Latest News & Stories

Excerpt: "Licensed school-age child care centres will be able to access new funding to help them deliver before and after school programming for Island children. To ensure Island families can continue to access affordable child care programming, the Province is investing $537,900 to support operational costs and encourage more organizations to offer school-age child care programs. The new funding will include a one-time stabilization grant for existing operators and a new licensing incentive grant for new operators."

The OISE Graduate Students’ Association is excited to extend an invitation to all OISE students to participate in one or more of our standing committees.

Visions of Science has an exciting internship opportunity for OISE students available this Fall!

Excerpt: "Through the Province’s StrongerBC: Future Ready Action Plan, $12.5 million over three years is supporting provincewide recruitment and training initiatives for teachers. This year, almost $4 million is going toward recruitment and training programs, with a focus on supporting teacher retention in the sector, improving flexibility in teacher education programs, and recruiting more teachers in rural and remote communities."

Excerpt: "Alberta’s government and its education partners are continuing to modernize the education system and improve student success by developing and piloting a curriculum that will drive a passion for learning. The new draft K-6 social studies curriculum, which was developed after nine months of consultation with education partners, teachers, parents and Albertans, focuses on building students’ critical thinking skills and empowers them to be engaged citizens. Since the new draft K-6 social studies curriculum was released in April 2024, 62 school authorities and more than 1,700 teachers across 429 schools have signed up to pilot the curriculum during the 2024-25 school year."

Excerpt: "Phase 1 of the school lunch program includes every school that has elementary school grades, which adds up to more than 75,000 students and potentially more than 13 million lunches served in the coming school year. It is a pay-what-you-can program, meaning families can choose to pay the full $6.50 cost of the lunch, part of the cost or nothing. All payment information is kept confidential. Lunches will start in schools on October 1, 15 or 28, with ordering opening two weeks before the first lunches are served. Families will be able to choose between two lunch options every school day, with at least one vegetarian (no meat) lunch offered each day. In total, there will be 40 menu options that rotate weekly when the program starts in October. Each meal provides balanced nutrition and meets the standards outlined in Canada’s Food Guide and the Nova Scotia School Food and Nutrition Policy."

e-News

Excerpt: "In Saskatchewan over the next two years nearly $35 million will be invested to continue to deliver tuition-free early childhood educator (ECE) training, professional development and student financial support. Through the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, up to $16.5 million in the 2024-25 academic year and up to $18.4 million in the 2025-26 academic year will be directed toward opportunities to support ECE skills and knowledge. The additional funding will create more than 4,000 tuition-free training seats over two years. This will allow current and future educators to advance or start their career in early childhood education and obtain their ECE Certification Level I, II or III. The investment also supports more than 5,300 professional development seats, helping educators gain knowledge to excel in their roles."

Excerpt: "The Ontario government is also introducing a new, cost-based funding approach for child care operators in the CWELCC program, effective January 1, 2025. This replaces the "revenue replacement approach" the government used in 2022, 2023 and 2024 where operators are eligible for the amounts required to buy down the parent fees (plus cost escalation). While this approach has worked for many it has also posed challenges, including that it was based on a point in time when some operators had kept fees low to support families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new funding approach prioritizes a simple and easy-to-administer system that is consistent across the province and is representative of the true costs of operating child care. Benchmark Allocations - Under the new funding approach, all operators will receive benchmark funding based on the typical costs to operate child care in their region of the province. In order to simplify the process for operators, funding will be based on core metrics including: the number of operating spaces/active homes; licensed spaces by age group; operator setting; operating days; cost escalation."

e-News

Excerpt: "Starting January 1, 2025, the new funding approach described in the new Cost-Based Funding Guideline will take effect. Cost-based funding provides support for operating costs for licensees participating in CWELCC for the delivery of child care to children aged 0-5 years. Design of the new approach was heavily guided by extensive stakeholder engagement. As a result, and as described in the new guideline, cost-based funding is guided by the following principles: Transparent: Clear and consistent approach, both locally and across CMSMs/DSSABs so that licensees know what to expect from CMSMs/DSSABs. Representative: Funding is responsive to how child care is delivered in Ontario and based on the true costs of providing child care to eligible children. Simple: Easy to understand with minimal administrative burden. Accountable: Cost control structures and safeguards ensure accountability for and equitable distribution of public funding."

Excerpt: "Ontario is taking the next step in lowering child care fees for families as part of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system. Starting in January 2025, parent fees will be capped at $22 per day for children under the age of six in CWELCC programs, resulting in additional savings of nearly $300 million in 2025 for families."