People keep referencing the Core Competencies, you may even have received a copy of them (a shiny light blue booklet with picture of kids and caregivers on the front). But after a long day of children and activities, why should you care about these core competencies or take the time to read them?
Why were the core competencies created?
The core competencies are a way to look at what each of us knows, regardless of whether we learned it through day to day experience, by getting a college degree in early childhood education or from a trusted mentor.
How will they benefit me?
You can use the core competencies to make note of what you already know, so that you can explain to parents what benefits they are getting out of using you as a provider. You can also use them to notice what else there is to learn so that you can move forward and keep learning more things that will make your family child care home even better. For example, under Content Area II, Learning Environment and General Curriculum, you might note that at level one, a provider should know how to “follow a daily routine”. You know how important this is to children and you already do this. At level 2, a provider should know how to “maintain and monitor a flexible daily routine”. You probably do this too, just because most of us have learned the hard way what will happen if we don’t flex our daily routine in the face of tired kids or kids who are totally engrossed in a great activity. Perhaps it never occurred to you not to have a flexible routine. Yet this is something you can use to sell your program to prospective clients. Looking on through the core competencies, we see that a provider at level 3 uses a “variety of instructional strategies to encourage children’s development of critical thinking, problem solving and competence”, and a provider at level 4 uses space, materials, relationships , activities and routines to provide an interesting and safe environment that encourages play, exploration and learning. Perhaps you are already completely or partially doing each of these things and can use those ideas to sell your program (parents love to hear that you are helping their children get ready for school) or perhaps these are things you want to learn more about. If so, you can seek out inservice hours that will teach you more about this, instead of taking the same old classes one more time, just because they are in a convenient place at a convenient time.
You can also use the core competencies to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps you are great at appropriate behavior guidance, starting at level one “uses positive behavior guidance” and moving all the way along to “involves children in establishing guidelines and limits for behavior” at level 4, but promoting physical development, or promoting cognitive development is more challenging for you. Knowing this, you can tell parents that you are highly skilled at helping kids learn to get along with each other. You can also plan your in-service hours to strengthen your skills in physical and cognitive development, instead of taking another behavior guidance class.
How will the Core Competencies change our professional development system?
