A vision and roadmap for increasing educator qualifications in licensed child care centres

About this roadmap  

Building a quality public early learning and child care (ELCC) system requires a highly qualified, well-supported, and properly compensated workforce. Developing and supporting such a workforce requires clarifying and reimagining employment roles, scopes of practice, and competencies. It also requires all governments, post-secondary institutions, and service providers to work together on a clear plan to increase qualifications, provide meaningful professional learning, and ensure workplace supports are in place. 

A highly qualified workforce raises the quality of programs, lowers staff turnover rates, reduces stress and burnout of educators, and helps foster conditions that support the wellbeing of children. Working conditions for educators are improved when scopes of practice and competencies are clear. Educators’ working conditions, which are partly informed by the qualifications of all staff, are children’s learning environments.

As part of their recommendations for quality early learning and universal child care, advocates have published policy roadmaps¹ that outline the need to increase educational qualifications, widen access to post-secondary programs, and provide comprehensive professional learning opportunities, while also calling for decent wages and working conditions. These calls to action are also addressed in the Wages, Benefits and Pensions: Policy Recommendations Developed by the National Early Learning and Child Care Workforce Policy Table and highlight how compensation, qualifications, and related scopes of practice should be integrated as part of a comprehensive workforce strategy.² 

A vision and roadmap for increasing educator qualifications in licensed child care centres puts forward a national vision and roadmap for supporting and elevating the qualifications of the ELCC workforce through policy change. This paper has been developed by the National Early Learning and Child Care Workforce Policy Table as part of the Educators Matter: Workforce Policy for Quality Early Learning and Child Care project. It reflects the input received through consultation discussions with early childhood educators and others employed in the sector at the Educators Matter National Symposium held in October 2025 and through facilitated online discussions in January and February 2026 (described in Appendix 2). 

Family home child care 

The vision and roadmap primarily focus on increasing the qualifications of educators who work in licensed, centre-based ELCC environments. While a highly qualified family home child care workforce is also sorely needed, more work needs to be done to propose a unique vision, roadmap, and recommendations for policy change for this sector of the workforce. However, this document proposes a starting point for imagining overlapping educator roles, scopes of practice, and competencies, some of which could apply to those working in the family home child care sector and inform a future vision. 

Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and learning 

The vision and roadmap are mostly informed by current Western and colonial systems of educational training and the acquisition of skills and knowledge. However, we recognize the importance of honouring and reflecting the range of knowledge systems and professional learning approaches across the sector and, specifically, the need to include Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and learning and unique family, cultural, and language contexts. Child Care Now and the Workforce Policy Table recognize and acknowledge that only Indigenous peoples, Nations, and communities have the right to determine a vision, framework, and policies with respect to Indigenous ELCC. We believe it is the responsibility of the ELCC sector to collaborate under the leadership of Indigenous peoples, Nations, and communities to develop new approaches to educator qualifications and to embed existing Indigenous knowledges, practices, and frameworks into the vision and roadmap.

Key Terms 

Throughout this document, several key terms are used frequently: competency(ies), employment role, professional learning, qualifications, and scope of practice. The definitions for these terms are listed below. Other terms and phrases can be found in Appendix 3: Glossary of Terms. 

Competency (ies)

The term “competencies” broadly refer to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and values required of the workforce in ELCC settings. Required competencies for the workforce (e.g. early childhood educators) are often informed by the vocational outcomes set out by provincial/territorial educational training standards and reinforced by post-secondary educational programs.  

Employment role 

The term “employment role” refers to the specific position an employee holds within an organization. It defines the responsibilities and tasks, the scope of practice, required skills and competencies, and expected performance standards for that particular position.

Professional learning

The term “professional learning” refers to the opportunities educators and care professionals can participate in to enhance their skills, develop strategies, and learn practices from experts. Professional learning can happen in different ways, including in-person sessions, online workshops, independent research/study, etc. 

