Childcare Technical Assistance: The Importance of Voluntary, Strengths- And Trust-Based Services for Improving Childcare Quality and Supporting the Childcare Workforce

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The US childcare system promotes children’s development, supports parental workforce participation, and employs a large, predominantly female and underpaid workforce. Childcare quality is uneven at best; despite structural barriers to pay adequacy, positive workplace conditions, and opportunities for career advancement, efforts to improve childcare quality often focus primarily on childcare workers. Technical Assistance (TA) programs are commonly used to support the childcare workforce, yet little research has examined how these programs work in applied settings or their strengths, challenges, or role within the larger childcare services landscape. Addressing this gap, we conducted a qualitative study with 13 TA providers participating in one statewide program in the Southeastern US. Collected as part of a program evaluation, data from two focus groups were analyzed thematically. Key findings include: 1) TA has a unique role in the childcare landscape because participation is voluntary, non-regulatory, strengths-based, long-term, and individualized; 2) TA focuses on quality more substantively and holistically than do regulatory approaches; 3) effective TA is experienced by childcare workers as value-added, and 4) even with effective TA, structural barriers and a lack of public awareness about the importance of childcare are impediments to adequately resourcing childcare services and the workers who deliver them.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2025.2587281

APA Citation

Fram, M. S., Shapiro, C. J., Hill-Chapman, C., & McNally, S. S. (2025). Childcare technical assistance: the importance of voluntary, strengths- and trust-based services for improving childcare quality and supporting the childcare workforce. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2025.2587281

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