2023 Iowa Child Care Workforce Study
Appendix B
Provider Focus Groups
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
To supplement the individual providers’ survey and the review of administrative datasets, we determined additional input from providers of the child care workforce was necessary. We conducted four in-person provider focus groups that were conducted at the Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children (Iowa AEYC, an affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC]) annual training institute in the fall of 2022. Transcripts from audio recordings of the focus groups were generated, checked against recordings, and deductively coded using a pre-defined list of codes to efficiently identify relevant common themes based on findings identified from the prior provider survey. Primary themes from the provider focus groups included:
- Retaining staff is the biggest challenge and directly impacts the number of families who can be served. Better pay is critical for retention.
- Administrators value benefits but struggle to provide them, leaving many staff to access health insurance through spouses or government assistance.
- Providers are committed to the children and families but feel unrecognized as professionals.
- T.E.A.C.H. (Teacher Education and Compensation Helps) Early Childhood Iowa® is a valuable resource for those who use it, but not everyone is interested in more training and education.
APPROACH TO THE FOCUS GROUPS
Procedures
The ISU Data and Analysis Team (here forward referred to as “the team”) led the development of the focus group strategy, key questions, and facilitator guidelines, with input from the Iowa Workforce Study Advisory Committee. Additionally, members of the team recruited participants and facilitated the groups.
To supplement learning from the provider survey, the team conducted 4 focus groups with a variety of child care providers during the 2022 Iowa AEYC fall institute to create a representative sample and expand on provider needs.
Sampling
Convenience sampling was conducted at the Iowa AEYC fall institute. Recruitment information was posted on Iowa AEYC’s social media and in the program. The team also displayed a poster of the recruitment information at the institute and invited people during the transition to lunch. A total of 26 participants were recruited across the four groups. We had two groups with center-based providers, which include center administrators and teaching staff, with a total number of 9 participants. Among them, one participant mentioned it was hard to find her fit since she represents a center that serves school-age children. An additional 17 individuals participated in the two home-based providers focus group interviews. Among them, only 1 participant claimed that currently she no longer works as a home provider, but she had been a home-based provider for years prior.
Analysis
Each theme was analyzed using NVivo qualitative analysis software and includes a short analysis description with examples of quotes from the discussions. Following the initial analysis, a program type-specific analysis was conducted, illustrated by prominent quotes reflecting strengths, barriers, and suggestions. The subcategory in which the quote was organized is included with the quote. Codes were then organized under deductively identified themes based on the quantitative data collected through the provider survey (see Appendix A): (1) pay, financial compensation, and the WAGE$® program; (2) additional benefits like insurance; (3) education and T.E.A.C.H; (4) PPP/COVID funding; and (5) commitment and reasons to remain in field.
THEMES AND RESULTS
Compensation
Recruitment and retention of staff was the most significant challenge the child care workforce faces in Iowa currently, and it was directly related to the low economic compensation received by providers. The biggest challenges for recruitment were low hourly wages and lack of benefits for the demanding job. Many administrators and child care providers reported being understaffed to the point it limited the number of children they could enroll. Many reported they were in competition for employees with local fast-food chains and retail stores that could pay higher wages than the child care program. Some administrators address staffing needs by relying on high school students, part-time employees, and parents whose children receive a discount on tuition. The WAGE$® program and other recruitment bonuses were mentioned; however, the challenges in obtaining these and uncertainty of ongoing funding made many administrators hesitant to use them for recruitment.
In terms of retention, many providers discussed both long-term loyalty and quick turnover. Administrators emphasized their longer-term staff as critical to surviving the past few years in the field, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrastingly, administrators also commented on new employees working for a day or week and never returning, possibly due to the disparity between the wages and the responsibilities of the job. Respondents emphasized that the work is difficult and taxing including that challenging behaviors have increased among children.
Low economic compensation was a common complaint among center-based providers. Providers mentioned two unfortunate pathways they rely on for extra support which include having a second job or relying on an earning spouse for money. Relatedly, providers also complain about the unfair contrast between their level of education and their salary. Similarly, home-based providers struggle with covering their expenses with the payments made by families or from state subsidies through child care assistance (CCA). Home-based providers do their best to balance the high cost that families pay for child care with their expenses by receiving CCA and applying for grants, but these resources are not enough.
