A Community-wide Approach for Improving and Sustaining High Quality Child Care in Wellington County

High quality child care is a critical component in social and economic policy. To parents of young children, it is an essential support for family well-being. In Wellington County, there are a variety of licensed child care options available to families, ranging from private home care to centre-based care to part-time preschool programs - in both urban and rural settings.

While practically all licensed child care programs support parents while they are at work or attending school, these programs also promote children’s development and readiness for school, provide a locus for peer interaction, and provide supports for inclusion of children with special needs.

Despite some of the very real limitations in the child care profession with regard to career advancement and adequate wages, early childhood educators, supervisors and directors in our community are motivated to improve their skills and knowledge for the benefit of the children in their care.

This community-wide applied research project is designed to build on the demonstrated motivation and commitment among child care workers in Wellington County to provide the best care they can. The project itself consists of two phases:

1. A start-up and planning phase that includes an assessment of training and resource needs, as well as current levels of quality in licensed child care programs in Wellington County; and,
2. An implementation phase, that involves putting all of the lessons learned from the start-up, planning and assessment phase into practice.

With the intention of making a unique contribution to both research and practice in child care, this project exemplifies a process of collaboration among child care administrators, early childhood educators, supervisors, private home child care providers, researchers, and other providers of child and family-focused services – with the ultimate goal of making tangible improvements to licensed child care quality in Wellington County.