NEWS & EVENTS | October 19, 2020

$460K for Two Early Childhood Projects

The École technique et professionnelle (ETP) of the Université de Saint-Boniface (USB) is receiving a total of $460,000 in funding that will support two training and capacity building projects for early childhood educators.

The funding is being issued by the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne (ACUFC), which received $8M from Employment and Social Development Canada as part of the Action Plan for Official Languages – 2018-2023: Investing in Our Future.

The first project, with a budget of $95,700, entails updates to ETP’s training offer for introductory early childhood education and home daycares. This project will also earmark funds for a course on Indigenous perspectives in early childhood education training.

“Our goal is to contribute to initiatives that target the growing need for Francophone daycares in Manitoba,” explains Mélanie Cwikla, Director of ETP. “By updating our training offer for the Child Care Assistant classification, we will provide an opportunity for those who wish to work in a daycare centre or to open a home daycare to receive the basic training, and to do so remotely.”

Indeed, anyone working in a daycare centre must, within the first year of employment, take a 40-hour introductory course. This requirement may be easy to fulfill for people who live and work in the city, but it proves much more difficult for those in rural communities where there is also an overwhelming need for daycare services.  

The second project focuses on a new mode of delivery and support for the two-year diploma in early childhood education. It will benefit from an investment of $365,000.

“First of all, we want to build on the capacity of Manitoba’s Francophone daycare centres by helping to increase the number of early childhood education graduates who are eligible for the second level of the Early Childhood Educator classification.” 

“We are seeing a pattern within organizations. It is not unusual for individuals who started as assistants to want to build on their knowledge and take on positions with more responsibilities, while remaining in the field of early childhood education. With our hybrid programs and the option of distance learning, we will enable more people to access training while remaining employed.”

Demand within the sector of early childhood education in French is growing. With this funding from ACUFC,  ETP hopes to train more and more people, leading to an increase in available spots in early childhood daycare centres and contributing to the advancement of French language and culture.

“ETP can also count on the help of the Fédédération des parents de la francophonie manitobain (FPM) as well as the Conseil de développement économique des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba (CDEM), essential partners in the realization of these projects and other initiatives in early childhood”, concludes Mélanie Cwikla.

Financed by the Government of Canada through its Social Development Partnerships Program - Children & Families.