Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences

Although training is often used in child welfare as an intervention to promote effective performance on the job (transfer of learning—TOL) as well as staff retention, there is not a preponderance of empirical evidence to support this practice. The “transfer problem” is well documented in training and development literature and the relationship between training and turnover in child welfare is unclear. This article describes a longitudinal research study that attempted to promote a better understanding of the training, transfer, and turnover relationship. The research identified transfer of learning factors and an indicator of overall transfer support and explored their relationship to child welfare social worker retention. Overall transfer support, demographic variables (experience, age, education, gender) and several transfer support factors (supervisory support, coworker support, application planning, caseload size) were identified as predictors of retention. The results provide support for the use of training and development activities as part of comprehensive staff retention programs. The results also raise additional questions about the ambiguous relationship between training and turnover and suggest the need for ongoing research in child welfare regarding training, transfer of learning and staff retention.

Building upon the work of child and youth care leaders who have identified common themes involved in professional child and youth care practice, this article articulates a child and youth care approach to professional development and training, including the importance of relationships, a developmental/ecological approach, therapeutic activities, and an emphasis on practical applications. Recent developments in the child and youth care field and in the area of professional development and training are highlighted. These developments evaluate the importance of the role of professional development and training, challenging the field to increasingly promote professional standards and facilitate knowledge transfer from research to practice.

Child and youth care (CYC) practice significantly contributes to the well-being of children, youth, families, communities, and businesses in the United States. Research conducted over the past 15 years has documented systemic problems that limit the availability of a well-prepared, competent workforce to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding field of CYC. Recent practitioner-led efforts have focused on field building by defining the field of practice, describing the body of knowledge and skills, establishing professionally sanctioned ethics and practice standards, and implementing a national professional credentialing system. This article describes the current state of the field and proposes a vision of a national effort to unify professional development across the field, highlighting current trends, milestones, challenges, and priorities. The current evolution of the CYC profession holds great promise in creating a unified approach to workforce development that can significantly ...

Social work training frequently fails to enhance job performance because it is not viewed as a collaborative process involving factors that affect the social worker before, during, and after training. This article explores the variables that affect transfer of knowledge and introduces a model to assess and intervene in the learning and transfer process. By assessing the forces that promote or inhibit transfer, social work trainers can provide direction for transfer intervention and help transform training into effective social work performance. Transfer of training and adult learning refers to the application of learning, knowledge, skills, and attitudes acquired in a training setting to the job. Seldom do providers of social work training evaluate the amount of knowledge transferred through training. There seems to be an implicit assumption that training: is valuable, yet evaluations of training rarely go beyond the typical "reaction/satisfaction" questions that participants complete at the end of training sessions. Although the human service sector has not emphasized transfer, much has been learned from training in the private sector and from the fields of educational psychology, organizational psychology, and instructional design. This article integrates information from the aforementioned fields with our child welfare training and evaluation experiences at the Northeast Ohio Regional Training Center and Summit County Children Services Board. It explores the variables that affect the transfer of learning to child welfare social workers and introduces readers to a basic, yet comprehensive model of transfer assessment and intervention. Factors That Affect Transfer Application of social work training in child welfare agency settings involves numerous factors. By identifying key transfer elements, however, social workers can devise training interventions that can have a positive impact on complex and often confusing child welfare situations. Baldwin et al. (1988) found three major transfer components: trainee characteristics, training design, and the trainee environment. Individual trainee characteristics include skill and motivation level, ability to learn and apply knowledge, learning styles, personality factors (attitudes and values), level of education, age, life experiences, degree of burnout, and training expectations. A transfer-oriented training design must consider both these characteristics and the trainee environment.

This article provides an overview of the history, development, and conceptual framework guiding a national certification initiative for child and youth care workers. Summarized are descriptions of three certification assessment measures (supervisor assessment, situational judgment certification exam, and portfolio assessment), integrated with results from an international pilot validation study. The certification program is the first national effort to identify and assess underlying child and youth work competencies that transcend work setting (community-based to out-of-home care), population characteristics (diagnosed mental health concerns, experiencing child abuse, etc.), and age of the child/youth (early childhood through adolescence). The authors assert, building on a seven-year collaborative effort to establish the certification program, that it is time to transform the child and youth serving workforce crisis into an opportunity to bring together the varied child- and youth-c...

