Health and Student Services ESP —  Building a Quality Workforce

Meaningful Training = A Quality Workforce

Professional Development for Health and Student Services ESP

As stated throughout this Web site, skills training and professional development are vital components of building a quality workforce. Well-trained and informed Health & Student Services ESP contribute directly to enhanced student achievement.

Some children would not physically be able to attend school at all without the efforts and expertise of Health & Student Services ESP. Their contributions are invaluable and their need for ongoing training is essential. Indeed, all employees should have opportunities for meaningful and career-enhancing professional development and to be life-long learners.

Unfortunately for many school health professionals, administrations continue to ignore the obvious. In far too many districts, ESP are still orienting themselves and developing their own programs with little or no assistance from administrations. Many concerns are totally neglected by supervisors and school boards.

Health professionals report many areas where no training is available, including computer skills, recordkeeping, time management, liaisons with community health organizations and social services organizations, appropriate communication with local law enforcement, familiarity with child abuse services, local and state courts and substance abuse agencies, current medical insurance availability, and funding information in order to adequately stock and supply medical equipment.

Also lacking is current training on required recordkeeping for both state and federal requirements, changes in laws regarding abuse and/or sexual assault, pregnancy and birth control, foster care, guardianships, and parental liability, just to name a few. Training and information in order to better interact with parents and guardians would greatly enhance Health & Student Services ESPs' ability to help and support students. Many school health professionals report that often the "attention deficit is with the parent and not the child!"

Meaningful professional development for Health & Student Services ESP can be defined as:

• New employee orientation programs
• In-service training programs
• Relevant and current skills training
• Career-enhancing professional development programs

Mentoring Programs

Health & Student Services ESP have a challenging profession that becomes more demanding and complex every year. Every shift and change in community environments expands the scope of health professionals' jobs. Remaining current and informed is difficult at best, and is made even harder by lack of respect and recognition from those in charge. It is therefore important for Health & Student Services ESP to develop and initiate programs that provide them with training, support and information.

An effective method used by teachers in public school districts for many years is peer mentoring. Mentoring provides a vehicle for employees to reach out for advice, support, information and training. A mentoring program developed and established by the Local Association for its members enhances opportunities and protection for employees and contributes to a results-oriented environment. It can also raise the attention level of administrations in order to engage them in providing ongoing training and professional development for Health & Student Services ESP.

You are the Local Expert: Local Talent/Local Training

When developing training and professional development programs, never overlook the special expertise already present among Health & Student Services ESP themselves. Most are residents of the districts in which they work, and have special skills, abilities and connections in their communities that make them particularly valuable and relevant in local training programs.

They not only uniquely understand the nature of the community and the school district, they live in it, work in it, and vote in it! They are the fire-fighters, club members, parents, taxpayers, EMTs, and local volunteers. These are the "heroes" of our communities. According to a 1997 survey of members, over 90% of all Health & Student Services ESP volunteer their personal time to at least one community organization or group.

Local leaders should be aware of this invaluable expertise within their membership. How many are EMTs? Which members are the volunteer firefighters? Which member is or has been on the town council? How many speak more than one language? How many have been elected to township committees or boards? Who served or serves in the military and has specialized training? Who volunteers at the community hospital? Which members work with volunteer groups that provide disaster relief? Who works with the Red Cross or other international emergency organizations? Who has a spouse who is a police officer, firefighter or club member? Which members are in the National Guard? Which members are in a second career track and have specialized experience from a previous job or profession? Which ones are community religious elders or leaders? Who works with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc. Which members organize for charity donations?

All of these members possess unique and valuable skills and can provide special resources to the Local and the school district for training and professional development programs. Special, local member expertise should be a vital component of building a Health & Student Services Quality Workforce! Discovering, gathering, and then using all of this local talent should be an ongoing endeavor by all Local Associations in order to enhance recognition of Education Support Professionals in our public school districts.