Assiniboine expanding ECE Workplace program

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This article was published 24/11/2022 (1102 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For child care workers in two southwestern Manitoba towns, upgrading their skills is about to get a lot easier.

Assiniboine Community College is ready to offer the next round of its Early Childhood Education Workplace program at two new locations. ACC runs a regular two-year, five-day-a-week ECE program, but The ECE Workplace version brings the training to students who otherwise wouldn’t have the chance.

“I’d say the majority of them wouldn’t be able to leave their communities to go to school,” said Karen Hargreaves, dean of health and human services at ACC. “This reaches the people who normally wouldn’t be able to come and take it.”

Starting in January 2023, for the first time in the program’s history, it will be offered in Virden and Dauphin, and the college is already accepting applications. Twenty positions are available at each location.

The program, intended for those who are currently employed by a child care centre and have a minimum of two years of experience, allows students to upgrade their training while keeping their job at their current child care centre.

Hargreaves explained that child care centres can hire untrained staff, but they’re required to take a 40-hour Child Care Assistant course within their first year of employment. Completing that course allows them to apply for the Child Care Assistant certification from the province.

Those who then complete an early childhood education program receive a diploma and can apply for their ECE Level 2 classification. Besides the knowledge they gain, the graduates can expect a pay hike for their extra qualifications, Hargreaves said.

Like the conventional ECE program offered by the college, the ECE Workplace program is two years, but because the students’ prior experience in the field is taken into account, the ECE Workplace program can be delivered in a condensed format in which students attend classes only two days a week. That allows them to keep working while they study.

Hargreaves noted there is government funding that allows child care facilities to fill positions while staff are attending classes.

When not in class, students in the ECE Workplace program can put their lessons to use in their employer’s daycare right away, she said, which makes another benefit for the employer.

“It’s really a win-win for the workplace, students and the centre because they’re all gaining the knowledge and some new ideas,” Hargreaves said.

In addition, she pointed out that the provincial government recently announced tuition reimbursements for those who take early childhood education for up to $5,000 per year, while the total tuition for the two years of the ECE Workplace program is $7,000, so the entire cost of tuition can be covered.

The ECE Workplace program is offered every two years and is rotated throughout the province. The last round of courses were held in Brandon and Boissevain. ACC has run a regular daytime ECE program in Dauphin, but this is the first time the ECE Workplace program has been offered there.

Hargreaves said ACC regularly surveys early learning centres across Westman and locations for the program are determined by need and the number of staff the child care centres can send to the program.

The rotation not only allows people to take the program who wouldn’t otherwise have the chance, Hargreaves said, but it also benefits their home communities as graduates tend to stay in those communities.

“We’ve done this with health-care aide, with nursing programs, rotate the sites, and we really find that people that take the education in their communities stay in their communities.”

For more information or to apply to the program, interested parties can visit assiniboine.net/ece

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