Qualifications 

The term “qualifications” is used broadly and includes but is not limited to: 

• educational qualifications or credentials (i.e. certificate, diploma, or degree); 
• skills, knowledge, abilities, values (i.e. competencies);
• additional certifications and formal and informal professional learning (e.g. First Aid and CPR training, food safety training, additional qualification (AQ) courses, micro-credentials, mentorship, workplace training etc.);
• Indigenous ways of knowing and being; and
• local, community, and cultural requirements (e.g. specific knowledge systems, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion knowledge and skills, anti-racism, French language, supporting newcomer children and families, etc.).

Scope of practice  

The term “scope of practice” refers to the definition provided in the National ELCC Workforce Policy Table’s recommendations on wages, benefits, and pensions, which states that it is “the range of responsibilities, duties, and activities that an ECE or assistant is trained, qualified, and authorized to perform within child care settings. It is often defined by legislation, professional associations, and sometimes by regulatory bodies.”³ 

Where are we now? Educator qualifications and the current context 

Low educational qualifications across Canada 

As of 2025, 10 out of the 13 provinces and territories required all staff in ELCC centre-based programs to have some kind of early childhood educator (ECE)-related training, such as an orientation level course.⁴ Six jurisdictions deem qualified staff as all those holding a one-year ECE certificate, and only four jurisdictions require a two-year or three-year ECE diploma to be considered qualified. Additionally, only six provinces require child care centre supervisors to hold a two-year ECE diploma or a four-year degree.⁵ 

With only a small portion of staff in licensed child care centres across Canada required to hold a one-, two-, or three-year ECE-related education qualification to meet provincial and territorial licensing requirements, the educational qualifications of the ELCC workforce overall are generally low. 

Only nine out of the 13 provincial and territorial Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) agreements prioritize meeting minimal educational qualifications, with general targets for 60% of the workforce to acquire some type of certification (e.g. Level 1) by 2025 – 2026.⁶ As such, most provinces and territories currently do not even meet their own low regulatory requirements. While some provinces, like Nova Scotia⁷, have indicated meeting qualifications targets to 70% or, in Newfoundland⁸, to 80%, there is currently no data to support these targets being met, nor are there significant regulatory or other policy changes to enable implementation. In Ontario, a recent report by the Auditor General confirmed that Ontario is not on track to meet the 60% target of qualified ECEs. In fact, since 2018 the percentage of qualified staff in ELCC has trended downward, with only a marginal increase in qualified ECEs between 2023 and 2024, despite the commitments laid out in the provincial-federal agreement signed in 2022.⁹ 

Furthermore, the recent Auditor General Report of Canada on the CWELCC program noted that while there have been some improvements to quality initiatives, such as the development of wage grids in some provinces and territories, and an increase in supports for professional development, most provincial and territorial governments have provided little data to show if they are on track to meet ELCC workforce certification targets outlined in their action plans.¹⁰ 

Unfortunately, as noted in A Summary of ELCC Workforce Policies as of December 2023 Under the Canada-Wide Child Care System, there continues to be a critical lack of planning and vision in the CWELCC agreements about the steps and coordination required to increase the educational qualifications set out in the targets and a lack of clarity on what being qualified means at the national level.¹¹ There is also a great deal of variation across the provinces and territories about what types of minimum educational qualifications are required at the room and centre level and a range of allowable regulatory exemptions.¹² 

Canada compared to international standards

Historically, Canada has ranked very low for ELCC workforce qualification standards. According to the International Standard Classification of Education, ISCED 2011, which provides classification criteria for defining quality early childhood education programs for children, all staff must have pedagogical knowledge and skills.¹³ As most provinces and territories do not require all staff to have a educational qualification in an ECE post-secondary program¹⁴, this standard for pedagogical qualifications for the workforce is not being met. 

