London Free Press 

The London Free Press reports that the City of London, partnering with the Province of Ontario, will sponsor a study on why there is a shortage of RECE's  despite increasing demand.

What a great opportunity to summarize some of the excellent information already out there. The Child Care Human Resources Sector Council was a federal board of child care employers specifically tasked with researching labour market shortages in early childhood education. Unfortunately, the Sector Council was recently defunded by the Federal Conservative government, but not before publishing up to date and comprehensive research.

You Bet We Still Care, published this year, has excellent facts and figures about the challenges for our sector.

- Ontario parents pay the highest child care fees in Canada (page 15).

- Over the last 14 years, in Ontario, wages for early childhood educators have declined by 2.7% (page 18)

You can access the study and many reports on ECE Training, Qualifications and Retention at: http://www.ccsc-cssge.ca/

The two statistics show the essential problem with child care. We expect parents to pay the full costs. If parents can't afford the full cost, they can apply for a subsidy. Those same parents - paying the highest fees - are responsible for wage increases though child care board of directors. Until we have base funding - allowing child care fees to be reduced and wages to be increased - Ontario wages will remain stagnant. As long as most RECE's are underpaid and undervalued, we will continue to see qualified staff leave the field to work in other sectors.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.lfpress.com/2013/04/21/city-seeks-labour-study-into-shortage-of-educators