Competency Alignment and Certification for Preservice Home Visitors

Abstract

Objective To explore home visitor expanded competencies aligned with family life education (FLE) competencies to inform the knowledge, skills, and attitudes addressed in preservice home visitor training. Background Home visitor preparation in higher education should be informed by widely accepted competencies. Method We aligned FLE competencies with the Collaborative for Understanding the Pedagogy of Infant/Toddler Development (CUPID) competencies into a framework of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to promote practices in the field while preparing to earn the Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) credential. This framework was developed through an iterative process with stakeholders. Results The full alignment includes 10 competencies. Implications This comprehensive alignment may inform the scholarship of teaching and learning in home visiting coursework and FLE content area coursework. This alignment may also promote developing new courses on home visiting, enhancing existing courses to address home visiting competencies, or modifying existing pedagogy. In the future, National Council on Family Relations CFLE‐approved programs may want to incorporate the content of this alignment into their courses to promote the ability of preservice home visitors to apply for the CFLE credential.