Abstract
This grounded theory study sought to understand childcare directors’ perceptions of caring for young children, and to identify issues not addressed previously in the literature review. This research took place at privately owned childcare facilities in the suburbs of a mid-western city. Interviews were conducted with childcare directors. Saturation was reached at 20 interviews. One additional interview with a childcare grant-funded resource person was conducted for triangulation. Rev.com transcribed the interviews. Transcriptions were manually coded by the researcher to identify topics and themes that built a grounded theory, supported by the literature review. There were six themes of expressed concerns that emerged from the interviews: director roles; hiring, motivation & retention; child education; director in-service; staff in-service; and mission or philosophy. Following the analysis of the findings, a potential gap emerged. There is an identified need to intercede with comprehensive leadership training for childcare directors, in order to more successfully address the 30-million-word gap and other issues affecting the preparation of children in childcare. Implications of this study affect preparation of childcare directors. A simple framework of topics and concepts to be addressed was presented.