What's New

The Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care (ECELC) has officially changed its name to the Council for Early Learning and Care (CELC), reflecting its evolving role as a provincial and systems-level collaborator in advancing high-quality, inclusive, and equitable early learning and child care across Alberta.

Following extensive consultation and a thorough review of research conducted in Alberta and elsewhere on quality in early learning and child care, the Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care released Quality in Early Learning and Child Care: Recommendations for Action.

 On September 26, 2024, the Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families and the ECELC hosted a knowledge-to-action workshop on early learning and child care. The workshop aimed to share results from the Alberta Parent Survey on Early Learning and Child Care and identify opportunities to improve the quality, cultural relevance, affordability, accessibility, inclusivity, and flexibility of early learning and child care. The following report reflects the key recommendations developed by participating stakeholders.

Powering Growth: Economic Benefits from Canada’s $10-per-day Early Learning and Child Care Program report by Dr. Jim Stanford, Economist and Director, Centre for Future Work shows new $10aDay Child Care Plan is having a significant impact on Canada’s Economy. Canada’s new $10-per-day national early learning and child care (ELCC) program is only two years old, but the program is already making a measurable difference to Canada’s economy.

ECELC is excited  to share the Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families’s  2023-2024 Annual Report, where their staff, researchers, and students reflect on their experiences navigating recent “turning points.” More than a reflection on the past year, this report is their last snapshot of CUP before they adopt a new strategic plan for 2025-2028. 

We hope this report gives you a sense of what CUP’s work has looked like in recent years, what their strengths and priorities are, and their biggest questions and challenges moving forward.

As CUP’s director Karen Edwards writes in the report, CUP is currently witnessing a rise in demand for research and evaluation support across the social-serving, health, and education sectors. At the same time, they see a growing opportunity to showcase their model and demonstrate leadership in community engagement at the University of Alberta and across the Edmonton region.

If anything in this report resonates with you or inspires you to learn more, please reach out to CUP.  Share your story, connect to their network of researchers and community leaders, and explore how you can become part of their journey like the ECELC has been for many years. 

This report contains a snapshot of the Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care’s work and associated impacts between September 2023 and August 2024. It provides context to understand the significance of the ECELC’s advocacy and policy initiatives and demonstrates how the Council continues to work towards building an effective system of early learning and child care in Edmonton that is high quality, affordable, inclusive, flexible and culturally responsive while being publicly planned, regulated and funded, just like other core public services.

Federal and provincial governments have embarked on a major undertaking to build systems of early learning and child care across Canada that meet high standards for quality, affordability, accessibility, inclusion, and flexibility. The success of this plan—the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Care (CWELCC) initiative—will depend partly on whether changes to early learning and care meet the needs and expectations of parents. To learn about parents’ views, the Alberta Parent Survey on Early Learning and Child Care was conducted in 2022 with over 1400 parents in Alberta with young children. The present report, the third in a series based on this survey, is focused on accessibility. Parents’ Views About Cultural Relevance in Early Learning and Child Care in Alberta includes detailed findings and recommendations for optimizing the way in which the CWELCC is implemented in Alberta.

Federal and provincial governments have embarked on a major undertaking to build systems of early learning and child care across Canada that meet high standards for quality, affordability, accessibility, inclusion, and flexibility. The success of this plan—the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Care (CWELCC) initiative—will depend partly on whether changes to early learning and care meet the needs and expectations of parents. To learn about parents’ views, the Alberta Parent Survey on Early Learning and Child Care was conducted in 2022 with over 1400 parents in Alberta with young children. The present report, the third in a series based on this survey, is focused on accessibility. Parents’ Views About the Accessibility of Early Learning and Child Care in Alberta includes detailed findings and recommendations for optimizing the way in which the CWELCC is implemented in Alberta.