Cambrian College ready as province announces increase to child care spaces

Ontario will soon need close to 20,000 new early childhood educators.

Earlier this month, the provincial government released an early learning policy framework. Child care services are expected to accommodate 100,000 more children.

The government is also offering a grant program to encourage early childhood educators to upgrade their qualifications.

• Ontario pledges to create 45,000 child-care spaces
• Province's day care promise ignores working parents, says Sudbury educator

Cambrian College hopes its students are ahead of the game: the college offers the only Alternative Delivery Early Childhood Education program in the province.

Professor Lois Mahon said students can continue working in the field while they're in the program.

"We have lots of people who are currently working in the profession who are not qualified," Mahon said. "So this gives people an opportunity to maintain their work, and to receive an early childhood education diploma."

Mahon said so far the program has welcomed all kinds of students, not just the ones straight out of high school.

"Adult learners come back to school to learn about early childhood education," she said. "They bring with them their knowledge, and I think this makes for a really rich educational opportunity."

• More about Cambrian's Alternative Delivery Early Childhood Education program can be found here.