All children attending licensed child care and EarlyON programs will be served by educators who have access to professional development and capacity building.
While each licensed child care and EarlyON maintains their own capacity building plan, the City of Brantford supports ongoing learning and capacity building of early learning professionals through the following:
Fostering Brant’s Growth
Fostering Brant’s Growth is a tool designed for self-assessment, reflection and goal building, reflecting the foundations of the How Does Learning Happen Pedagogy.
Community Living Brant EarlyON leads the tool and staff are available to support the assessment and goal setting process, providing guidance, strategies, coaching and workshops.
Fostering Brant’s Growth is available from Community Living Brant at no cost to all licensed child care and EarlyONs. While all licensed child cares are required to have a quality improvement program, participation in Fostering Brant’s Growth is voluntary.
Professional Development
Professional development workshops and training are available free of charge to all licensed child care and EarlyON providers with a service agreement with the City of Brantford including access to the Professional Learning Hub, Brant Learn and the Learning Hub Library.
The Professional Learning Hub is maintained by Community Living Brant EarlyON as a repository for information and guidance documents related to the recruitment, retention and ongoing learning and development of the early learning community. It contains up-to-date information about professional development, workshops and training available as well as a job portal for the advertising and collection of job opportunity and resumes. It is also home to Brant Learn. The website is open to the public at no charge.
Brant Learn is an on-line learning site containing modules related to child development, How Does Learning Happen and other relevant topics. Brant Learn is open to all early learning educators working in a licensed child care or EarlyON in the City of Brantford and County of Brant.
The Learning Hub at 30 Bell Lane is a resource library accessed through a paid membership. Membership provides access to the toy lending library as well as specialized equipment such as laminators, die press and Sizzix equipment, photo / colour copier, bookbinding machines, computer / internet access / Boardmarker and Picture communication program. Some additional fees may apply to certain equipment. The Learning Library is open to all with a paid membership.
Mental Health Education and Resources
Child and Family Services of Grand Erie is leading learning opportunities to support the mental health of children, families and early learning educators through two initiatives:
(a) The Messiness of Parenting features local parents sharing their experiences, finding comfort in common challenges, and discovering practical tips and innovative ideas for navigating parenthood. Find the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
(b) Circle of Security group training and programming. Circle of Security is an attachment-based training available to licensed child care and EarlyON educators. Parent programs are also available.
Professional Learning Days
The Ministry of Education provides professional learning funding to allow all licensed child care and EarlyON educators to participate in one paid professional development day per year. The goal of the professional learning day is to improve recruitment and retention and build the capacity of the early years and child care sector to support the provision of high-quality programs that align with How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years. Implementation may vary from year to year.
