'Would training in how to observe young children improve the child care student's ability to make objective observations? Would training improve their ability to identify the areas of development as exemplified in their observations? Could a practical and usable slide set be developed for the teaching of observational techniques to the high school child care student? How could the improvement in observational techniques of the child care services student be evaluated? These questions were the bases for planning this study. Therefore, it was the purpose of this study to develop and test a teacher-made slide set, depicting children's behavior, to be used in training high school child care services students to objectively observe and record children's behavior, and to classify the children's behavior as to the area of development exemplified"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "March, 1976." / "Submitted to the Department of Home Economics Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Mary Lee Hurt, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 44).

This study used a survey designed to identify content areas for preservice orientation for child care workers agreed upon by the educational community and the directors in the "trenches" where application of knowledge and theory is crucial to the provision of quality day care. The survey, devised from a review of the literature, elicited information about six content areas: Child Development, Communication and Interpersonal Skills, Environment, Curriculum, Health and Safety, and Nutrition. Participants were 88 Early Childhood Educators (ECE) and Child Care Practitioners (CCP). It contained 30 items to be rated on a five point scale. The interval scale ranged from 1 Strongly Disagree to 5 Strongly Agree. The survey instrument was field tested and revised. The responses were analyzed to identify differences in the judgment of participants concerning the content areas for preservice orientation for child care workers. A demographic profile was constructed from the data. Additional participant comments indicated the concerns of time, depth of content, identification of staff backgrounds and affordability. Collectively, the results of this study identified significant differences in the judgment of ECE and CCP groups regarding the content areas for preservice orientation training. The hypotheses were measured using parametric statistical measures--the t-test and the Pearson correlation. Only in the Child Development component was there a significant difference between the two groups. Participants reported that this area was not considered important since the child care worker needed to have this skill prior to being hired. No significant difference was found between the two groups for the other components: Communication, Interpersonal Skills, Environment, Curriculum, Health and Safety and Nutrition. The correlations between years of employment and judgment concerning the content areas were not statistically significant. The correlation between the groups and the subscales were not statically significant. The results support the researcher's selection of content areas to be included in preservice orientation and her recommendation that a preservice orientation package be developed to provide assistance to center directors who are responsible for training. States' preservice orientation requirements recommend number of hours and content. This study provides a rationale for specific content agreed upon by eminent theorists and practitioners.

Thirty-six family child care providers were divided into matched pairs, then randomly assigned to two treatment groups; catalyst and self-study. The purpose was to investigate how training affects quality of child care and to determine what provider characteristics interact with self-paced learning methods to change quality of care. The Family Day Care Rating Scale (Harms & Clifford, 1989) was used to rate quality of care. Three pretest and three posttest ratings were collected for each provider before and after a three-month treatment period. Ratings were collected from trained validators, from the providers as a self-rating, and from parents with children in care. An additional score was collected from providers regarding their perception of training method using a ten-item rating scale. There was a 38% attrition rate in the original sample resulting in a final sample size 8 Pp of 22. Results from this study suggest that at least two key criteria affect quality of care in family child care; (a) provider training in child-related areas and, (b) provider affiliation with family day care organizations. Providers not previously affiliated with a family day care association had a greater initial margin for improving their quality (E=9.21 p<.007) than affiliated providers. All providers improved their quality of care scores during the three month period. When asked to evaluate the training, all providers perceived their assigned training method as flexible and convenient. Providers in the catalyst training group rated two items significantly higher than self-study; the value of new information (E=11.30 p<.003), and the degree of personal growth experienced (F=9.28, p<.007). Parents differed from both validators and providers in their evaluation of the provider’s child care environment. This suggests that parents are not fully aware of either the components of quality child care or the daily operations in the home of their own family child care provider. / Ph. D.

