SUMMER 2007
Core Competencies & Learning Objectives
Coming Soon – A Trainer Retreat!
PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES::
Contact: Gail Mahr
651-290-9704 ext. 200
Not by Chance:
Contact: Gail Mahr
651-290-9704 ext. 200
Ounce Scale MN Child Care Project
Contact: Mary Scott
651-433-2182
Surge Support Child Care Project
Contact: Julie Wasiluk
651-290-9704 ext. 119
Contact: Cory Woosley
651-746-4024
Aligning the Minnesota Core Competencies with Learning Objectives
As a trainer, you know about the importance of using good learning objectives to frame your trainings. You probably also know about (or are becoming familiar with) the Minnesota Core Competencies as a framework for improving the skills and knowledge of those who work with young children. But have you thought about using the Core Competencies to develop your learning objectives? In this article, we’ll explore why it makes sense for trainers to think of the Core Competencies as a foundation for developing and delivering training, and for training organizations (like CCR&Rs and others) to use competency-based learning objectives when advertising training to early childhood practitioners
How can the Core Competencies be used to develop learning objectives?
First, let’s review what we know about learning objectives. We know that good learning objectives:
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Give us essential organizing points or guidelines around which to build our sessions
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Give participants an indication of how they can put into practice the information that is presented
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And can provide both trainers and participants with ways to assess knowledge and skill.
There are three main components to good learning objectives (otherwise known as the ABC components):
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Audience – who is the target of the objective, and what are their characteristics?
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Behavior – what behavior or action is expected from the learner to demonstrate that he or she has learned the material?
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Conditions – under what conditions will the learner be expected to demonstrate his or her knowledge?
Now, let’s take a look at what we know about the Core Competencies:
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They define what practitioners need to know and be able to do to provide quality care and serve as guidelines for education and training.
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They serve as a foundation for practices carried out by practitioners.
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They can be used to self-assess knowledge and skill.
In addition, the Core Competencies have defined the Audience, both in terms of who they are and their level of skill and knowledge in specific content areas. The Core Competencies also address Behavior – in fact, the competencies are worded so they can be measured or demonstrated! Finally, the Core Competencies define the Conditions or settings in which the learners will demonstrate their knowledge (child care, ECFE, Head Start, school-age care, etc.).
As we can see, the Core Competencies not only establish the core knowledge and skills for quality child care, but do it in such a way that is reflective of the qualities and components of good learning objectives. To further demonstrate, let’s look at a specific example. The following statement is copied word for word from the Core Competencies (the early childhood version) Content Area 1, level 2, indicator a.: “Identifies basic physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language development milestones of children.” By adding learning objective “language” and changing the verb tense, this Core Competency indicator fits the definition of a good learning objective: “Participants will be able to identify basic physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language development milestones of children.” Sounds like a great learning objective for an “ages and stages” type class!
Why should we use the Core Competencies to develop learning objectives and why should those learning objectives be advertised?
In addition to making the job of developing learning objectives and organizing training content easier, aligning the Core Competencies to learning objectives will make it easier for our training audience to find training that meets their needs and fulfill those needs.
Ultimately, our goals as trainers and training organizations should be:
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To ensure that our trainings are built upon the foundation of our state’s accepted core body of knowledge and skills
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To ensure that our trainings lead to improvements in knowledge and skills
- To ensure that there is a seamless connection for our training audience from the initial process of identifying needed knowledge and skills (through the use of the Core Competencies), to finding scheduled trainings that clearly advertise competency-based learning outcomes, to completing our trainings with improved knowledge and skills in the areas that were identified as needs
While the use or even knowledge of the Core Competencies by our training audience might still be in its infancy, the federal funding that our state receives for improving child care quality requires the use of a core body of knowledge. In other words, not only are the Core Competencies here to stay, intentional and sustainable efforts are under way to educate practitioners about them and how to use them in meaningful ways to assess learning needs. One example of this is the Not By Chance training, which is now in its third full year of statewide delivery. Several efforts are also underway to integrate the Core Competencies in state-funded professional development initiatives and the professional development system redesign.
Trainers and training organizations can help these efforts by being more intentional about aligning our training with the Core Competencies. By writing our learning objectives to reflect Core Competency indicators, and advertising these objectives in our training descriptions, we will do our part to improve the skills and knowledge of those who work with young children.