Professional development for childcare centre success

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

How professional development can transform your childcare centre

Childcare centre owners and directors are frequently looking for ways to grow their business. How can your centre stand out among the increasing number of centres popping up everywhere? How can you combat high staff turnover? What is the answer to motivating educators? It may sound surprising, but professional development for childcare centres can be a game changing tool that could transform your business.

If you’re a centre owner or director, you’re probably thinking “How on earth does spending money on my team upskilling help my centre?” — and it’s easy to see why you might think that way. However, professional development has a range of incredible benefits for your staff, your centre and your business’s bottom line.

The benefits of professional development in early childhood education

Some of the most common challenges faced by child care centres include these:

• High turnover
• Low enrolments
• Unmotivated educators

Sound familiar? It may surprise you to learn that professional development actually provides you with a solution to these three issues that get in the way of your centre thriving.

Improve staff retention:

Your investment in professional development is an investment into your team’s skills. This shows that you care and that they are valued. You are helping them to improve their skills and knowledge within the workplace and that means a lot to staff. Educators who feel valued are more likely to feel satisfied in their role and less likely to seek employment elsewhere, saving you time and money in the recruitment process. A great professional development training offering can enable you to attract higher quality staff too.

Inspire and motivate your educators:

New skills and know-how is exciting for anyone, and your educators are no exception. Quality professional development training for child care professionals can reinvigorate their love of the job. Add to this by letting your team have some more input into how things are done in the centre and they will feel that they are truly contributing which in turns motivates them to do the best job possible.

Increase the quality of your offering:

A well trained team will be performing at their best, enhancing the quality of your centre in every way. Your motivated, knowledgeable educators will be proud of what they offer families and children, and this will be obvious to prospective families exploring your centre. Effectively, better educators means more enrolments for your centre.

Professional development is an investment that will save you long term

Professional development is an investment in your business and an investment in your best asset — that is, your educators.

So how do you get started with professional development in early childhood education that will get results? These five tips can help you get things under way:

1. Identify your centre’s individual challenges.
2. Survey your staff about what they feel they need from professional development training.
3. Find a training organisation who specialises in early childhood education and childcare.
4. Make your goals and expectations clear when speaking with training organisations to ensure they can deliver what you need.
5. Arrange professional development training that works for your centre and is convenient for how you run your business.

Your centre has everything to gain from professional development training, so don’t put it off — arrange training for your team and reap the rewards.