or the parent's improved record of keeping home visit appointments. The home visitor should be helped to understand the situation by being encouraged to talk freely about parents without being criticized or judged New approaches can be provided for ways to solve problems, and ways to confront and interact. Training should be provided that helps the home visitor recognize the difficulty, complex ity, and slowness of family change. This can be done best by having home visitors address how they themselves have grown and changed.
d. Ignoring Other Family Members
OBSERVATION: Home visitors who work exclusively with one parent and not the other.
Corrective Strategies: The home visitor can be helped in acknowledging the other parent by asking of the parent who is present questions such as "What does the child's dad feel about him entering kindergarten?" Home visits can be planned at times when the other adults are available. The supervisors can assist the home visitors plan ways to involve absent adults. (See Appendix L, Involving the Absent Adult.).
e. Burnout and Fatigue
OBSERVATION: An upset home visitor who is irritated with staff, angry toward others, and guilty of poor planning, sloppy paperwork, taking lots of work home, or increased absences from work.
Corrective Strategies: The time scheduled for the home visitor's work and the work should match. For example, home visitors who drive very long distances may need smallercaseloads or better arrangement of visits to meet their schedules. They may need help with specific issues or areas. No extra paperwork demands should be put on the home visitor by other components. The supervisor should help the home visitor with structure and boundaries. Is the home visitor taking on too much? Does the home visitor have enough time to meet, provide, and receive support?
The supervisor should review and interview carefully to be sure the home visitors understand the limits of their roles with families.
f. The Transportation Trap
OBSERVATION: Home visitors who consistently use home visit
time or personal time to transport parents.
Corrective Strategies: The supervisor should
meet with the home visitor to discuss the goal of helping parents become
self-sufficient over time. Trans portation resources in the community should
be explored to make sure transpor tation alternatives have been examined.
The supervisor can brainstorm with the home visitor to come up with other
approaches to the problem.
g. The Materials Menace
OBSERVATION: Home visitors carrying large bags or boxes
with materials and equipment to home visits.
Corrective Strategies: The supervisor should
meet with the home visitor to review goals and the rationale for using
the home environment. The supervisor should work with the home visitor
to strengthen skills and understanding of the countless learning possibilities
that exist in the home and community.
h. The Quick Fix
OBSERVATION: Home visitors who respond to parent concerns
with direct advice, who tell rather than listen, and who fail to facilitate
problem solving.
Corrective Strategies: Training in problem solving
approaches should be provided. The home visitor should see that problem
solving with the parent is more empowering and longer lasting than telling
or advising.
I. The Power Play
OBSERVATION: Home visitors whose visits seem too rigid
and too controlled. They stick to the schedule and while they may solicit
parent input, they do little to extend and encourage true parent involvement
or parent leadership.
Corrective Strategies: The supervisor should
meet with the home visitor to discuss sharing power. The use of specific
planning techniques should be encouraged after attitudes about parental
empowerment have been discussed.
j. Reluctance to Recognize Problems
OBSERVATION: Home visitors who have difficulty recognizing
or addressing obvious problems or difficult family situations, such as
a mother's black eye, a broken window, or consistently harsh punishment
or discipline of a child.
Corrective Strategies: The supervisor should
ask if the home visitor has noticed the issue or situation. Inquiries should
be made into why the home visitor was reluctant to bring up the issue.
Betterways in which the problems might have been handled should be reviewed.
Training on communication techniques should be provided.
k. Termination
OBSERVATION. Home visitors who find it difficult to say
good-bye to their families and therefore fail to address the meaning of
the program ending to themselves and to the families.
Corrective Strategies. The supervisor should
work with the home visitor to plan ways to terminate with each family in
a positive way. This will include reviewing with the family the kinds of
things that have been done in the year, the family's feelings about these
activities, noticing the positive changes the family has adapted, or the
positive growth in themselves and their children. It may also mean discussion
of more difficult material such as family problems, changes, or issues
that arose during the year.
Termination activities should be planned that include transitions such as kindergarten entry, a discussion with the child of the program ending, and some marking of this event with something like taking pictures that can be left with the family. Group events to say good-bye and celebrate the year are also appropriate, but these events must not incorporate individual work with the family about the termination. Supervisors also find it useful to discuss the home visitors feelings about saying good-bye to each family.
C. KEEPING IT ALL TOGETHER
The home-based supervisor is responsible for monitoring the work of all the home visitors. To do this, supervisors need their own systems to track and plan. Appendix K, Data Tracking System for Supervisors, is an example of a form which can be used.
