Reflecting on Retention and Recruitment of Qualified Staff in Child Care

Developing an Environmental Scan on Attracting & Keeping Qualified Staff in Canadian Child Care

Thank you for your interest in retention and recruitment of qualified staff in child care in Canada. Child Care Connection Nova Scotia developed this web page to share the work that your colleagues in Canada’s provinces/territories have done regarding the issue of attracting and keeping qualified staff in child care. It was designed to challenge you to reflect upon the systemic causes of retention and recruitment and identify those causes that have an impact on you and your colleagues. In the scan process you will be asked to read and reflect upon discussion papers, case studies and scan reports and complete reflection journals. Other activities that you can conduct (either by yourself or in a group) are cause and effect diagrams, community consultation, situation analysis and action planning.

The Attracting and Keeping Qualified Staff in Child Care project was funded through Social Development Partnerships of Human Resources Development Canada. Child Care Connections gratefully acknowledges their funding support. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Human Resources Development Canada.

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Causes of Not Enough Qualified Staff to Meet Demand in Child Care:
The challenge of recruitment and retention qualified early childhood care staff is a complex issue, caused by a multitude of factors. In 2000, the beginning of Child Care Connections Retention and Recruitment project, individuals across Canada were addressing the issue within their own contexts, taking a subjective approach in their solutions without considering the broad systemic causes of the problem. For actions to successfully address the issue, it is important that as many factors as possible are identified so that a collective comprehensive plan of action can be developed. Phase one and two of the project started the process for Nova Scotia. Phase three of the project used the Nova Scotia early childhood experience in identifying factors which have an impact on recruiting and retaining qualified early childhood staff to explore recruitment and retention challenges and solutions in the provinces and territories. Download/Print the Nova Scotia Environmental Scan and the NS Scan Dialogue journal .Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing recommendations and formulating action plans.

Reflecting on Retention and Recruitment of Qualified Staff in Child Care:
The process used in Nova Scotia and other provinces/territories was:

Gather Information
Identify Causes
Assess Needs and Resources
Draft Recommendations
Action Planning
Implementation of Plan
Monitoring and Evaluating Effectiveness of Action Plan

These steps will provide you with a framework for your reflections. Group reflection exercises are included also.

1.Gathering Information
Main cause areas:
As part of the project, five papers were commissioned on each of the cause areas identified in the Nova Scotia project. These papers were read, reflected upon and discussed by the animators as part of their training to provide them with a depth and breadth of possibilities for causes in their province or territory.

Workplace- written by Gillian Doherty, PhD., Workplace Causes in the Recruitment and Retention of Qualified Child Care Staff, provides the reader with provincial and territorial data in group and family child care on turnover, vacancy, compensation, nature of the job, and morale from the You Bet I Care Study (Doherty et al, 2001) and other sources.
Download/print Workplace paper and reflection journal. Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing your cause and effect diagram.
Standards and Recognition- written by Sandra Griffin, MA, To Be or Not To Be- Professionalism in Early Childhood Care and Education, the role of professional status in retention and recruitment, discusses how professional recognition and professional practice have an effect on retention and recruitment; Download/print the Standards and Recognition paper and reflection journal. Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing your cause and effect diagram.
Societal Attitudes- written by Evelyn Ferguson, PhD, Babysitters or Professionals? The Role of Societal Attitudes in the Retention and Recruitment of Child Care Workers, discusses the attitudes that have an effect on retention and recruitment such as devaluation of women’s work, privatization of the family, child care as a commodity, Child Care as a residual service, lack of respect for children and preferred delivery models; Download/print the Societal Attitudes paper and reflection journal. Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing your cause and effect diagram.
Policy- written by Connie Miller, BA , Recruitment and Retention of Early Childhood Educators and Care Givers: The Policy Factor, discusses how liberal ideology affects policy that has an effect on retention and recruitment in child care; Download/print the Policy paper and reflection journal . Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing your cause and effect diagram.
Education- written by Joanne Morris, MA, Education and Training as Factors that Affect Recruitment and Retention of Staff in Early Childhood Care Programs, discusses the factors within early childhood education and training that have an effect on retention and recruitment. It includes discussions on quality, entrance requirements, accessibility to educational opportunities, prior learning assessment and recognition, complexity of the curriculum, field practice and mentoring, transferability of credits and skills, compensation and recognition. Download/print the Education paper and reflection journal. Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing your cause and effect diagram.

