Child care is licensed in B.C. (For the child care licensing guidelines, click here.) To help understand the rules, you need to have some working definitions:
ECE - an 'early childhood educator' who has completed an early childhood education program
ECE assistant / ECE a - an individual who has completed at least 1 course within an ECE program
Infant / Toddler - an individual who has completed an early childhood education program as well as an infant toddler education program
Depending on the type of license, and the number of children, certain numbers of and types of educators are required. Often centres may claim "better educator:child ratios" - but how are you to know if they really are better ratios if you don't know the legal requirements?
A group 3-5 license is a program licensed for more than 4 hours a day, and depending on the square footage, can be licensed for a max. of 25 children. 2 children can be between 30 - 36 months, but the remainder must be 36 months or older. Teaching ratios look like this:
1 - 8 children: 1 ECE
9 - 16 children: 1 ECE, 1 ECEa
17 - 25 children: 1 ECE, 2 ECEa
A group under 30 months license is a program licensed for more than 4 hours a day, and depending on the square footage, can be licensed for a max. of 12 children. Teaching ratios look like this:
1 - 4 children: 1 I/T
5 - 8 children: 1 I/T, 1 ECE
9 - 12 children: 1 I/T, 1 ECE, 1 ECEa
A preschool license is a program licensed for less than 4 hours a day, and depending on the square footage, can be licensed for a max. of 20 children. Teaching ratios look like this:
1 - 10 children: 1 ECE
11 - 20 children: 1 ECE, 1 ECEa
A family care license is an in-home license for daycare in a private home, and can be licensed for a max. of 7 children. Teaching ratios look like this: 1 - 7 children: 1 educator (the licensee, usually the individual running the family child care).
Staff Training
It has become quite popular for centres to offer teachers with "extra" training. Again, look into these claims - what does it actually mean?
Montessori - a Montessori teacher may or may not have completed an ECE program, but has completed a program (AMS or AMI - which are different types of Montessori affiliations) that certifies they are trained in the Montessori method. A Montessori program is usually 1 year of full time study.
Specialized - a "specialized" teacher can mean anything and everything, and often does. This could include taking a community centre course in a subject, taking a workshop in a subject, holding professional memberships or completing a degree, diploma or professional training. It never hurts to ask what qualifications and experience have led to claiming "specialization".
Degree - while it is uncommon in Canada to find teachers with an ECE Bachelor degree, they do exist, especially if training was done in the U.S. It is becoming more common for centres to require teachers to have a Bachelor's degree, often in education, health, human development, linguistics or psychology.
Every centre is required to complete criminal record searches on staff, and to ensure that staff have first aid certificates. Additionally, early childhood educators are required to complete 40 hours of professional development every 5 years - although some educators do much more. It may also be useful to think about if the teachers are members of professional organizations like ECEBC or Child Care Resource and Referral. These organizations can provide networks of support and resources for the teachers - and consequently, your child.
Cleaning
Your child is going to at least get a runny nose once or twice this winter if they attend a child care centre. If it is a full day centre, or has infants and toddlers? They will get sick more often. If your child IS an infant or toddler? You might be using your vacation days as sick days. But certain practices - regular outdoor play, air circulation in the nap room, sterilizing toys that are placed in infant or toddlers mouths - all help prevent disease spread.
The cleaning requirements in an childcare centre seem to vary from centre to centre. Toys that are "mouthed" by young children need to be sterilized immediately; washrooms need to be bleached regularly...but other than that, it really depends on the centre. If there is a busy art program, or a heavily used outdoor program, chances are the centre will be messy: but hygienic is another question. Ask how often toys, shelves, floors, etc. are sterilized. What sort of cleaning and maintenance schedule is there? It sounds silly, but there ARE centres that only have cleaners in once a week - which can be a serious concern during flu season.
