Excerpts
Early childhood educators (ECE) provide developmentally appropriate care and learning programs for children and support parents and caregivers to participate in the economy or upgrade their skills.
The province recognizes that ECEs are important to growing the number of regulated child care spaces in the province and has prioritized investments into the recruitment and retention of ECE professionals under the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.
- Growth in the Number of Certified ECEs
- ECE Wage Enhancements
- Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Workforce Enhancement Grants
- Tuition-free Post-Secondary ECE Training, Professional Development and Financial Supports
- Baseline Quality Assessment with the Saskatchewan Quality Tool
- Saskatchewan Early Childhood Association (SECA) Recruitment and Retention Initiatives
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The Ministry of Education collaborated with Dr. Richard Fiene and the National Association of Regulation Administration (NARA) to develop a quality assessment tool called Saskatchewan's Early Learning and Child Care Quality Key Indicator Instrument (SK Quality Tool). This tool is designed to evaluate the quality of child care centres in Saskatchewan. The 10 quality key indicators that make up the tool were selected from studies conducted by Dr. Fiene over the past 40 years.
To ensure consistent results across all age groups, centre quality was evaluated using both the SK Quality Tool and the well-known Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-3 (ECERS-3) tool and Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS). Saskatchewan began implementing the tool in all child care centres in March 2024 and assessment of all centres will occur over 18 months by independent assessors. The information gathered through this tool will be helpful in developing plans to support and build the quality of child care facilities in the province and the capacity and skills of ECEs working those environments.
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