Full-Day Kindergarten, ECEs Growing to Meet Ontario's Needs
ETFO celebrates Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day
October 24, 2010
TORONTO – With another 200 Ontario schools now offering full-day Kindergarten, there are lots more reasons to celebrate Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day this Wednesday October 26th, according to the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).
"More Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) have joined ranks with teachers to deliver a world-class program that is providing the best early learning opportunities for children in Ontario, and we salute them," said ETFO President Sam Hammond. While the province now offers full-day Kindergarten in 600 schools, all schools will offer the program by September 2014.
"We are proud to welcome ECEs into our classrooms and into our union," added Hammond. "Not only are these members making a huge contribution to early learning, they are also taking an active role within our Federation to support many social justice issues that our members care about including women’s issues, poverty, human rights and equality."
As one of the founding members of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, ETFO has a long history of advocating for publicly funded, quality child care. "We appreciate all the important work that child care workers and ECEs do to support the development and education of young children," said Hammond. "We are working to ensure that our ECE members receive compensation and working conditions that reflect the skills they bring to the classroom."
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario represents 76,000 elementary public school teachers and education professionals across the province and is the largest teacher federation in Canada.