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Professional Development

Agency staff arrange on-going training for our day home educators in a variety of ways including: in their homes, at monthly meetings, conferences, and in office training opportunities.

Our Family Day Home Educators are expected to achieve, at a minimum, their Child Development Assistant Certificate within 6 months of contracting with the Agency.  They are encouraged to pursue their Child Development Worker and Child Development Supervisor Certification during their career with our Agency.

As part of an Educator’s commitment to professionalism in the field it is expected that Educators will attend training sessions, conferences, and agency meetings to meet requirements for professional development.

Professional development grant funding is available for staff who are paid employees of licensed child care programs, as well as family day home program educators working under licensed family day home agencies.  This is to be used for approved workshops and post secondary courses.

The Paid Release Time Grant provides licensed child care programs with funding that allows their certified educators to be paid while studying, completing post-secondary coursework, and attending workshops or conferences that have been approved for professional development funding.

Totem Pole

Self-Paced Learning

Indigenous Canada

Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores the different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada.

 

From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores complex experiences Indigenous peoples face today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations. Topics for the 12 lessons include the fur trade and other exchange relationships, land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, political conflicts and alliances, Indigenous political activism, and contemporary Indigenous life, art and its expressions.

Active Listening Webinar Poster

January 16, 2024

Surviving Difficult Conversations with Positive Outcomes

Conflict. Disagreements. Tension. People. Adults. A common communication barrier for many early childhood educators is how to address conflict in the workplace, between co-workers and with families. This is not an easy task and takes time, intentionality and practice. Effective communication is key to developing a positive workplace culture and working with families.

 

A major component to effective communication stems from your own ability to engage in active listening. To learn the skills of how to listen to learn, instead of listening to respond. As early childhood educators face conflict with other adults, active listening skills become an essential part of building a safe space that fosters positive relationships between adults that care for young children.

 

Join us as we discuss some of the most common conflicts early childhood educators have with other adults and how to overcome these obstacles with active listening skills. Adopt strategies that take your communication skills to the next level, and set you on the pathway of success. Reaching positive outcomes in conflict may not always be easy but it is possible when we have the right tools.

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April 25, 2024

Recipe Book Launch, Menu Planning & Educator Pot Luck

Join us on April 25th to celebrate the release of our new Educator Recipe Book with a Potluck & Menu Planning training. Come prepared to learn and share with one another to create a months worth of menu plans that can be used to inspire your own. 

 

The Recipe Book contains various nutritious snacks, meal inspirations & showcases artwork from children in their programs!

Eating together is an age-old tradition that transcends cultures and geographical boundaries, serving as a powerful means of strengthening relationships, fostering a sense of community, and building social networks.

Taking Notes

October 9, 2024

Q & A with Licensing

Child care specialists (aka child care licensing officers) come from a variety of backgrounds, including family studies and early childhood education.

Licensing staff monitor the agency and its educators to ensure that standards are met and that complaints and incidents are properly investigated. Licensing staff monitor an agency's performance by reviewing the operations, activities, records, and the care in program homes according to these standards. Licensing staff are also available for consultation to agencies who are considering applying for a license or licensed agencies who request support to improve the quality of their programming. 

Join us and our licensing officers in an informal meet-and-greet to learn more about them. Come prepared with questions that you have about the licensing process!

Brain Sketch

Self-Paced Learning

Brain Story Certification & Theory-to-Practice Sessions For ECEs

With the support of the Government of Alberta and in partnership with the Palix Foundation, the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta (AECEA) is excited to provide ECEs with an opportunity for continued professional learning on the scientific underpinnings of early brain development and the important role ECEs play in brain development in the early years. The professional learning will be free to take and ECEs will be reimbursed for their time spent learning.

The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (AFWI) has developed an online course to make Brain Story science available to professionals and the public. Brain Story Certification is designed for those seeking a deeper understanding of brain development and its consequences for lifelong health. The course is also designed for professionals seeking certification in a wide range of fields. 

Managing Stress Webinar Poster

February 8, 2024

Managing Stress

Managing stress is not an easy task for many early childhood educators. We invest ourheart, minds and bodies in what we do as professionals and often take things home withus. Not only the material ‘to-do’ list, but also the emotional ‘to do’ list.

How can we manage the stresses of home and work?

How can we find the balance that works for us?

