About the Lab
From winter 2020 to summer 2023, in partnership with All In Research and Innovation, the Pond-Deshpande Centre NouLAB facilitated the Atlantic Canada Early Childhood Education. This Lab was funded by Future Skills Centre and brought together diverse stakeholders, including educators, operators, policymakers, colleges, and professional associations, to collaborate and co-create innovative ideas to support the Early Childhood Education Lab (ECE) workforce.
The challenges explored in this lab are not unique to Atlantic Canada; the need to better support the Early Childhood Education sector is an area of international concern. Many scholars and think tanks have been working on these issues for over 30 years, and many of the recommendations made 30 years ago still stand. As such, this lab has further demonstrated the potential of social innovation lab processes for creating the space and conditions to apply systems thinking, co-design, and applied experimentation to long-standing problems.
ECE Lab learnings
To tackle the complex challenges facing the early childhood education (ECE) sector, the Pond-Deshpande Centre in partnership with the All In Agency convened teams of operators, educators, government representatives, and training institutions involved in the education and care of young children.
The first round of the ECE lab (2020-2021) was focused on understanding the nature and causes of ECE attrition, leading multi-stakeholder provincial teams through co-design sprints to explore how active ECEs might upskill while working. Teams from PEI, NB, and NL created and tested several prototypes, including:
- NB’s Anglophone Team: Developed a Study Leave Support Program, which provided paid study leave that resulted in improved marks, increased presence at work while studying, and enhanced self-efficacy and interest in further education.
- NB’s Francophone Team: Prototyped an Experiential PLAR Scenario Visualization to address last-minute recruitment challenges. This prototype facilitated constructive conversations between key stakeholders regarding the College’s current recognition of prior learning pilot.
- PEI’s Team: Created a Centre-Mentor Program that combined mentorship training with peer recognition, positively impacting ECEs’ aspirations to advance their careers and increasing leadership interest among ECEs.
- NL’s Team: Developed Visualizing and Supporting the Educational Pathway, which included online workshops, self-assessments, and a visual representation of the educational pathway in NL. This aimed to foster supportive relationships between administrators and staff as they progressed in their educational and professional journeys.
Each prototype team’s report is included below.
Overall, insights from Round 1 revealed key strategies to address barriers to upskilling within the sector, such as:
- Providing a framework for educators to reflect on career aspirations and fostering a community of practice for administrators, which may enhance Early Learning and Care Centres’ (ELCC) awareness and interest in pursuing professional credentials.
- Creating paid study leave opportunities can lead to higher marks, improved delivery of quality ECE, reduced stress, and increased self-confidence among ECEs, potentially incentivizing those who might otherwise face burnout.
- Increasing mentorship capacity in ELCCs may encourage educators with limited qualifications to seek higher certification and retain highly qualified educators, fostering career development within ELCCs instead of leading them to exit for other opportunities. Additionally, establishing an embedded mentor educator role in centres could enhance mentorship capacity while improving educator retention and recruitment.
- Exploring ways to improve the experiential recognition process for educators can help balance the recognition of experience with the need to maintain high-quality education standards.
- Connecting individuals in the francophone ECE sector across Atlantic Canada can facilitate resource sharing, training opportunities, and a unified voice.
Round 1 yielded practical insights and programmatic concepts for participating provinces while uncovering systemic challenges related to retention and recruitment caused by chronic understaffing, negatively impacting working conditions. Research indicated that enhancing pedagogical leadership capability could disrupt this downward spiral, creating more durable job pathways and fostering inclusive hiring practices. Review all the insights in the Round 1 report below.
In Round 2 (2023), provincial teams shifted focus upstream to explore how operators are developed and supported, prototyping social innovations to initiate or accelerate leadership learning among operators:
- NB’s Anglophone Team: Developed a bi-monthly peer-support cohort for ECE operators to discuss challenges and solutions, improving job motivation and fostering connections among operators.
- NB’s Francophone Team: Tested an iteration of the prototype developed by PEI in Round 1 to cultivate leadership capability within centres. Learnings from this prototype informed the development of a pedagogical leadership course for operators by NB’s EECD.
- PEI’s Team: Implemented a leadership learning buddy program, pairing directors for self-evaluation and coaching to enhance idea sharing, feedback, and accountability to personal learning goals. They found that connecting leadership learning to daily management practices fosters accountability and open communication.
- NL’s Team: Created a toolkit to provide a comprehensive view of available supports for centres, enabling two centres to access the NL Quality Enhancement Program’s multi-service funding to host a professional learning closeout day.
- The North Shore Mi’kmaq Tribal Council participated in Round 2 by developing quality outdoor learning measures across nine First Nations communities in North Shore, NB, and PEI. This project applied existing Assessment for Quality Improvement (AQI) measures from an Indigenous perspective to outdoor environments, testing a four-part certificate for NB and PEI educators based on cohort feedback.