D. ADVOCACY WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
The home-based supervisor has powerful information about families and children which can be used when approaching local agencies, planning groups, foundations, and schools, such as there being a need for literacy programs or health materials in other languages. The supervisor should plan effective ways in which this information can be used to advocate for the needs of children and families with the Policy Council and management staff. Some ideas are:
1. Outreach
The supervisor should help make community agencies and leaders aware of the home-based option. Some ways to do this are to attend meetings of interagency groups that deal with children and families and to offer to make presentations to local service clubs that should know about the services and that may be able to help in efforts such as special projects, volunteer recruitment, and funding of special projects.
2. Effective Data Gathering
Local statistics from the home-based program on needs forjob training, housing, or supplemental food program use can be useful information to compile to present to other agencies or groups that advocate for families and children.
3. Local Impact and Results
The supervisor should let community agencies and leaders know what has
been accomplished within the home-based option on the local level. These
categories might include such things as number of parents who have entered
school or the job market, families who have arranged for regular preventative
health care services, and family members who have received literacy services.
The importance of training for the home-based option cannot be minimized. The success of the option depends on how well the staff is trained. Training is necessary for the self-image, confidence, and competency of the staff. Parents respond better to home visitors who are confident and competent. And for staff, nothing promotes success quite as much as do feelings of ability and competence.
This section provides guidance and outlines training content to be considered when planning and conducting training for home visitors and other program staff.
A. ASSESSMENT OF TRAINING NEEDS
Another benefit of conducting a training needs assessment comes at the conclusion of the training. By reviewing the initial needs assessment, trainees and trainers can see how training needs were met and if further training is needed. As training continues, additional needs will evolve and/or surface, thereby creating the need for continuai assessment.
Assessment should not only identify training needs, but should identify strengths among the trainees. This information can be used as training is implemented; i.e., more experienced trainees can contribute to the training (role playing, modeling).
1. Training Assessment for Home Visitors
a. Assessment Procedures
Assessment of training needs can take several forms. A simple pencil and paper pretest can be designed. However, care should be taken to administer a pretest in a non-threatening manner.
Another (perhaps more desirable) technique is to put the trainees in small groups and ask: "What do you want/need to learn?" The term for this type of assessment is "training expectations." This small group technique is effective because group dynamics often stimulate more ideas than individual input. Other advantages are that individual shyness and "test anxiety" are less of a factor.
Because communication is so critical to home visitors, it is important to assess their abilities to speak, read, and write clearly. If services are to be delivered in another language, the home visitor must be able to speak, read, and write that language as well as English.
b. Sources of Assessment Information
Other program staff will be more positive toward receiving training if they can express their own needs. One way to assess needs is by examining staffs knowledge of the goals and objectives of the home-based option.
Assessment information can also be obtained in a formal (with paper and pencil) or an informal (conversational) manner, or a combination of both. The trainees should indicate their strengths, weaknesses, and backgrounds to determine training needs. (See Appendix M, Personal Learning Plan.) Some of the same sources of assessment information listed above apply to this group of trainees.
Additionally, the program director or supervisor of the staff to be trained can provide information on tralning needs.
3. Training Assessment for Supervisors of a Home-Based Option
The supervisor of the home-based option is the key to the effectiveness of the option. Any person hired or assigned to supervise the home-based option might already have supervisory skills, but it is important to conduct a training needs assessment to determine what is needed in the way of supervisory training rather than make assump tions.
Steps to be considered in assessing training needs of the home-based supervisor are:
B. PRE-SERVICE TRAINING FOR NEW HOME VISITORS
It is critical that home visitors receive adequate pre-service training in order to get started off right. They must have a good understanding of the philosophy of the home-based option and knowledge of how to implement the option. This is important not only for home visitors but for the families. (Recommended resources from the Head Start Bureau, are "Head Start at Home," an orientation video, and the video, "Partnership with Parents.") Families must understand the goals and objectives from the beginning and how the option works. Otherwise there will be road blocks and delays in implementation.
Pre-service tralning must be adequate but not overwhelming. All training needs to allow time for home visitors to raise questions and voice concerns. In-service tralning (discussed in Chapter IV, Section C) is effective in providing an opportunity to incorporate training into daily implementation.
