ChildCare Education Institute Offers No-Cost Online Course on Transportation and Field Trip Safety for Child Care Centers

ATLANTA, GA, June 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ChildCare Education Institute® (CCEI), an online child care training provider dedicated exclusively to the early care and education workforce, offers ADM103: Transportation and Field Trip Safety for Child Care Centers as a no-cost trial course to new CCEI users June 1-30, 2021.

Most child care centers transport children for two main reasons:

• Field trips
• Picking up school-age children at school and transporting them to the center for after-school care

In some cases, child care centers also transport children to and from home.  Transporting children in a vehicle is a huge responsibility that needs to be taken seriously. In many cases, the time in the center’s vehicle can be considered the most dangerous time during a child’s day.

Child care programs should have a written, comprehensive general transportation policy covering all aspects of program transportation from vehicle maintenance and passenger safety to minimum driver requirements and safe driving practices.  A separate transportation policy should be developed for parents explaining program rules such as pick-up and drop-off procedures at the facility, behavior expectations on program transportation, emergency procedures, and the use of parent vehicles and drivers for field trips (if allowed).  All staff members should be familiar with the general transportation policy in addition to the more concise policy provided to parents. Transportation policies should be reviewed and revised as needed on a regular basis.

It is imperative that child care centers and/or school districts make whatever investments are necessary to ensure compliance with applicable laws. Children’s lives are at stake, and the federal vehicle standards provide important information for ensuring children’s safety.  Ensuring children’s safety requires more than careful driving.  All employees at the center need to be informed and trained on transportation policies and procedures.  Even if child care professionals rarely have to get on a bus with children, the child care provider may still be responsible for monitoring the pick-up/drop-off area, helping parents load and unload car seats, and there is always the chance the child care provider will end up helping to chaperone a field trip or other outing.

This course presents recommended practices and policies for the safe, developmentally appropriate transport of young children to and from child care centers. Information is based primarily on federal safety standards, which are generally used as the basis for state standards, though specific regulations vary from state to state. Topics include staff training and support; recommended vehicle types and maintenance routines; child passenger restraint systems; operating procedures and practices; safe loading and unloading procedures; field trip safety, and more.

“All center staff should learn basic practices for ensuring safe transportation of children,” says Maria C. Taylor, President and CEO of CCEI.  “It is important to take every precaution to ensure that the children are properly restrained, vehicles were in good working condition, and distractions inside the vehicle are minimized.”

ADM103: Transportation and Field Trip Safety for Child Care Centers is a two-hour, beginner-level course and grants 0.2 IACET CEU upon successful completion.  This course is also offered in Spanish as ESP_ADM103.  Current CCEI users with active, unlimited annual subscriptions can register for professional development courses at no additional cost when logged in to their CCEI account. Users without subscriptions can purchase child care training courses as block hours through CCEI online enrollment.

For more information, visit www.cceionline.edu or call 1.800.499.9907, prompt 3, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. EST

ChildCare Education Institute, LLC

ChildCare Education Institute®, a division of Excelligence Learning Corporation, provides high-quality, distance education certificates and child care training programs in an array of child care settings, including preschool centers, family child care, prekindergarten classrooms, nanny care, online daycare training and more. Over 150 English and Spanish child care training courses are available online to meet licensing, recognition program, and Head Start Requirements. CCEI also has online certification programs that provide the coursework requirement for national credentials including the CDA, Director and Early Childhood Credentials.  CCEI, a Council for Professional Recognition CDA Gold Standard™ training provider, is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and is accredited as an Authorized Provider by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).