Vermont Child Care Apprenticeship Program
News

Childcare apprentice program offers consistency, quality

October 31, 2001

(from the Business section, The Rutland Herald)

By LAURIE LYNN FISCHER Herald Staff

When most people think of apprentices, what probably comes to mind are blacksmiths, carpenters and plumbers.

But some apprentices concern themselves with child's play. Literally.

Several Rutland County daycare facilities are participating in a new statewide apprenticeship program that helps create and keep qualified workers in a field with a notorious dropout rate. Career dedication protects young children of working parents from a revolving door of caregivers that can hinder their emotional growth.

"They deserve the best we can give them and I think this is a way to do it," says Jan Walker, coordinator of the Vermont Childcare Apprenticeship Program. "This is the first time Vermont has implemented formally registered apprenticeship in the childcare industry."

The number one problem confronting Vermont's daycare network in terms of quality of care is the turnover of staff, says Ruth Matthews, childcare programs coordinator with the state.

"That contributes to the lack of consistency of care, which is extremely important for babies when they're forming their early bonding," she says.

During the last two years, 71 percent of centers reported trouble recruiting staff, according to the first statewide childcare survey, released this year. The turnover rate ranges between 26 and 40 percent, and the number of overall providers declined over the last five years, especially home care facilities.

"Low levels of pay are "a key obstacle to maintaining an adequate supply of childcare, and to improving the quality of care," the survey said. Plentiful, high-quality childcare helps fuel the economy, and it pays off socially by affecting how many children are prepared for kindergarten, the percent of children in families on welfare, as well as rates of child abuse, neglect and unemployment, the survey concludes.

In a culture that purports to care about family values, employees who nurture the nation's precious youth make comparable wages to maids, crossing guards, food servers and hotel desk clerks, the survey said. The average wage of Vermont childcare workers dipped below federal poverty guidelines, it said, noting that 63 percent of home childcare providers were insured by a state-subsidized program for low-income families.

"It's very hard to find qualified staff with a degree in early childhood education or a related field who will come aboard at $7 an hour," says Terri Edgerton, director of the Parent Child Center in Rutland, which has championed the apprenticeship program from the get-go. "My understanding is a shift manager at McDonald's makes $9 an hour. We had one of our best people in three years leave to go sell cell phones because he could not afford to continue with us."

Apprentices earn an extra 25 cents for each course they complete, thanks to a $121,450 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Their one-on-one supervisors make 50 cents to $1 extra. On top of that, sponsoring centers must give regular raises, and they may not pay less than they otherwise would because of the subsidy. Vermont currently is working on establishing an endowment to keep the program going, since the federal grant only lasts 18 months.

Apprentices also earn 18 college credits for working 4,000 supervised hours on the job and completing 290 hours of coursework.

Vermont was one of 11 pilot states taking part in the two-year program, which began in December.

Currently, there are 32 apprentice-supervisor pairs working at 21 centers throughout the state, Walker says. Rutland County participants include the Children's Growth Company in Brandon, the Vermont Achievement Center and Parent Child Center in Rutland and Wallingford Day Care in Wallingford.

"The benefits for the apprentices are huge," says Heather Brow, supervisor of the apprenticeship program at the Parent Child Center. "They can get college credit for the courses they are taking. It also provides a great opportunity for growth. The system provides great time for feedback and mentoring. They can go out and see what's out there and why we do what we do. For the children, it provides the more experienced, more nurturing caregivers."

The apprenticeship is a serious commitment for Lisa Montross, a teacher at Wallingford Day Care who is juggling coursework, her 40-hour-a-week job and mothering two children. It helped her household financially as well as furthering her professional knowledge, she says.

After taking a course this summer in child development, she was more conscious of details such as playing peekaboo with infants and moving objects in front of them so they would turn their heads from side to side.

Jenn Lundrigan, a teacher at Wallingford Day Care for nearly five years, has been implementing some of the same projects and songs she learned about in her art and music course in a real-life setting.

"We're applying what we're learning in class and we're getting creative ideas," she says. "I'm doing what I've always wanted to do - working with children."

Contact Laurie Fischer at laurie.fischer@rutlandherald.com