NCDHHS combatting early child care teacher shortage with new education initiatives

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and the N.C. Community College System, announced it would be implementing initiatives to recruit and support early childhood educators in response to a nationwide childcare shortage.

In an Aug. 15 press release, the NCDHHS announced early childhood professionals can now earn up to nine community college credits from past experience and technical training. These credits can be applied towards credentials like an early childhood education diploma and an associate in applied science degree for early childhood education.

The NCDHHS is also making 400 hours of child development coursework available at no cost to any employee of an accredited North Carolina childcare facility.

High school students interested in a career in early childhood education can gain firsthand experience through the new Building Bright Futures pre-apprenticeship program.

Theresa Roedersheimer, the NCDHHS' senior early childhood policy advisor, said these continuing-education offerings highlight pathways to enter the childcare field and reward current educators who have not yet obtained certain higher education credits.

“We might have a childcare provider, for example, that’s been in the field for a multiple number of years,” Roedersheimer said. “They have great experience with training and technical assistance, and they actually can show the work that they’ve done, and the knowledge that they have can actually be equivalent to some college education credits.”

Roedersheimer said it is important to attract new talent to the early childhood education profession because of the nationwide shortage of early childhood teachers, which she said has only intensified due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said many experienced professionals have left the field for careers with more benefits and higher wages, which private childcare providers could not afford to offer because of unreliable funding structures and high operating costs.

“It’s harder to recruit, especially when you know that the funding is not sustainable,” she said. 

Valerie Wood, the president of the parent board of directors of the Preschool at Chapel of the Cross, said rising costs of living have led Chapel of the Cross to consider capping wages for teachers.  

According to Wood, this hiring gap has impacted the reliability of their educational programming. For example, Wood said, there was an opening for a preschool teacher at Chapel of the Cross that went unfilled for six months.

“What that meant for our three-year-olds was that they had subs for the first five months of school, which is not ideal for young children who need consistency and security in the adults who are teaching them and with them," Wood said.

Jessica Amsbary, program coordinator for the Master of Education for Experienced Teachers, Early Childhood Intervention and Family Support at the UNC School of Education, said that from a child development perspective, the preschool-age years are the most important period for setting children up for success.

She said this is especially true for children with disabilities or those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. 

“If you can provide those children with high-quality, early childhood learning experiences, their outcomes are better,” Amsbary said.

Kaleb Williams, a substitute teacher at Chapel Hill Cooperative Preschool and a senior at the UNC School of Education, said he found his job in early childhood care rewarding because it allowed him to see how children develop as people in their formative years.

“I kind of think there’s misconceptions about preschools, in the sense of what they learn,” Williams said. “Yes, they learn numbers and letters and colors, but it’s not set in stone. It’s really learning good choices, and how to talk to other children, and how to be kind to one another.”

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