Enhancing Work With College Departments
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The partnership between a community college and Head Start program opens doors for coordination far beyond the obvious early childhood connection. Below you’ll find a list of additional on-campus departments or training programs that could benefit students with hands-on learning opportunities under the supervision of their instructors while providing valuable services to the children, families, and staff in the on-campus child development center.
Early Childhood Education Programs
The relationship between early childhood education and Head Start centers is a natural one. Most institutions have an associate of applied science degree in early childhood education. This two year degree prepares you to work with young children in many different settings such as preschools, stand alone and family child care centers, elementary schools, and Head Start centers. The coursework consists of child development, early childhood education and other related topics. Students also need to complete a field experience which can be done at the onsite Head Start center.
Many schools also have early childhood or child care certificate programs. These can either be credit or non-credit programs and prepare students to work in child care centers, become self-employed as child care providers, or work as teacher’s aides in various educational settings.
Colleges will typically have an established pathway to articulate coursework from certificate programs to degree programs which allow someone to continue their career development. Most will also have a transfer agreement to a four year institution for those wishing to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
“We now have a relationship with the nursing program. So the nursing students come in and do some practicum hours, with Head Start doing the assessments and the health screenings and things like that.”
Nursing Programs
Practical learning is an important part of every nursing program. A partnership between Head Start and the nursing program to have nursing students conduct health screenings would allow nursing students to get hands-on experience with children and meet an important need of the Head Start program. Nursing students could also help provide a variety of health education information to families.
Allied Health Programs
Many non-nursing healthcare programs also require practical learning. Students in programs such as medical assistant certifications could provide similar support as the nursing students shared above, creating a real life work environment working as part of a team with other health care professionals.
Dental Hygiene and Assistant Programs
Like nursing students, dental hygienists and dental assistant students benefit from practical learning. Head Start programs support dental health of the children they serve, including ensuring they are connected to a dental practice and have had dental screenings and cleanings. Dental hygiene and dental assistant students could provide valuable cleaning and consultation services while getting practical experience working with children (or even parents and staff!).
Food and Nutrition Service Programs
Part of the requirements of Head Start programs is that they provide meals for the children. There are multiple ways to accomplish this and institutions that have culinary programs or food service related programs can leverage their students to help.
“Originally, the building was built by the college’s construction trade programs… Head Start got the building; the college got hands-on experience for their trade school students.”
Trade Programs
Students in various trades programs—such as construction, HVAC, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), electrical, carpentry, plumbing, and welding programs—may be able to assist with new construction and/or the retrofitting of existing space on campus. In addition, students in construction management programs can work with design firms, construction companies, and general contractors through internships or apprenticeships throughout the process.
Physical Medicine Programs
Head Start students come from all walks of life and some have the need for physical services for various challenges. These services are often sourced from the local school district and can provide the opportunity for students in physical therapy assistant or occupational therapy assistant programs to observe typical and atypical development and behaviors.
Psychology and Humanities Programs
This may be one area that is not thought of that could benefit students but there is a lot of information that can be obtained about typical and atypical development and behavior through observation. Observing interactions between the students, watching them play and the dynamics of the relationships can be very beneficial to students studying fields such as psychology, social work or social services, or humanities.