The head of a group representing the owners of more than 100 regulated child-care centres in Newfoundland and Labrador said she believes early childhood educators (ECEs) are not being held to account in the same way as their employers.

Cheryl Rowe, who chairs the advocacy group NL Childcare Licensees, said that when a regulated centre violates the Child Care Act, its name and that of its administrator are posted online by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, along with a brief description of the infraction.

No information is posted regarding individual ECEs involved in infractions, for privacy reasons.

Contrary to other public-facing professionals, no college or regulatory body exists to independently investigate misconduct or field complaints regarding ECEs.

“I don’t want to take away the responsibility of the owner and the administrator, but they can’t be the only ones who are held responsible,” said Rowe, who owns and operates four daycares in Carbonear.

“The only accountability from what I can see is at the business level.”

Rowe said that in Ontario, an independent regulator for ECEs enforces professional standards and oversees a public complaints and discipline process. The public registry run by Ontario’s College of Early Childhood Educators lists every licensed ECE in the province and details any findings of professional misconduct.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Association of Early Childhood Educators NL (AECENL)  oversees certification for ECEs and offers some professional development to workers. But it neither investigates complaints nor levies penalties for unethical or unprofessional behaviour. It also does not post a public registry of its members to its website.

Fired ECEs move on to new positions, says operator

Rowe said if an ECE behaves unprofessionally, the worker could be disciplined internally or be fired. However, she said the child-care sector’s labour crunch favours delinquent ECEs, who are often able to quickly move on to a new position unencumbered. 

“When you’re seeing serious violations and these people are walking into other centres caring for other people’s children, that’s when the concern arises,” said Rowe.

She said employers hunting for workers currently have no way to tell if candidates have been involved in the Child Care Act violations posted to the province’s website. 

“Some of these ECES should not be in the field,” she said.

“There should be some accountability or a recognized body of reporting so that the next centre who goes to hire that person can check to see if they have any violations.”

Minister unaware of concerns

Rowe said NL Childcare Licensees, which exists to advocate on behalf of the child-care sector, met with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in the spring to discuss the creation of an independent regulator for ECEs.

But Education Minister Paul Dinn said Tuesday he wasn’t aware of Rowe’s organization’s concerns before speaking to Radio-Canada.

“This is actually the first I’ve heard of it,” Dinn said.

“[Operators] are accountable for hiring their staff, for ensuring that their staff is certified and qualified, and to ensure that they behave properly throughout the work day,” Dinn said.

“So it falls on them as the employer to ensure they have the proper staff in place,” he added, while also promising to listen to employers’ concerns and to consult workers with front-line experience.

Administrator believes ECEs could benefit from regulator

Cheryl Rowe’s daughter, Lakeisha, an ECE-turned-administrator who helps manage her mother’s daycares, said she believes many child-care workers would stand to benefit if a regulator were created.

She said she’s heard from staff who observe problems or unprofessional behaviour and believe an external mechanism for reporting and discipline for ECEs would ensure a safe workplace and more competent colleagues. 

“It does affect [ECEs] and their mental health to know that there may be someone out there who hasn’t, you know, upheld the same standards that they have for themselves,” she said.

CBC/Radio-Canada has reported on a number of Child Care Act violations at regulated child-care centres over the last four months.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development cited child-care services after:

• a three-year-old escaped from his daycare and was found in the middle of a busy street;
• children were tethered for bad behaviour;
• a syringe was found in a pre-school’s outdoor play area;
• an ECE was investigated by police for allegedly assaulting children. 

In each case, the province declined to disclose the details of its investigations for confidentiality reasons. The centres where the violations occurred were named on the department’s website, as were their administrators. No information was made public about the ECEs involved in the infractions.