ChildCare Education Institute Offers No-Cost Online Course on Reducing Exclusionary Discipline in Early Childhood Education

ATLANTA, GA, Jan. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ChildCare Education Institute® (CCEI), an online child care training provider dedicated exclusively to the early care and education workforce, offers SOC112: Reducing Exclusionary Discipline in Early Childhood Education as a no-cost trial course to new CCEI users January 1-31, 2022.

It has been well established for many years that quality early childhood education benefits young children′s cognitive (thinking), social (human relationships), and emotional (feelings) development. However, sometimes young children in child care and preschool programs behave in ways that are difficult for educators to manage. These behaviors may even be unsafe to the student and others.  Disciplining young students and improving their behavior requires specialized training and skills. 

Exclusionary discipline refers to common practices in early childhood education, such as removing children from their classrooms, sending them home from school early, suspension, and expulsion. This course will explore the harmful nature of these practices and explore how exclusionary discipline impacts different populations of students. The course will also identify strategies early childhood professionals can take to reduce the incidence of exclusionary discipline within early learning environments.

Years of research have shown that early childhood education helps students to reach critical developmental milestones.  High-quality early childhood education also helps to prepare young students to begin their elementary education years ready to learn.  This belief is especially true for students who experience poverty. With students of color being more likely to live in poverty than their white peers, students of color are also most likely to need and benefit from early childhood education yet lack access to it.  Exclusionary discipline further prevents access to education. 

Reduced access to education means less access to the additional support services schools offer and how educators refer to students and families in need. Examples include mental health services and social services (e.g., assistance with meeting food security, housing, and medical needs).  Students with disabilities and developmental delays are more likely to receive the services they need while in school. 

Services such as speech and language therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy are often performed in early learning environments as part of early intervention services.  When families in need receive these types of services, children experience more success in school as the challenges they are facing can be addressed before growing into more significant issues.

“When schools exclude students, even in the name of discipline, they send the message to students that they are not wanted,” says Maria C. Taylor, President and CEO of CCEI.  “Having a deep understanding of child development provides teachers with the capacity to plan how they can effectively respond to children′s behaviors, for instance, by using language they will understand.”  

It may seem overwhelming for individual teachers to carry out effective, unbiased discipline given all the systemic challenges. Indeed, when an entire school works cooperatively to support student behavior in unbiased ways, the best outcomes for students occur. And, teachers are an essential part of these efforts.  Even if a school has not committed to this work school-wide, teachers can do much to make their classrooms more supportive of all students, including those who struggle with undesirable or unsafe behaviors. 

SOC112: Reducing Exclusionary Discipline in Early Childhood Education is a two-hour, intermediate-level course and grants 0.2 IACET CEU upon successful completion.  Current CCEI users with active, unlimited annual subscriptions can register for professional development courses at no additional cost when logged in to their CCEI account. Users without subscriptions can purchase child care training courses as block hours through CCEI online enrollment. 

For more information, visit www.cceionline.edu or call 1.800.499.9907, prompt 3, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. EDT 

ChildCare Education Institute, LLC

ChildCare Education Institute®, a division of Excelligence Learning Corporation, provides high-quality, distance education certificates and child care training programs in an array of child care settings, including preschool centers, family child care, prekindergarten classrooms, nanny care, online daycare training and more. Over 150 English and Spanish child care training courses are available online to meet licensing, recognition program, and Head Start Requirements. CCEI also has online certification programs that provide the coursework requirement for national credentials including the CDA, Director and Early Childhood Credentials.  CCEI, a Council for Professional Recognition CDA Gold Standard™ training provider, is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and is accredited as an Authorized Provider by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).

• ChildCare Education Institute Offers No-Cost Online Course on Reducing Exclusionary Discipline in Early Childhood Education
• ChildCare Education Institute Offers No-Cost Online Course on Reducing Exclusionary Discipline in Early Childhood Education