The Canadian Press Posted: Feb 04, 2016

The federal families minister is heading west to meet his provincial and territorial counterparts to talk about the path forward on a national child-care system.

The meeting comes more than 10 years after former Liberal minister Ken Dryden and nine provinces agreed to create a national daycare program, only to watch the Conservatives end those agreements when they took office in 2006.

Read more... 

My Name is Shailja Jain, and I am a fourth-year degree student in the School of Early Childhood at George Brown College. In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor in Early Childhood Leadership, I am required to conduct a research project.  The study is entitled Gendering in Early Childhood Settings: The Impact of Training on Educator Practice.

The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between educator training and practice in regards to gender.

I am presently seeking Registered Early Childhood Educators who have worked in the field between 5 and 10 years to participate in this study.

Your participation would consist of an interview which will take approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Your participation in this study will contribute to the advancement of the sector of early childhood when working with children who may identify outside of a traditional gender norm.

Please contact me by email below if you are available to assist.

Researcher

Shailja Jain, Student, George Brown College

[email protected]

Toronto Star - January 27, 2016

January 22, 2016

The Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario (AECEO) is pleased that the Minister of Education confirmed in her statement today that the Ontario Government will fulfill its commitment to provide a $1 wage increase for early childhood educators in 2016. This illustrates their awareness of issues related to recruitment, retention and remuneration that continue to impact the sector and demonstrates that efforts are being made to address them.

Our student blog aims to provide an opportunity for both students and professional ECEs to participate in a positive learning and sharing experience that will help to build and support our ECE community.

We are looking for entries to be posted on the blog on any topic you wish to explore, but here are some suggestions to get you started:

Suggested topics

• Placement experiences
• Job searching and preparation
• Study tips
• Reflective practice
• Professional progress and goals
• Education paths and experiences

Visit the AECEO Student Blog for more information

The province is taking the next steps in creating a universally accessible child-care system for Manitoba families that will include lower fees, 12,000 more spaces, increased training and better wages for early childhood educators, Premier Greg Selinger announced today.

We are committed to ensuring families who need child care will have access to high-quality, licensed, affordable and publicly funded spaces," Premier Selinger said. "At the same time, we will be supporting good wages and training opportunities for the workforce and an early learning curriculum that enriches children and reaches underserved areas."

Read more....

Check out this new resource by Dr. Francis Wardle. 

A Step by Step Instruction manual to build your own outdoor playground.

Find it here in the members only Resource Library

Not a member?  Join today! 

In This Issue:

• AECEO’S RESPONSE TO THE GENDER WAGE GAP STRATEGY STEERING COMMITTEE  (featured article available to the public)
• County of Wellington Child Care General Operating Grant: Funding for Quality and Decent Wages for the ChildCare Workforce
• MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
• AECEO NEWS
• CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY AWARD WINNER
• A REMEMBRANCE OF ANN BOYLE
• CARE MATTERS TO EVERYONE - A Snapshot of Child Care in Ontario
• 2016-2017 PROVINCIAL BOARD NOMINATIONS

We would like to thank the following advertisers for helping to support this issue of the eceLINK

Food for Tots
Retired Teachers of Ontario
Sentient
Pearson
Johnson Insurance
University of Guelph-Humber
Fleming College

The best line of the Trudeau government’s first day— widely reported and praised in the international media—was the new PM’s.  In response to a reporter’s question about why he’d chosen to create a gender-parity cabinet, he rather matter of factly observed “because it’s 2015”.  This ostensibly simple statement summed up a complexity of attitudes, beliefs and even world views in three words.  For those feminists who remain doggedly optimistic after a decade nasty enough to slay the optimism of Anne of Green Gables, it raised hopes that the first day’s lustre could foreshadow more significant changes to come.

Read more on Child Care Now Blog

CBC News - November 9, 2015

Minister of Education Liz Sandals has announced $498 million in funding to build 30 new schools, renovate 26 existing ones and create 2,135 new child care spaces across Ontario.

Sandals made the announcement at Davisville Junior Public School today, which she says will get a new school building through the funding.

Read more on CBC News

Ontario is investing $498 million in new and renovated schools as well as new child care spaces to provide students with better places to learn while also giving families more options for quality licensed child care that is close to home.

Over the next few months, work will begin on:

• 30 new schools
• 26 major additions and renovations
• 122 safe, high-quality licensed child care rooms, resulting in 2,135 new licensed spaces for infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers.

Visit Ontario.ca for more information

In This Issue:

• REGIONAL WAGE SCALES FOR RECES WORKING IN REGULATED CHILDCARE IN ONTARIO:  A Discussion Paper
• IMPLEMENTING THE $1 WAGE ENHANCEMENT: Challenges, Solutions and Opportunities
• AECEO's 65th ANNIVERSARY
• FEDERAL ELECTION 2015
• CONNECTING NIAGARA'S PRESCHOOLERS WITH SENIORS: A Journey of Friendship, Kindness and Laughter
• PORTRAITS OF CHILD CARE
• STUDENT CORNER - CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING: A Growth Opportunity for RECEs

We would like to thank the following advertisers for helping to support this issue of the eceLINK.

