Daycare Center Hiring Policies

Staff Selection

• Depending on the center's size and the number of children served, its staff commonly consists of a center operator or director, daycare workers and volunteers who provide additional support. In centers that provide child development services, teachers and teacher assistants are on staff to administer these services. Larger daycare centers may have a nurse on staff or someone with medical training.

Education and Professional Requirements

• States regulate daycare centers with the exception of family-based centers, which are often controlled by the local jurisdiction. State-regulated centers must be licensed. A prerequisite to licensing is usually staff training with a minimum number of hours required of staff each year. In addition, states impose requirements of paid staff, such as minimum age, education and professional experience. These requirements can vary from state to state.

  It's common for states to require directors to hold a college degree with training in education or child development. Teachers usually must hold at least a high school diploma and some college credit with professional teaching experience. Assistants and childcare workers typically must have graduated from high school. Some states even set minimum staff to student ratios. In addition, staff may be required to be certified in CPR or obtain other first aid training.

Volunteers

• Volunteers generally must satisfy the same requirements as paid staff with the exception of education. Although it's a benefit to the daycare provider to have volunteers with an education and/or child-related degree on staff, it's typically not required.

Screening Process

• Daycare providers are encouraged to screen applicants, both paid staff and volunteers, prior to hiring. Screening involves criminal background checks to uncover issues of family violence and abuse, as well as other possible criminal infractions that may pose a threat to children. Daycare providers also review employment history and perform reference checks of applicants before engaging them in the interview process. In some states, such as Louisiana, daycare workers must be fingerprinted by the State Police prior to being hired by a provider.

Hiring Practices and Procedures

• Daycare centers should have written hiring practices and guidelines for staff that outline hiring, incident and dismissal policies. It's also important to relay in writing information about salary and benefits, in addition to training requirements of staff.