Building a Career Pathway for Childhood Care and Education

Sound Living

Child Care Aware of Kansas reports a lack of educators is one of the primary barriers to filling childhood care openings in Kansas. As part of a grant-funded project, Kansas State University is working to rebuild the state’s early childhood care and education work force. Associate dean for academic and faculty affairs in K-State’s Department of Applied Sciences, Bronwyn Fees, is the principal investigator for Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities, which received more than $5 million in initial funding for a collaborative project involving K-State. The project will implement a career pathway for those currently in the early childhood care and education field – or those thinking about it. Fees and K-State Research and Extension child development specialist, Bradford Wiles, discuss the project and Extension’s role in the project.

Sound Living is a weekly public affairs program addressing issues related to families and consumers. It is hosted by Jeff Wichman. Each episode shares the expertise of K-State specialists in fields such as child nutrition, food safety, adult development and aging, youth development, family resource management, physical fitness and more.

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K‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K‑State campus in Manhattan.