Early childhood educator profession under-valued
Cariboo Press - Kelowna Capital News
January 25, 2008

Opinion -- Jane Muskens, in charge of student recruitment at Okanagan College. She is currently pursuing her Masters of Science in Enrolment Management.

In our society you will always find some things that don't make sense.

As long as I can remember there has always been a disconnect between the value of early childhood educators and what society is willing to pay.

For example, if you ask most parents what is important in their lives they would probably say their children.

If you ask them how important it is for them to have quality child care for their kids, most will say it's very important.

Yet if you were to ask them how much they would be willing to pay for quality child care, many would say they currently pay too much.

This is the issue facing early childhood educators, the colleges who train them, and the people who hire them.

Although most parents want quality child care, many can't afford the real costs associated with this type of care.

So as a result of this, the profession is under-valued. In B.C. we have people trained to look after our most valuable resource--(our children--yet employers are unable to offer them a decent wage.

Why? Because they can only charge parents so much for day care and for parents who receive government subsidies the government is only willing to pay a set amount.

We have a system where parents value their children but can't afford to value them as much as they would want to based on today's wages and other living expenses.

So then what happens?

Right now, it is very difficult to find qualified early childhood educators willing to work in licensed day care facilities due to low wages and lack of benefits.

With today's hot job market many of these educators are finding better paying jobs….

With both parents having to work to buy a house in Kelowna and put food on the table, where do the children go?….

On top of this, if day care employers can't find qualified staff as required by the B.C. government, and pay them a decent wage, how many of these child care facilities will close….

Currently, there are advocacy groups which are lobbying the provincial government to provide wage enhancements that would guarantee a $20 minimum wage for all child care graduates to keep them working in licensed day care facilities.

If these initiatives can make a difference, this is good news for day care employers who can't attract qualified early childhood educators and those considering work as an early childhood educator.

Let's hope this can happen sooner than later so all children can receive quality child care in Kelowna.