Factors affecting the training needs and barriers of school-age care administrators

Using Bronfenbrenners ecological system theory, the extent to which individual, program and community-level variables affected the training barriers and training preferences of school-age care administrators was examined through a survey of 201 school-age administrators. The training topics directors preferred were significantly correlated with the problems they experienced in their programs, suggesting that program characteristics may affect training preferences. In contrast, individual and community variables appeared to have less effect on training preferences and barriers. Director education, experience and the size of the community in which they worked were related to only a few preferred training topics or methods and were unrelated to preferred training times and barriers. The results of this study support past research indicating that program characteristics may be an important variable affecting the training preferences of school-age care administrators.