Group Work:
Consult with colleagues on what they perceive as causes of "not enought qualified staff to meet demand" by conducting a carousel on the causes of retention and recruitment crises in your province/territory.

2. Identify causes
Now that you have reflected on each of the causes of retention and recruitment issues, have gathered information regarding those causes within your context, develop a cause and effect diagram for "not enough qualified staff to meet demand" in your province/territory. Do this alone or with a group of colleagues. You will have a picture of retention and recruitment issues when completed.

Back to top 3.Assess needs and resources
Quebec and Manitoba are two provinces which have developed plans to address the retention and recruitment crises in their provinces. The two case studies that follow will give you an opportunity to reflect upon strategic plans and emerging outcomes in these provinces. The third paper provides a labour perspective on the challenges of retention and rectuirment and poses strategies for consideration. Scans from provinces/territories ad these strategy papers form the basis for the national scan.

Review of the Issue of Recruiting and Retaining Qualified Child Care Staff in Quebec, by Camille Gariépy, Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education Techniques, Collège de Saint-Jérôme looks at the retention and recruitment situation in Quebec. The existence of a family policy which recognizes child care as an essential support and the implications of such a government policy (reflecting the broad areas of policy and societal attitudes) is discussed in terms of the workforce, standards and recognition and education. The Quebec case study was written prior to the government change in that province, and the situation is in flux. Regardless, the experiences and directions presented in this case study can still provide you with potential strategies. Download/print the Quebec case study and reflection journal. Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing recommendations and formulating action plans.

Manitoba Case Study on Retention and Recruitment by Debra Mayer of Teachable Moments looks at retention and recruitment in Manitoba highlighting the positive aspects of partnerships between the Manitoba Child Care Association and policy makers, influencers a nd implementers. Download/print the Manitoba case study and reflection journal. Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing recommendations and formulating action plans.

The union advantage in child care: How unionization can help recruitment and retentionby Jamie Kass, Canadian Labour Congress Representative on the Child Care Human Resources Sector Council, and Bozica Costigliola, Child Care and Labour Communications Consultant, looks at retention and recruitment from a labour perspective. Download/print the Labour paper and reflection journal. Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing recommendations and formulating action plans.
A National Perspective:
The paper,Attracting and Keeping Qualified Staff in Canadian Child Care: A National Scan by Connie Miller BA and E. Elaine Ferguson M Ed gives a summary of provincial/territorial findings in identifying the causes of retention and recruitment challenges in Canada. It discusses relevant approaches taken in Manitoba and Quebec and gives a labour perspective in addressing the issues. Download/print the National Scan paper and reflection journal. Complete the reflection journal and use it as material in developing recommendations and formulating action plans.

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4. Draft recommendations
Develop draft recommendations based on identification of causes and assessment of resources and strategies. Community consultation and prioritization tools are provided to assist you. The Nova Scotia Environmental Scan outlines recommendations developed by the sector in Nova Scotia to address retention and recruitment issues in their province.

5. Action planning
Develop a plan to address the recommendations that are a priority, set goals and timelines and identify who and/or what organizations will be responsible for tasks within the plan. Include how the plan will be monitored and adjusted in response to the changing context created by your actions. You can involve your colleagues in doing a situation analysis and action planning.
The Nova Scotia Environmental Scan lists the recommendations developed and an action plan to address each one starting on page 28 of the report.

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6. Implementation of plan
Implement the plan, collect monitoring information regarding progress toward the goals of the plan.
For example, as recommended in the last recommendation on page 30 of the Nova Scotia Environmental Scan , Child Care Connection Nova Scotia developed a poster to use during Child Care Awareness Days to use to address their priority of promoting the expertise of child care practitioners to the general public.

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7. Monitoring and evaluating effectiveness of action plan
Periodically check the monitoring information and identify what needs to be adjusted. Adjust the plan accordingly.

Conclusion:
Attracting and keeping qualified staff in child care will require a comprehensive strategy that involves actions in the five broad causal areas. You have completed an in-depth exploration of each of these areas and drew on your own experience and expertise. You have a wealth of information that you can share with your colleagues as you work together to address our retention and recruitment crises.

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