Recruiting and retaining staff is the biggest challenge
“Staffing. Staffing, hiring. I would say that’s the biggest challenge right now.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
[A problem is] “consistency of the teachers of, you know, of people get into this thinking so it’s just, it’s going to be easy and they don’t realize how much time and effort and some people come in just a minute for a paycheck and you can tell the people that are in it just for their career and then our people that are there just for a paycheck.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“We did recently have a guy that was hired and quit on the same day.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“Yeah we have staff that come in but leave after a few weeks, just can’t handle it.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I had staff go into labor, while she was at this conference, a month early and I’m screwed. I didn’t want her to have her baby a month early, we have to get back to (City) I don’t have a plan for Monday. I had a plan for November but not today.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“People are leaving the field because lack of support.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“What I am hearing from them (providers) is they are leaving and becoming unregistered because of how they are being treated.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
Problems in staff retention translate into serving fewer families
“Good thing but bad thing that enrollment seems to be increasing but finding staff and having enough room with all the center’s closing in our area. Okay… before and after school. We stayed completely full all the time. So it’s good thing but not a good thing.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“We could put 50 more kids in our center tomorrow if we had the staff.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“Probably the big thing [inaudible] is that so many providers have quit. So many home providers, so many rooms in childcare centers, are closed, parents are really struggling to find any care, let alone wanting to shop around for what they’ve been getting. The best care is like any here at all because they need to go to work. And that creates the snowball of, I can’t find care. So I can’t work in this job, so then I have to stay home. And now we don’t have the money that we were counting on. It’s a huge problem, you know childcare providers are getting inundated. It’s very difficult.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
Fair compensation is an important issue across center- and home-based providers
Child care providers in centers need better wages
“I would like to see some way that we can compensate at a decent wage so, half my teachers have second jobs or if they’re lucky and married to someone with a better job and we just always feel like we are down here. We were heroes for a month and then now we are just back down. Even the wages went up, we try to boost our wages up, but then the whole world went up so were still at the bottom ya know? And if we could get some kind of incentive for people to come into the field because I think that’s a real, a lot of our really good people have left the field because well I want to start a family I want to do this. I can make more at McDonald’s, and the hours are better, it’s less work. A lot less work. We work so hard.
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I think it would have to be the salary that’s the number one that keeps [coming up]. I mean my situation is different because it’s not full time for me. So even to retain, even to retain high school, you’re going to have to pay, you know, at least you know cuz that’s who I have, you know, there’s not a lot of benefits other than you’re done by 6 o’clock and you don’t have to work weekends and you know, I mean other than that there’s not really.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“I think it helps if you have another income. I am the only income so that’s hard.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“And how many jobs where you have two masters’ degrees where you get paid as little as we do. It’s kind of a joke actually.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“No it’s terrible I have more education than all of my friends and they make more money than I do. And they sit in an office. And they don’t get puked on or all that other fun stuff. Or bit.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“We talked a lot about how teachers don’t make enough money and teacher supply all their classroom supplies…I was like let’s talk about childcare. We make a lot less than teachers. We have no benefits. We don’t have health insurance. If we do, we’re paying for it out of our own pocket. It’s not very good. And we’re paying for every single thing that we provided for the children. So yes, childcare is expensive…I make $50 last month, I am not making money.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“Yeah and if you lose the good assistants then all of the work is on the leads and then they burn out and then they leave. I have two amazing assistants that I would literally die without, because they’re both better at my job than I am. That’s why I was so excited that they’re finally getting paid more, please make them not quit.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
Home-base providers have problems balancing serving families and receiving fair payments that cover their expenses
CCA raises additional complications
“The way the funding is provided for home provider sector. That has come up about COVID, it is not necessarily done very well as it should be.”
“Families that have a really difficult time to pay. And pay on time. Because they have to have every child piece [for] CCA.”