Components of new home visitor pre-service training, based on the Head Start Program Performance Standards, are:
1. Philosophy
a. Parent focus. (See Appendix 0, Are Home Visits Parent Focused?)
b. Family focus.
c. Parents as the primary educators of their children.
d. The importance of involving the absent parent/adult. (See
Appendix P, Forming a Learning Partnership with Parents.)
e. The home visitor's role as resource person/facilitator.
f. Importance of the home and such common activities as learning/teaching
"laboratories" in the home, and incidental learning. (See Appendix Q,
What Does the Home Have to Offer as a Learning Environment?)
g. The goals and objectives of the home-based option.
h. The importance of self-sufficiency and empowerment of families.
i. The value of self-esteem.
j. The roles of other staff members.
k. Knowledge of research supporting the effectiveness of the
home-based option.
1. Cultural diversity among families and the role of respect
and acceptance.
2. Home Visiting
a. Elements of a Home Visit
The elements below form the basic framework for a home visit, but not necessarily in the order listed.
(1) Warm and positive greeting to set the tone.
(2) Followup of last visit and reinforcement of follow through activities
conducted by parent during the week.
(3) Presentation of new information and activities with parent and
child.
(4) Planning for follow through, for next visit, and for parent and
child goals.
(5) Discussion of parental concerns and family issues.
(6) Evaluation: How did it go? What could we have done differently?
b. Focus of a Home Visit
(1) Parents are to be involved in planning in progressively more complex
ways throughout the year.
(2) The parent is the facilitator of the child's development.
(3) Family focus is to include all concerns, as well as all who are
present.
(4) Promoting parent focus.
(5) Respecting parental authority while reinforcing and promoting effective
guidance.
(6) Suggestions/tips for establishing and maintaining parent/family
focus (See Appendix 0, Are Home Visits Parent Focused?)
(7) Principles of adult learning are important in maintaining adult
focus. (See Section B-4.) Goals set by parents are necessary for meaningful
involvement and optimum understanding by the parents.
c. Sources of Home Visit Content
It is important for home visitors to voice their concerns and worries.
Examples of these are:
Some communication and sensitivity skills include:
How parents learn is an important aspect of training for home visitors.
Some home visitors may come to the home-based option with a child-focused
orientation and may need training to shift their focus toward adults and
how adults learn best.
Many adult learning strategies emphasize facilitating learning rather
than transmitting knowledge. Following are some guidelines that can be
used when working with adult learners:
Home visitors need to be familiar with and understand the Head Start components as they appear in the Head Start Program Performance Standards. Component coordinators should be involved and give guidance on incorporating components into the home-based option.
6. Record Keeping
Record keeping systems vary from one program to another. Training generally will be planned around the record keeping requirements of a particular program. Some things to include in record keeping are:
Home visitors usually have responsibility for group activities and need training for this. Even if they are not directly responsible, they need to know why the activities are required and what constitutes effective group activities.
They also must be trained on safety issues for children in a group setting. Group socialization activities for children and parents required in a home-based option are parent/child socialization activities and parent groups. (See Appendix E, Home-Based Group Socialization Checklist.)
8. Understanding the Operation of a Center-Based Option
Home-based staff need to know how the center-based option operates to understand and appreciate the differences and similarities between the two options. A good understanding can lead to positive working relationships between center- and home-based staff. Home visitors need to understand that both home-based and center- based options are governed by The Head Start Program Perfornance Standards, and that both are part of the same program. (The importance of training for center-based staff is addressed in Section E-5.) Education should address:
· Classroom team roles and responsibilities.
· Center-based schedules and responsibilities.
· Use of common resources and space.
· Working as a part of the Head Start team.
C. IN-SERVICE TRAINING
Continuing in-service training is important as it allows home visitors the opportunity to incorporate theory into practice. Topics covered in pre-service training will become more relevant when they are included in in-service training. In-service training provides in-depth information and responds to emerging needs.
As with all training, in-service training must be based on an assessment of need. Home visitors, the supervisor, and component coordinators all contribute to the assessment of training needs. Information is gained by reviewing records and program information reports (PIR), observing home visitors in the field and in group meetings, and talking individually with home visitors and the parents they serve.
An important part of in-service training is a weekly meeting with new home visitors where they can discuss questions, problems, and successes. This provides trainees on-the-spot help, reinforcement, and moral support. (See Chapter III-B-2 on support.) Sharing of resources, materials, and teaching ideas is extremely helpful to new home visitors. Other Head Start staff, such as component coordinators, can be drawn into these meetings to provide additional information and support.