The 2008 UNICEF Innocenti Report Card 8 placed Canada in the bottom two out of 25 OECD countries for meeting international standards for early childhood services. In 2008, Canada did not meet benchmark five, which says that 80% of all staff in a program should have a minimum level of education¹⁵. While advancements in ELCC system-building have occurred with the introduction of the CWELCC, 18 years later, Canada still does not meet UNICEF’s Report Card benchmark five. 

Employment roles, scopes of practice, and educator competencies

Employment roles, scopes of practice, and educator competencies are critical elements in determining (and increasing) educational qualification requirements for any workforce. The former Child Care Human Resources Sector Council (CCHRSC) published a number of comprehensive resources and reports in 2007¹⁶, 2009¹⁷, and 2010¹⁸ that offered a review, analyses, and recommendations for education and professional learning programs. These reports defined roles, competencies, and occupational standards, and created pathways for credentialing. These resources continue to reflect the current provincial and territorial differences between certification levels, job roles, scopes of practice, and competencies. 

As of 2025, nine provinces and territories had some type of certification process in place to classify educators by their educational qualifications or, in the case of Ontario, enable them to be registered with the College of Early Childhood Educators.¹⁹ 

Federally, the National Occupational Classification (NOC) for ECEs and other employment roles, such as assistant or other child care support staff, are intended to provide the workforce and the public with some guidance on what ELCC practice entails. According to the NOC codes, ECEs are required to have a two- to four-year diploma or degree with roles and skills that include developing, leading, and implementing early childhood education programs. Assistants on the other hand, are required to have a high school diploma with a possible certificate in ECE-related education and child care work experience. Though loosely defined, assistants are expected to support and assist in the implementation of early childhood education programs.²⁰ 

Despite the distinctions provided under the NOC codes, there is not often a significant separation between the roles within job descriptions, nor is there a clear demarcation of tasks and skills within workplaces. Furthermore, the variation in classification levels and qualification requirements across Canada indicate there are no clear national standards for employment roles and qualifications for ECEs and others working in licensed centre-based child care.  

The competencies for the ELCC workforce are largely informed by the CCHRSC’s 2010 Occupational Standards for Early Childhood Educators, which also informs the vocational outcomes set by provincial/territorial ministries or departments for ECE post-secondary education. Post-secondary institutions that offer ECE diplomas and degrees often draw from these standards in crafting their programs and competencies. 

Broadly, the competencies, scope of practice, and employment tasks for ECEs, outlined by the CCHRC, focus on the following: 

• child development learning and care;
• equipment and facilities;
• family and community relations;
• professional relationships, and personal and professional development; and record keeping.²¹ 

Provincial and territorial competency frameworks and codes of ethics and standards²² provide comprehensive overviews of ECE competencies; related to systems knowledge, advocacy work, building responsive relationships, demonstrating leadership, upholding and recognizing children’s rights, and the inherent rights of Indigenous children, families, and communities. However, these same competency frameworks have not been developed for those in other ELCC employment roles (e.g. assistants, supervisors, pedagogical leaders, inclusion supports/resource consultants, program directors etc.). Even less clear is how additional competencies might align with varying educational qualifications for these other roles. 

Educator wellbeing, recruitment, and retention

Educator wellbeing directly correlates with the educational qualifications, roles, and competencies required to work in ELCC programs. The OECD’s Building a High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce: Further Results from the Starting Strong Survey 2018 highlighted that low educational qualifications and low training opportunities are linked to burnout, stress, low self-efficacy, and emotional exhaustion for the workforce.²³ A recent Australian study found that when educational qualifications were disproportionately low in ELCC programs, retention was an issue for all staff. The few with higher qualifications, and therefore increased responsibilities and workload, were inclined to leave the sector due to burnout. Those with low qualifications, and therefore working without the necessary knowledge and skills, or low self-efficacy, were also leaving their positions for jobs that paid comparably but did not carry the same burden of responsibility and competency requirements.²⁴