M.A. / A number of recent variables have influenced the professionalisation of the child and youth care discipline in South Africa. These variables have had a direct impact on the training of child and youth care practitioners. The first variable is the establishment of the National Qualifications Framework, the National Qualification Authority and the focus on lifelong learning possibilities as well as competency-based training. The second variable is the establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Young People at Risk (IMC) and the accompanying transformation of the South African child and youth care system. The third variable is the transformation of the Interim Council for Social Work with the associated recognition of Child and Youth Care as an independent discipline. The fourth variable is the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by South Africa in 1995 in which certain rights of children are recognised. The fifth variable is the knowledge that South African children have special protection under the South African Constitution. The sixth variable is the Africanisation of the profession in South Africa. These variables have stressed the importance of compiling a competency-based framework for the training of child and youth care practitioners in South Africa that embraces all these variables. Child and Youth Care is a phenomenon that is quite unfamiliar as an independent discipline in South Africa, and therefore the researcher chose a qualitative paradigm that is exploratory, descriptive, contextual and phenomenological to develop a competency-based framework for the training of Child and Youth Care practitioners in South Africa. The empirical research included phenomenological interviews with child and youth care trainers and a focus group interview with child and youth care practitioners. Literature was consulted in two stages, namely at the beginning to pose the problem and at the conclusion of the research to compare and contrast the findings (Cresswell, 1994:24). The four criteria to ensure trustworthiness are credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. The criteria to obtain this included the triangulation of various methods of data collection and by confirming results with respondents. Detailed descriptions were done to enhance the study's chance of being replicated in another setting. The services of an external coder were utilised. A detailed protocol for data collection is provided. The categories that emerged from the research were compared with literature and used to compile a competencybased framework for the training of Child and Youth Care Practitioners in South Africa.

Based on the survey results of 150 South Korea toddler caregivers about training needs, I developed a relationship-based approach for a toddler caregiver training program. The training program was modified using suggestions provided by 6 South Korean professors, who were asked to review the program. Survey findings revealed that: (a) All participants (toddler caregivers) perceived that it is necessary for caregivers to attend training. However, most (72.2%) found that it was difficult to attend training programs more than 1 time per year because it was hard to find a substitute teacher (64%). Participants desired to attend training programs on toddler care because of the lack of in-service education (26%), curriculum (24%), and training programs (15.3%); (b) Caregivers who had the third-degree caregiver certification preferred to learn parent education more than child development. However, caregivers who had a higher degree of caregiver certification preferred to learn child development more than parent education; and (c) Caregivers who had more than 5 years of teaching experience preferred to learn about the teacher's role more than caregivers who had fewer than 4 years of teaching experience. Future studies need to evaluate the effect of this relationship-based training program for toddler caregivers in relation to improvement in the quality of child care and interaction between caregivers and toddlers. A large-scale study would increase the generalizability of research findings. A larger sample size from different cities in South Korea and random sampling would generate more reliable findings.

This investigation was concerned with the problem that the staff development needs of child-care personnel in juvenile detention facilities in the State of Texas have not been identified and described. The study utilizes the Delphi technique in determining juvenile detention administrators' perceptions of the skills/knowledge required to be a competent detention child-care worker. The assumption was made that detention administrators can supply relevant input to study.

Social Work / D.Phil. (Social Work)

Many child and youth care organisations in South Africa struggle to implement adequate supervision structures for their child and youth care workers. If supervisors in this field had adequate knowledge and skills, they could enable child and youth care workers to grow and develop competently and provide more professional services to troubled young people in South Africa, This qualitative research sought to identify what knowledge and skills supervisors need in child and youth care settings in South Africa to provide effective supervision to workers. This research confirmed that there are specific skills and knowledge required by supervisors in child and youth care settings in South Africa and while there is an awareness of these in some settings, they are not being fully utilised in organised supervision structures. / Social Work / M.Tech. (Child and Youth Care)

Social Work / D.Phil. (Social Work)

Many child and youth care organisations in South Africa struggle to implement adequate supervision structures for their child and youth care workers. If supervisors in this field had adequate knowledge and skills, they could enable child and youth care workers to grow and develop competently and provide more professional services to troubled young people in South Africa, This qualitative research sought to identify what knowledge and skills supervisors need in child and youth care settings in South Africa to provide effective supervision to workers. This research confirmed that there are specific skills and knowledge required by supervisors in child and youth care settings in South Africa and while there is an awareness of these in some settings, they are not being fully utilised in organised supervision structures. / Social Work / M.Tech. (Child and Youth Care)