[Home-based providers, Focus group 1001]
“That to me, is the biggest problem because providers, when you take child care assistance for me, it’s almost a third less of what I’m getting paid by the other parents.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I have too many families who can’t afford it”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I don’t think that it should come out of the parents pocket if they have qualified at the rate that they qualified. If that’s the level of poverty that they are at, and I think the state could have picked it up, I don’t think that it’s something that we should say, ‘parents, you qualify with your very low income. This is what you’re entitled to, but not really. You have to pay for more.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“Too many difficulties, you know, it’s a very difficult decision. Do they deserve quality care? Yes, but does my family deserve to eat? Yes.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“That’s the trick right there, we are offering them the opportunity for quality child care or we saying, you’re low-income, you don’t deserve the qualities that this program over here offers. So you’re going to have to go to the lower price program because otherwise you have to pay the difference…”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“And the income was if your 25% CCA, you can have 25% CCA for the first round and automatically qualify for every round after that if you didn’t get rid of your CCA kids in there. And you also said these money can be use for mental [health] care. So, then you say you don’t deserve mental [health] care because you made too much money. You just made a little bit than you did before but not enough to pay for mental health.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I need more funding.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“This is a broken window, yes but do you have the money to fix those things? Cause you are not going to enroll people if you didn’t look good from outside.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“It was a problem that I had kids that left and I was also in the same spot. I was holding spots for kids that were going to start in early 2020, which is what I’ve always done, but the 2019 income was down. And so, then 2020 comes and they give us a little bit of stabilization and the kids started. So, it’s like we just above and none of the stabilization were available.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I got myself in trouble a few times because I am a little frustrated…I have sent 20 of emails and letters, and phone calls to our governor, DHS … the biggest problem with the way, the stabilization funding was dispersed, was the fact that they didn’t say they excluded a lot of providers because I went off of income and it wasn’t like I said in the level it was for your lost money during covid-19 but during 2019.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“Well they did. But for me in 2019 I lost a family of 3… So my income in 2019 was really low. So when you compare 2019 to 2020 I made a whole $1,800 more, even with the stipends so that they gave us not obviously enough to do anything for my program. We got the stipends in 2021 as well. Which are bigger, so my income was more than my 2020. So, it completely exclude me. I pretty much put those stipends back to my program but because I have 3 children of my own…I can only do [deduct] like, 32 to 35% of what I buy for child care, because my own child played with it. Due to the way taxes work, that excluded me. So my friend up the street, who has a child care not on the street but in town, she didn’t have kids at home so she can deduct 100% of anything she buys. So right there that left out a lot of providers with young children. And that was because my income was so high? Because me kids are in Hawki. I don’t make that much money. We have a successful program but I don’t make lot of money. I mean that was a really big frustration for me and I think due to all of my emails…we were able to get one round of the stabilization grants and they did open up the last round. Thet got cut That’s super frustrating too. A lot of people. I am sure these centers are really upset because that was a big stress that emails errors happened.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“And the other day, the other big issue was the providers were taking the money and then retiring or going out. […] you know? They are taking away the money and they are waiting, closing the program, they shutting down, How was that stable, our childcare crisis…it is not you just throw funding at them and they close. But those who are committed and working hard.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“We provide diapers, we provide anything extra when we do field service, we don’t charge parents enrollment and all that stuff. So alternately I made the decision that I was going to put it out there and see where the conversation went with my families. If I got a bunch of backlash I was going to back out and just pretend it didn’t exist and I put it out there in July and it didn’t take effect until September to give them time to say. This is what’s going to take us back to your going, to have this out-of-pocket expense that you were responsible for paying me for it and it honestly is went really well. Actually, the few parents that I thought I would have to hound and chase money for it. I haven’t had to chase it once or if it is has been paid. We get paid on Friday, but I can’t get it to you till Saturday is there any way you can work with that, but they’ve been like, they’re worried about losing daycare, because they know, it sucks that they are paying. That little bit of a gap because they know they can’t afford to pay that whole amount. So paying the $20, $30 that I’m asking, is way less than what the whole amount of what DHS helping them. So it’s gone really well for us. We haven’t had too much of backlash.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
Benefits
While some providers from center-based settings receive benefits through their jobs, many other full-time providers in the center- and home-based settings do not receive benefits. Providers report to receive benefits such as health insurance through their spouse or governmental supports. Furthermore, retirement benefits are most often not received at all. Some providers compared themselves to educators in the k-12 field or in other states, where benefits are provided for child care providers. These results suggest that for child care providers, the lack of benefits may be a reason to leave the field or the area.
Alternatively, a few providers who hire predominantly teachers and staff under the age of 26 (and thus, under their parents’ insurance), noted that additional benefits were not advantageous for their recruitment and retention. Instead, they noticed that increased wages were more important for these child care providers.
