Renowned child psychiatrist Dr. Jean Clinton explores the vital role of high-quality early childhood education in supporting children’s development. Dr. Clinton discussed why a well-trained and fairly compensated workforce is essential to delivering that quality, and how investing in educators benefits children, families, and society.
This presentation examines key challenges and opportunities in the early years sector, with a focus on Newfoundland and Labrador. Drawing on national data, lessons from a recent Ontario workforce study, and examples from other jurisdictions, it highlights workforce and system pressures and identifies promising and best practices relevant to the province.
Ontario’s ECE Workforce in Context examines the state of Ontario’s early childhood education workforce through a cross-jurisdictional lens. Using national and provincial data, the presentation explores workforce challenges related to compensation, retention, and staffing shortages, and highlights lessons and promising practices from other provinces that offer insights for strengthening Ontario’s system.
Challenges and Opportunities in the Early Years Sector provides an evidence-informed overview of early childhood education and care in Canada, with a specific focus on Manitoba. The presentation draws on lessons from Ontario and national data to examine workforce conditions, funding, and governance, while highlighting promising practices that support system quality and sustainability.
Presented at the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association (OMSSA) Policy Conference in December 2025, this session examines the state of Ontario’s early childhood education workforce in the context of CWELCC implementation. Drawing on national and provincial data, including workforce trends, wages, retention, housing insecurity, and the growing use of Director’s Approvals, the presentation identifies structural pressures shaping recruitment and retention across regions. Comparative evidence from other provinces, including Prince Edward Island, is used to highlight policy levers that have demonstrably improved workforce stability. The session was designed to support regional and local system leaders and policymakers in understanding both the scale and uneven geography of Ontario’s workforce challenges, and the policy choices that could strengthen system sustainability.
This 2016 review synthesizes more than three decades of research on what helps early childhood educators stay in the field. Drawing on 32 empirical studies, it identifies seven factors that shape workforce stability: wages and benefits, job satisfaction, organizational characteristics, education and training, demographic factors, job characteristics, and alternative employment opportunities. The review finds that higher pay, supportive workplaces, and access to professional development are consistently linked to stronger retention. Public and nonprofit centres that meet accreditation or policy standards show particularly low turnover, highlighting the value of sustained investment in a stable and qualified early learning workforce.
Gordon Cleveland is an economist and Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto Scarborough who has spent more than thirty years studying early childhood education and policy design. His writings, featured on his blog at ChildcarePolicy.net, examine the economics of early learning and care, with a focus on workforce compensation, service quality, and the balance between for profit and non profit models. Cleveland brings an accessible, evidence informed perspective to issues such as universal low fee child care, tax credit models, and workforce challenges in Canada and internationally. His work offers valuable insights for policymakers, advocates, and practitioners working to build a high quality, accessible early learning and child care system.
Led by Child Care Now, Educators Matter is a three-year national initiative (2023–2026) focused on strengthening Canada’s early learning and child care (ELCC) workforce. The project examines how wages, benefits, professional development, and working conditions shape recruitment, retention, and quality across the system. Through research, policy mapping, and collaboration with educators, advocates, and policymakers, Educators Matter seeks to identify the gaps and opportunities in current workforce policy and practice.
This report reviews how provinces and territories across Canada are addressing early learning and child care workforce challenges through policy. It summarizes actions on wages, benefits, pensions, and workforce development, identifying key differences in how governments are implementing commitments under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreements. The report highlights progress in improving compensation and professionalization but notes that uneven implementation continues to limit equity across jurisdictions. It calls for consistent national standards to ensure all early childhood educators are fairly paid and supported, regardless of where they work.
This report presents the results of province-wide surveys of early childhood educators and centre directors, exploring how wages, benefits, and professional development initiatives have shaped workforce stability since 2019. Findings show significant progress: most directors report higher job satisfaction and improved recruitment and retention following increases to the wage grid, the introduction of pensions, and access to post-secondary programs. Ongoing challenges include staffing shortages in rural areas and difficulties finding substitutes. The study highlights the importance of sustained investments in fair compensation and continuous learning to strengthen PEI’s early childhood workforce.