In-service training can take many forms. It can be a weekly group meeting as mentioned above; a one-on-one meeting of a home visitor, supervisor, or component coordinator; or a more formal group training. In-service training should provide in-depth training on many topics covered in pre-service training as well as new information. Obviously, it must respond to emerging needs. Areas suggested for in-service training are:
There are many resources to explore when planning training. A good training plan will include necessary and appropriate resources as well as strategies for providing services. The first and most important resource is the trained staff within the option itself. Staff has the greatest knowledge of the philosophy, goals, and objectives needed to attain success. After looking to the staff itself, other sources to be explored are:
a. The Home-Based Supervisor
A home-based supervisor should meet frequently with home visitor staff. This allows concerns to surface, tells the home visitor she/he is important, and helps the supervisor plan future training and address individual concerns.
b. Head Start Component Coordinators and Other Staff
It is important that everyone understands that the supervisor, coordinators, and other staff are there to support the home visitors — the home visitors are not there to carry out the coordinators' responsibilities. Home visitors need to feel free to contact coordinators for help, and coordinators need to encourage and welcome such contacts. Coordinators should have a regularly scheduled time when they are available for consultation.
c. Other Home Visitors
Experienced home visitors are often familiar with a variety of extensive training resources and material.
d. Printed Materials and Audio-Visual Materials
See Essential Documents (IIB.) and the Bibliography.
2. Mentoring and Peer Support
This training resource/strategy within the total Head Start program deserves additional comment as a powerful and effective source of training and support for home visitors. Peer education, which involves home visitors observing each other on home visits, and mentoring, where more experienced home visitors take less experienced home visitors along on home visits, are very effective in implementing theory. The supervisor should be sure of the more experienced home visitor's competency before assigning a less experienced home visitor to her/him in a mentoring situation.
As mentioned earlier, group meetings also provide peer support in the form of problem sharing, successes, ideas, and resources.
3. Community Resources
There are many resources within the community that can be used in appropriate home visitor training. Examples of professionals or agencies and organizations within the community are:
The home visitor CDA program can be an effective, individualized training resource. Home visitors are assisted in developing competencies in 13 functional areas and are shown how to develop a resource file. They are assisted by a trainer who suggests training and/or resource materials in areas of deficiency.
The CDA trainer can be a source of reinforcement and motivation to the home visitor. The printed material alone on the functional areas and competency standards is a valuable resource for home visitors and/or a supervisor who is responsible for training. (For more information, refer to Child Development Associate Assessment System and Competency Standards - Home Visitor, available from the Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition, Washington, DC.)
E. TRAINING FOR OTHER PROGRAM STAFF
The importance of training the home-based option staff is obvious, as they are responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the option. But, as has been emphasized earlier, the home-based option does not operate in isolation of the total Head Start program. For an effective overall Head Start program, all staff must have a clear understanding of both options. Staff need to know the home-based philosophy, how it is implemented, the roles of all concerned, sharing of space and resources, and how these all fit under the Head Start umbrella. Successful training of all Head Start staff will result in an effective option - one where everyone understands and respects individual roles. Following is an outiine to be used in planning training on the home-based option for Head Start staff other than home visitors:
1. Philosophy of the Home-Based Option
a. The importance of parents as facilitators of their children's
development.
b. The importance of the parent/family focus.
c. Goals and objectives for the option.
d. Research supporting the effectiveness of the home-based option.
e. The importance of the home and everyday activities as learning and
teaching resources. (See Appendix Q, What Does the Home Have to Offer
as a Learning Environment?)
f. Purpose/goal of strengthening families by enhancing self- sufficiency.
g. The importance of self-esteem.
h. Roles of staff members.
i. Individualization within the home-based option.
2. Basic Information Regarding Home Visiting
For elements of a home visit, see B-2a above. Videos on home visiting, such as "Head Start at Home" and "Partnership with Parents," role playing, and accompanying more experienced home-visitors on visits, can give a more accurate picture of home visiting.
a. The Home Visitor Role Should Include:
(See Chapter III, Functions and Roles of the Home-Based Supervisor).
4. Incorporating Head Start Components into a Home-Based Option
There should be training on how home visitors include and implement all Head Start components of health and nutrition (all areas), education, parent involvement, and social services. Training should emphasize how all components are integrated during home visits. Home visiting videos, sample home visit plans, and references to essential documents (see Chapter II.E.) will be helpful in showing how this is done.
