• Background
• Using Core Competencies
• Levels of Core Competencies
• How Core Competencies were developed
• FAQs

• Participation in workshops, inservice training, and seminars
• Individual courses or a planned program of academic study
• Work experience and systematic reflection on one’s work experience
• Supervision and mentoring

1. Child Development—Early childhood professionals have an understanding of how children develop physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally, as well as how children acquire language and other forms of communication. In addition, professionals need to know about various factors that influence child development, and how individual children’s development can vary. Early childhood professionals use their understanding of child development combined with their knowledge of each child as an individual to support children’s overall development.
2. Families and Communities—Early childhood professionals understand that children are members of a family and a community. They value both the diversity of and their unique relationships with children, families, and communities.   All early childhood education professionals work in partnership with families by communicating respectfully and by sharing information and resources that support the health of children and families.
3. Teaching and Learning—Early childhood professionals understand that the substance of teaching and learning is in the combination of interactions, routines and experiences in children’s daily lives. Teaching and learning with young children is complex. It includes a variety of strategies that are designed to match the child’s unique approach to learning; and depends on a thorough knowledge of the content of early childhood education; and is dependent on observation and reflection to plan and develop curriculum and assess children's learning.
4. Healthy and Safe Environments—Early childhood professionals use practices that protect children’s health, keep children safe, and promote healthy growth and development. This includes knowledge of good nutrition and the importance of physical activity.
5. Professionalism and Program Organization—Early childhood professionals ensure that children and their families receive comprehensive, high quality early care and education and child development services. They maintain a code of ethical conduct, articulate a philosophy of early care and education, work collaboratively with colleagues, mentors, families and organizations, maintain a solid work ethic and implement sound business practices such as budgeting, administration and evaluation.

• Other states including Connecticut, Kansas and Missouri, and Maine
• The Wheelock College Institute for Leadership and Career Initiatives
• The CDA competencies and functional areas
• Vermont Department of Education’s early childhood educator endorsement competencies
• National Health and Safety Standards
• National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Following the development of a draft document by the workgroup, the Vermont Northern Lights Career Development Center accumulated public feedback through a survey in the Spring of 2005.   The final document is a result of the workgroup's dedication and the advice of various constituents from the early childhood field.

For early childhood educators and providers, the core competencies will provide more specific description of how a professional development activity will benefit them. In the short term, they will be able to see a direct connection between the workshop or course description and their desired professional growth. In the long term they will be able to progress along a professional development continuum towards credentials and degrees. It will provide more meaningful and purposeful learning.

For presenters and instructors, it will require an initial investment of time to learn the core competencies and how they align with their workshop or course offerings. Instructors, presenters, and providers of professional development may want to revise their offerings so that competencies are addressed. They will be expected to refer to the competencies in their workshop or course descriptions. Individual instructors will know that what they are teaching will directly apply to the skills and knowledge of practitioners.

The core competencies aren’t a training program like the CDA is. Core competencies are a means of unifying the professional development and training programs that already exist. CDA competencies are contained within Level 2. So if you have a CDA, you can look at the Level 3 competencies to set goals for your own professional growth.

While we acknowledge that a CDA is a worthy credential that is widely recognized, it is a starting place for early childhood professionals. The core competencies will enable one to plan for continued professional development and more advanced credentials.

These are core competencies and comprise the fundamental knowledge and skills that people working with young children should possess. They aren’t specialized competencies that one would want for people who work with special populations—but they do provide the foundation for them. They are precursors to the competencies for early childhood educator and early childhood special educator licensure, and can assist individuals to move into those levels in the future. In addition, they align with the early childhood and family mental health competencies that are presently being developed.  

The competencies were developed with young children (birth-6) in mind, and are currently the base from which a set of afterschool education competencies are being developed.

Yes, they were written for educators working in both settings. Admittedly, that was a challenge because as you will see, the Level I competencies are numerous in the areas of Healthy and Safe Environments and Professionalism and Program Organization. This is due to the fact that family child care providers are usually the only adult in the program, and must be skilled and knowledgeable about things that might be assigned to administrators or specialists in center based settings. But we didn’t want to develop separate sets of competencies for these early childhood professionals, who in fact share more similarities than differences.

They can be used by staff to do a self-assessment of their competencies. This self-assessment can be the foundation for an individual professional development plan (IPDP), and can inform their work with mentors and supervisors.

Mentors and supervisors will be able to observe staff with these competencies in mind, and be in a better position to guide staff toward higher levels of competence, as well as more effective, and collaborative, goal setting.

On a community level, local professional development agencies, programs and councils will have a basis for doing competency-based training needs assessment which can guide the provision of professional development activities that meet the needs and skills of its early childhood professionals.

© Vermont Northern Lights Career Development Center
Last modified February 14, 2007