American Council of Nanny Schools

Mission Statement:

AMERICAN COUNCIL OF NANNY SCHOOLS

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP:

• Provide networking opportunities for member schools and their students.
• Provide a central source of information for national or regional media coverage of ACNS activities and member schools.
• Establish and maintain ethical guidelines.
• Maintain statistics of students trained in member schools.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION CRITERIA:

• Must be licensed or provisionally approved for legal operation with that state.
• Must have a minimum of 200 contact hours and 100 field work hours. Contact hours are defined as: instructional lectures, field trips and discussions under direct supervision of qualified school faculty. Field experience is defined as supervised, non-paid work experience with children. It is understood that these are minimum requirements. The goal of ACNS is to encourage schools to continually upgrade their programs.
• Must submit curriculum in ACNS format to the Curriculum Review Committee.
• The following curriculum was approved in order of priority and identified as a core curriculum in any nanny-training program. Each school is unique and should include the core curriculum in a manner most appropriate to the focus of its program.
• Child Growth & Development (must be a minimum of 1/3 or 70 hours of the total contact hours.)
• Family Dynamics / Interpersonal Skills
• Health and Safety
• Nutrition
• The Nanny as a Professional
• Practicum
• Must have graduated one class.
• Any 1,2,3, or 4-year college or nursing program can apply for
• membership after the minimum number of total contact and field work hours, as well as 25% of the nanny specific courses, are met.

GOALS OF A NANNY TRAINING PROGRAM

• Encourage communication from children, but equally to communicate appropriately and concisely with a wide range of other adults, from a variety of social and occupational groups.
• To develop a consciousness and enjoyment of the arts.
• To enable the student to see the immediate and wider environment as potentially enjoyable rather than arbitrary and threatening - and to communicate this perception to children.
• To develop an informed awareness of the social environment in which the student will be living and working.
• Development of attitudes and abilities that will contribute to continuing learning after training is completed.
• Make realistic and appropriate suggestions for meeting identified needs, identify own part in such action, and competently undertake activities involved.
• Full knowledge of the immediate care and nurturing of the child from birth.
• Recognize the wide variation, within the range of normality, in the chronological age at which stages of development are reached and in the sequence of development.
• Accurately observe the behavior of children individually and in groups.
• Make reasoned assessments of the extent to which a child's physical, intellectual, emotional and social development accords with the norm, based on observations.
• Identify the factors to be taken into account in selecting and maintaining equipment appropriate to the care of young children.
• Identify those foods that must be present to ensure adequate nutrition and be able to prepare nutritious meals.
• Identify the factors important in the creation and maintenance of a safe environment in both the home and the outdoors.
• Identify the factors to be taken into account in selecting and caring for appropriate clothing for children.
• Identify the range of first aid procedures and how they should be used appropriately.
• Describe mode of transmission, incubation, onset, symptoms and cause of common childhood illnesses and ailments, together with the treatment likely to be prescribed and the complications that may arise. Identify the stages of social, moral, cognitive, emotional, psychomotor development of children.
• Identify the importance and connection between intellectual development and the provision of stimulating experience and to be competent of increasing these opportunities from birth on. Describe the ways in which young children should be encouraged to explore their environment, to discover the properties of a wide range of materials and to develop positive attitudes to problem solving. Describe and organize the routine care and the daily activities both indoors and out, individually and in groups, which should be provided within the child's program to supply the need for a balanced day. Identify the range of communication skills that should be offered to young children and the role of the adult in developing them. Develop healthy and balanced emotional growth and realize the importance of stability and consistency in the child's environment. Recognize the importance of developing self-confidence and independence in young children and ways in which these can be encouraged.
• Describe the process of bonding and its importance in the first weeks of life and identify the difficulties that may arise from failure of bonding. Recognize the importance of a secure, stable and loving relationship between parent and child.
• Recognize the importance of extending children's experiences beyond the immediate environment of the home.
• Be knowledgeable of the effect of loss or grief upon the normal healthy growth of a young child.
• Identify the range of relationships that may exist in society today, recognize that there are many different ways for families to live together that may all be successful.
• Identify the range of social relationships that young children develop beyond their family and their importance.
• Understand the importance of developing self-confidence and a good self-image in the early years of childhood.
• Show an awareness of differing values, beliefs and behaviors of individuals and groups.
• Recognize the symptoms of abusive behavior.
• To enable the student to match their strengths and talents to the needs of the appropriate employer.
• Respect the principal of confidentiality of information gained in the course of employment.
• Recognize the potential difficulties of the employer/employee relationship with regard to written contracts of employment and their enforcement.
• Recognize the responsibilities of a good employer in regard to statutory responsibilities.
• Recognize the responsibilities of the employee in regard to contractual responsibilities.

Code for Certified Nannies

• The Nanny provides services with respect for the dignity of man, woman, child, and infant, unrestricted by considerations of nationality, race, creed, color, or status.
• The Nanny will at all times safeguard the family's right to privacy by judiciously protecting information of a confidential nature.
• The Nanny maintains individual competence in child and infant care and accepts responsibility for individual actions and judgments.
• The Nanny acts to safeguard the child or infant in her/his care when safety is affected by incompetent or illegal conduct of any person.
• The Nanny uses individual competence as a criterion in accepting delegated responsibilities from her/his employer.
• The Nanny participates with other family members in providing for the physical, emotional and social needs of each child in her care.
• The Nanny participates in an ongoing effort to define and upgrade standards of Nanny practice and education.
• The Nanny works with members of other groups in promoting efforts to upgrade the care, education, and health of all children.

NANNIES - THE CHAMPIONS OF THE 21^st Century