Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

This week I had the opportunity to explore varying early childhood national organizations and federal agencies to inspire my thinking about places I might like to work and about roles I would like to take on. I explored the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF), The Canadian Association for Young Children (CAYC), and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). 

I chose the Canadian Child Care Federation as this is an organization that is committed to best practice in early childhood education. They value children and they are committed to providing Canadians with the very best in early learning and care knowledge and best practices (CCCF, 2012). They are also committed to the importance of quality early learning and child care, quality delivery of early learning, and the importance of competent, well-trained teachers who deliver early learning and child care with passion and pride (CCCF, 2102). 

They have a board of directors and staff which includes the President and CEO, Publication and Marketing Manager, and a Senior Consultant. It would be so interesting to sit on the board of this organization as it involves such valuable work. It would be so interesting and rewarding to be part of a working community at a provincial and national level that works towards a better system of Early Learning and Child Care. The skills needed to be part of the board or be employed as President, a consultant, or manager would be to have strong leadership skills, organizational and communication skills, and have a strong commitment to your work. 

The second organization that I chose is the, "Canadian Association for Young Children" as this organization provides a voice on critical issues related to the quality of life of all young children and families. Members of this organization includes parents, teachers, caregivers, administrators, students, and all those wishing to share ideas and participate in activities related to the education and welfare of young children (CAYC, 2014). 

What is interesting is that one aspect of this organization is that they put on various events that link with varying challenges and issues within the field of early childhood. It would be a great experience to have the opportunity to be involved in the process of organizing events/conferences related to this field. I am assuming that you would need to have skills such as; strong organizational skills, ability to work under pressure, possess good communication skills, and have strong work ethics. I would be very interested in working in such an organization where I would be able to organize events/conferences that discuss challenges and issues within our field. 

The last organization that I chose that appealed to me is the, "National Association for the Education of Young Children" as this organization is the largest organization working on behalf of young children. NAEYC is a professional membership organization that works to promote high quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research (NAEYC, n.d.)

NAEYC has an accreditation training center and that would be a great experience to be involved in the accreditation process. Knowing that I could be part of building stronger teams of teachers, improving standards of programs, and providing families with a sense that their child is in a quality program would be extremely rewarding. The skills needed for this position would be to have a strong understanding of the regulations of the field, have effective communication skills, ability to work as a team, and dedication. 

Here are the links to these organizations if wanted to explore them further:

The Canadian Child Care Federation

http://www.cccf-fcsge.ca/

The Canadian Association for Young Children

http://www.cayc.ca/content/about-cayc

The National Association for the Education of Young Children

http://www.naeyc.org/

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Level

This week I had the opportunity to explore varying early childhood organizations and agencies to inspire my thinking about places I might like to work and about roles I would like to take on. I explored the College of Early Childhood Educators, the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario, and Andrew Fleck Child Care Services.

I chose the College of Early Childhood Educators as this organization helps to govern Ontario’s early childhood educators in the public interest. It helps to serve and protect children and families by setting requirements and ethical and professional standards for registered early childhood educators, and governing member conduct through a complaints and discipline process. This organization also explains what early childhood educators do and why it is important to regulate our profession (CECE, 2015). 

There are currently no employment opportunities with the College of Early Childhood Educators, although they do have a complaints and discipline department, professional practice department, communications department, and registration and member services department. The skills needed to work in any one of these departments would be to be knowledgeable regarding the Code of Ethics and Standard of Practice. It would also be helpful to be knowledgeable regarding the field of early childhood and be familiar with the current issues and trends that impact this field (CECE, 2015).  

The second organization that I chose is the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario as this organization advocates for this profession and supports quality early learning and care as an integral part of a child’s healthy development. The AECEO promotes and supports research and advancement in the field of early childhood education and care and makes it known to parents and the general public the value and importance of early childhood education and early childhood educators (AECEO, 2015).  

I did not see a web page with career opportunities on the AECEO website; however it would be interesting to become a board member of the AECEO.  This organization is member driven with elected voluntary Branch Executives. It is the role of the Provincial Office Staff to implement, support and maintain the services, policies, and directives as dictated by the Board and fundamentally by its members, within the scope of the Association’s mission and mandate (AECEO, 2015).

The last agency that I chose that appealed to me is Andrew Fleck Child Care Services (AFCCS) as this agency is one of the oldest and most diversified non-profit, charitable, multi-service early learning, child care and family support organizations in Ontario (AFCCS, 2015). This agency has always taken a leadership role in the child care community and in early childhood education. They advocate for high quality, affordable, accessible, accountable and inclusive child care that promotes the optimum physical, emotional, social, cognitive and intellectual development of the child (AFCCS, 2015).

This agency has career opportunities in Early Learning Programs, Children’s Integration Support Services, Home Child Care, and Early Years Centers.  It states on their website that when they hire people, they carefully look at what they offer, and where they can contribute best within the child care services they offer (AFCCS, 2015).

Here are the links to each organization I chose in case you would like to visit them yourself: 

The College of Early Childhood Educators

https://www.college-ece.ca/en/Pages/Home.aspx

Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario

http://www.aeceo.ca/

Andrew Fleck Child Care Services

http://afchildcare.on.ca/en/