Tennessee requires licensed childcare staff to complete annual continuing education as a condition of maintaining their childcare facility license. The Tennessee DHS sets the training requirement at 12 hours per year for teachers and 18 hours per year for directors. brightwheel Professional Development courses are accepted toward Tennessee’s continuing education requirements, and staff completion is tracked automatically within brightwheel. brightwheel courses auto‑post completed hours to the Tennessee TNPAL Registry.
| Annual CE hours (teachers) | 12 hours per training year |
| Annual CE hours (directors) | 18 hours per training year |
| Training period | Annual |
| Regulatory authority | Tennessee DHS |
| Notes | TN DHS Report Card for Family and Group Child Care Homes (Authorization No. 345763, Feb 2019): Minimum Standards require Primary Educator = 18 clock hrs/yr; Educator = 12 clock hrs/yr. Source: Tennessee DHS childcare facility standards documentation. |
| brightwheel approved in Tennessee | ✓ Yes — accepted for Tennessee CE requirements |
| Auto‑posts to Tennessee TNPAL Registry | ✓ Yes — completed course hours post automatically to staff registry accounts |
| Courses available in Tennessee | View courses across 8 CDA competency areas |
Browse courses by competency area in Tennessee
Each competency area maps to CDA standards and satisfies Tennessee’s continuing education requirements. Select a competency area to explore available courses.
Safe and Healthy Environment
Health and safety, nutrition, emergency preparedness, classroom setup
Physical and Intellectual Development
Child growth, developmental milestones, motor skills, cognition
Social and Emotional Development
Social-emotional learning, behavior guidance, relationships, inclusion
Families
Family communication, partnerships, cultural responsiveness
Program Management
Administrative operations, staff management, licensing compliance
Professionalism
Professional standards, ethics, advocacy, career development
Observation and Documentation
Observational methods, documentation, assessment tools, portfolios
Child Development
Cross-cutting child development principles across all domains
Star-Quality Child Care Program and brightwheel
Star-Quality Child Care Program is Tennessee’s Quality Rating and Improvement System. Staff professional development in CDA‑aligned competency areas is a core component of Star-Quality Child Care Program quality ratings — programs that demonstrate ongoing staff training earn higher ratings. brightwheel’s IACET‑accredited courses align with the professional development requirements recognized by Star-Quality Child Care Program, and the automatic tracking dashboard makes it straightforward to demonstrate staff training during program quality evaluations.
Star-Quality Child Care Program →Frequently asked questions — Tennessee
State‑accepted professional development courses in brightwheel
Brightwheel offers expert‑led, IACET‑accredited PD courses accepted in Tennessee — with automatic tracking and Tennessee TNPAL Registry auto‑posting built in.
View full course roster
Accreditation: Brightwheel is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is recognized internationally as a standard development organization and accrediting body that promotes quality of continuing education and training.