¥������

The Association of Early Childhood Educators of Nova Scotia (AECENS) is a non-profit membership-based professional association by and for all early childhood educators (ECEs) in the province. They believe that ECEs are the key ingredient in delivering quality early childhood education and child care. AECENS is the voice for credibility and professional recognition for the early childhood education sector in Nova Scotia.

The YMCA is a charity that has been helping Canadians improve their lives since the first Y opened in Montreal in 1851. YMCA programs are offered at more than 1,700 locations across Canada and help more than 2.25 million people annually become healthier in spirit, mind, and body.

Excerpt: "ECEs working in provincially licensed and funded child-care centres and family home agencies will receive hourly wage increases ranging from about $3.14 to $4.24. All employees will be included in a comprehensive group benefits and pension plan. The wage increase will be for ECEs – including those working as inclusion co-ordinators – assistant directors, directors and family home consultants. Based on education and experience, wages range from $22.91 to $28.78 per hour for ECEs Level 1, 2 and 3, and up to $34.54 for ECEs in leadership roles. Group benefits will be provided by the non-profit Health Association Nova Scotia and a modern defined-benefit pension through CAAT Pension Plan, also a non-profit."

As we bid farewell to this year, I am filled with gratitude reflecting on my first year as Dean. Getting to know the OISE community has been an incredible journey, and each day, I am amazed by the collective brilliance and passion that defines us.

Excerpt: "Beginning January 1, 2024, child care fees across Prince Edward Island will drop to $10-a-day for all Island children attending Early Years Centres (EYCs) and licensed Family Home Centres (FHCs). Under the Canada-Prince Edward Island Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, the governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island committed to bringing the average fees for regulated child care to $10-a-day per child. To ensure affordability and equity across the province, PEI will be exceeding this commitment by investing additional dollars to make $10-a-day the standard child care fee at all EYCs and licensed FHCs in the province, and achieve this milestone ahead of the national target. Provincial subsidy and support programs will continue, covering fees for many Island families."

Following a broad consultation, Professor Ruth Childs has been appointed Interim Chair of the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education. Her six-month term begins on January 1, 2024.

Excerpt: "More people are training for jobs as early childhood educators in the Lower Mainland and Greater Victoria area thanks to a government-funded Community and Employer Partnership project (CEP). As many as 40 people, most of them immigrant women, have the opportunity to learn new skills or start new careers, benefiting young children, families and communities. “We all want people to have meaningful work to build better lives,” said Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. “Through this training, people will get in-demand jobs, while local communities will be able to access more child care spaces.” The Province, in partnership with the federal government, is providing $1.2 million to YWCA Metro Vancouver to deliver its program, Discover, in three cohorts, training people to become early childhood educators. The second and third cohorts of the program are underway in Vancouver and Victoria, with 15 participants each. The first group completed the course in September 2023."

Master of Education (MEd) in Counselling Psychology - Global Mental Health field
Expected year of graduation: 2024
Country of Origin (if Intl. student): Sri Lanka

The Atkinson Centre promotes research on child development, and the development of early learning policy and practice that serve young children and their families.

Presented by Zeenat Janmohamed, PhD, Executive Director and Senior Policy Analyst, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development