Johnson Insurance

Retired Teachers of Ontario
Dairy Farmers of Canada
Food for Tots
Heartsafe
Portraits of Child Care
Sentient

Vote Child Care 2015 has called a National Day of Action on October 8th 2015 to recognize that Early Childhood Educators and child care workers are the key to high quality child care.

Child care has been a key election issue and has been discussed by all major parties! Vote Child Care has collected publicly available details of each party's child care platform and compared them to the key components of our Vision. 

There are some great promises for child care in this election but the parties have been silent on their plans to support a well-trained, well-compensated ECEC workforce.

Visit the CCAAC website for more information 

National Post, July 2015

A new poll shows Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are by far the most popular choice for Canadian voters — just weeks before an expected election call and just as federal childcare cheques are being doled out.

The exclusive Mainstreet Research poll for Postmedia suggests Harper and the Tories received a sharp boost in popularity as a result of the enhanced universal childcare benefit.

Read more...

ASK YOUR CANDIDATES....

What will you do to make high quality child care affordable and accessible for families in Canada?

How his/her party will work with the provincial/ territorial governments to end wait times (of often two years or longer) for affordable, high quality child care services?

Do you believe in creating a national child care system across Canada with accountable public investments to the provinces and territories?

What measures will you take to ensure that First Nations and Aboriginal children have equitable access to affordable and high quality child care services?

Download the CCCF's Toolkit.....

Macleans.ca August 2, 2015

Of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s policy boasts, none riles his opponents quite like his claim to have shifted child care money from bureaucrats and academics “to the real experts. Their names are mom and dad.” NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair counters with a promise to partly fund hundreds of thousands of new daycare spaces across Canada. Many Liberals fondly recall the national child care strategy that the Paul Martin government cobbled together in deals with the provinces in 2005—only to have Harper scrap it after he won power the next year—but Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau hasn’t yet floated an early child care policy.

Read More...

In This Issue:

• THE EVOLUTION OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR RECES IN ONTARIO

Featured article available to the public

• 13 COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE: A Pedagological Approach to Professional Learning
• AECEO 2015 ELECTION RESULTS
• VOTE CHILD CARE 2015 CAMPAIGN
• ONTARIO SPRANG INTO ACTION!
• WELLNESS AND THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR
• SPOTLIGHT ON LONG-TIME MEMBERS
• BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT: Really Listening to the Stress of Children with Special Needs and Autism
• KIWANIS CLUBS OF NIAGARA AND THE ECCDC JOIN FORCES
• A REMEMBRANCE OF VIOLET MULHOLLAND
• and More!

We would like to thank the following advertisers for helping to support this issue of the eceLINK.

Seneca Faculty of Continuing Education and Training
Hi Mama
Johnson Insurance

The eceLINK is a quarterly publication of the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario (AECEO).

Since 1992, the publication has been distributed across Ontario to all our members and affiliate organizations.  The eceLINK has a circulation of approximately 3500, reaching Early Childhood Educators working in different early learning and child care settings. They include students, frontline practitioners, administrators & supervisors, trainers and policy makers.

To access your copy of the eceLINK, you must be a member of the AECEO.  Not a Member?  Not a problem!  You can join today and access this issue in addition to our eceLINK archives. 

SIGN UP TO BECOME A MEMBER

AECEO MEMBER ACCESS

Co constructed by Shani Halfon, RECE & Melanie Dixon, RECE
eceLINK Summer 2015

Professional learning is an integral part of the early childhood education and care (ECEC) landscape. Decades of research have identified that the learning and ongoing professional learning of early childhood educators and staff is a critical element in the provision of high quality ECEC. As regulated professionals, registered early childhood educators also have ethical and professional responsibilities to enhance their practice and gain new skills and knowledge to cope with the ever changing needs of children and families. In the context of Ontario’s ongoing agenda to ‘modernize’ child care and the broader ECEC sector, increased attention has been devoted to the professional learning of the ECEC workforce resulting in significant changes in this area.

In times of such immense change it is important to stop and take stock of what is happening, where we have come from and where we would like to be. This article aims to begin to map out the changing landscape of professional learning for ECEs in Ontario in order to assess the ‘state of’ professional learning and identify outstanding issues or questions. A brief look back at the history of professional learning and ECEs will provide some of the context for evaluating a number of structural changes that have taken place to support a more formalized professional learning infrastructure in ECEC. An overview of current developments in Ontario will highlight the significant changes impacting the professional learning landscape and a review of what we know about how professional learning is being organized, supported and delivered across Ontario is included. Further questions for research, policy and practitioners will be presented in the conclusion.

Read full article

This article has been extracted from our eceLINK Summer 2015 issue available to AECEO Members