About
Nurturing Tomorrow’s Future… Today!
Windsor-Essex Registered Early Childhood Educators (WERECE) is the name of Windsor-Essex’s Workforce Strategy for child care and early years. In Windsor-Essex we are using a multi-pronged approach with the Workforce Strategy to achieve the best possible results for our community.
“The WERECE campaign is focused on empowering, engaging and enhancing the early childhood educator (ECE) workforce across our region. The first five years are critical to the development of a child; as ECEs we nurture their development and growth through guided play and self discovery, giving them the tools they’ll need for success in everything they’ll do. The campaign serves to highlight that registered ECEs are qualified, creative, dedicated, and in demand.” – Dawn Bosco, Manager of Children’s Services
The Workforce Strategy is a Ministry of Education initiative that is intended to support the retention and recruitment of a high-quality child care and early years workforce.
Key objectives of this strategy are to:
- Sustain the existing child care and early years workforce to ensure a more stable and high-quality early years and child care system.
- Enhance access to opportunities for the workforce that promote retention and recruitment, including professional development, training, and qualification upgrade programs.
- Grow the number of qualified staff in the early years and child care workforce to increase access to high-quality licensed child care for families.
- Attract and support the development of an increasingly diverse workforce to more effectively reflect the children and families accessing early years and child care programs.
What is an early childhood educator?
Early Childhood Educators (ECE), are employed in a variety of settings in Child Care, (centre based, school based or licensed home care); as well as EarlyON Child and Family Centres, schools or agencies that support the growth and development of children that is essential to quality early years experiences.
ECEs set the stage for play-based child-led learning. ECEs plan, organize and implement programs for children between the ages of infancy to 12 years. ECEs provide care for infants and preschool to school-age children. ECEs lead children in activities to stimulate and develop their intellectual, physical and emotional growth.
ECEs work with others to develop individualized program plans for children and engage in reflective practices that ensure a better relationship with children, families, colleagues and community members. ECEs work in partnership with parents and caregivers to help children reach their full potential.