Amidst the recruitment and retention crisis of the ELCC workforce across Canada, the findings from the Australian study and the 2020 OECD report echo the voices of the workforce here. In a recent news article out of British Columbia, one ECE faculty member said that the number of staff in ELCC programs with low qualifications, “is causing our ECEs [a] great deal of burnout because they’re filling in the gaps and they’re having to compensate for this under qualification.”²⁵ The Muttart Foundation’s research on the Alberta workforce in 2024 also highlighted this issue, indicating that the high turnover rates of qualified staff negatively impacts the working conditions of those less qualified staff that remain working in programs, while also compromising the quality of programming for children and families.²⁶ 

While the implementation of strong wage grids, comprehensive benefits, and pensions are key to alleviating the poor working conditions and the loss of qualified staff, ongoing and properly funded professional learning is another key strategy to address this crisis. Many provinces and territories are now providing significant funding for ongoing professional learning as part of their federal-provincial CWELCC action plans;²⁷ however, research^{28  29}shows that ongoing, relational, and collaborative learning in practice is more meaningful and effective than singular and outside-of-work workshops. One recent report³⁰ highlighted the importance of a framework for ongoing professional learning. Findings from a recent study from Prince Edward Island on recruitment and retention showed that, in tandem with employer support, government funding for professional learning increases broad qualifications while also strengthening competencies and contributing to improved wellbeing and retention in the sector.³¹

While professional learning is often given lip service across the sector, there are few provincial and territorial requirements for meaningful engagement in ongoing professional learning. The ECEC in Canada 2025 report noted that some provinces have mandated a small number of professional learning hours to be completed annually.³² However, this requirement is not enough to support wellbeing, recruitment, and retention, nor is it sufficient to adequately contribute to increasing broad qualifications across all ELCC employment roles. 

What challenges and complexities do we face in increasing qualifications?  

There are several challenges and complexities to increasing qualifications for the ELCC workforce across Canada. Regulatory amendments, an influx of public funding, multi- and cross-sectoral coordination and collaboration, and wide-scale system visioning through workforce engagement are required to address the complexities of increasing workforce qualifications. 

Key challenges include: 

Provincial and territorial variations

• Legislative and regulatory variations, including allowable exemptions for ECE-related educational qualifications and director approval;
• Legislative and regulatory variations to staff:child ratios and how many qualified staff are required at both the group and centre-level in licensed child care centres;  
• Definitions of maximum or highest educational qualifications required to work in centre-based, licensed child care centres and considerations on whether these maximums are too low; 
• Definitions of workforce competencies, scopes of practice, and employment roles, all of which may or may not be correlated with educational qualifications; and  
• Potential equivalencies with educational qualifications, including accreditation processes and recognition of prior learning both within ECE-related training and work experience, and issues of credential equivalencies where the education is wholly unrelated to ECE scopes of practice.

Post-secondary access and capacity 

• Access to post-secondary institutions and training programs, including more program structures/options to complete the required educational credentials, particularly for those working in remote and rural locations; and
• Capacity of post-secondary institutions to increase delivery and tailor training to meet workforce needs. Elements of post-secondary capacity include number of qualified course instructors, specialized courses and programs (e.g. infant education, resource consulting/inclusion support, administrative) that are localized and culturally relevant, opportunities for hands-on training opportunities, and support for students during placements. 

Community needs, practice realities, and compensation

• Unique local, regional, and community contexts (e.g. rural, remote) that require training, skills, and knowledge that is specific to communities (e.g. Indigenous early learning frameworks, language, culture, and knowledge systems);
• Clear understanding of practice realities, and the diversity and complexity of the work of the ELCC workforce to ensure broad qualifications accurately reflect the diversity and current needs of practice (e.g. employment roles, scopes of practice, competencies, and educational qualifications); and
• Wage grid discrepancies and a lack of alignment with employment roles and increasing qualifications.

