The P.E.I. Advisory Council on the Status of Women released a critical assessment Thursday of government’s handling of changes to the early childhood sector, calling the tight transition timelines a source of undue stress for those affected.
The province announced sweeping changes to P.E.I.’s early learning system last month as its plan for the future of early childhood development on P.E.I. The centrepiece of the massive changes is a transition of current daycares into provincial Early Years Centres. These centres will charge regulated fees and will offer a standardized provincial curriculum.
But centres have only until July 1 to decide whether to become one of these larger provincial centres or remain as private operators. If they don’t decide by the province’s deadline, centres may not benefit from funds government has earmarked for transitional support.
The P.E.I. Advisory Council on the Status of Women released its Equality Report Card Interim Trends Report on Thursday. While it praises the province’s decision to bring kindergarten into the public system and the boosted investments and dedicated strategy for the early learning sector, the council is concerned about the way in which changes to the sector have been handled.
“At this point, many questions remain about how the early childhood sector will manage the substantial transitions it faces,” the report states.
“Children, parents and educators remain in states of insecurity and have little time to plan. Crucial questions remain to be answered about the viability of some — especially rural — childcare centres and about supports for children whose parents are still unable to afford access to childcare services.”
The short deadlines for transition and confusion about the process have resulted in “too much preventable stress for everyone involved” and government should have anticipated these challenges, the council’s report states.
Council chair Isabelle Christian said her members have been hearing from parents, childcare workers and operators who are confused about the changes and worried about the future of childcare in the province.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty, which I think is normal with change but could be helped a lot with a better communication strategy,” Christian said.
“They could have made the transition easier for people in the way that they communicated the changes and better supports for people during that change. In my reading I haven’t seen a lot of pieces of that in place. They could be there but we’d really like (government) to be more reassuring and make them highly visible.”
This year’s interim report doesn’t attach grades to the issues addressed, but does identify actions government could take over the next year to improve its equality grades.
The first and most pressing need is for more support for the early childhood sector, the council’s report states.
“Children, parents, educators and childcare centre owner/operators need to see government leadership so that truly positive outcomes from government’s historic investment in the early learning sector can be realized.”
The advisory council usually releases a report card assessing government’s progress toward women’s equality goals every year. Last year, council decided to wait two years before issuing its next report card in order to give government more time to implement real change. The next full report card will be released next June.

via www.theguardian.pe.ca