a common basis for resolving ethical dilemmas encountered in early childhood education.

Ethics and the Early Childhood Educator: Using the NAEYC Code (#110) presents a useful framework as well as examples and questions that serve to clarify key points and stimulate reflection and discussion on critical issues.
Leadership in Early Care and Education (#209) explores the many facets of leadership in early care and education - management, advocacy, advancing good practice, and community leadership.

For additional information, contact NAEYC at 800-424-2460 or 202-232-8777, or on the Web at http://www.naeyc.org.

National Accreditation

A number of organizations have developed accreditation systems to recognize child care and early childhood programs that generally meet higher standards than State regulations require to operate. Accreditation is a voluntary process designed to improve the quality of child care programs by establishing benchmarks for quality. Achieving accreditation involves extensive self-study and validation by professionals outside the program to verify that quality standards are being met. National accreditation systems for early care and education programs include:

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation can be contacted at 800-424-2460 or on the Web at http://www.naeyc.org/accreditation/default.asp;

National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) can be contacted at 801-269-9338 or on the Web at http://www.nafcc.org/accred/accred.html;

National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA) can be contacted at 800-505-9878 or on the Web at http://www.necpa.net; and

National School-Age Care Alliance (NSACA) can be contacted at 617-298-5012 or on the Web at http://www.nsaca.org/accreditation.htm.

To learn of child care programs that have been accredited in your area, visit these organizations' Web sites or contact them directly.

Additional Resources

To learn about child care initiatives in your State, visit your State's Child Care Home Page. These links are available in the State Profiles section of NCCIC's Web site at http://nccic.org/statepro.html and under Directories at http://nccic.org/dirs/statehp.html.

The Center for the Child Care Workforce's publications [now the Center for the Child Care Workforce (CCW), a project of the American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation (AFTEF)] include the following:

Working for Quality Child Care: Good Child Care Jobs = Good Care for Children (2001) covers the following topics: the current status of the U.S. child care workforce; the links between quality care for children and high-quality work environments for teachers and providers; model work standards, including building better personnel policies and working relationships in child care programs; and leadership and professional growth, both in the workplace and beyond.

Creating Better School-Age Care Jobs: Model Work Standards (2001) notes that the Model Work Standards are designed as an education tool to articulate what school-age providers need in order to have a high-quality work environment; an assessment tool for evaluating how a school-age care program measures up to providing a high-quality workplace; and a planning tool for setting goals to improve job conditions and measuring success.

Creating Better Child Care Jobs: Model Work Standards for Teaching Staff in Center-Based Child Care (1999) is a tool for assessing the child care center work environment and developing both program and community strategies for making improvements. This resource includes criteria for wages and benefits, time off, job descriptions and evaluations, hiring and promotions, grievance procedures, professional development, supervision, decision-making, communication, diversity, the physical setting, health and safety, and professional support.

Creating Better Family Child Care Jobs: Model Work Standards (1999) presents family child care providers with guidelines for making improvements in their jobs. It discusses provider income and benefits, hours of work, provider-parent communication, professional development, the family child care home as a work environment, the provider as employer, and community support for creating better family child care jobs.

For additional information, contact the Center for the Child Care Workforce, a project of the American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation at 202-662-8005 or on the Web at http://www.ccw.org.

When available, State-, county- and city-level policy initiatives that are designed to improve child care jobs are listed with Web site links on the Center for the Child Care Workforce (CCW) Web page, "What's Happening in Your State" at http://www.ccw.org/policy_yourstate.html. For additional information, contact CCW, a project of AFTEF at 202-662-8005 or on the Web at http://www.ccw.org.

The National Directory of Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Institutions (4th Edition, 2000), by the Council for Professional Recognition and the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL), contains listings for nearly 1,400 two- and four-year colleges. This resource is available on the Council for Professional Recognition Web site. For additional information, contact the Council for Professional Recognition at 800-424-4310 or on the Web at http://www.cdacouncil.org.

The Early Childhood Workforce section of NCCIC's Web site under Selected Resource Lists at http://nccic.org/cctopics.html, provides links to publications and organizations with information specific to the early childhood workforce.

This document is for informational purposes only. No official endorsement of any practice, publication, program, or individual by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families, the Child Care Bureau, or the National Child Care Information Center is intended or is to be inferred. For additional information on this or related topics, please contact the National Child Care Information Center at (800) 616-2242 or info@nccic.org

Email NCCIC with comments or questions.