Know

Throughout this course, you have learned about the importance of professionalism. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the largest professional organization in the field of early care and education, has developed The Code of Ethical Conduct to guide professional behavior. NAEYC has also developed an accreditation process that includes a self-study for early care and education programs to examine how well their program addresses the NAEYC standards for high-quality care and education in programs for young children. The National After School Association (NAA) provides a set of core knowledge and competencies for individuals who work in after school/school-age care environments. The NAA also promotes a Code of Ethics that those working in after school programs should be familiar with and follow in their work with youth and families.

As program leaders, you want your program to be continuously improving, striving to be the best that it can be for children and families. You want your staff to look forward to coming to work in a positive, caring environment where adults are learning and growing professionally. Your high standards and expectations for professional behavior will positively affect the quality of care you provide for children and youth attending your program.

Professionalism and Indicators of Program Quality

When you reflect upon indicators of professional behavior you can see their connection to program quality. As a leader your staff will look to you and treat you differently than each other. There may be days when you feel the staff don't like you, but you always need to conduct yourself in way that staff and families will respect you. Your professional behavior will demonstrate your respect for others and in turn, others will respect you. You may have to give difficult information or share disappointing news. This is never easy, but it can be done respectfully with care and sensitivity.

Programs that are continuously changing, growing, and striving to provide the highest-quality programming have strong leaders guiding the way. Program managers and Training & Curriculum Specialists (T&CSs) are responsible for guiding staff to continuously improve the quality of the program. These are a few professional behaviors adapted from the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC) Recommended Practices that may contribute to this mission (your program may emphasize others):

• Commit to working within the regulations, practices, codes of ethics, and standards of the profession.
• Demonstrate knowledge of applicable state and agency regulations with respect to such issues as eligibility for services, confidentiality, reporting of child abuse, and others.
• Stay current on the latest research and technology.
• Become skilled at communication, conflict resolution, working with difficult people, ensuring personal safety, setting professional boundaries, and understanding limitations.
• Create a program environment that values openness and collaborative decision-making so staff members are invested in program quality.

Program managers can engage in the following professional behaviors to open the door for collaboration:

• Build relationships with teachers, T&CSs, and support staff (without a trusting relationship, staff and colleagues will not be open to feedback).
• Listen carefully to staff and T&CSs-check for understanding.
• Ask nonjudgmental, probing questions and make statements that extend conversations ("Tell me more about what you are thinking").
• Be comfortable with silence during conversations.
• Use objective, observational data to inform discussions with staff.

Always remember that as a leader and evaluator, you set the tone-your attitude and professional behavior impacts how staff, children, and families feel when they walk into your program. Address issues as they arise, but always remain professional in your interactions.

Engaging Staff, Families, and Community Partners to Enhance Program Quality

As a professional in the field of early care, education, and youth development, you are integral to building partnerships that will enhance the program's quality. Your team extends to staff, families, and community partners. Program managers and T&CSs must be adept at working collaboratively with these stakeholders in order to build a strong program.

Staff: In your work, you and your staff face many obstacles that, if left unaddressed, can bring about conflict and burnout. However, a staff member’s sense of mission and their professional work environment can help facilitate effective communication and counteract burnout. Think about how you can partner with staff to increase well-being and avoid burnout by following these best practices:

Families: You serve as a model for the staff in how you treat families who have children enrolled in the program. You are the best source for new staff to learn how to interact with families. Addressing professional behavior with families should be part of the written mission, values, and policies of the center. Child care educator Gigi Schweikert describes partnering with families as “a mutually respectful relationship in which parties take accountability for their responsibilities and work together to define and change the organization based on a common goal.” Welcoming families during drop off and pick up time is essential. Professionals seek out input from families in order to improve program services. You must be present and ask questions. As a program leader, you can elicit family input by providing them with meaningful ways to be involved (e.g. volunteer on the program advisory board, plan events for families, invite them to complete feedback surveys that will help shape program goals). Support staff to become family-centered in their practice. Staff members may have experience teaching or caring for children and youth but may not have much experience forming meaningful partnerships with families.