What can we learn from others? Implementation approaches for increasing qualifications from the international ELCC community

Government commitment and action: Timelines, regulatory updates, and public funding 

One promising example for increasing educational qualifications is New Zealand’s 2002 10-year strategic plan, Pathways to the Future: Ngā Huarahi Arataki, which set out strategies to increase the number of ECEs with educational qualifications. Within five years of the plan launch (2002–2007), 50% of all staff working in ELCC settings were required to hold an educational qualification. Within the next three years (2007 – 2010) the target increased to 80% and then to 100% by 2012.³³ 

Although the 100% target was later removed, the significant influx of public funding to support these targets largely worked, resulting in an increase of qualified staff by 15% within the first three years. As targets and public funding increased, proposed regulatory amendments occurred simultaneously. While funds were allocated based on several factors, such as the ages of children and service type, higher funding amounts were distributed to providers who reached the staff qualification targets, thereby also supporting wage increases. In their recent report, The Early Learning and Action Plan: Progress Toward Goals in 2023, 69% of staff held an educational qualification.³⁴ 

In New Zealand, clear timelines, significant increases of public funding, and simultaneous regulatory changes supported increasing educational qualifications.

Staged, staggered, and targeted approaches to increasing educational qualifications

Since the mid-1990s, researchers^35 36 have discussed the importance of international recommendations³⁷ for setting and committing to clear targets for increasing the educational qualifications of staff working in ELCC. They noted that in order to build a quality system, develop the workforce, and ensure equal access to ELCC for all children, workforce qualification targets are needed to ensure that educators receive the education they require to do their jobs. These recommendations acknowledge that qualification targets are as much about quality ELCC systems and programs as they are about educators having a right to access additional education and training. 

In recent years, several OECD reports^38 39 and a European Commission report⁴⁰ have continued this work on a more granular level with a focus on employment roles, suggesting that staged, staggered, and targeted approaches for increasing educational qualifications for the ELCC workforce are most effective, feasible, and sustainable.

Recommendations include the introduction of new minimum educational qualifications by first prioritizing those in supervisory or leadership positions such as centre directors (e.g. England, Norway, Germany).⁴¹ Others suggest that specialized or differentiated educational qualifications must align with unique employment roles and responsibilities in ELCC environments, whereby one broad qualification (i.e. a degree or a diploma) is not sufficient for the complexity of the diverse work.⁴²

Prioritizing alternative pathways, mandatory professional learning, and workplace support 

While government action that prioritizes public funding and staged, staggered, and targeted regulatory changes are important strategies for increasing ELCC educational qualifications, learning through alternative methods, such as required professional learning and workplace training support, is an important component as well. 

Several OECD reports suggest the use of “alternative pathways”⁴³ (moving from untrained to trained) or “diversifying and expanding pathways into the profession”⁴⁴ to increase qualifications. These approaches suggest there could be potential equivalencies between work experience and recognition of similar education from outside of the ELCC sector to formal ECE-related educational qualifications. These reports also suggest that continuous professional learning in ECE-related subjects should be required for all ELCC staff and that less qualified staff should formally work toward increasing educational qualifications or specific certifications such as “micro-credits” or micro-credentials for the untrained.⁴⁵ 

Formally recognized as equivalent to educational qualifications or not, there is general consensus among numerous international papers, reports, and competency frameworks that mandatory professional learning for the workforce is as important as formal educational qualifications. When describing key competencies, both the 2019 OECD report and the 2011 report, CoRe: Competence Requirements in Early Childhood Education and Care, highlighted that ELCC workforce competencies in all employment roles are developed primarily through critical reflection and professional learning in relational, process-oriented, and in-practice work.^46 47 Norway’s 2018 competence strategy described competencies as multifaceted and tailored to individuals and employment roles, and placed significant responsibility on employers and workplaces to support and facilitate staff learning.⁴⁸ 

Importantly, the 2011 CoRe report calls for the development of a competent workforce system to ensure and support the attainment of high educational qualifications and to create the conditions for decent work and meaningful professional learning opportunities.⁴⁹ 

What do we imagine? A vision of a highly qualified ELCC workforce 

High-quality early learning environments require highly qualified educators with clearly articulated employment roles, scopes of practice, and competencies to reflect and honour the complexity of their work. Multi-faceted and diverse roles are needed to meet the diverse needs and cultural contexts of licensed, centre-based ELCC programs across Canada.