The role ofcomponent coordinators should be re-emphasized as one of providing support, training, and resources to home visitors in addition to going on home visits when appropriate and providing parent training in group settings. The importance of coordinators allocating regularly scheduled time for consultation with home visitors should be stressed.
5. Training of Center-Based Teaching Staff
In a program that operates both the center-based and the home-based option, it is critical that center-based teaching staff and parents understand the home-based option.
Training of center-based teaching staff and parents will help prevent misunder standing of the home-based option. This is important because misunderstandings can lead to jealousies or turf protection. Both center-based teachers and home visitors can be used effectively to train each other, thereby providing reinforcement of the importance of each option and mutual recognition. Center-based teaching staff need to know:
In a program where there are both the center- and the home-based option, center-based parents should be informed about the home-based option to promote understanding and exchange during parent activities. The Head Start home-based orientation video, "Head Start at Home," is ideal for this purpose.
G. TRAINING FOR HOME-BASED PARENTS
The supervisor's responsibility in overseeing parent tralning includes:
1. Orientation of New Parents
All Head Start parents should participate in a general orientation. New home- based parents need to be oriented to the overall Head Start program and to the home- based option.
It is important that home-based parents understand and feel part of the Head Start program. Every effort should be made to make the orientation positive. Some programs invite the home visitors and past home-based parents to give short testimonials to orient the new parents.
The orientation should make the parents excited about the option so that they are looking forward to participating. Time should be planned for questions and discussion so as to not overwhelm the new parents.
It is important that parents understand the home-based option as a unique and special operation within Head Start. At a minimum, the orientation to the home-based option should include:
There are many opportunities to train parents in groups. The overall tralning plan of the agency must include parent training and requires parental input into the training plan. Training conducted in groups can reinforce the weekly training which occurs through the home visit activities as well as cover other important topics.
Parent group training can include, but is not limited to:
a. Head Start Components
The Head Start component coordinators provide training in their areas of expertise and provide help in finding resources in the community.
b. Child Group Experiences
Parents should receive training regarding child growth and development while participating in child socialization experiences. Participating in the child socialization experiences should be balanced with participation in parent group activities.
c. Other Areas of Interest
With parental input, group training may include such things as self- improvement, job skills, interviewing skills, home repairs, self-defense, and assertiveness. The possibilities are limited only by the needs and desires of the parents and the staff planning the training.
3. Individual Parent Training
Many programs have resources to provide individual parent training in addition to training that occurs as a result of weekly home visits. Individual training should be a direct result of the FNA and the FAP.
Examples of individual training deal with secretarial skills, computers, food service, auto mechanics, auto body repair, medical and dental technicians, and driver training. Some parents may be interested in skill training forHead Start positions. Others may need training in locating and utilizing community resources.
H. TRAINING FOR POLICY GROUPS AND VOLUNTEERS
It is important that everyone involved with the home-based option have adequate training. Decision making groups such as the grantee board, Policy Council, and parent committees, need to be well oriented in order to make informed decisions and to be able to explain and/or advocate for the home-based concept when that option has been selected for implementation.
Volunteers who may be assisting with group activities (child or parent) need training about Head Start (goals, objectives) as well as specific training about the home-based option. Since the home-based child socializations are different from Head Start center-based class rooms, volunteers need proper orientation. They need to know the goals of the socialization activities and how parents are involved. Volunteers working in any other aspect of the program, such as assisting with social service needs or providing training, need to be trained/oriented about the home-based option as well as the Head Start program in general. Training should include:
Just as the skills necessary for effective home visitors are unique, supervisory skills are also unique. Supervisors need a solid knowledge base, as well as supervisory skills, in order to be effective home-based supervisors. (See Training Assessment in A-3 above and Appendix R, Supervision Factors Which Can Improve Leadership Performance.)
1. Knowledge Base
Home-based supervisors need a knowledge base as a foundation for the important job of supervising the home-based option. The knowledge base should include:
While personal knowledge, knowledge of the organization, and knowledge of one's roles are important in effective supervision, the common denominator that appears to be most crucial is "human skill." The ability to get along with others has been rated as more important than any specific job skill or knowledge.
Supervision is indeed a complex responsibility and consists of several functions. Among the functions are planning, organizing, motivating, and monitoring. The following is a list of topics to be considered when planning training to improve supervision skills:
The following Principles of Effective Training summarize this section. These principles and strategies apply to training for both staff and parents. When conducting training, use a variety of training techniques. Active participation is best. Consider the following: