Early Childhood Education Specialist
Develop Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs) for infants and toddlers, perform evaluations, and provide developmental activities and family education at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa.
Responsibilities
Develop an appropriate Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) for an infant or toddler and family.
Perform detailed evaluations to make recommendations for treatment.
Provide cognitive and developmental enrichment activities and special instructions to the child and family.
Facilitate trainings for other EDIS providers, medical providers, and staff of Child Development Centers.
Participate in Child Find activities and meetings of representatives of all appropriate community support agencies.
Requirements
Who May Apply
Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected.
- Current Civilian Employees of the Defense Health Agency (DHA)
- Current Permanent Department of Defense (DoD) Civilian Employee
- Domestic Defense Industrial Base/Major Range and Test Facilities Base Civilian Personnel Workforce
- Family Member Preference (FMP) for Overseas Employment
- Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan
- Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act
- Military Spouse Preference (MSP) for Overseas Employment
- Non-Appropriated Fund Instrumentality (NAFI)
- Non-Department of Defense (DoD) Transfer
- Priority Placement Program, DoD Military Reserve (MR) and National Guard (NG) Technician Eligible
- Priority Placement Program, DoD MR and NG Preference Eligible Tech Receiving Disability Retirement
- Priority Placement Program, DoD Retained Grade Preference Eligible
- Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) of 1998
Qualifications
In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application.
Basic Requirement for Early Childhood Education Specialist, GS-1701-11
A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) that included or was supplemented by major study in education or in a subject-matter field appropriate to the position, such as child development or early childhood education.
OR
B. Combination of Education and Experience: Courses equivalent to a major in education, or in a subject-matter field appropriate to the position, such as child development or early childhood education, plus appropriate experience or additional course work that provided knowledge comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of the four-year course of study described in A above.
Specialized Experience
In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:
One year of specialized experience which includes collecting information to assist in developing an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) for infants, toddlers, and their families; performing evaluations to determine services required to meet the needs of the eligible infant or toddler; and providing education or resources to families of children with developmental delays or disabilities. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09).
OR
Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: child development or early childhood education.
OR
Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages.
Time in Grade Requirement
Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-09).
Benefits
True
Additional Info
Locations
- Kadena Air Base Okinawa, Japan
Position Details
This position is located in the Directorate of Medicine, Early Intervention Services of the U.S. Naval Hospital, Okinawa, Japan.
Security Clearance
Secret clearance required.
Conditions of Employment
- U.S. citizenship required
- Direct Deposit of Pay is required
- Drug test required
- Financial disclosure not required
- Bargaining unit position
- Position sensitivity: Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk
- Telework not eligible
- Travel required: 0% (no travel)
Overseas Considerations
- U.S. citizens overseas under ordinarily resident status are not eligible for appointment under the Status of Forces Agreement
- Locality pay does not apply in the overseas area
- Access to medical and dental care in Japan is extremely limited
- Employees and families responsible for obtaining and paying for medical/dental care
- Access to military medical/dental facilities on space-available, reimbursable basis only
- Initial overseas tour: 24 months
- Recruitment or relocation incentives MAY be authorized for highly qualified candidates
- Selectees may receive foreign area benefits: Living Quarters Allowance (LQA) or government quarters, home leave, etc.
- Payment of Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs is authorized
- Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement
Application Information
- Open continuous announcement with first cut-off date: 04/14/2026
- Applications accepted on ongoing basis; qualified applicants considered as vacancies become available
- Multiple vacancies may be filled from this announcement at any of the locations listed
- How to Apply: Apply online through USAJOBS by 11:59 PM (ET) on 12/31/2026
- Required documents: Resume (2 pages or less), supporting documents based on eligibility category
- Evaluation based on application materials, questionnaire responses, and online assessments
- Assessments include USA Hire Assessments (allow 3+ hours)
Agency Information
Defense Health Agency, Indo-Pacific Market
As an integrated health care system, the Defense Health Agency delivers healthcare services across the Department of Defense and enables combat support to the Joint Force as a strategic partner. Through a robust healthcare delivery system, and a dedicated team of inspired professionals, the Agency ensures the worldwide delivery of medical, dental, and pharmacy programs to more than 9.5 million uniformed service members, retirees, and their families, by improving health and building readiness Anytime, Anywhere-Always.
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