Low pay drives child-care workers away
The Daily News - Kamloops
03 Feb 2007

After 25 years in child care Marilyn Hawrys misses the kids, not the money. Hawrys is now a student at Thompson Rivers University, where she is taking computer systems training. When she's finished school she expects to earn considerably more than the $15 to $17 maximum for senior child-care professionals and supervisors in Kamloops.

"In that field, the wage ($15 to $17 an hour) is very good."

Child care has been underfunded and underappreciated, Hawrys said, since she started in 1980.

"It was just getting harder to give the programs we wanted to give to the children," she said of the Southshore Daycare in Kamloops, which closed in 2005.

"We just didn't have the funding. Parents were having a difficult time (paying the rates)."

Amedeo D'Angiulli, a Canada research chair in early learning at TRU, said wages and education for child-care providers must improve if the nation is to improve early literacy and learning.

"If you damage them (child-care centres) by not providing the support and not funding programs or giving a decent wage to people in the field, quality drops down."

The early childhood system deserves the same regulation, support and curriculum as the public school system, D'Angiulli argues. While's B.C.'s public schools and universities are well regarded, the early learning environment is behind most western countries.

"You improve the field by raising the bar. Standards have to go up and it must be focused on child development. It's so important and will have huge benefits for health care and our systems later on. Why don't we pay people in early childhood education a decent amount of money?"

Jolana Bozanich recalls her days working at Cariboo College's child-care centre, now operated by TRU. While the centre paid the best wages in town in child care, she left for Vancouver to earn more.

"I thought if I'm going to ensure my future I'm going to have to make a move."

Bozanich found employment at Capilano College in North Vancouver, where child-care workers are considered staff of the institution and are unionized. She earns about $22 an hour and has three years of university education.

"We get all our benefits. We can take courses for free to upgrade. It was a better opportunity."

While Hawrys won't be taking care of children when she's completed her program at TRU, she plans to offer her services to her former colleagues. "I'm hoping I can go back and help them set up computer support so their office work is done quicker and easier. So many hours are after-hours doing paperwork."