While varied in title, classifications, and levels, in licensed, centre-based ELCC, the current workforce is primarily made up of supervisors, ECEs, ECAs (which also includes roles such as child care assistants or certification levels like trainees, interns, or Level 1s, or untrained educators). Only three provinces and territories (Manitoba, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories) currently use the title and have a classification or certification for the assistant or ECA role.⁵⁰

Within each jurisdiction there is often a patchwork approach of additional roles, such as inclusion support specialists and resources consultants, who often carry enormous case loads and visit centres infrequently. Sometimes there are direct or indirect program partnerships with pedagogical leaders, consultants, or coaches. Some ELCC programs, such as multi-site child care programs, employ additional leadership roles such as program administrators or executive directors who oversee administrative or general operations and report directly to a board of directors. Cooks, care-taking staff, and other administrative personnel are also often employed within child care centres, some of whom may or may not have ECE-related education but also engage with children and families in some capacity. 

Employment roles, competencies, qualifications, and professional learning  

Moving toward a highly qualified workforce means developing a streamlined and comprehensive picture of the necessary employment roles, scopes of practice, and competencies that align with educational qualifications and professional learning. As such, the ideal vision does not include staff who are wholly untrained, with job titles or descriptions such as “child care worker” or simply, “responsible adult,” and who may or may not have completed a short ECE-related orientation course. How we get there – moving from the untrained to the trained and the qualified to the highly qualified – will be explored in the final section of this paper. 

The scope of this vision is focused on six key roles in licensed, centre-based ELCC programs for those whose primary responsibility is to work directly with children and families to plan, support, deliver, and implement early childhood education programs. This vision imagines that all six roles are equipped and educated via comprehensive pre-service practicums to work with children of all age groups in centre-based licensed child care (e.g. infants to school-age programs).

Cooks, caretaking staff, and other administrative positions, though important, are not included in this first phase of reimagining workforce qualifications. This paper focuses on the roles of those working directly with children in an individual child care program, and therefore also does not include a description for multi-site Executive Directors, who are responsible for managing multiple centres at larger organizations. The role of Program Director is used to encompass both those wholly responsible for a standalone centre, and those responsible for one centre that is part of a larger organization. 

The following employment roles are fundamental to a well-functioning workforce, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, licensed, centre-based ELCC programs: 

1. Early Childhood Assistants (ECAs) (also includes roles like Early Childhood Educator Assistant, Child Care Assistant, or similar)
2. Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) 
3. Inclusion Support Specialists/Resource Consultants 
4. Pedagogical Leaders 
5. Staff Supervisors
6. Program Directors

These six roles are summarized in the following table, and detailed descriptions of each role and its education requirements can be found in Appendix 1. 

Summary of employment roles in licensed centre-based ELCC programs 

Lifting up the workforce through system change

Transforming and building a high quality ELCC system to improve licensed, centre-based child care necessitates increasing educator qualifications; clarifying specific employment roles, scopes of practice, and competencies; providing meaningful professional learning; and ensuring workplace supports are in place. However, a comprehensive workforce vision must also address several other critical workforce issues that need to be overhauled. 

