A community approach to understanding the early childhood education workforce

Knowing Our Numbers:
A Community Collaboration

The studies presented on these pages represent the feedback of almost 6,000 members of the early childhood education workforce in Ontario. They gave their time and knowledge to share with great passion their perspectives on the state of their profession, and the implications for themselves and the children in their care. Their voices must be heard, and their advice acted on if Ontario families are to fully experience the benefits of the Canada-wide early learning and child care system now under development.

Behind the workforce are the children’s service managers in regional governments and the College of Early Childhood Educators who came together to help conduct these studies. They saw the need for a province-wide collection system with a local lens to inform decision makers, to build cross jurisdictional understandings and to share best practices.

The Knowing Our Numbers Executive Report, the Methodology, Northern Perspectives and 30 regional reports provide detailed insights across participating areas. French translation is provided by the United Counties of Prescott and Russell.

This initiative is funded by the 43 participating Social Service Managers and managed by Early Childhood Education – Research Policy Action, with the support of Better Together and the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development at the University of Toronto.