Competencies of a Parenting Educator
What Does a Louisiana Parenting Educator
Need to Know and Do?
LA Parenting Education Network
Pre-Conference Summit for Parenting Educators
March 4, 2009
Betty Cooke , Ph.D.
Family Education, Department of Curriculum & Instruction
College of Education & Human Development
University of Minnesota
cooke047@umn.edu
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Participant Goals
Participants will:
1.
Understand the background, current status, and
issued involved in the identification and
development of parenting educator competencies
2.
Recognize similarities, differences, and themes in
sets of state and organizational parenting educator
competencies
3.
Learn of systems and programs currently offering
certification or other professional preparation and
recognition for parenting educators
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Participant Goals
4.
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Learn how parenting educators can use
competencies to assess their level of competency as
parenting educators
Become familiar with parenting educator core
competencies being developed for Louisiana
parenting educators
Consider uses of the Louisiana parenting educator
core competencies for the state of Louisiana
Why Parenting Educator Competencies?
Research tells us that :
 Parents are their children’s first & most important
developmental influence.
 The quality of the parent-child relationship is crucial to
a child’s development.
 Raising young children is challenging; no job is more
important to our nation’s future & more challenging
than that of a parent.
 The overload of conflicting parenting information
available on a daily basis from the media, Internet,
friends & relatives overwhelms & confuses parents.
 Parents, regardless of life circumstance, can benefit from
education & support in their role as parents.
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Why Parenting Educator Competencies?
(continued)
 These statements make a strong case for the
importance of parenting education
 Evidence is growing that parenting education
can impact parents’ interactions with their
children in ways that lead to better child
outcomes.
 The case for parenting education demands
professionals who are capable of & show
competence at working with a diversity of
parents & families.
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See How We Grow – Nick Carter (1996)
“Probably the most critical issue facing the
development of parenting education is
that of how practitioners are trained,
supervised, and supported in their work
with parents”.
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See How We Grow – Nick Carter (1996)
Carter points out that the demands on practitioners
are enormous and include:
 the expectation to work across cultures,
disciplines, and systems;
 master a growing and diverse body of knowledge;
 be adept at the processes and methods that truly
strengthen families; and
 produce dramatic results in shorts periods of time
with ever-decreasing dollars.
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Without certification or formal recognition . . .
The field perpetuates the current situation of:
 Continuing to have well-intended, but often poorly
prepared individuals naively involved in parent
education situations beyond their level of expertise;
 Continuing to have anyone working with a few popular
parenting books and videotapes or DVDs practicing
parent education;
 Continuing the growing oversimplification of complex
parenting issues with offers of what appear to be easy,
quick fix solutions;
 Solving parenting concerns as media entertainment; and
 Continuing to have parents seek out information and
support without guidance as to what is accurate
information and positive support.
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Why do we have this situation?
 Parenting education is not a single field of
study.
 It is embedded in many other fields of study
– education, social work, health, psychology,
counseling, etc.
 It has been challenging to agree on the body
of knowledge and competencies needed by
practitioners.
 Practitioners in many fields are involved.
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Broad Array of Practitioners
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Parent Educators
Teachers
Social Workers
Psychologists & Psychiatrists
Counselors
Extension Family Specialists
Health Providers
Faith-Based Professionals
Early Childhood Educators & Care Providers
Paraprofessionals
Volunteer Parents
Questions and issues arising from this
situation . . .
 What do parents need to know and be
able to do to raise healthy, responsible
children?
 What should a parenting educator know
and be able to do to work effectively with
parents?
 What degree and level of preparation is
needed?
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What is the body of knowledge needed
in parenting education?
Minnesota’s Parent Education Core Curriculum Framework
& Indicators helps to answer this question.
Domains of Knowledge for Parents:
 Parent Development
 Parent-Child Relationship
 Child & Adolescent Development
 Family Development
 Culture & Community
Full information available at:
http://cehd.umn.edu/CI/Programs/FYC/parent-framework.html
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Minnesota’s Parent Education Core
Curriculum Framework & Indicators
 One of the goals of the framework & indicators is to
inform practice in parenting education.
 The framework and indicators illustrate how
content for parents can inform competencies for
parenting educators.
 What is taught to parents informs the competencies
the parenting educator needs.
 Within each domain there are domain components
& categories leading to the specific domain
indicators for parents to achieve in each category
through participation in parenting education.
