Date of Conferral
10-13-2026
Date of Award
October 2026
Degree
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
School
Education
Advisor
Patricia Anderson
Abstract
Young children are still developing, which makes them vulnerable and puts them at risk for safety incidents. The problem that was addressed through this study was that in many childcare centers’ children are unsafe because incidents that affect children’s physical safety occur frequently. Guided by Noe’s elements of effective training, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore childcare teachers’ perspectives on the sufficiency of training they have received to respond to incidents that affect children’s physical safety, to prevent future incidents from happening, and the factors they believe would increase the effectiveness of such training. Data were gathered with 11 semistructured interviews with lead childcare teachers and coded thematically using open and axial coding. Four themes were developed and findings showed a majority of participants took safety training because they wanted to, not because they had to. Participants preferred in-person training over online training. Participants were confused about when to use cardiopulmonary resuscitation or first aid. Based on the results it is recommended that more in-person training be implemented. Positive social change may result if policymakers follow the recommendations by increasing in-person safety training offered to teachers and increase the safety of children in childcare.
Recommended Citation
Hipp, Mary, "Childcare Teachers’ Perspectives on the Sufficiency of Their Safety Training" (2026). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 20908.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/20908
