At the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta (AECEA), we believe that ongoing professional development is essential to building and sustaining a highly qualified, respected, and well-compensated early learning and child care workforce. Professional development (PD) is not a one-time event; it is a continuous process that deepens educator knowledge, supports reflective practice, and improves outcomes for children and families.
To help support this critical learning, certified early childhood educators (ECEs) working in licensed daycare, out-of-school care, and preschool programs, as well as licensed family day home agencies and providers, may be eligible for funding through the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program. This includes licensed programs serving children up to kindergarten age that are ineligible for affordability funding, and licensed child care programs that only provide out-of-school care to kindergarten and school-age children.
Available supports include:
- Professional development funding to assist with the costs of approved post-secondary tuition and textbooks, as well as approved conferences or workshops for certified ECEs.
- Release time (RT) funding, so early childhood educators can be paid while studying, completing post-secondary coursework and/or attending workshops that have been approved for PD funding.
AECEA strongly encourages all eligible programs and educators to access this funding as a meaningful investment in educator growth and the overall quality of care. Access to paid release time is especially vital, as it allows educators to fully engage in professional development without sacrificing income.
For eligibility criteria and application steps, please refer to the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Guide.
Together, we can advance a professional early learning and child care workforce grounded in ongoing learning, reflection, and excellence.
What Am I Eligible For?
Professional Development Funding
| Professional development type | Funding rate per early childhood educator |
|---|---|
| Post-secondary courses | Up to $1,500 per year |
| Workshops and conferences | Up to $500 per year |
Release Time Funding
| Professional development type | Payment to early childhood educator | Payment to program to offset wage-related expenses |
|---|---|---|
| Post-secondary courses | Up to $1,600 per fiscal year (based on $800 per 3-credit course to a maximum of 2 courses) | $60 per course |
| Workshops and conferences | Up to $787.50 per year (based on $17.50 per hour to a maximum of 45 hours) | $1.33 per hour (up to 45 hours) |
How Do I Apply for PD & RT Funding?
Step 1: Review the program guide
Details about eligibility, application process and requirements are included in the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Guide. Read the guide before applying.
Step 2: Log in to the Organization's Child Care Licensing Portal account to request, review and sign the grant agreement
An individual with official signing authority for the child care program must have an account in the Child Care Licensing portal to review and sign the grant agreement.
For instructions on how to create a new account or log into an existing account, refer to the Child Care Licensing Portal – Operator Login Guide.
For instructions on how to access and sign the grant agreement for wage top-up and professional development funding, refer to the Child Care Licensing Portal– Signing Wage Top-up & PD Grant Agreements.
The approved professional development funding payment will be part of the overall child care program deposit when the next monthly claim is processed. The ECE name and professional development funding payment amount (including the release time grant, if approved) will be reflected on the monthly payment summary statement.
Step 3: Submit a Professional Development Funding Request form to the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program
The form is available online at https://cfr.forms.gov.ab.ca/Form/CDEV12397.pdf. In order to complete the form, you must download and edit it in an external application (it will not open in the web browser version of Adobe).
If you have questions about submitting your monthly claim or the payments received, you can call the Alberta Child Care Claims Unit at 1-855-638-6121 or email cs.childcareclaims@gov.ab.ca. For more information, visit https://www.alberta.ca/online-child-care-claims-system.aspx.
Professional Development (PD) Funding FAQ
Who is eligible for PD funding?
The professional development grant funding is for ECEs who are paid employees or contracted family day home educators of eligible child care programs who:
- Provide direct child care, including as program supervisors (as defined in the Early Learning and Child Care Regulation), as well as individuals hired by licensed family day home agencies as agency coordinators or home visitors/consultants
- Are certified as Early Childhood Educators, Level 1, 2, or 3
- Are Canadian citizens or official Permanent Residents of Canada
- Have worked at least 29 hours in at least one month from the date of the expenditure or the date the application was received
- Have submitted a Professional Development Funding Request Form from https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-child-caregrant-funding-program.aspx and made a payment for the course, workshop, or conference within the same fiscal year (April to March)
Who is not eligible for PD funding?
The following staff are not eligible for professional development funding:
- Those who are not paid employees or contracted family day home educators of eligible child care programs, including volunteers and program owners/operators who do not draw a wage/salary;
- Individuals, including owners and operators, whose minimum monthly hours required to be eligible for the professional development funding do not fall under the eligible hours for wage top-up category;
- Individuals that are not Canadian citizens nor hold official Canadian permanent resident status;
- Individuals whose income is funded by another program such as Program Unit Funding through Alberta Education, therapists and assistants paid through other organizations;
- Cooks, cleaners, accountants, receptionists and other support staff when not providing direct child care; and
- Individuals who were not certified by the Alberta Child Care Staff Certification Office.
How much PD funding am I eligible for?
| Professional Development Type | Grant rate per ECE |
|---|---|
| Workshops and conferences | $500/year |
| Post-secondary coursework and workbooks | $1,500/year |
| Maximum available funding | $2,000/year |
What types of training costs are covered?
Professional development funding helps offset tuition fees and required course textbooks for approved post-secondary coursework. For educators certified as an Early Childhood Educator Level 1 or 2, this coursework should lead to a higher level of certification. For those at Level 3, this coursework should strengthen leadership, management, pedagogical leadership, administration, and early childhood education skills and knowledge.
Professional development funding may also be used to offset the cost of tuition fees, conference and workshop fees related to early learning and child care that have been approved by the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program. Please email the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program at cs.childcarefunding@gov.ab.ca to find out whether the course/conference/workshop you are interested in is eligible for professional development funding.