A system that requires a highly qualified ELCC workforce: 

• Pays educators a decent wage and provides them with benefits and pensions;
• Understands that educators’ working conditions are children’s learning environments, prioritizes low staff:child ratios, and acknowledges the space, place, and design of early learning settings in the context of the “environment as third teacher”; 
• Offers paid non-contact time for educators to collaborate, build relationships with colleagues and families, and critically reflect, question, and engage in meaningful professional learning and program planning;
• Ensures job security, decent work schedules, and career advancement; 
• Acknowledges that leadership development, mentoring relationships, and communities of practice are critical to educator wellbeing and belonging; 
• Prioritizes inclusivity, belonging, and reconciliation and works to dismantle colonialism and intervene to counter bias, racism, and all forms of discrimination; 
• Evolves and remains flexible and responsive to communities, families, children, and educators and is informed by current research, best practices, cultural knowledge systems, and lived experiences; and
• Honours and recognizes the diversity of the workforce – members of whom hold a range of skills, knowledge, and values, job titles, and educational qualifications. 

Importantly, a high-quality ELCC system that supports a highly qualified workforce requires that ELCC be treated as a public good, sufficiently funded by provincial, territorial, and federal governments with public funds, publicly managed, and accountable to the public.

Evidence shows that non-profit and public delivery of ELCC programs is essential to developing and sustaining such a system. 

Critically, a public system is also best positioned to support the long-term wellbeing, retention, and recruitment of the ELCC workforce through the implementation of strong regulatory measures like educational and professional learning requirements; by providing equitable access to alternative pathways and workplace supports for increasing qualifications; and through collaborating with sector partners to continue to invest in and sustain a highly qualified workforce for years to come. 

How do we get there? A roadmap and policy recommendations for moving toward a highly qualified ELCC workforce 

To achieve a highly qualified workforce as outlined in the six key employment roles, the following roadmap and policy recommendations are recommended to all levels of government, post-secondary institutions, and service providers across the ELCC sector. 

The roadmap is informed by:  

• The current context of ELCC workforce qualifications across Canada; 
• Research on implementation approaches including setting targets, staging and staggering regulatory changes, and increasing qualifications; and
• Considerations of alternative learning pathways, workplace supports, and meaningful mandatory professional learning.

The roadmap recognizes the unique provincial and territorial policy contexts in this country and makes space for jurisdictional approaches to policy change. It also echoes the call for qualification recognition, access to education, and clarification required on scopes of practice for the workforce noted in the National ELCC Workforce Policy Table’s Wages, benefits and pensions ⁵¹policy recommendations. 

Vision

The National ELCC Workforce Policy Table is proposing that in 10-years’ time, 80 – 100% of the workforce will have the following ECE post-secondary qualifications, or equivalent: 

• Previously minimally trained or untrained staff will have a one-year diploma, with the goal of phasing this out beyond 10 years; 
• ECAs will have a two-year diploma; 
• ECEs will have a four-year degree; 
• Inclusion Support Specialists/Resource Consultants will have a four-year degree; 
• Pedagogical Leaders will have a four-year degree; 
• Staff Supervisors will have a four-year degree; and 
• Program Directors will have a four-year degree. 

At the mid-way point, by year five, 60 – 70% of the workforce will have the following ECE post-secondary qualifications, or equivalent:

• Currently minimally trained and untrained workforce will have a one-year diploma in the role of ECA, significantly reducing the number of untrained staff;
• ECEs will have a two-year diploma;
• Inclusion Support Specialists/Resource Consultants will have a two-year diploma; 
• Pedagogical Leaders will have a two-year diploma;
• Staff Supervisors will have a two-year diploma; and  
• Program Directors will have a two-year diploma.  

Staged and targeted implementation according to specific employment roles is ideal in this order: 

• Untrained or minimally trained staff and ECAs (no training moving toward a one-year certificate; one-year certificate moving toward a two-year diploma);
• The removal of regulatory exemptions and director approvals for all staff; and
• ECEs, Staff Supervisors and Program Directors (two-year diploma moving toward a four-year degree). 

