BC Ministry of Education and Child Care

British Columbia has recognized the importance of supporting Early Childhood Educators by providing wage enhancement to eligible ECEs working in licensed child care settings. This support acknowledges the essential role ECEs play in the development, care, and learning of young children across the province.

However, there is a major gap in the current system: ECE educators and instructors working in colleges — the professionals responsible for training and preparing the next generation of Early Childhood Educators — are excluded from these wage enhancement supports.

This exclusion is unfair and short-sighted.

ECE college educators are a critical part of British Columbia’s early learning and child care system. They do not work at the margins of the profession — they help build the profession itself. They teach the theory, ethics, curriculum, observation, inclusion, child development, safety, and practicum expectations that future ECEs must learn before entering child care centres and supporting children and families. Without qualified ECE instructors, there is no sustainable pathway to train and retain the workforce the province says it urgently needs.

At a time when British Columbia continues to face an ECE shortage and is encouraging more people to enter the field, it is contradictory to support one part of the workforce while ignoring the educators who prepare that workforce. Many ECE instructors in colleges hold the same professional ECE credentials, have years of field experience, and carry the responsibility of shaping future educators, yet they receive no comparable recognition through the wage enhancement system.

This creates a serious inequity:

ECEs working in eligible child care settings can receive provincial wage enhancement support;
ECE instructors in colleges who educate, mentor, and prepare future ECEs are excluded;
the result is lower compensation, poor retention, and reduced recognition for professionals working in post-secondary ECE education.
If British Columbia is serious about recruitment, retention, and strengthening the ECE profession, then policy must reflect the full workforce pipeline, not just one part of it.

We call on the BC Ministry of Education and Child Care to:
Expand eligibility for ECE wage enhancement to include qualified ECE educators/instructors working in recognized post-secondary institutions and colleges that deliver ECE programs in British Columbia; or
Create a separate wage enhancement / compensation support program for ECE college educators who train and mentor future ECEs; and
Formally recognize ECE college educators as an essential part of BC’s early childhood education workforce strategy, recruitment efforts, and retention planning.
Supporting ECE instructors means supporting the future of child care in British Columbia.

If we want more qualified Early Childhood Educators in classrooms and child care centres, then we must also support the professionals who educate them.

We urge the Government of British Columbia to correct this gap and ensure that ECE college educators are included in meaningful compensation and workforce support measures.