Staffing and Quality in Early Childhood Education Settings: A Program's Applications of a Logic Model to Inform the Evaluation of Staffing Procedures
Staffing and Quality in Early Childhood Education Settings: A Program's Applications of a Logic Model to Inform the Evaluation of Staffing Procedures
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Issue Date
2014-04
Authors
Muitty, Sunddip
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Abstract
This paper is intended to inform early childhood education (ECE) program owners, directors, and staff of pertinent issues regarding staffing procedures to promote ECE program quality. The author discusses her understanding of the importance of examining staffing procedures to promote staff stability for quality childcare. Staff stability is crucial to children's attachment formation in ECE settings. Children's ability to formulate secure attachments with early childhood educators contributes to their development. An indicator of a quality child care program is the facilitation of learning and development of the children in the program. The author reviews the increased demand for childcare in Alberta, Canada, and highlights its impacts on staffing in ECE, including the high rates of staff turnover. She also discusses the need for ECE program to encourage quality childcare and inform staffing procedures. The author emphasizes the use of logic models as effective tools for evaluation and strategic planning in ECE programs. She utilizes her logic model to assess staffing procedures within her ECE programs as an example of the creation and implementation of a logic model. She details each element of the model and includes examples from her programs, evaluates the process and its applications, and makes recommendations for future use by other ECE personnel.