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Know

“Learning is like rowing upstream; not to advance is to drop back.”- Chinese Proverb

Self-Reflection

Let’s take a moment to record any words or phrases that come to mind when you hear the word “professionalism.” What does it mean to be professional? What characteristics and qualities make up a professional? Why is demonstrating professionalism important? Your responses may include some of the many roles you, or others you know, assume, such as demonstrating knowledge and sharing information through your interactions with children and families. All your descriptions offer a window into your sense of professionalism.

Consider the following definitions that different dictionaries provide about professionalism: the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines professionalism as “the high standard that you expect from a person who is well trained in a particular job,” and “great skill and competence.” Merriam-Webster defines professionalism as “the skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well” and “the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person.” How do these definitions compare to your own definitions of professionalism?

This course will help you better understand the concept of professionalism and how it relates to your own competence, confidence, commitment, and awareness as a professional. This course will also help you learn how you can develop a sense of professionalism and what this means to you as a family child care provider.

What is Professionalism in Family Child Care?

For many years, much of the public has viewed early care and education providers (including those who provide care to school-age children) as babysitters. To counter that thinking, the field of early care and education, through several professional organizations, has developed professional standards that describe the competencies of an early care and education professional. These competencies include professionalism. Interacting with children and families must always be done in a professional manner. Therefore, it is critical to be knowledgeable about and model professional behavior.

Families rely on you to be much more than a babysitter for their children. In your daily work, you make conscious, intentional decisions about how to interact with children and parents. You may also be faced with difficult ethical situations. Ethics is the study of right and wrong, duty and obligation. Following an ethical code can help with those decisions. With the guidance of mentors or family child care administrators, you should strive to set and maintain positive examples of professionalism in your daily interactions with children and families. Remember that you still represent your business and military child care outside of your operating hours. It is important that your actions, behaviors, and social media presence reflects your professionalism.

Professional organizations and state agencies that work on behalf of children, families, caregivers, and teachers have created standards and competencies to guide child and youth professionals. Each professional organization includes standards that address professional behaviors. Professional organizations and state agencies rely on research-based principles and bring together highly respected experts to draft and verify the standards and competencies for the field. For example, 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 (). The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) has developed professional competencies for professionals caring for children in family child care homes ().

When you review the various organizations’ sets of standards and competencies, you will find many similarities when it comes to professionalism. This indicates a collective understanding that engaging in professional behavior is important for those working with young children, youth, and families.

What Does it Mean to Be a Professional?

Family child care providers play powerful roles in children’s lives, and your encounters with children and their families leave lasting impressions. Children’s growth takes place over time, and each experience affects development. Who children become has everything to do with the experiences they have early in their lives, and the experiences they have when in your care. As a family child care provider, you play a crucial role during the critical years of development. Optimal development is strengthened when children engage in meaningful interactions with adults who maintain high-quality professional standards.

As an individual working with children and families, you engage in numerous activities that require you to maintain high-quality professional standards. In your daily work as a professional, you interact with children, engage with family members, collaborate with other providers, and interact with community partners. Establishing and maintaining high-quality professional standards are important to every task you accomplish every day. This process evolves as you continue to develop and encounter new situations.

The work you do with children, youth, and their families lays the foundation for healthy development, growth, and success in school and life. Recognition of the significance of the early years on children’s development strengthens a desire to strive for excellence in your work (Feeney, 2012). This course will help you understand how your professionalism contributes to the growth and development of children and families you serve.

As a family child care provider, you are likely to encounter children and families from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences. It is important for you to understand the significance of always striving for high-quality practices while acknowledging diversity and individual differences. A child’s family may not share the same values with you when it comes to topics such as sleeping, toilet training, or completing work independently. You may need to use your sense of professionalism to provide children and their families with culturally and developmentally sensitive care to help them become successful now and in the years ahead.

See

It is important to think about your own sense of professionalism. Watch this video to hear a family child care provider share what being professional means to them.

Do

In the field of early childhood education, professionalism encompasses many specific behaviors and skills that address how individuals present themselves to children and other adults. Take time to review the following traits identified by Schweikert (2012) as they contribute to professionalism in the field of early care and education:

• How you present yourself to others through your appearance and communication
• Knowledge of the field of early care and education
• The quality of your work
• Relationships with others (children, families, your own family members)
• Your work ethic
• Your determination and dedication
• Most important, your attitude

By including a focus on professional behaviors (appearance, communication, attitude, interpersonal relationships, orientation to learning, etc.) you will enhance the quality of your home-based child care for children and families.

Completing this Course

For more information on what to expect in this course, the Professionalism Competency Reflection, and a list of the accompanying Learn, Explore and Apply resources and activities offered throughout the lessons, visit the Family Child Care Professionalism Course Guide.

Please note the References & Resources section at the end of each lesson outlines reference sources and resources to find additional information on the topics covered. As you complete lessons, you are not expected to review all the online references available. However, you are welcome to explore the resources further if you have interest, or at the request of your trainer, coach, or administrator.