The authors emphasize the importance of designing, implementing, and evaluating transfer-of-learning interventions. Implications from more than a century of transfer-of-learning research are applied to independent living skills training. Suggestions are provided for designing transfer-effective independent living skills training based on research-driven transfer-of-learning principles and conceptual models focusing on instructional design, ecological intervention, and stages of learner development,.

This article identifies the need for development of transfer of learning evaluation methods in the human services that utilize: (1) a conceptual framework, (2) both quantitative and qualitative strategies, and (3) both generic/ general and workshop specific transfer indicators. The use of the Transfer Potential Questionnaire and the Human Services Training Effectiveness Postcard at the Northeast Ohio Regional Training Center are described as examples of transfer evaluation tools that partially address one or all of the above three criteria.

Using a sports metaphor (U.S. football), this learning activity provides specific examples pertaining to the five major responsibility domains of the Standards for Practice of the Association for Child and Youth Care Practice. Some of the examples illustrate constructive ways of adhering to the standards while others are questionable and may violate some of the standards.

In 2008 the North American Certification Project (NACP) completed a 7-year long process of developing a professional level certification program for child and youth care practitioners. This is the first effort in the United States to define the full range of knowledge, skills, and attributes necessary for fully professional practice across child and youth care practice environments. The work was carried out by over 100 practitioners, administrators, and educators from across North America. It included defining the field of practice, creating a five domain taxonomy of competencies, and creating an assessment methodology that included a scenario-based examination, supervisor assessments, and an electronic portfolio coupled with submission of education and experience, references, and documentation of specific training in required competency domains. Pilot testing of the certification program was conducted on 775 practitioners from multiple practice environments drawn from 26 sites in 9 states and 2 Canadian provinces. The program was revised based on consumer experience, research, and recommendations from the NACP committee and was implemented nationally in March 2008. The program is expected to provide a platform for addressing child care workforce development, unifying credentialing and education, increasing regulatory standards, and increasing public awareness of the contributions of the child and youth care profession.

Although training is often used in child welfare as an intervention to promote effective performance on the job (transfer of learning-TOL) as well as staff retention, there is not a preponderance of empirical evidence to support this practice. The btransfer problemQ is well documented in training and development literature and the relationship between training and turnover in child welfare is unclear. This article describes a longitudinal research study that attempted to promote a better understanding of the training, transfer, and turnover relationship. The research identified transfer of learning factors and an indicator of overall transfer support and explored their relationship to child welfare social worker retention. Overall transfer support, demographic variables (experience, age, education, gender) and several transfer support factors (supervisory support, coworker support, application planning, caseload size) were identified as predictors of retention. The results provide support for the use of training and development activities as part of comprehensive staff retention programs. The results also raise additional questions about the ambiguous relationship between training and turnover and suggest the need for ongoing research in child welfare regarding training, transfer of learning and staff retention.

This study focused on school-level approaches to curriculum, as well as school, principal, and student characteristics in juvenile corrections (JC) schools for committed youth. A national random sample of 131 principals from these schools responded to a mail and on-line survey. No statistically significant differences existed between respondent and nonrespondent schools. Approximately 80% of schools were accredited by their State Department of Education. The primary role of JC schools was to help youth obtain a high school diploma, followed by preparing students for the General Educational Development (GED) test. Approximately 66% of JC schools used a state or local education agency curriculum, while the remainder provided a school-developed or individualized curriculum. More than 50% of respondents asserted that grade level expectations should not be expected of all youth with emotional/behavioral disorders or learning disabilities. Additional results, implications, and recommendations for future research are provided.

Project Rationale ! • Social demands and concomitant decreases in levels of social & emotional support during adolescent's transition to middle school necessitate explicit intervention to increase the capacity for flexible, appropriate self-regulation in social situations.