Administrators have problems providing benefits, but they know it’s important
“Because I work in [the] school system. They also having problems retaining paras for the classroom and so they have made some positions that are dual positions that they would work for the daycare before and after school and then they can put them on a full-time and also retain them as paras. My other staff, unfortunately, are only 2 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. So basically, it’s high school college kids who it fits in their schedule. So, they do not qualify for full-time.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“One of the programs a friend of mine here told me about is that Kentucky now paid child care for anyone in child care. Which would be awesome because the last two candidates that I had that were great someone else could offer free child care or reduced. Where we can’t because to offset with our benefits, we are all in the boat together so we can’t say you guys can pay half price and you guys can’t.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
Some providers receive benefits at work
“And I do [have health insurance] I have before I came here, I did the [inaudible] for low-income people with the government.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“At the center, we are making more. We do have dental, we do have health. So it is, it is a lot better.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
[My benefits are]… “from my job, just because of the organization I work for” [is a hospital] .
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I have a 401K where they match me 3%, then I have health insurance but it’s pretty bad. And I tried to add my husband onto my health insurance because he is self-employed and it would be 1000 dollars a month to add him to mine so that isn’t doable. That is frustrating because we are almost 40, we need health insurance.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“Ours offers it but we pay for the insurance, I’m on my husbands.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
Some child care providers report they have no access to benefits through their work
“Personally, I just had to rely on, like, the cheap or free clinics, or just didn’t go… And, you know, most of them either were still covered them have parents or they were covered under their spouse.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“We make a lot less than teachers. We have no benefits. We have, you know, we don’t have health insurance. If we do, we’re paying for it out of her own pocket. It’s not very good.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I am almost there [retirement] obviously, being in it for 34 years. Here’s the flip side to staying in the field…I have not a very large retirement go to, I don’t have insurance. I will be doing it probably for another 20 years. It’s kind of scary because you will be in 80s. I love the job enough; I am going to do it. But I also put myself in the corner where I can’t really get. Because where I gonna go to build retirement now? What type of the job that I am going to get paid to the point for the insurance? I really don’t know; it was just tough.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
Commitment to the Field
Providers emphasized their strong commitment to the field. Providers highlighted their own personal commitment to the field and the widespread sentiment that their role is meaningful for the children and families they work with. Many providers feel that they provide stability and resources to children that may not get them at home and indicate that is why their heart is in child care.
Some providers use their own income, time, and emotional resources for the children. Center and home based providers indicated they use their own money or free time looking for educational materials for the children, mostly books.
The importance and demanding nature of their work contrasts with feeling unrecognized for their job. Many providers express inconformity with opinions expressed by their own families and parents they serve. Providers indicated that their job is only seen as “babysitting” instead of a profession. Child care providers also feel the level of educational attainment does not match the recognition given. Finally, home-based providers expressed needing time off for mental health or personal matters, but parents do not seem to recognize their needs.
Some providers are fully committed to stay in the job and know their work is very meaningful
“I’m a lifer.”
“I plan to retire from the field.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“This is my first 43 years. So I will be retiring in the next few years.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“I plan to stay in it as long as my body will allow me to, I’ve had two knee replacements already and so you know, as long as my knees will hold out, I plan on staying.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“So am I, because what you receive back from it far outweighs the pain that you get. We have a love for the children.”
“I’m gonna retire at my current job, hopefully not too far down but I’ve got some time.”
[Center-based providers, Focus group 0930]
“Just once I figured out this was my thing, I was just committed.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I’ve tried to leave, I can’t. It’s where my heart is. And…. I don’t even know how to describe it.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“When I came to it, my heart wasn’t really early childhood. I do [it] because I care for early childhood, and I took that as my personal backpack. So, if I could be that child’s advocate, that’s what I will be. Many forms, with the family, with the school, with the public, and any form I can. And then, most importantly, I love them with everything I have in my body. Because we do best, we love them. When I go to childcare, there’s nobody gave me a hug when I arrived. There was nobody went to comfort me when I was scared. That’s our job. That’s what we do.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“That’s the reason I started childcare. I actually was fired from a long-term job that I had for years and years for no reason, but that’s another story. And a friend was going back to work and she said can you care for my children? And the children were in a broken family, and I thought if I can take her children and one of other children that she was caring for, at least the stability would be for the majority of the day, as opposed to the broken home they were in. So, I can provide that stability, 5 days a week for 8-10 hours a week. That then would at least give a little help to the child. So that’s why I start the childcare and
why I stay and continue is to provide stability for it.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“But for providers like me in my forties, hopefully I can have another 20 years. And there are not very many young one and we need to be like come on!”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“So I just think that home child care is so important because these kids need like as much one-on-one, like security that you can give them.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I got a lot of discussions about this is last year cause there are days that I am very extremely frustrated with. We have a lot of kids that are DHS involved with case workers in the ball is dropped and I get very frustrated when I see them put in those situations that ultimately, they could have prevented. So then it makes me look at like I’m doing what I can hear, but when they leave outside of these doors, after being put in dangerous situations and then my questions are then, what am I doing to benefit this child from those dangers outside of here? At least I know, at least 8 to 10 hours a day that they are in a safe loving environment, that they are accepted and getting the affection and love that they deserve. And knowing that they’re getting meals, are getting the balance stuff that they needed. They are not getting it home and that they’re lacking at home keeps us doing it.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I am currently working on my elementary ed bachelors. I plan to stay in early childhood because I see the importance of it. We have talk about it over and over and over again. A child’s brain develops 80% of development before the age of 5. But we don’t value it.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“And children reap the benefit of it. It’s not just providing quality childcare. It’s also providing the relationship with the families, the link trust. And that extra support.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
Some providers use their own financial, time, and emotional resources for the children
“A lot of your teachers, even though we don’t get much pay, you take what you make and you put it back into your kids because you’re constantly spending money, it something to have to go to the store and buy supplies and stuff because it’s something you want them to experience. So, you go on and you step out and you do it on your own.”
[Center-based provider, focus group 0930]
“Books, I’m always ordering books. Hundreds of dollars’ worth of books.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“We partner with our local library. We just write grants and say like, we want these, and then they do it. Plus, I just go to the library a lot.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I go to consignment stores. Being a teacher, I thrift, I go and buy books.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“We already provide a service for free so we bank on other services that are free, we also have a lot of partnerships and I think that is a good thing, we partner with the rec center and the park down the street and the city helps us.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
Still, providers feel unrecognized for the job they do and for the toll on mental health they take
“People look at child care teachers, they have them down at the bottom of the job ladder. We aren’t professional, you’re a babysitter. Your job doesn’t matter, you’re just watching the kids. Unless it’s the people you’re serving, they get it at the time, but I think they forget, they age out
of us.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“My mother-in-law still says that I work at a daycare. No, it’s a school.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“The children, that’s our future, and if you lose all your teachers, you’re losing that future.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“And how many jobs where you have two masters’ degrees where you get paid as little as we do. It’s kind of a joke actually.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“No, it’s terrible I have more education than all of my friends and they make more money than I do. And they sit in an office. And they don’t get puked on or all that other fun stuff.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“Just [because] we do things in our home doesn’t mean we are not professional as a business. And also, academically. Especially in smaller communities, it’s very difficult to say okay I am finishing my master, so yes, we work from home. And my kids are really smart just as public schools are, we met certain milestone the time at home. So, my data and my information isn’t support it within the district, because I am not the public. I am not the center. We are private. I am not overseen.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“Problems in lacking support for worker burnout and self-care in such a physically and mentally demanding work is uniquely significant for home providers, which will impact their childcare quality and the business sustainability. Taking day-off and mental health support is needed.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“One thing that there should be more of is, as others have said, is the mental health support, it is physically demanding for this job, knowing all these children situations out side of daycare, and everything was going on. And it’s not only us that needs the resources that sometimes, it’s the parents too.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“How can a provider that’s open 7 to 5, get into a doctor that’s only open ‘till 4, without taking the day off which then jeopardizes 10 other families.
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“Thinking about taking care of me. If I have to take a day off, I have to take a nap. Do you want to stress that little stressed out person, freaking out on your kids? You need that day.
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I think talking to the parents, understand the importance of having that time off, we need to take a break. We need to, you know, sometimes take a week vacation because it gives us that rest to recharge and come back to being about ourselves. Because, we try to take a week twice
a year. you know, by the time it’s 6 months up. I’m ready to throw in the towel, I’m exhausted. I’m stressed. And I just need that time too. I don’t know why…so it takes me a little bit and making sure the parents understand we need that, needed that day to do that. So, then we feel guilty
for taking that day.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“I’ve had parents going, ‘Why are you taking off?’…Well, it’s not your business but I need a physical…I need a day off for that.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
Thus, a supportive and collaborative environment is fundamental
“We are new to the Des Moines area. So the place where I work has been really welcoming and I know the people that I work with are very good at helping me with, you know, “this is how we do things” because I was, I came from a very small center to now a very big center and so things are done a little bit different.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“We kind of have that, XX is my associate, we talk to each other. It helps a lot that we are close in age, it wouldn’t be the same if I had someone who was really young in the classroom with me. I feel more comfortable talking about. She probably understands more because she’s lived it
whereas the younger person doesn’t have the experience.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“And for me my director, we pretty much partner through running the center and we always say two half brains make a great whole brain so we’ve got each other because there is a lot you need through the hospital, monetary benefits and leadership.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“We have a Hawki child care providers network and at one point we had 40 members. And we will meet monthly. And we would share crafts. We would have training. We have some DHS approved trainings. I mean it was wonderful.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
”I really like the agency I work for. It sounds really corny but it’s really like a family. Like I’ve worked at the same agency for 16 years, like I started working there when I was a baby. I’m well respected, I’ve been promoted several times, they sponsored me for the T.E.A.C.H. scholarship, the second I finished student teaching I got promoted. First as a director and I got the 4-year-old spot I got my big girl shoes and could teacher 4-year-old preschool. They really respect all the hard work that you do no matter what level you’re at. As an assistant I was given a lot of responsibility because I was really strong and they just kept building me up.“
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“When I joined the board of ISCCA, when that was the round, I wanted to just to be the unregister provider, like be a voice for the unresisted provider. And then I got in the board and I was so inspired by everybody that by the next board meetings, I was register in food program. I was so inspired by people and I love the Facebook group and we have a new family childcare chapter and we got to zoom in for class meetings. Because we need each other. In my town, we have a group of providers, we have providers night out. We get together, we do like a window for Christmas we have kids coming to do a craft like that. Like we are family together. And we think what we need to put together, that for now is for each other.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
Education and T.E.A.C.H.
Throughout the interviews, many providers discussed the value of T.E.A.C.H. as a resource, though mostly from center-based providers. This suggests the program may need to expand its reach to be utilized by more home-based providers who may be interested. Center-based providers report T.E.A.C.H helps them advance to administrative roles. Additionally, T.E.A.C.H can provide continuing education that enhances skills related to children and child care through second or third degree opportunities. In addition to enhanced skillset from the T.E.A.C.H continuing education opportunity, T.E.A.C.H addresses providers’ financial burdens to access education: if a provider must miss work to continue their education, that is lost compensation. T.E.A.C.H gives providers a bonus to make up their missing hours that allows them to go for courses without a cut in payment. One home-based provider reported she wants to pursue a master’s degree if she can participate in the T.E.A.C.H program. Another home-based provider received her degree through T.E.A.C.H at 41 years old and this helped her pursue a career working in a community college.
Several center-based providers report they appreciate the kindness and support they get from their supervisors and counselor in the T.E.A.C.H program. Many providers are nontraditional learners that may struggle with traditional college teaching styles. In T.E.A.C.H, they experience a supportive relationship and slower pace with a cohort that encourages their continued engagement and participation.
However, not everyone is interested in traditional degree-seeking opportunities, some are interested in certificates or other trainings to advance their skills and employability. Some of these providers report that when they used T.E.A.C.H some of the courses are not relevant with their situation nor do they address day-to-day challenges that they feel are applicable. Some experienced technical issues during online classes that undermine the efficiency of the trainings. The following are some example quotes about each of these issues relevant for this subtheme.
Teachers decide to go back to school later in life, some using T.E.AC.H. and they think it had a positive impact in their life
“I got a PFA in print making, absolutely worthless, so I went back to school, worth it”.
(Moderator – ‘what kind of supports allowed you
to make that decision?)]