Community partners: As a program leader, it is important to build professional relationships with community members, who can be wonderful allies for your program. Joining a professional group (for example, a child care directors group, an NAEYC local affiliate, or an interagency council) can open partnerships and shared resources. Professional behavior includes being collaborative with others in the community who also seek to provide high-quality services for children. Forming partnerships to advocate for children and youth in your own community and in the country is an important professional activity. You need to be able to speak about your program to others and to work to access resources for your staff, children, and families.

Leveraging Professional Partnerships to Build a Strong Team

High quality staff that are prepared to meet the diverse and complex needs of children and families are essential to achieving high quality programming. Attracting and retaining high quality staff, however, can be a challenge. Because recruiting high quality staff is so important to program quality, program managers and T&CSs should leverage their relationships with staff, families and community partners to help build a strong team.

Staff: When you need to hire for a position, staff may be your first and best option in recommending applicants. One successful recruitment strategy involves the program manager and leadership team continually assessing and improving the program’s climate and culture so that staff want and are encouraged to make recommendations. High quality programs that have a program culture and climate where staff morale is positive because they feel supported, nurtured and celebrated can lead to a very effective and inexpensive recruitment tool, “word of mouth”.

Families: Along with staff, your program’s families are also a great resource when it comes to recruitment. Getting to know the families that your program serves can be beneficial when thinking of potential candidates who would be familiar and likely attuned with your program’s mission. Eliciting constructive feedback from families can also help with assessing any changes that may be needed, as well as using positive feedback from families to market your program throughout the community.

Community Partners: Lastly, your program’s reputation within the community can also have a large impact on recruitment. You may recruit applicants who want to be part of your program because of its reputation within the community. The reputation should be continually assessed to ensure that community members regard your program in high esteem. As a program manager, make sure that the community is familiar with your program. Consider the following to help generate a positive reputation for your program within the community:

• Partner with other community members on ideas and events that support children, youth and families, or the local early care and education or school-age workforce
• Belong to and participate in your local chapter of national organizations like the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) or National Afterschool Association (NAA)
• Reach out and form connections with local community colleges and universities with child development, early care and education, or youth education programs
• Host and participate in community engagement activities
• Invite community members to tour your facility

Evaluating and Setting Goals for Continuous Program Improvements

The program manager and T&CS are attuned to the strengths and needs of the program. The work of program improvement is continuous. Just as you set goals for children to make continuous progress, the overall program goals should focus on continuous improvement too. Working collaboratively with staff, families, and community partners provides a broad network of stakeholders who can assist you in evaluating the program and strengthening it. Celebrate the positive feedback you receive and share it with the staff and your supervisor. Along with the positive feedback you will also receive information about aspects of the program that need improvements. Taking constructive feedback and using it to set program goals with your staff and families indicates that you have a professional attitude about evaluation and will directly use feedback from staff, families, and other stakeholders to improve program services.

Receiving negative information and complaints

As a professional in a management position, you must be able to listen and remain calm when hearing from someone who is dissatisfied about the program or a decision you have made. Regardless of how others react, you must remain calm. You understand that becoming defensive will not help the situation. Dealing directly with difficult information or complaints is hard. You may need time to process feedback with your supervisor or another trusted colleague from outside your program. As a leader, you understand that hearing negative information or complaints and following through to address them is a way to improve program quality.

Supervise & Support

Professionalism is an important aspect of the day-to-day work that you do. Your positive tone, respectful and effective communication, openness to all feedback, and a commitment to continuously work toward a high-quality program is the most important work you can do. As a leader, you will build personal connections with those in your immediate workplace and with community partners. It can be difficult to always maintain a professional attitude, but your leadership in this area determines whether the quality of your program is “just good” or an exceptional center for children and youth.