The demand for daycare spaces has never been greater and that demand will only get greater now that Ontario has signed onto the federal $10-a-day daycare plan.
Not only has this substantially increased the demand for daycare spots, it has also created a major shortfall in the number of trained early childhood educators needed to provide care for the hundreds of thousands of children needing daycare services.
According to a report in The Toronto Star, Ontario is short tens of thousands of early childhood educators needed to meet the new demand.
“We don’t have anywhere near that number of staff. In fact, the challenge is that we already have a retention and recruitment crisis,” Carolyn Ferns, policy co-ordinator of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, told Star report Kristin Rushowy for a Dec. 1 report.
And as reported by Allison Jones for The Canadian Press, national $10-a-day daycare has left Ontario short more than 220,000 childcare spaces, as detailed by the province’s Financial Accountability Office (FAO) in a November 2022 report.
As reported by The Star, “The agreement with the federal government saw Ontario commit to 86,000 new child-care spaces by the end of 2026, and the government says 33,000 have already been created. But even if that target is met, Ontario's Financial Accountability Office said in a report this week that will likely not be enough for everyone needing care.”
The FAO report estimates that within four years, there will be a demand for 602,257 daycare spaces for children under age six, but Ontario has only planned for 375,111 spaces for that age group.
So while the politicians go back and forth over daycare spaces, Ontario colleges are looking to train up tens of thousands of new early childhood educators.
Cambrian College has partnered with several Northern Ontario colleges and the Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association to create free access to training for a new Pre-Early Childhood Education Certificate program.
This program was created in response to current staff shortages and ongoing challenges in recruiting new employees to the child-care sector across Northern Ontario.
This 10-week program is comprised of fully online training followed by a paid two-week placement in a licensed child-care facility.
The new Pre-ECE program is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Labour through its Skills Development Fund. It is free for domestic students, with classes beginning Oct. 10, and a new session starting in January of 2023.
Pre-ECE is intended to be a stepping stone to introduce students to the field of early childhood education. With no prerequisites required, the program will equip students with the basic skills and knowledge to start working in an early years and childcare setting.
“This program is an innovative solution to a current staffing shortage right now in Northern Ontario,” says Janice Clarke, Dean of Cambrian’s School of Community Services, in a press release.
Upon completion of the Pre-ECE program, graduates can seek employment within the licensed child-care sector. Once in the field, graduates will be encouraged and supported through their continued journey to becoming an ECE through the completion of an ECE apprenticeship or diploma program.
“Partnerships with local colleges are critical to the success of this program,” said Catherine Matheson, Chief Administrative Officer of the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board (DNSSAB).
“Every region of Northern Ontario is seeing these shortages. We are all committed to this project, and to supporting individuals interested in this training to enter the early years and child-care sector.”
For more information about the new Pre-ECE program, visit Cambrian’s website.
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