The Culture of Your Program

"Good child care centers, like any good organization, have cultures that shape how members think, feel, and behave," wrote Jim Greenman in his article "Of Culture and a sense of Place" in the Beginnings Workshop: Building Classroom Culture.

"Just like the culture we are born into, we enter a world of shared beliefs and values, behavioral norms, and attitudes. In programs with strong cultures, one can go to two programs and see very similar people, yet one program feels relaxed and fun-loving, accepting and creative; the other, efficient and business-like, formal and industrious.

"In some centers, everyone and everything is managed to the edge of regimentation; in others, spontaneity and discovery rule, flirting with chaos. One program may have a drive for excellence; another is just getting by. Programs vary greatly in the way people treat each other — whether relations are respectful and caring or not, formal or informal, collegial or distant....

"Culture is a powerful medium, one of the basic organizational dimensions that create and maintain quality, along with designing the environment; creating organizational structures, systems, and routines; and maximizing human resources. Culture creation is a major part of developing a new center, and acculturation of new staff (and parents and children) is a key task in maintaining quality."

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