Based on the success of our SkillsAdvance Ontario-funded partnership with Carrefour communautaire francophone de London (CCFL), we were thrilled to continue the Pathways Into a Child Care and Early Years Career program for an additional year. This program concluded in March of 2024.

What was Pathways into a Child Care and Early Years Career? 

This program offered two levels of training related to working with young children. The introductory level offered training to both English-speaking and French-speaking job seekers who are ready to begin a rewarding career in early years education and child care. Participants attended a FREE 12-week online training program that taught:

• foundational skills, often called the Skills for Success
• employability skills, including resume writing, and interview skills
• digital literacy skills
• interpersonal skills like communication, work ethic, and teamwork
• the technical skills and knowledge required in the field of early childhood education

Participants also received several certifications required to work in the field and participated in a three-week PAID on-the-job work experience. Following the program, they received a full year of employment support to ensure they moved on to a successful career or further education in the field. 

To learn more about this program, download this brochure (English) or this brochure (French)!

Employers: Employer looking for assistants for their child care centres were invited to host a Pathways Into a Child Care and Early Years Career participant for their 3-week work opportunity. Hosting a participant helped support their current RECE's and gave employers the opportunity to evaluate an assistant's readiness to join their team. Many Pathways participants continued as assistants at their work opportunity sites following their time with employers, and several have signed on as registered apprentices! 

To learn more about how employers hosted Pathways participant in their child care centres, download this brochure (English) or this brochure (French).

The leadership level of the program offered high-quality leadership training to English-speaking and French-speaking Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) who wanted to advance in their organizations. Participants in this FREE 12-week part-time professional development program learned about:

• key stakeholders in the child care sector
• relationships with community partners
• board governance
• finances
• human resources
• leadership and professionalism 

Throughout the program, participants were guided by a mentor at their workplace and participated in bi-weekly community of practice sessions with other professionals to discuss their learning.

To learn more about the leadership program, download this brochure and this flyer  (English) or this brochure and this flyer (French)!

This Skills Development Fund (SDF) program is funded through the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. The project lead is Carrefour communautaire francophone de London (CCFL) in partnership with Literacy Link South Central and the Licenced Child Care Network (LCCN).