On December 19, 2013, Minister of Education proposed regulatory changes, which are subject to a 45 day comment period.
The proposed regulation changes directly affect children, communities, RECEs and child care centres.
By completing the short survey, we can gain a better understanding on how the child care community feels about the proposed changes to ratios, mixed groupings and staffing.
Do you like this survey?
A: Ratios should stay the same (ie 1 RECE per group)
A: I would not want to adapt to this model
A: I think we are taking a step back by not having the same or more RECEs in the classroom. However, the school board has been hiring aggressively for ECEs and perhaps this is the only way to be able to staff until the situation settles itself.
A: Ontario should add another RECE per age group for children under 4
A: The space can be converted with additional funding
A: Finding dedicated passionate RECE’s is already an issue. RECEs have been subsidizing childcare all through my career (salaries are not reflective of a job that the worker always has to be ultra vigilant, is exposed to illness, is constantly on the move, etc). These proposed changes blatantly make statements like “reduce costs to families and the subsidy system” and “the changes may potentially reduce what parents/families pay in child care fees, and subsidy costs for children up to age 6 years, by approximately $3500”.
I fear that childcare is being disseminated.
The children of our society are at the mercy of the governments “flavour of the day”. We can spend millions/billions on things that will need to be overhauled in the next 30, 40, 50 years. Spending millions/billions on children – imagine the possibilities for hundreds of years to come.
Feeling my age!!!
A: Ontario should add another RECE per age group for children under 4
A: I would not want to adapt to this model
A: Our child care community it currently meeting to suggest alternatives to the proposed regulation changes that will be presented to Minister Sandals. Sadly, I feel the ECE field is being coerced into the politics of the main stream school system.
A: Our child care community it currently meeting to suggest alternatives to the proposed regulation changes that will be presented to Minister Sandals. Sadly, I feel the ECE field is being coerced into the politics of the main stream school system.
A: Ratios should stay the same (ie 1 RECE per group)
A: The space can be converted with ease
A: Don’t really agree with most of the changes that they are proposing as it will put more stress on the staff working with the children.
A: Ontario should add another RECE per age group for children under 4
A: I would not want to adapt to this model
A: I recently read a newspaper article about France’s exemplary child care system. I notice France employs well-educated and highly skilled workers for their children. This child care system is government subsidized, and parents are charged a fee on a sliding scale according to their income. I think Canada should do the same. Here is a quote from the article:
In many countries, day care is treated not as an afterthought, but as a priority. France, for instance, has a government-run system that experts consider exemplary. Infants and toddlers can attend crèche, which is part of the public health system, while preschoolers go to the école maternelle, which is part of the public education system. At every crèche, half the caregivers must have specialized collegiate degrees in child care or psychology; pediatricians and psychologists are available for consultation. Teachers in the école maternelle must have special post-college training and are paid the same as public school teachers. Neither program is mandatory, but nearly every preschooler goes to the école maternelle. Parents who stay at home to care for their children or hire their own caregivers receive generous tax breaks. It hardly seems a coincidence that 80 percent of French women work, compared with 60 percent of their American counterparts.
Source: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112892/hell-american-day-care
A: Ontario should add another RECE per age group for children under 4
A: The space can be converted with additional funding
A: Thanks to the good work and strong advocates for providing space for more dialogue on these significant changes in Ontario.
A: Ontario should add another RECE per age group for children under 4
A: The space does not have the capacity
A: I have been doing this for 34 years and I feel we take one step forward and then two backwards. I am awestruck that we ignore the research on what provides quality care. I am also disappointed that the proposed regulations don’t speak to untrained staff in programs. In no other “profession” do we see one trained and one un-trained staff. If we expect staff to provide an inquiry based learning environment yet have staff who have not studied basic child development we once again ignore the research that ties quality care to caregiver knowldege and education. In many ways we are being asked to deliver a program and curriculum very similar to that in Full Day Learning, yet we do so without staff training, adequate planning time or financial resources.
A: Ontario should add another RECE per age group for children under 4
A: The space can be converted with additional funding
A: The changing of ratios benefits no one except those who work in the “for profit” sector or how it will impact the finances of the elementary school system. I suggest that everyone in favour of lowering the ratios come and walk a mile in a teacher or RECE’s shoes.
A: Ontario should add another RECE per age group for children under 4
A: The space can be converted with ease
A: If the adults working with children are under pressure, tiredness and unhappiness, how, can they provide a happy circumstance to the children around them? ECEs are human beings, not fairies, and lots of us are parents too. We have families and children to raise. We need to be cared so that we can provide better cares to the children. Please do not go the opposite way.