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Parenting Educator Competencies
 What a parenting educator needs to know and do is
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grounded in what we believe a parent needs to know and be
able to do to raise healthy, responsible children.
What a parenting educator needs to know and do is what we
are referring to when we examine parenting educator
competencies.
Competencies include:
 Content Knowledge
 Knowledge of Skills/Teaching Strategies or Processes
 Attitudes/Dispositions/Beliefs
All are important.
They are interrelated and often listed together within
content categories.
Examples of Sets of Parenting
Educator Competencies
1.
Texas Core Knowledge for Parent Educators
2.
National Extension Parenting Education
Framework (NEPEF)
Minnesota Parent & Family Education Teacher
License Competencies
United Kingdom Standards for Work with Parents
Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) Content
Areas (National Council on Family Relations)
Wisconsin Core Competencies in the Field of
Family Support
Strengthening Families Protective Factors
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
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1. Texas Core Knowledge for Parent Educators
University of North Texas Center for Parent
Education:
 Developed “Core Knowledge for Parent Educators
and Professionals Who Work With Families”
 Apply to families and children from ages 0–18
 Includes “Skills of Parent Educators and
Professionals Who Work With Families” and
“Attitudes of Parent Educators and Professionals
Who Work With Families” in these 10 Core
Knowledge Areas
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1. Core Knowledge Areas for Parent Educators and
Professionals Who Work with Families
Child and Lifespan Development
Dynamics of Family Relationships
*Family Life Education
Guidance and Nurturing
*Health and Safety
*Diversity in Family Systems
*Professional Practice and Methods Related to Adult
Learning and Family Support
8. *School and Child Care Relationships
9. *Community Relationships
10. *Assessment and Evaluation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
*Includes items related to process knowledge or knowledge of teaching skills/strategies
University of North Texas Center for Parent Education and Texas Registry of Parent Educator Resources
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2. National Extension Parenting Education
Framework (NEPEF)
Two dimensions with six domains each:
1. Content or knowledge needed by
parenting educators to provide to
parents and
2. Processes that parenting educators need
to work effectively with parents and
children
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2. NEPEF Content or Knowledge Needed by
Parenting Educators
 Care for Self – includes knowledge about managing stress
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and family resources and getting and giving support to
other parents
Understand – includes focus on basic child development
Guide – includes the importance of parent strategies that
engage children in appropriate and desired behaviors
Nurture – includes emphasis on the importance of
teaching appropriate expressions of affection and
compassion
Motivate – includes the importance of stimulating
children’s curiosity and search for knowledge
Advocate – includes emphasis on the value of parents and
children finding and connecting with community-based
programs
2. NEPEF Professional Skills and Abilities Needed by
Parenting Educators to Work Effectively With Parents
 Grow – refers to personal growth as a professional,
knowing yourself and understanding how that affects
relations with others
 Frame – refers to knowing theoretical frameworks that
guide practice in the field of parent education
 Develop – refers to planning, marketing, and evaluating
programs to educate parents
 Embrace – refers to recognizing and responding to
differences in the populations being served
 Educate – refers to being an effective teacher, using
delivery methods appropriately, and helping and
challenging parents in their learning
 Build – refers to building professional networks to
expand the field of parent education and being a
community advocate
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3. Minnesota Parent & Family Education
Teacher License Competencies
 Offered through Minnesota Department of
Education
 Must complete a preparation program leading to
a Baccalaureate Degree that includes
demonstration of specific knowledge & skills in:
 Understanding Families
 Understanding Parent-Child Relationships
 Understanding Child Development
 Understanding Adult Development
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3. Other Minnesota Parent & Family
Education Teacher License Requirements
Must also meet “Standards of Effective Practice for
Teachers” in:
 Subject matter (Parent & Family Education license)
 Student learning
 Diverse learners
 Instructional strategies
 Learning environment
 Communication
 Planning instruction
 Assessment
 Reflection and professional development
 Collaboration, ethics, and relationships
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4. United Kingdom Standards for Work with
Parents Key and Core Skills (32)
Examples:
 Contribute to building relationships in work with parents
 Provide access to knowledge and information
 Contribute to providing safe, inclusive environments
 Help to keep parents safe and secure
 Enable parents to reflect on influences on parenting and the
parent-child relationship
 Work with parents to meet their children’s needs
 Enable parents to develop ways of handling relationships and
behaviour that contributes to everyday life with children
 Work with parents to understand and meet their own needs
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5. Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE)
 Offered through the National Council on Family
Relations (NCFR)
 Applicants must have a Bachelor’s Degree.
