Our Work

AECEA believes a qualified workforce is the foundation for a high-quality child care system. This document defines AECEA’s role, value, and authority within this system. It summarizes the association’s history and operations and outlines its vision, mission, and goals. It describes the association’s efforts and accomplishments in five key areas of its work on behalf of Alberta’s early childhood educators.

Well-qualified, caring early childhood educators are the prime determinant of a quality child care system, and education is the prime determinant of qualified early childhood educators. Sadly, the educational preparation of Alberta’s early learning and child care workforce is well below international standards.

Knowing that the new federal government funding will be allocated to the ECE workforce, the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta (AECEA) and the Alberta Early Learning and Care Leaders Caucus (ALC) have researched and proposed two strategies the Government of Alberta could use to support educators developing and investing in an ELCC workplace education model and ensuring workplace supports for ECEs.

A joint research initiative by CUP, ECN, and ECELC, in collaboration with AECEA, examined workforce stability in Alberta’s early learning and child care (ELCC) sector. Based on a literature review by Mount Royal University students, they identified three “pillars of stability”: fair compensation, supportive workplaces, and consistent education and training. The current phase (summer–autumn 2022) focuses on creating a values-based wage grid for early childhood educators (ECEs). Next steps involve engaging ECEs and facility operators to refine and pilot the grid. In summer 2023, eight focus groups with 35 owner‑operators across Alberta were held; preliminary findings are available. The initiative aims to reflect ECEs’ value and support implementation of equitable wages.

This report, prepared by The Muttart Foundation in partnership with the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta and the Alberta Early Learning and Care Leaders’ Caucus within the Canadian Child Care Federation, presents findings from focus group discussions with early childhood educators held in the fall of 2023. It examines the current working conditions, compensation, and benefits available to early childhood educators and identifies critical areas for improvement to better support their work with young children.