News

Teaching the Teachers

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 64 percent of Virginia children under the age of 6 live with parents who work. Many of those children spend their days with caregivers outside their homes. Since 2003, the Amherst County Department of Social Services has funded Virginia Cooperative Extension programs that strive to give those caregivers professional developing training through the Child Care Quality Initiative.

“This grant project has been a wonderful collaboration with our local Department of Social Services,” said Jan Baker, family and consumer sciences Extension agent in Amherst County. “By focusing on providing high-quality care environments for our children, we are investing in our future.”

The Child Care Quality Initiative seeks to improve the overall quality of care for young children by improving the professional skills and abilities of the adults who provide care and education for them. Various training workshops are conducted to help accomplish these goals on topics such as childhood obesity prevention, social skills development, and knowledge about children with special needs.

To support the caregivers’ efforts to implement new strategies and techniques, resource materials enhance each training workshop. These materials have included teacher resource books, children’s materials such as books that supplement the topics covered in training, and assistive devices for children with special needs.

Early childhood development professionals who participated reported many changes in practice, from increasing the number of fruits and vegetables they serve children in their care to incorporating more science and math concepts in everyday learning.