 

Managing stress is a journey within itself. Let’s connect and talk about our journeys and all the different ways that we cope with stress and find a healthy balance between work and life so that our stress levels decrease and our peaceful, calming and joyful moments shine through. Identifying our stresses and how it affects our well-being. 

 

Learn effective strategies and tools to manage your time more effectively to decrease your stress. Connection is key. We are not in this alone. Let’s find the balance together.

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June 20, 2024

Playschool Program Tour

​Red Deer Child Care Society, the Wichinahin Kohopikiwan “Helping me Grow” playschool program is offering us the opportunity to take a program tour and learn about what they have to offer children and families with Indigenous heritage.

This unique Centre offers  programming for families of children from infancy, & preschool services to children between the ages of 19 months and 5 years

Program Director, Yvonne will share with us the value of including First Nation, Inuit, and Metis languages into the daily curriculum programming, and how some of these program practices can be organically implemented.

 

We will discuss what activities educators should not do, if they are not Indigenous themselves – like ceremonies that they should ask an elder to do, and the protocol for such requests, along the importance of connecting with and learning from the greater community.

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November 7, 2024

Program Planning for Metis ECE Inclusion

The intention behind this workshop, is to provide an opportunity for our educators to learn  how to develop a culturally inclusive program, with intentionality around First Nation, Inuit, and Métis ways of knowing.

 

All educators can build up the concept of inclusiveness - that we are all unique and have value to our community. This is demonstrated by the educators creating non-discriminatory and inclusive environments where diversity is embraced and each child feels safe, respected, and cared for.

Following the workshop presentation, all who attend will be invited to participate in a beading session, where you will learn to make your own beaded earrings or pendant.

Meeting

Self-Paced Learning

Supporting Early Learning & Care Services

The Alberta Resource Centre for Quality Enhancement (ARCQE) offers accessible programming to the Early Learning and Care Service sector, helping professionals deliver quality practices that support community, children and families.

Are you curious about where to start and how to align Flight with current educator practice and interactions with children? As a provincial support agency, ARCQE has been awarded a contract to guide curriculum implementation support for all licensed program types (Child Care, Family Child Care, Out of School Care, program and Preschool programs) with a variety of options to support engagement with curriculum concepts.

 

ARCQE is pleased to share news of expanding opportunities for support with implementation of Flight framework principles in practice. To learn more about pedagogical partner support and the new professional learning series available titled “Possibilities for Practice”.

We All Belong Webinar Poster

March 12, 2024

Inclusive Practices in the Early Years

We live in a world that is wonderfully diverse - not only culturally but also in our unique abilities. Some of us can sing while others can solve Sudoku in a couple minutes. Children all learn at their own rate and in their own way. It's up to us, the important adults in their lives, to help them on this journey they are travelling on.

 

In order to do this effectively, we need to understand what these abilities are, how they are unique to each child, and what we can do to support them. This is what we discuss in this session!

 

Let's talk about all the different learning styles of children, from extrovert to introverts, to children with Autism, hearing impairments or with sensory processing disorder. Every child can learn! Every child belongs! Let's make sure we can set up our environment for every child and get them on their path to the future!

Together we build community.

Young Businesswomen

September 7, 2024

Team Meeting & Agency Policy Update

The Early Learning and Child Care Regulation specifies the minimum standards to be upheld by all licensed day care, group family child care, out of school care and preschool programs. These regulations include requirements such as health, safety of children, quality of care, and supervision of children. The Early Learning and Child Care Act provides the authority to license, inspect and monitor child care programs.

Within these are the Principles and Matters to be Considered. These must be imbedded into the Agency policy and program plan which is in turn reviewed and shared with the day home educators. 

Join us in reviewing these important documents over snacks and tea, and take time to reconnect with one another this fall.

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January 13, 2025

February 10, 2025

March 10, 2025

Behaviour Basics

Aynsley has been working with children with behaviour challenges since she graduated from University in 2009. She holds two degrees, a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a Graduate degree in Human Ecology, specializing in Family Ecology and Practice. 

This series will cover:

  • The Behaviour Wayfinding Framework (an assessment tool that allows ECE's to develop common language, concepts and strategies to provide positive behaviour supports for children of all ages and abilities);

  • How risky and outdoor play can reduce challenging behaviors, and how the Behaviour Wayfinding Framework can be used to assess and implement strategies; and

  • How to connect with and work with families while navigating the Behaviour Wayfinding Framework.

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