Description:
Under Budget 2013, funding for child care is $269.7 million, an increase of $5 million. Families will continue to be supported through child care subsidy benefits that offset the cost of child care. Also, funding will continue to be available to eligible programs and staff to support high quality child care through wage top-ups and professional development and the recruitment and retention of qualified child care staff.
Human Services, like all ministries, was asked to examine operations to ensure that we are using our resources as effectively as possible to get the best possible results for Albertans. The Quality Funding grant, administered under the Alberta Child Care Accreditation Funding Program, will no longer be provided as of April 1, 2013. This change will ensure key supports and incentives continue to be in place. Wage top-ups of up to $6.62 per hour; benefit contribution grant to offset the mandatory employer contributions on the wage top-ups; professional development of up to $1,000 per year; and staff attraction incentive allowance of $2,500 per year will continue to be available.
Further details are provided in the links below:
Provincial Child Care Investments 2013
Provincial Budget 2013: Letter to Child Care Operators
Questions and Answers: Discontinuation of the Quality Funding Grant
Did you know...
Creating a Curriculum Framework for Early Learning and Child Care in Alberta
The Ministry of Human Services is sponsoring Grant MacEwan University and Mount Royal University as community partners to develop a "made in Alberta" curriculum framework for child care educators working in centre based child care and family day home settings with children 0-5 years of age. The curriculum framework will be based on a holistic view of children and will build common language across diverse delivery settings around the importance of play in early learning, emergent program planning and responsive care. The Advisory Committee for the project includes curriculum experts from Alberta post secondary Faculties of Education and Early Learning and Child Care programs, as well as representatives from the broader professional child care sector, who will provide guidance and feedback on the underlying values, principles and goals that guide responsive routines, learning experiences and interactions with children and their families.
There are two phases to the project. The first phase is the development of a draft curriculum framework that is aligned with the content, philosophy and approach of post secondary training institutions as well as the early learning and child care sector at large. The second phase consists of piloting the curriculum framework and supports in selected early learning and child care sites across the province. The project will conclude with recommendations and strategies for implementation by March 2014.
Immigrant Child Care Staff Preparation Project
A unique, two-year immigrant child care staff preparation project recently began in October at Edmonton's Intercultural Daycare Centre. The 23 students participating in the project will attend class for 3 hours each week, complete assignments with children in their playroom, and work with a volunteer English language mentor. At the end of the two years, students will be able to apply for PLAR credit (Prior Learning and Assessment Recognition) for up to four Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) courses in participating Alberta post-secondary programs.
This "made in Alberta" training program, funded by the Ministry of Human Services, is operated by the Board of the Intercultural Daycare in Edmonton. Representatives from public post-secondary Early Learning and Child Care programs are serving in an advisory capacity and staff from the Alberta Resource Centre for Quality Enhancement (ARCQE) are working as part of the classroom team. Knowledge gained from the project will help inform training models for immigrant child care educators that are culturally sensitive, provide core areas of knowledge and skill and include English as a Second Language component.
-reprinted from Ministry of Human Services website