Our pre K to 8 school provides EEC-subsidized care. Does my Grade 5 teacher have to do the training?
Any individual who has unsupervised access to children for whom care is subsidized will be required to complete the EEC Essentials trainings. Assuming that the 5th grade teacher does not interact with the child/children receiving subsidized care, they would not need to complete the trainings or complete the EEC background record check requirements.
Our teachers all have a Bachelor's or Master's degree. Can they be exempt from doing the training?
Although these trainings may be refreshers for some individuals, they are designed to ensure best practices across all programs and providers. Therefore, all staff working with children in funded programs are required to complete all of the EEC Essentials Trainings, regardless of their prior education and qualifications.
I completed a 3-credit Child Development course. Can I skip EEC's child development training module?
No. The Child Development module in the EEC Essentials Training is required for all staff working directly with children.
I am a Designated Administrator. Am I required to complete the EEC Essentials Trainings?
Yes, all staff working directly with children are required to complete the EEC Essentials Trainings.
How much do the health and safety trainings cost?
The EEC Essentials trainings are free to program staff and providers through EEC’s online learning management system.
Is the EEC Essential Training a yearly requirement?
The renewal requirement for the EEC Essentials 12-course package (and all courses within) was removed in January 2020. Note that all educators need to complete the EEC Essentials at least once (but there is no longer a requirement to retake these courses annually).
For more information, please see the updated policy and FAQ at www.mass.gov/sspds.
Do we need to take the infant safety module if we are an elementary school and don't have infants?
Yes. All program staff working in funded programs must complete all of the EEC Essentials training modules, including the “Infant Safe Sleep Practices” and “Shaken Baby Syndrome”.
Child Growth & Development is required from DESE for our preK teachers. Why is it required here?
All Staff working directly with children need to complete the EEC Essentials trainings. This includes staff that may have taken training on one or more of these topics in the past. These are new requirements from the Federal Government.
Do school age programs need to have training in shaken baby syndrome or other trainings specific to
Yes. All program staff working directly with children in programs providing subsidized child care must complete all 12 EEC Essentials training modules.
Why can’t staff pick training of their own choosing? Why do they have to use the EEC Essentials one?
The health and safety topics required are specific to the federal law. EEC has developed the EEC Essentials trainings to ensure that each of these topic areas are met.
When will the trainings be available in different languages? We need Spanish.
All 12 of the EEC Essential training modules are available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese.
Will our unpaid volunteers need the same health trainings & background screenings?
Volunteers are not required to complete all 12 of the EEC Essentials training modules, but they are required to complete the Emergency Response Planning training module. Any regular volunteer (those who are regularly present) would need to have a BRC run. Occasional volunteers (those only infrequently present) do not need to have a BRC run unless they have unsupervised access to children.