 Process has moved from having applicants
provide documentation through a portfolio of
academic preparation, professional
development, and work experience in ten
Family Life Education Content Areas to a
national exam.
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5. Certified Family Life Educator
Family Life Education Content Areas
1. Families in Society
2. Internal Dynamics of Families
3. Human Growth and Development
4. Human Sexuality
5. Interpersonal Relationships
6. Family Resource Management
7. Parent Education and Guidance
8. Family Law and Public Policy
9. Ethics
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10. Family Life Education Methodology
6. Wisconsin Core Competencies in the
Field of Family Support
Core Competency Areas for Family Support Staff:
1. Child and lifespan development
2. Dynamics of family relationships
3. Family support and parenting education: Principles
methods and approaches
4. Guidance and nurturing
5. Health and safety
6. Diversity in family systems
7. Relationships among family, school and community
8. Professional practice and self care
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6. Wisconsin Core Competencies in the
Field of Family Support (continued)
Core Competency Areas for Managers in the Field of
Family Support:
1. Best practices in the field of family support
2. Program, planning, monitoring and evaluation
3. Marketing and outreach
4. Fund development
5. Budget management
6. Personnel
7. Community advocacy and collaboration
8. Public policy advocacy and involvement
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7. Strengthening Families Protective Factors
When present in a child’s or family’s life, these factors reduce the
likelihood of child abuse & neglect:
1.
Parental resilience – developing & sustaining caring relationships
& having faith in their own potential & the world around them
2.
Social connections – reducing social isolation & building
communities with stronger social capital
3.
Knowledge of parenting & child development – understanding
normative child development & the parent-child relationship
4.
Concrete support in times of need – helping families in times of crisis
by arranging for or providing emergency services through other
community-based programs
5.
Social & emotional competence of children – helping parents
understand how to facilitate their children’s social & emotional
development & deal with challenging behavioral issues
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From Center for the Study of Social Policy
Similarities, Differences, and Themes across Sets
of Parenting Educator Competencies
 Focus on content knowledge to provide to parents and process knowledge or
skills needed to work effectively with parents – some also include focus on
attitudes or dispositions needed to work effectively with parents
 Much agreement about what is required in each of these areas of focus
 Focus on differing age groups, e.g., from parents of children 0-5 to parents
of children 0-18
 Focus on only parenting education versus larger focus on family life
education or family support which encompasses more, but includes
parenting education as one area of their work with parents
 Focus on different roles within parenting education/family life education
or support
 Focus dependent upon the overall goals of a parenting education program
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Understanding Parent Development as an
Important Parenting Educator Competency
 Simply teaching parenting skills and giving parents
information about child development, while useful for many
parents, is unlikely to significantly affect the deeper qualities
of the parent–child relationship.
 Recent research on parenting shows that parenting itself
provides a context within which parents grow and develop as
parents and persons , e.g., how parents move from focusing
on their own needs to noticing and understanding their
children’s unique characteristics and individual differences.
 Parent educators need to understand this process of parent
development and how to promote parent growth.