Footnotes

1. Childcare Resource and Research Unit (2024). Building Canada’s child care system, policy roadmaps ↩︎
2. Child Care Now (2024). Wages, benefits and pensions: Policy recommendations developed by the National Early Learning and Child Care Workforce Policy Table.  ↩︎
3. Child Care Now (2024). Wages, benefits and pensions: Policy recommendations developed by the National Early Learning and Child Care Workforce Policy Table, p.12 ↩︎
4. Friendly, M., Beach, J., Aruran, G., Cossette, A., Hu, L., Lillace, J., & Forer, B. (2026). Early childhood education and care in Canada 2024/2025. Childcare Resource and Research Unit, p. 442.  ↩︎
5. Friendly, et al. (2026). Early childhood education and care in Canada 2024/2025.  ↩︎
6. Government of Canada (2021). Early Learning and Child Care Agreements. ↩︎
7. Government of Nova Scotia (2023). Canada-Nova Scotia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement 2023 – 2024 to 2025 – 2026 Action Plan.  ↩︎
8. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (2024). Play, learn and grow: Newfoundland and Labrador Early Learning Action Plan.   ↩︎
9. Office of the Auditor General of Ontario (2025). Performance audit: Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Program – Special Report 2025, p. 40.  ↩︎
10. Office of the Auditor General of Canada (2025). 2025 Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Parliament of Canada: Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system, p. 14. ↩︎
11. Child Care Now (2024). A summary of early learning and child care workforce policies as of December 2023 under the Canada-wide child care system ↩︎
12. Friendly, et al. (2026). Early childhood education and care in Canada 2024/2025.  ↩︎
13. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2011). International Standard Classification of Education, ISCED 2011, p. 27.  ↩︎
14. Friendly, et al. (2026). Early childhood education and care in Canada 2024/2025.  ↩︎
15. UNICEF (2008). Innocenti Report Card 8. ↩︎
16. Beach, J., & Flanagan, K. (2007). People, programs and practices: A training strategy for the early childhood education and care sector in Canada. Child Care Human Resources Sector Council.  ↩︎
17. Child Care Human Resources Sector Council (2009). Occupational standards for early childhood educators. ↩︎
18. Child Care Human Resources Sector Council (2010). Pathways to early childhood education credentialing in Canada. ↩︎
19. Friendly, et al. (2026). Early childhood education and care in Canada 2024/2025.  ↩︎
20. Government of Canada (2021). 42202 – Early childhood educators and assistants, National Occupational Classification, Version 1.0 2021 ↩︎
21. Child Care Human Resources Sector Council (2009). Occupational standards for early childhood educators, p.7.   ↩︎
22. See for example, Canadian Child Care Federation (2002). Code of ethics; College of Early Childhood Educators (2017), Code of ethics and standards of practice; Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia (2021), Code of ethics (7th ed.); Government of British Columbia (2001), BC child care sector occupational competencies; Manitoba Child Care Association (2025). MCCA code of ethics ↩︎
23. OECD (2020). Building a high-quality early childhood education and care workforce: Further results from the Starting Strong survey 2018, TALIS. ↩︎
24. Bull, R., McFarland, L., Cumming, T., & Wong, S. (June 2024). The impact of work-related wellbeing and workplace culture and climate on intention to leave in the early childhood sector, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 69, 13–24.  ↩︎
25. Dawson, J. (2024, October 23). Kamloops early childhood educators call on ministry to standardize qualifications, Castanet.net  ↩︎
26. Muttart Foundation (2024). Strategies to improve the total compensation and working conditions of certified early childhood educators in Alberta.  ↩︎
27. Government of Canada (2021). Early Learning and Child Care Agreements. ↩︎
28. Urban, M., Vandenbroeck, M., Peeters, J., Lazzari, A., & Van Laere, K. (2011). CoRe: Competence requirements in early childhood education and care. European Commission: DG Education and Culture ↩︎
29. OECD (2020). Building a high-quality early childhood education and care workforce: Further results from the Starting Strong survey 2018, TALIS. ↩︎
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