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"As Ontario swiftly ushers in full-day kindergarten in September, early childhood educators are panicked, anxiously waiting to see what will happen to their jobs, their centres and their profession."

"But the province has spared little time rolling out the new initiative and this has left ECEs scrambling to find answers about the fate of their profession."

"As more ECEs move into the public system, there are rumblings that smaller daycare centres dotted throughout communities in Ontario could cut staff, close programs and, in some cases, shut down facilities."

 The article discusses ECEs worries about who will fund the changes to childcare, ie.centres trying to recoup the loss of kindergarten programs by offering infant programs which are costly, keeping staff (which may not be a problem since elementary schools are offering ECEs a lower wage than the one recommended in the Pascal report, according to Eduarda Sousa, executive director of AECEO. "the wages they're offering do not recognize the education"), questioning the "partnership" between teachers and ECEs ("If there's to be a partnership in the classroom, one of the partnerships has to be an equivalency of pay," according to Barbara Winberg, an ECE in Thornhill, Ont.).
-"I hope it's an opportunity to improve things despite the very real challenges and shortcomings of the initial implementation," said Carl Corter, the Atkinson Chair at the Institute of Child Study at the University of Toronto.

To view the article, click here.