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Early Childhood Educators in Ontario
An early childhood educator is a professional who facilitates the development of skills in the early years of a child’s education. The role of the early childhood educator has changed from a focus solely on child care towards educating through pedagogical documentation. Through a developed framework of interest-based education, early childhood educators focus on educating through childhood participation and interests.

In Ontario, early childhood educators have a responsibility with educating infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers, kindergarteners and school aged children.

Duties and Functions
The Best Start Expert Learning Panel on Early Learning (January, 2007) states that early childhood educators follow current research findings as well as beliefs and experiences to outline their main principles. The book, Early Learning for Every Child Today: A Framework for Ontario Early Childhood Settings dictates what an early childhood educator references when creating their daily curriculum.

Through the principles set by the early learning for every child today document early childhood educators support and facilitate the growth of skills outlined in the continuum of development. The continuum of development is a tool that focus on points in different stages of a child's developmental needs. The task of the early childhood educator is to understand and look for these skills while creating activities to encourage the development of the skills outlined in the Early Learning for Every Child Today document.

Through play-based learning the early childhood educator sets up activities that revolve around emotional, social, physical, cognitive learning as well as communication, literacy and language. When the children are engaged in play the early childhood educator is a facilitator as well as an educator who documents their daily actions to report back to the family.

Documentation and communication are important for an early childhood educator as a good relationship with the family is essential to the child's development. Daily documentation allows the early childhood educator to implement alternative activities based on the changing interests of each child. The implementation is done through interest-based and play based learning as the activities set up in early childhood settings are created with the interests of the children in mind.

Early childhood educators are able to assess developmental delays in children as they use the brigance tool to identify developmental issues when in their care. They cannot diagnose a child, but they can inform the parents if there are any signs that need to be looked at further. Duties of early childhood educators include implementing an inclusive environment for children that are on the autism spectrum. Children that are on the spectrum participate in a supportive classroom through the activities created and collaborated with early childhood educators, families and specialists.

Early childhood educators understand that each child develops at a separate pace and their lesson plans are designed with each child in mind. Lesson plans are based on documentation that occurs every day so children that may be ahead or behind of the learning curve get a fair share of tailored experiences. Facilitating an inclusive classroom is by applying each child's ideas and interests into the framework of the lesson plan. This allows them to thrive in an environment which they feel comfortable in and encourages them to get more involved with classroom activities.

Early Childhood Education Qualifications
To become an early childhood educator in Ontario one must follow the laws of the Early Childhood Educators Act (2007). The act was created to promote the development and well-being of childhood education in the province of Ontario.

With the creation of the Early Childhood Educators Act (2007) the College of Early Childhood Educators was put in place to regulate and govern their members. To qualify for membership into the College of Early Childhood Educators you must be a graduate from an early childhood education program in Ontario or an equivalent degree to meet the requirements of the colleges standards.

College of Early Childhood Educators
The college was created to protect the development and growth of early childhood education in Ontario through establishing and maintaining qualifications of early childhood educators and their place of work. The only way to practice as an early childhood educator in Ontario is to get approval from the College itself. In Ontario you cannot practice in the field of early childhood education without the college’s approval.

Registered Early Childhood Educators
Registered early childhood educators work in all early childhood settings other than full-day kindergarten. Those that work as a registered early childhood educator follow the guidelines set up in the Day Nurseries Act as well as the Early Learning for Every Child Today: A Framework for Ontario Early Childhood Settings document.

Designated Early Childhood Educators
Designated early childhood educators are those that work in a full-day kindergarten classroom cooperatively with an Ontario certified teacher.

The early childhood educators that work in the full-day kindergarten follow the principles outlined in the Kindergarten program (2016).

The Kindergarten program (2016) states that “the purpose of the program is to establish a strong foundation for learning in the early years, and to do so in a safe and caring, play-based environment that promotes the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of all children.”. The role of the designated early childhood educator is to use these foundations to support the children in their transition to a school setting.

Early Learning for Every Child Today: A Framework for Ontario Early Childhood Settings
This document was set up by the government of Ontario to create a framework in which their lesson plans can revolve around. Within the document it shows each age group that is being taught and what accomplishments should be met. The document gives a breakdown for both educators and families alike to see what skills their child is developing and what to notice when at home or in their preschool setting.

The Continuum of Development
The continuum of development is used to help describe forms of development within the different domains encompassed by developmental needs. This helps early childhood educators with developing, documenting and observing the skills that are emerging within in their care.