“The T.E.A.C.H program”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I have three degrees, first one was in museum studies. Then I have a master’s in elementary, and then I have my master’s in early childhood through the T.E.A.C.H. program through northwestern.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I was also an adult college person and it allowed me to move up to an administrative role which I really enjoy.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I’m almost glad I did it as my second degree, because if I did it when I was you know, 19, I don’t know if I would have…you have to be really mature to be a teacher. Even in the teacher education program you have to go to class at 8 and not look like you’ve done anything fun that night before. So, I don’t know if I’d done very well if I’d been a normal age college student and acted the way I did in college. But I was very responsible the second time.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I always like learning more curricular stuff. I get excited really easily so if I have a new game or a new strategy to teach a new school I’m like YES, which is why me and 5-year-olds vibe. Being a teacher is like playing tennis, you can keep getting better no matter how old you are I get motivated and excited really easily so I’m already excited about the million things I wrote down from the first session. I’ve got these new math games, love math games…I think that’s why I’m a teacher. Teachers like school. And you have to keep learning in order to keep up with the kids because education is changing so much what I learned in 6th grade they’re learning in 3rd grade so you have to keep that education going. I love it, I didn’t think I would. I didn’t think I’d like it, I thought you’re too old. But I’ve enjoyed it, getting back into the classroom and it’s like, ok I’m a big girl soaking in all the sponge, but it helps me to better understand the kids. So that’s very important and that’s why I keep going.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“And like accreditation stuff. Not that accreditation is fun. For my school, the higher accreditation we are, the more government reimbursement we get. We have QRS 5, we are NEUC accredited. Those take a lot of work and time and money and understanding but it really did, it made all of us better.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“I think the T.E.A.C.H program was really good about providing support, they give you hours to be off the clock but you don’t take a cut in pay. And then the bonuses, like for student teaching I had to take off 5 months, like I couldn’t work at all for 5 months, not that it covered my salary but they gave me a big bonus when I finished. They did give me a big bonus to try to make up the lack of hours that I had, and I think without that taking time off to go to school, financially doesn’t make sense for a lot of people. And I am married, and my husband, if we didn’t get that bonus [it would have been hard].”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930]
“When I went into the field, I knew that I probably wasn’t likely to stay for my entire life. [At the point] when T.E.A.C.H. was offered to me, I decided to do T.E.A.C.H. And so through T.E.A.C.H., I got my associate’s degree at 41, in 2020. And I am off to my bachelor’s degree with the idea of I want to work in a community college.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
“If they want to give me a master’s, that’s what I want to do my master’s. T.E.A.C.H program.”
[Home-based provider, Focus group 1001]
Supervisors’ and counselor support is important for T.E.A.C.H. participation
“I don’t want to go back to school. I’m 45… my life is too crazy and chaotic right now, but I love to take like CCRR classes and stuff like that to still learn…I have learning disabilities. And so, I get test anxiety until I don’t do very well on tests, but it’s not that I don’t know the material, it’s just I bomb tests and so when I take these other classes, I used to like I learned things from him but I don’t have to be like necessarily tested on it and so I feel like I can learn a little bit easier and relax a little bit more. So, I like to do more of that kind of training and in my life right now, that’s the kind of training I want. I don’t want to go back to school.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“Being in the field as long as I have going back to school is probably not an option. At this point, I’m 3 years from retirement but I do like to go to this kind of training, also just because it helps keep you up-to-date on things are going on. What I would like to see more is school-age specific trainings because a lot of times, I sit here for a long time, and they’re talking about infants and toddlers in car seats. Do you know formula? And it’s like my youngest kids 5. So, we like to see more school age specific training.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
Providers feel that some of the courses offered are not relevant
“What I would like to see more is school-age specific trainings because a lot of times, I sit here for a long time, and they’re talking about infants and toddlers in car seats. Do you know formula? And it’s like my youngest kids 5. So, we like to see more school age specific training.”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“I was actually just in a class of my very first class, which was the environmental class. And I was getting frustrated with training it offered. The last Institute we had license like last year, I took the same class and it was all online. And they had technical issues for about 20 minutes and then they only did the class for another like 15 minutes and then shut off. And like they had marketing themselves on the website like Pre-K relevant, but then we took the class it was all middle school, high school. So, I kept asking questions, you can’t like hey how can I apply this? Cause we talk about conservation population control. And I was like, how would you apply this? So, I can figure out how to apply this to a 2 yrs old and three-year-old child to Pre-K classroom, how would you make it practical?”
[Center-based provider, Focus group 0930A]
“I’m on WAGE$®. I’m on T.E.A.C.H. I am actively working to improve my quality, but you’re punishing me for it. So, if you’re going to push for the bachelor’s fantastic. I think it’s a great. But you have to support these four [inaudible] who are working for it and show them and let them know that you appreciate them because there’s so many providers. I talked to [my counselor] like I’m done. I am not doing any more. So, I just quit or drop my registration. And drop my QRS. And it’s sad because the quality provider has done a lot.”
[Home-based providers, Focus group 1001]