PHQP_0019 Programming Consistency

PHQP_0019 Programming Consistency delves into the value of consistent early learning programs. Jeff outlines a six-tier hierarchy—vision, mission, philosophy, policies, procedures, and practices—to ensure clarity and alignment for staff, kids, and parents.
Episode Video
Watch Now: PHQP_0019 Programming Consistency
Episode Notes
The 6-Tier Programming Consistency Hierarchy
Mission Statement
Vision Statement
3 Valuable Tips For Writing A Mission Statement
Compose A Sensational Philosophy Statement | 4 Tips
The Programming Consistency Transcript
Welcome to the Playvolution HQ podcast. I'm Jeff Johnson. Thanks for pushing play on the show.
So, I've got a new scary thing I've started working on. I did the 50 mile walk and now I needed something new so I've decided I'm gonna learn guitar. Now, I have no sense of rhythm.
I have no musical sense. I have very, it appears, uncoordinated fingers but I decided this would be a great old guy thing. I can practice a little bit at a time.
It's gonna build my proprioception. It's apparently good for the old brain to learn new habits like this and it's gonna be fun. So, stay tuned for updates on my progression.
I ordered the car, I can barely say guitar, ordered the guitar the other day. It arrived, the amp hasn't shown up yet. It's a nice little Squier Stratocaster.
I've decided, I've made sure Tasha, my wife, knows already that I'm not gonna get real good at playing this guitar because I don't wanna have to buy leather pants and deal with groupies and have a heroin addiction. But I should learn to play a song or two. It's gonna be fun.
So, let's move on into things. Topic one, the one and only topic for this week, program consistency. So, let's dig into it.
I meet a lot of confused caregivers. So, picture somebody working in a toddler room with a co-worker, maybe they're the lead teacher, maybe they're not and they wanna make a change but they don't have their co-worker on board and so they struggle or they struggle because things are done one way in the toddler room and a different way in the preschool room and then a third way in the school age room. And not just age-based differences but really philosophical differences for the way kids are dealt with.
Or maybe somebody is a member of a professional organization that says one thing in their shiny, glossy, three-fold handout and does other things in practice. It's really hard to know where you stand in a lot of these situations. And one thing having a consistent program, one thing program consistency does is it lets everybody know where they stand and that can be valuable.
So, what am I talking about? I'm talking about continuity and predictability for programs. And we're gonna get into this in a minute but ideally, an early learning program and we'll focus on child serving programs, programs providing child care right now. These programs want to be consistent.
They want to be predictable. They want parents to have a unified vision of what their philosophy and mission is because then everybody's on the same page. Everybody is trying to work towards the same thing.
Everybody knows what they're supposed to be doing. But when programs lack that, when one room does things one way because that's the way Ms. Kim has done things for 35 years and somebody new comes into the classroom next door and wants to try things differently and that's okay too because hey, we got people to show up for the job so just having warm bodies here might be enough. It can get really confusing for kids, parents, and staff.
And so continuity and predictability come from having that program consistency that I'm talking about. So here, a little over a year ago, I put together a six-tier hierarchy of I think about what we need structurally in programs to have this consistency. So let's kind of go through those.
So starting out, we got a vision, a vision statement.