Bridging the Gap for Internationally Educated Early Childhood Educators (IE ECEs)

There is a strong labour market demand for early childhood educators (ECEs) in Nova Scotia. Yet, immigrant job seekers – despite their desire and ability to contribute to this sector – are not able to help address this demand.

Many newcomers who are trained, experienced, or interested in working in the early childhood education (ECE) sector lack the profession-specific communication skills or the formal training they need to enter this field in Canada. Additionally, they often need help understanding the ECE scope of work in a Canadian environment. Our bridging program will support participants to improve their communication skills and gain employment in their field, and it will prepare more immigrants to join the ECE sector.

To support and prepare ECE trainees, Bridging the Gap for IE ECEs offers:

• A 12-week, profession-specific communications course in a blended format – online and in-person (October 2021)
• Online, employment-readiness workshops in the field of early childhood education (February 2022)
• A 12-week, on-the-job, paid competency assessment (March 2022)

During the on-the-job competency assessment, participants will be able to demonstrate their professional, communication, and interpersonal skills and get feedback from licensed ECE supervisors. This experience will help participants make informed decisions about working as ECEs, identify training gaps, and decide their steps moving forward.

To join this program, participants need to be legally eligible to work in Canada, have a minimum Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of five or higher, have a background and/or an interest in working with young children, and commit to completing all program components listed above.

The registration for the program starts on June 15, 2021.

If interested, please contact Navdeep Parmanand at nparmanand@isans.ca for more information.