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Examples of Parenting Educator Professional
Preparation & Recognition Systems
1. REGISTRY: Voluntary addition of name to
searchable database of parent educators
Example: Texas Registry of Parent Educator
Resources (ROPER) – statewide network of
professionals who work with parents; a
searchable database of parenting
professionals that parents and professionals
can use to locate parent educators by
location, language, and expertise; led to
development of Texas Professional
Development Recognition System
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Examples of Parenting Educator Professional
Preparation & Recognition Systems (continued)
2. CREDENTIAL: Verification of one’s personal competencies
based on state defined standards; often submitted as a
portfolio or verified by an exam
Example: North Carolina Parenting Educator Credential (Four
levels)
I. North Carolina Credentialed Parenting Educator (CPE-I)
II. North Carolina Credentialed Parenting Educator (CPE-II)
III. North Carolina Credentialed Parenting Education
Associate (CPE-III)
IV. North Carolina Credentialed Parenting Education
Resource Assistant (CPE-IV)
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Examples of Parenting Educator Professional
Preparation & Recognition Systems (continued)
3. CERTIFICATE: Seal of approval by a validating organization
including a college or university; a set of courses or an exam
with or without a degree
 CERTIFICATION THROUGH A PROFESSIONAL
ORGANIZATION: Validation of knowledge and experience
in competency areas through an exam
Example: NCFR Certified Family Life Educator
 GRADUATE CERTIFICATION: 12-20 hours of graduate
credit from an accredited institution of higher education
Examples: North Carolina State University, DePaul
University, University of Minnesota, University of North
Texas
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Examples of Parenting Educator Professional
Preparation & Recognition Systems (continued)
4. STATE TEACHER LICENSE: Official or legal
permission to practice granted by an appropriate
authority; competency-based, renewable; passing
pre-professional skills test required
Example: Minnesota Parent & Family Education
Teacher License required to be a parenting
educator in the public school Early Childhood
Family Education programs
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Examples of Parenting Educator Professional
Preparation & Recognition Systems (continued)
5. COLLEGE CREDIT:
 UNDERGRADUATE CREDIT: Completion of a course, series
of courses, or certificate from an accredited institution of
higher education without a degree
Example: Iowa State University Extension course credits,
CEUS, and/or parenting education certificate of
completion
 GRADUATE DEGREE: Graduate courses resulting in a
graduate degree in family life and/or parenting education
from an accredited institution of higher education
Example: Master of Science Degree in Human
Development & Family Studies with a concentration in
Family Life & Parent Education (34 credits) – North
Carolina State University & the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro (jointly administered)
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Career Ladders for Professional Preparation
& Recognition
 The National Parenting Education “Framework for
Understanding Parenting Educator Professional
Preparation & Recognition Systems” and the examples
on it provide a guide for creating career ladders.
 A career ladder is a series of defined levels where the
nature of work is similar and the levels represent the
organization’s typical requirements for career growth.
 A career ladder is a trajectory of upward mobility in
which a person in the field can step in at the point most
appropriate for their professional level and voluntarily
acquire the professional recognition.
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Issues related to parenting educator
competencies . . .
 Can we expect volunteers, peer facilitators, and
paraprofessionals to meet the requirements
included in the various Professional Preparation
and Recognition Systems we have reviewed?
 Is there consensus on the competencies needed
by parent educators to effectively deliver
parenting education and the content they need
to know to address parents’ interests and needs?
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Growing Consensus
 Consensus on the competencies needed by
parenting educators to effectively deliver
parenting education and the content they need
to know has been evident for some time and is
evident in what we have reviewed.
 The consensus evident 13 years ago (Carter,
1996) as to the body of knowledge and
competencies needed by a parenting educator
appears to be even stronger today.
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Implications of Parenting Educator
Competencies
 They provide a means for parenting educators
coming from diverse professional backgrounds to
assess their ability to do parenting education.
 They provide a standard for parents to judge the
quality of their sources of information and support.
 They provide a basis on which to continue the
discussion of developing certification and other
accountability systems that will help assure the
professionalism of the field of parenting education.
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What does all of this information about
parenting educator competencies mean?
 Such accountability systems will assure professionals
that they are upholding the high standards for which
the profession is striving.
 Only then can we move toward having a better
recognized field with recognized practitioners working
to achieve goals of improved parenting become possible.
 Only then can we assure parents that we are providing
them with the information, skills, and other
opportunities for growth that they need to nurture their
children toward healthy adulthood.
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Potential Uses of Louisiana Parenting
Educator Competencies
 Individual uses:
 Doing own self-assessment as a
parenting educator
 Identifying needed areas of study and
continuing education/professional
development
 Setting professional development goals
 Creating individual professional
development plans
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Potential Uses of Louisiana Parenting
Educator Competencies (continued)
 Planning parenting education professional development
opportunities – workshops, conferences, non-credit and
credit courses including use by institutions of higher
education to plan courses and programs
 Developing curriculum resources/materials for
preparing parenting educators and parenting education
with parents
 Developing and using individual/program/state career
ladders/lattices or credentials in parenting education
 Recognizing and encouraging professional development
in parenting education
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Potential Uses of Louisiana Parenting
Educator Competencies (continued)
 Program planning in parenting education offered
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through agencies, organizations, and institutions
Networking and collaborating about offering parenting
education and other family supports across programs,
agencies, organizations, and institutions
Providing information to parents about what is offered
in parenting education
Creating a parenting education professional
organization
Assuring high quality in the practice of parenting
education