Professional development funding may not be requested if another grant or bursary has been awarded for the same purpose.
What types of training costs are not covered?
Expenses not covered by professional development:
- Accommodations, meals, alcohol, and travel costs
- Additional fees charged by an educational institution
- Non-approved courses, workshops or conferences (i.e., those not related to child development or not approved by the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program)
- Language proficiency assessments (CELPIP/IELTS)
- English as a Second Language coursework
- First-Aid training and food safety courses
- Resource books and materials not part of registered coursework
Professional development funding may not be requested if another grant or bursary has been awarded for the same purpose.
Additional information for PD funding
- The professional development balance resets every year on April 1. Any unused funding cannot be transferred to the next fiscal year.
- Unused professional development funds cannot be transferred from one ECE to another.
- The expense for professional development is applied to the fiscal year in which the payment was made (not the date the service/product was received or the date the course/conference/workshop was taken or completed).
- The Professional Development Funding Request Form must be submitted within the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) in which the expenditure was made (date paid) by the person or program.
- The deadline for submitting the Professional Development Funding Request Form is March 31 for all expenditures paid within the same fiscal year of April to March.
Duplicate courses are not approved under the Professional Development Grant Funding Program. ECE’s can only be approved for the same course or workshop once.
Release Time (RT) Funding FAQ
Who is eligible for RT funding?
Release time funding is for ECEs who are paid employees or contracted FDH educators of licensed child care programs who:
- are eligible for professional development funding;
- are enrolled in/have paid for a post-secondary course, workshop or conference and are approved for professional development funding; and
- have been approved for professional development funding by the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program, which includes the request to access the release time funding.
Who is not eligible for RT funding?
The following individuals are not eligible for the release time funding:
- Individuals who are not eligible for the professional development grant funding.
- ECEs who are enrolled in a post-secondary course, workshop or conference that is not approved by the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program.
- ECEs who receive any type of compensation to attend and/or study as part of their approved professional development training.
How much RT funding am I eligible for?
| Professional development type | Payment to early childhood educator | Payment to program to offset wage-related expenses |
|---|---|---|
| Post-secondary courses | $800 per 3-credit course (up to $1,600 per fiscal year) | $60 per course |
| Workshops and conferences | $17.50 per hour (up to 45 hours per year) | $1.33 per hour (up to 45 hours) |
Additional information for release time funding
- Release time funding is not paid automatically. Programs must request it using the Professional Development Funding Request form.
- The deadline to submit the Professional Development Funding Request form and request the release time funding is March 31 for training expenditures paid within the same fiscal year, from April to March.
- Release time is approved based on the date paid for the training, not the date(s) attended or dates of training completion. The exception applies to approved training that is offered at no cost (such as FLIGHT).
- Hours spent by ECEs in post-secondary training, workshops and conferences are not eligible for wage top-up funding, even if the release time funding was approved for this training.
- Programs receiving the funding must transfer the ECE portion of the funding as taxable income (for employed educators) or as income (for FDH educators) to the ECE for whom the Professional Development Funding Request was approved.
- Unused release time funds are not transferable from one ECE to another and must be returned to the ministry by emailing the relevant information to Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program at childcarefunding@gov.ab.ca.
- Pre-recorded workshops, conferences and coursework are not eligible for professional development funding or release time unless approved by the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program.
- Non-instructor led workshops, conferences, and coursework are not eligible for professional development funding or release time unless approved by the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program.
- Training must be within the scope of practice for the ECE’s certification level.
- Training must enhance the ECE’s competencies in ELCC and/or development and sustainability of quality early learning and child care environments for children.
Program Accountability
The program must comply with all the terms set out in the grant agreement that was signed between the grant recipient and the Minister, which includes the content contained in the funding guide.
All child care programs that receive grant funding must maintain required attendance records, receipts, and financial/payroll records to support all funding payments relating to wage top-ups and professional development (and the release time grant, if applicable). Programs are subject to selected or random audits by the Government of Alberta. If a program falsely obtains funds, fails to provide required documentation, or fails to report funding not paid to ECEs, the amount will be adjusted accordingly through the claims payment process. Eligibility for ongoing funding may be terminated.
Failure to comply with the terms set out in the agreement and this funding guide may result in the recovery of the funding.
- The program must retain a copy of its submitted professional development funding request form, and all receipts supporting the professional development grant payments made to the program.
- Receipts must indicate the same expenditure that was claimed and must match the ECE’s or program’s name, amount of payment and payment date as was submitted on the professional development funding request form.
- Any funding that is paid without supporting receipts, not transferred to the ECE, or not used as approved on the professional development funding request form, must be reported using the program funding adjustment form at alberta.ca/online-child-care-claims-system.aspx.
- The professional development grant is not taxable.
- If programs receive the release time grant payments:
- The release time funding is paid to programs as a grant but when the program transfers this funding to their ECE employee, payments fall under the definition of “wage” in Alberta’s Employment Standards Code. As such, the program must administer this funding as a wage in accordance with all applicable legislation.
- According to the Alberta Employment Standards Code, employers must pay at least the minimum wage. They must also pay to ECE the legislated vacation and general holiday pay on both the employee’s base wage and the wage covered through the release time grant funding. Information about the Employment Standards Code is available at www.alberta.ca/employment-standards.aspx.
- The employer is also responsible to pay the legislated premiums on the wage covered through the release time grant that includes Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, and Worker’s Compensation Board premiums.
- For licensed family day home agencies, the release time grant paid to family day home educators must be identified as income and administered according to all applicable legislation.
- Programs must reflect the release time grant funding payments as a provincial government contribution on paystubs.
- Programs must report any unused or incorrectly reported funding using the program funding adjustment form.