“Unappreciated and Underpaid”

The destabilizing impact of the rollout of pre-primary is evidence of the need to improve implementation in a system-wide fashion to ensure no further changes in one program has negative consequences on another part of the system. [...] According to the Day Care Regulations, two-thirds of the staff working with children must meet the training requirements laid out in the regulations, which ensure educator to child ratio requirements in the facility have the required classification levels.8 By 2021, the government will “require all early childhood educators entering the regulated child care profes- sion to have a degree, diploma, [...] The pre-primary rollout does mean that some families have access to free early learning programs for at least part of the day for part of the year, with some additional government commitment to address before and after school care.14 While improved access to care is good news for Nova Scotian families, the survey data show that both program staff and directors/employers experienced the destabilizi [...] In 2012, Nova Scotia ECEs had the lowest wages in the country and the most recent data still shows that they have the lowest wages in the country. [...] Others mentioned having access to a “professional development fund” and an “emergency staff fund.” “Unappreciated and underpaid”: Early Childhood Educators in Nova Scotia 24 Recruitment and Retention the provincial government, along with support from the federal government, has invested in the ECE sector for strategic growth,37 and in the rollout of the universal pre-primary.38 There is undoubtedl