Hire or contract with health, mental health, and safety related professionals who have completed the appropriate academic training for their field and are licensed, credentialed, or certified to provide the services and education for which they are responsible.

Appropriate academic training and formal credentialing and licensing can help assure the quality of the health, mental health, social, nutrition, dental, and safety services, and of the health education and physical education provided in schools.

Licensing, credentialing, and certification procedures vary by profession. Where licensure, credentialing, and certification are available, staff should be licensed, credentialed, and certified. In many cases, licensure is required, but certification is voluntary. In some cases, evidence of specialized training is desirable, such as specialized training with adolescents or in school settings. If it pertains to professionals' roles and functions at school, require training and experience in specific developmental stages of childhood and adolescence.

Certification and credentialing are often, but not exclusively, achieved through a national body. Licensure always occurs through the state. Districts interested in the availability of licensing for a profession by the state, or in the requirements of professional licensure, should contact their state professional licensing boards. A number of health- and safety-related professions are listed in Appendix C. Each is accompanied by contact information for a national certification body that is associated with the profession or with a national professional organization that is in a position to recommend qualifications for school practice.

For those professionals already on staff and successfully performing health- and safety-related tasks for which they are not fully qualified, require that necessary training or credentials are obtained within three to five years. Maintenance of licenses and certifications requires continuing education credits in most professions. School administrators should try to provide time and financial support to assist employed professionals in obtaining continuing education. Facilitating school health and safety professionals' attainment of required continuing education credits may be an assigned responsibility of the school or district health and safety coordinator.

National Association for Sport and Physical Education. National Standards for Athletic Coaches. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 1995.

National Association of School Nurses. Scope and Standards of Professional School Nursing Practice. Scarborough, ME: National Association of School Nurses, 2001.

National Association of School Psychologists. Standards for the Credentialing of School Psychologists. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists, 2000.