Why do ECE have to tie their PD to Standards of Practice?

Still so many ECE complaining about the CPL having to tie back to our Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice! 

In my opinion the whole point of the way our CPL is deigned is exactly to force ECE to focus on tying their work with children to the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice  because sadly our entire industry has global issues with a LACK of them. IMO while it’s not something we like to talk or reflect on because individually we like to think we are all amazing at what we do and put our heart and soul into our work  the reality is that “collectively” the Auditor General report on childcare back in 2014 showed a serious lack of “quality” evident across Ontario’s childcare industry - the amount of serious occurrences reported in licensed childcare centre from loss of children to the death of children was statistically high considering these are only those actually “reported” to the Ministry and not all those some centres try to sweep under the rug and that the licensed sector only represents 22% of the childcare use in Ontario, the amount of centres operating on “probationary licenses” due to serious non compliance found during inspections with what are bare minimum standards and so forth! The documents too long and in-depth to list all the challenges that were shown - its a dry but informative read if you'd like more information on the challenges found in the industr.

And while I agree with my peers that it’s not fair that the front line bear the brunt of having to “raise the bar” on those issues but reality is if we want to be seen and valued as professionals we need an industry that clearly understands the Standards of Practice of the field they work in - hence why we ALL have to do this style of PD in order to reach those few who really need to do more active reflection about their role as an ECE.

Plus they are not just picking on us mandatory PL was also introduced in 2016 by the government to teachers college too for its members - the difference for them though is that they all share ONE employer in the Ministry of Education so it is easy for their employers to “provide and track” all their employees PLF as theirs is called via both their annual job reviews and PD day workshops and so forth to ensure to their college that the criteria is being met by their members and they get audited too but for teachers the process is easier because the employer is able to support the process and send their “PD records” and so forth ... sadly the ECE field does not have that same benefit of one shared employer especially one thats actually a branch of the “government” itself and not just Joe Public with its own agendas so we have to play all the roles of assessment, learning planning, implementing or own PL and “tracking” it all ourself!

However we will never have what teachers have in way of value/respect from society until we RAISE THE BAR in our own profession - and the CPL like it or not is the first step in that! And the more VISBLE we make that commitment to life long learning and that raising the bar process with a workforce well versed in its own standards of Practice and easily able to tie what we do back to those Standards to the public the better!

Unfortunately IMO the public seeing any % of that workforce so vocally complaining about having to do a CPL that asks them to reflect on their Standards of Practice or who doesn’t want to have tie their work TO the Standards of Practice because it’s hard doesn’t display a whole lot of confidence to dispel the societal belief that what we do “ is just glorified babysitting”.

Than adding to the uproar in frustration is the College of Educators current survey proposing a new 'class' of membership for those with administration background and the sheer panic from current supervisors that they may be 'forced' to go back to school. Yet there is no evidence that in the College materials that states supervisors would be FORCED to apply for this class of membership and not just remain RECE class. In fact it mentions considering the ability of members to 'move between' them as desired?

IMO unless the Ministry of Education changes its criteria to require RECE to have this new 'class' of membership with the College as criteria to WORK as a supervisor in a centre than IMO there is no reason why 'current' supervisory would have to have this proposed 'class' of membership they could just continue to have only a RECE designation.

From what I listened to and read on the College website is the OPTION of being an additional 'class' for those who have additional training and consistently work in Administration/Supervisory roles to be able to distinguish themselves to public from just 'regular' RECE. Many many other regulated industries have different 'classes' of membership based on additional qualifications - I personally do not see this proposal as a NEGATIVE thing at all!

I keep hearing everyone go on about wanting to be seen and paid and valued like TEACHERS but teachers have what they have mostly because they are unionized and have the government as an employer but ALSO because they RAISED THE BAR over the many many decades of public education from back when just anyone being able to teach as long as they could read and write themselves to having to have achieved a BA level education and an additional 2 year teachers college to having to also engage in continual professional learning framework themselves and so forth.

IMO we are at a chicken and eggs conundrum here - we feel we do not get paid enough to do all the stuff being asked of us HOWEVER if we want society to VALUE us and be willing to invest more money in childcare than we need to be visibly showing that this is a job that not just ANYONE can do - we need to raise the bar and show it takes skills, knowledge and continued learning to remain an effective professional!

Seems like so many frustrated early childhood educators out there right now filled with anger which is disheartening because our work with children is so demanding as it is without us bringing that kind of energy into our programs! 

Big deep breath's friends! Growth and change can be scary but it can also be BENEFICIAL ... the College is looking for ways to help raise the bar in our profession in a way that will help it better serve the public and better trained professionals committed to life long learning are what the industry truly NEEDS. We should not be fighting moves that are aimed at resulting in this! Right now we need to 'nurture' the chicken so that in the future it can lay us that golden egg of an industry that is SO VALUED by the public that they are willing to invest in early learning and care the same way they invest in education!

Margaret

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