The following steps are required for certification. They are summarized on the pathway checklist.

1)  Training: Take either the Basic Teacher Education program (BTEP) or the childbirth educator training workshop (CET) through Seattle Midwifery School.

 2) Proof of knowledge.  Either take final exam or complete   comprehensive open book study guide (available from Education Director).

a)  Timing: must be completed within 2 years of completing BTEP/CET. Can be done prior to the other steps, in the middle, or as your last step in the process.

b)  Goal: to ensure that you have a good, working knowledge of the facts necessary for teaching childbirth preparation courses.

c)  Study Guide option: Can be completed at your convenience. When complete, should be turned in to education director for grading.

d)  Exam: To schedule your exam, contact the education director. It can be scheduled at any time that is convenient for you and for the person who will be proctoring your exam. Typically, the education director is the proctor; however, for people not living in the Seattle area, we can make other arrangements. Exam will be proctored (monitored), and no study materials may be brought in to exam room.

3)      Observe a full childbirth education series.

a)  Requirements for class: Class should be sponsored by Great Starts, and/or taught by a Great Starts certified instructor (Exceptions can be made for trainees outside the Seattle area, who can observe instructors certified by another organization). Either a 7-week weekday evenings series or a 4 Saturday series. Class must have at least five couples enrolled. Total class time should be 14 hours, and content should include breastfeeding and newborn care, as well as labor and birth information.

b)  Goal: For you to experience one full series, observing: how the class content is distributed amongst the sessions, what activities are used in class, and how the class’ group dynamics evolve. You are encouraged to take extensive notes, or tape record the classes for your own later use as you begin to develop your own classes.

c)  Documentation: After the observation, complete a Class Observation Record, which examines class dynamics, teaching methods, and class content. Submit one copy to the education director, and one copy to the instructor you observed. If, for some reason, you miss one class in the series, you must work with the education director to schedule a makeup class which will cover the content that you missed.

d)  To schedule: contact education director.

4)  Observe two other certified instructors. This step is optional, but is strongly recommended for trainees who are new to the birth professions and/or new to adult education.

a)  Requirements: Each instructor must be observed for a total of at least 3 hours each. Although we prefer that you observe Great Starts certified instructors at Great Starts sponsored classes, it is acceptable to watch instructors in other settings, as long as they are certified by some major certification program.

b)  Goal: To be exposed to other teaching styles, different class activities, and varied group dynamics.

c)  Documentation: Complete a Class Observation Record. Submit one copy to education director, and one to the instructor, if they would like a copy.

d)  To schedule: contact the education director or the instructor of the non-Great Starts class to get the instructor’s OK for observation.

5)  Co-teaching of full series. This is not required, but is STRONGLY recommended for anyone new to teaching and/or new to working in the childbirth field.

a)  Requirements: must be 14 hours of class time: either a 7-week series, or 4-Saturdays series. Must include all the topics covered in a typical Great Starts series, including: labor and birth, comfort techniques, pain medication, hospital procedures, breastfeeding and newborn care. You can co-teach one of the classes Great Starts has already scheduled, or you can plan and arrange your own class in a public setting of your choice, as long as you can find an experienced instructor who is available to co-teach with you. Class must have at least 5 couples enrolled to count toward certification.

b)  Goal: To work with another instructor, developing an outline collaboratively, and sharing teaching responsibilities. It’s a good time to explore ideas and get feedback from your co-teacher to start gaining the experience and confidence necessary to teach independently. You should teach at least 40% of the class content, or more if you’re ready for it. Make sure to teach some portions that are focused on conveying information, and others that are focused on interactive or hands-on learning.

c)  At the end of the series, you should meet with your co-teacher to discuss the series, ask questions, and get feedback. The co-teacher can help you determine whether you’re ready to move on to your observed teaching, or whether you might need some extra support and training to be ready to teach on your own.

d)  To schedule: Contact education director. She will help you schedule a class, and find an experienced instructor to work with. More details from certification packet.

6) Be observed and evaluated teaching a full series.

a)  Requirements for class: same as for co-teach.

b)  Goal: To plan a class series and teach a class series on your own, and receive feedback from an experienced instructor. This observation also gives Great Starts the chance to evaluate whether you are ready to teach independently, or whether more support and training is needed. The feedback form the instructor completes is here.

c)  To schedule: same as for co-teach. More details.

7) Observe two births.

a)  Requirements: at any time after completing the CET/BTEP and before completing certification, you must attend two births, as: an observer, a doula, a nurse, or a friend. (You could count your own labor and birth as one of these births, but not both.) At least one must be a hospital birth. Note that we only require two births, but we recommend doing many more. The more birth experience you have, the better childbirth educator you can be.

b)  Goal: to get hands-on experience of labor & birth, parents’ interaction with caregivers, current policies and technologies.

c)  Documentation: Send a note to the education director, which contains: the date of the birth, location, a brief description of the mother (age, socioeconomic info, partner, etc… no identifying information), and a paragraph-long description of the labor and birth, and what you learned.

8)  Optional: Tour a local hospital or birth center, preferably one which many of your students will be using, to find out more about hospital-specific policies and procedures.

Timing: Within the limits below, you can choose what order to do things in, and how quickly you want to try to move through requirements.

The CET / BTEP is the first step. Following that, you must enroll in the certification program and pay initial fee. Once you are enrolled, you can begin doing observations. After the observations are complete, you can begin co-teaching. After your co-teacher declares you ready to move on, you can do your observed teaching. The experienced instructor must give her final approval before you are considered to have completed the observed teaching.

The exam and birth observations can be done at any time during the certification process, as long as the exam is completed within two years of the CET/BTEP.

Typically, you are expected to complete the full process within two years of training. If you need to take longer, you can request a one-year extension, by contacting the education director.

Fees: To begin your observations, you must first enroll in the certification program. At this time, you pay half of the certification fee ($75). This fee must be submitted before you begin your co-teaching. You also give a signed copy of your “certification pathway checklist” to the education director so she can track your progress. Keep the other copy for yourself.

At the completion of all your other tasks, you must pay the other half of the certification fee ($75) in order to complete the process and receive your certificate.

Fees should be submitted directly to the Great Starts office. Send care of the Education Director.

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