With the return to school, attention turns towards children and their preparation for successful learning and development. This includes thinking about their early learning needs from age 0 to 5, a crucial moment in a child’s life that shapes their emotional, social, and cognitive development. Ensuring an access to quality child care for all is therefore essential.
After decades of pressure from child care advocates and CUPE activists, we have finally achieved a historic win in the establishment of the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program in 2021. This federal initiative led to agreements with each province and territory to reduce parent fees, improve the quality and inclusiveness of services, and increase the number of public and non-profit spaces. Ensuring the success of the program therefore requires a strong workforce strategy to ensure that there are enough qualified workers to successfully expand child care spaces and provide quality care.
However, there is a lack of recognition of the expertise of workers in the child care sector and of its value for our communities. This is reflected in poor working conditions, including low wages, and a lack of benefits and pensions. The devaluing of the work and the poor working conditions has led many workers to leave the sector. A study by the Atkinson Centre found that in 2023, most employers were facing difficulty hiring qualified staff in the child care sector.
CUPE has launched a new campaign to shine a light on early learning and child care work. To showcase the expertise of child care workers, stories from workers, parents and children will be made into comic strips and shared on social media. Recognizing the expertise and value of the work is essential in increasing working conditions, attracting skilled professionals and offering each child a quality space.
It’s time to shine a light on early learning and child care.