Childcare centres in the region closed May 9 for first PD day for staff

On Monday, May 9 the Region of Waterloo will join many other southwestern Ontario municipalities in participating in the first Professional Development Day (PD Day) for all early years and child care staff in licensed child care and EarlyON programs.

Created and hosted by the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, the “Heartwork and So Much More” Virtual PD Day will engage thousands of early years educators for a day of educational sessions. Some of the internationally-renowned experts presenting during the event will include:

• Dr. Emis Akbari, Ph.D.

Professor and Program Coordinator, School of Early Childhood, George Brown College and Senior Policy Fellow Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development

• Dr. Jean Clinton, BMus MD FRCP(C)

Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University

• Armine Yalnizyan

Senior Economist, The Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers

Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) and child care staff are committed to ongoing professional development in order to enhance their expertise in how children learn and develop. Previously, many completed professional learning on their own unpaid time.

“Registered Early Childhood Educators and early years and child care staff do incredibly important work supporting children at a critical stage in their development,” said Barb Cardow, director of children’s services for the Region of Waterloo. 

“They have worked so hard over these last two years under very challenging circumstances to provide essential child care services to families. We are excited to provide this Professional Development Day on May 9, 2022 for early years and child care staff to support their learning and well-being. We greatly appreciate parents’ understanding and support of educators and their efforts to provide quality programming for their children.”

The May 9 PD Day, as well as another PD Day to be held later this year, are supported by one-time federal funding through the Canada-Ontario Early Childhood Workforce Agreement.

The PD Days will provide educators with paid time during the regular workday to reflect and learn together with their team and other educators.

During these PD Days, programs at all participating child care sites will be closed. Parents will not be charged any fees for these designated days. Parents were notified directly about the May 9 date in early February, so they would have sufficient notice to make alternate child care arrangements for the day.

The PD Day comes following the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, a landmark child care agreement that will improve the affordability of child care as part of the Government of Canada’s national child care program. Importantly, the reduction in licensed child care fees will not come at the expense of high-quality care provided by well-trained and professional child care workers. 

Other municipalities participating in the PD day include Chatham-Kent, Brantford, London, St. Thomas, Elgin County, Brant, Grey, Huron, Lambton, Middlesex, Oxford, Simcoe, Norfolk County, and Niagara region.