Professional Development (PD) Funding for Early Childhood Educators
ARCQE is pleased to offer a variety of PD Opportunities for Early Childhood Educators inclusive for early learning and school age care. All of our training and workshops come with a certificate to use as evidence of continuous learning. We currently offer regional, site-specific, and E-learning training opportunities.
PD Funding is available to eligible registrants to cover the costs of all ARCQE workshop / conference registrations, up to $500/year for all Early Childhood Educators certified as Level 1, 2 or 3.
PD Funding Information
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Starting September 1, 2021, under the bilateral agreement with the federal government, Children’s Services is expanding access to PD funding to all certified staff working in licensed child care programs, including ECEs working in preschool programs, and day home providers working in licensed family day home agencies.
Release time will also now be available to ECEs so they can be paid while studying, completing post-secondary coursework and attending approved workshops.
Release time will be paid as follows:
• ECEs attending approved post-secondary coursework will be eligible to receive a flat rate of $800 per course, to a maximum of two courses per fiscal year.
• ECEs attending approved workshops are eligible to receive $17.50 per hour (up to 45 hours per fiscal year).
• Programs that access this grant for their employed staff will receive an additional 7.66 per cent of the grant amount to help offset payroll expenditures associated with administering this funding ($60 per course payment and $1.33 per hour for staff attending workshops).
The updated Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Guide outlines the eligibility and steps needed in order to obtain PD funding. All applications and questions regarding the new Alberta Child Care Grant Funding can be directed to:
Alberta Children’s Services
Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program
3rd Floor Forestry Building
9920-108 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2M4
Email: cs.childcarefunding@gov.ab.ca
To learn more about the Alberta Child Care Grant Funding Program, please click HERE.
To learn more about the New Early Childhood Educator (ECE) Recovery and Retention Grant Agreement, please click HERE.
Did You Know?
ARCQE onsite workshops qualify for staff PD funding too!
If you would like us to come to your centre to deliver a specific workshop, your staff could choose to pool their personal PD funding together to cover the workshop costs.
For example, if you have 25 staff attending a 6-hour PD day onsite workshop which costs $1,030+GST=$1,081.50 for Preferred RAP cardholders, each eligible staff could access $1,081.50/25 = $43.26 in PD funding. It is normally less expensive than attending regional workshops, plus you could have the workshop customized to meet your program needs and stop waiting for the workshop that you want to be scheduled regionally!
If you have any further questions, please contact our Professional Learning Administrator at info@arcqe.ca