Lack of early childhood educators threatens $10-per-day child-care plan, experts say

[@ashaddams6298]

id like to see an investigation done on the toxic working environments and how managers and people running these centres rip off and gaslight their employees... its sad and disappointing for people who are hopeful to making a career in this industry :(

[@wardahnayab2791]

Agree with you. I stopped working in the field and resigned from my membership with college of ECE because of toxic environment. It was so bad that I went into sever depression. ECE's are underpaid and overworked.

[@brianaspinall1831]

I know a number of people in the field. there are a lot of problems and some have been touched upon. 1. Not supportive parents 2. Under pay 3. Cap to 37.5 hrs. 4. Lack of resources 5. Split shifts 6. Paper supervisor vs working supervisor 7. Many pay dues to a Board that doesn't bring any value to the individual.

[@London_J]

Yes. The plan that they keep on talking about but never actually is going to happen.

[@SohaibKhan1]

Because they get paid only 16.78 per hour, which isn't enough to even buy candy

[@shauncameron8390]

Namely in Vancouver and Toronto.

[@annettebrunner5993]

A quick Google search shows Denmark salary is around $40/ hour. Other comparable countries are similar. How disrespectful that childcare is not valued. $16/ hour in Ontario is an embarrassment.

[@and-hx5gr]

In Australia no childcare worker gets less than$ 28 an hour and the industry is still struggling to retain workers because of high living costs.

[@annettebrunner5993]

@@and-hx5gr yes. So much more needs to be done regarding the respect given to early childhood educators.

[@cherylsibson2529]

So you expect a certified child care assistant who spent 2 yrs to become certified, to work for less than an 10.00 .

[@Lickymaballs]

considering many of these centers have multiple children per adult and some not enough adults for the children they need to work out a formula to have enough adult coverage and pay 20 dollars an hour

[@devikanaidu-vl2gg]

Assistants only need 3 months of education, diploma is 2 years

[@TelosBudo]

"Because Low pay, no benefits", well gee, maybe pay them more!

[@lorelaigilrour]

Sounds similar to the Ling term care crisis. Who wants to do a job that doesn't pay a living wage AND needs a 2 year college diploma. Ltc and ece workers NEED $25 an hour to START

[@magnoliaflower3310]

I think it depends on which part of Canada. It is around $25 in the Vancove lower mainland area. Some pay up to $30 depending on experience.

[@heeyounglee6018]

I'm a RECE, I am working 20 per hour, no paid vacation, no benefits. Because I am a new comer and I need a PR. Canada government wants full time position, but I couldn't find any good full time position for newcomers, so nomarly newcomer should choice not good condition work place until get the PR. And many newcomer teachers should be endure unfair, toxic environments and owner. That's too harsh.

[@YouSmellLikePotato]

Pay the childcare workers a living wage so they can afford to live in the cities they teach and make incentivized free training programs. Voila. Daycare workers are often exploited by the whims of the ownership/management, arent unionized, and are underpaid. This is no surprise.

[@Butterfly-rd4je]

Low pay and low benefits always be a factor

[@williamwood4768]

Minister of children and family is a flake, you expected more?

[@keikairin2038]

Simply put if the baby sitter is minimum wage and putting their own family's health at risk you will have less workers. Which means less available slots and only the deserving folks will be able to use this service. If you have parents with problems paying for the service, get caught dropping off sick children or have tantrum problem children who cannot behave your kid will be denied this service. It does not mean we are understaffed. It means people want a service they cannot support, respect or afford. I would absolutely run a daycare business if I had the funds, the right to deny admittance to children who don't pass health checks or screening, and could pick and choose my clients by refusing service to people whose kids are little monsters...and charge what I wanted...making them pay for the day as you drop the kid off or you take the kid home or to call child services if their parents dumped them there sick and without paying.

[@michelleb5164]

The are VERY correct! As a child educator we are Very undervalued and right now No school or daycare can find any Teachers cause it's just not worth it for them because of the low pay for all the things we do and most places do Not have benefits which makes me very sad because we LOVE what we do and we want to teach but things have to change.

[@charlottetyre4360]

As a person studying early childhood education and care, I completely agree. The pay doesn't prompt me to be working in this area.

[@jptrainor]

Government puts their finger on the scale in one place... And a problem pops out in another place. And on it goes, round and round. Are we surprised? And to attract workers, day cares will opt out of the $10/day model, charge more, pay workers more, and drain the subsidized system of quality labour.

[@Dorian803]

Stop hiding behind libertarianism and just admit that you hate poor children already. It's obvious

[@jptrainor]

@@Dorian803 What does libertarianism have to do with?

[@Dorian803]

@@jptrainor touche

[@jptrainor]

@@Dorian803 Can you please try to make sense? Maybe I can answer you. My criticism is of weakness in the program that I beleive are inevitable. Not with the principle of subsidizing childcare.

[@Dorian803]

@@jptrainor I told you to stop pretending you're motivated by anything besides cruelty. 🤡

[@joshuamacdonald4913]

Many of these people make less then $20 an hour and require some sort of prior training. The unfortunate reality is that it's 2023 and the cost of living in Canada has created a situation where there should absolutely be no job that pays less then $20 that requires any sort of ticket, certificate, degree or licence. It's bleeding over to many other sectors and creating staffing problems everywhere.

