WECA is excited to announce the release of a new workforce study, Child Care Professionals in 2010: The view from Wisconsin. WECA teamed up with the Public Policy Forum in Milwaukee to help create an accurate picture of the strengths and challenges in the field today. A group of early education stakeholders were pooled together to determine the focus areas of the study: education, experience, job satisfaction, and compensation. In each category, a set of questions were developed to survey three distinct groups: child care directors, group child care employees, and family child care providers.

The study revealed positive trends in the workforce, including:

• Sixty-two percent of the survey respondents intending to pursue credit-based professional training and 41 percent planning to pursue non-credit training.
• A 14 to 24 percent drop in the Wisconsin early care workforce turnover rate.
• Only four percent of survey respondents claiming they were unsatisfied with their current jobs, and 96 percent claiming either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied”.

The study recommends focusing on key areas to support the future of the early care workforce, including:

• Building on the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Wisconsin scholarship program.
• Building on the R.E.W.A.R.D.™ Wisconsin stipend program.
• Developing and implementing comprehensive policies for professional development of the early care workforce.
• Developing an infrustructure for funding early care education.

To read the study, Child Care Professionals in 2010: The view from Wisconsin, in its entirety, click here.