[@jessiewhitehouse1458]

Maybe if the daycare centers were run better and we were decently paid, we wouldn't all be working as private care providers.

[@briannewright8112]

I would never suggest anyone take ECE in college. It's not worth it. You will be in debt and not get paid enough to pay off the debt. No one should be an ECE in this country. It is not worth your time. It is not worth your education. Do something else. I took ECE in 2010 and it was the biggest mistake of my life. Do not work in child care. Do not work as an education assistant. Just don't do it.

[@and-hx5gr]

Come to Australia . The recruiting here .

[@Justine0087]

Would be fantastic if the news could use the proper title of Childcare and not daycare.

[@JogBird]

some ppl spend more on coffee than that

[@songlee115]

Do they really not know why? There are a lot of problems in the early childhood education field, but the most ridiculous thing is the insignificant wages compared to the work duties.

[@heyamrabaa7628]

Developmental Service Workers and Child and Youth workers should be able to work in those roles again!!! They are just as knowledgeable and in some cases more so, especially when it comes to kids with challenging needs.

[@brittanyellis7785]

They can and do as assistants. The issue is money and lack of benefits to keep staff.

[@briannewright8112]

No. They aren't trained for young children.

[@heyamrabaa7628]

@@briannewright8112 Hey. We are actually! I worked with babies while studying and continued with toddler and preschoolers for years afterwards.

[@vanadians3819]

I did this job back in the 90s. I LOVED it!! I quit because my friend who watched parked cars made more money than I did!!!

[@Tdogg819]

Why don’t the men who have lost work in Alberta pivot to childcare? Maybe they’ll help bump up wages.

[@karenquan9718]

We need men in this field! Educators would support this.

[@ihategooglesomuch]

because skilled workers have better things to do than take care of your brats.

[@Tdogg819]

@@ihategooglesomuch why do you assumed theyre my brats? and why do you think education is unskilled work?

[@briannewright8112]

They need two years college

[@jaligawesa]

Raise salaries

[@ihategooglesomuch]

i can't think of any worse job than looking after other people's kids. nobody wants to do this, even if the pay was decent.

[@ronaldsears4979]

People are refusing to work or do any jobs at all because of low wages and low pay not getting what they need for their medical needs or otherwise how can you resolve this until you start showing responsibility of those who are willing to take care of your children as other wise if you have no responsibilities or respect for those who are trained to help you with daycare you have no respect for your children not acceptable if you are not going to pay them for their hourly easily wages and what they're asking of you the same way start taking your own food to these places so that they can feed your children and also this will give you a lot more indication to what needs to be done you know what your turtling to eat and what they won't eat start showing respect and responsibility for the their wages and hours be respectful of them the same way you'd want to be respected

[@thetimeisnow4147]

Government promises never come true

[@veronicaa9996]

It's not just wages. It's horrible working conditions. Cannot call off sick because there is no staff to replace you. Ratios are unrealistic. 2 adults with 10 toddlers. Should always be 3 staff in rooms until children are 4. Nature did not intend 10 18 month to 2.5 year olds to be cared for by 2 adults. The hours are long and often employers are not flexible to workers who cannot work opening or closing shifts because of their own child.care drop off needs. Hours are also undesirable. Centres operate 7 to 6. So you have to be available between these hours. Lots of micromanagement in child care . Pay is decent in some agencies BUT you can get office jobs with far leas stress and more diserable hours for the same pay. Also ECE'S have very little to strive for. Not a lot of room to advance beyond on the floor with the children. You get burnt out. It's juat not a job you can do long term unless it's truly you passion/calling. Even when it is the high expectations of ECE'S will drive even the most dedicated staff from the field. This is my experience, thoughts 21 years in the field.

[@briankroger7879]

Life is always harder under a NDP/LIBERAL government.

[@sammieschannel9556]

No, this is would be the same with conservative governments too…The whole system has been messed for years long before NDP/Liberal government came in to power. We are just finally fed up and burnt out.

[@BeautyxxEyes]

Preach Martha!!!

[@crystalsky8819]

The childcare service i used to go through mostly sat on their butts chatting away to the other workers. The children would mainly play with the other children or do what they wanted on their own until a worker was ready to interact. Other times the child would go upto the worker and the workers would continue talking until finished and then see what the child wanted even with the workers knowing the child was there wanting something or even the child speaking. I will never allow any more children of mine in a childcare service, ever

[@on2thenextthing]

Don't worry, you have drag queen story time to fill the gap.

[@blademan4089]

What… I voted Liberal on this one issue… Your telling me it’s not going to work now.. Well NDP gets my vote next election..

[@ronaldsears4979]

The daycare state welfare system was supposed to pay full-time for daycare how many hours that you work you go in and the welfare system had you to fill out a daycare form the hours and the Time by the people that you work for. Helping you make your difference instead they have failed to do anything to change the wage hours because most of them are pocketing the money and not paying you your full wages you have a right to fight back on your wage and your hours and time by getting petitions together because if they're not paying you enough and the welfare system is not giving you medical then someone has morally has no indications to helping those who have helped them with their children and their well-being to make sure that they had a place to go while they're working they still need to pay you for your hourly wages than steal your wages from you the union seem to be taking more than paying us

[@RealAriesG]

What would be a realistic price to be paid to watch someone’s children? Anybody have any ideas?