Coast Mountain College (CMC) will now offer training programs for early childhood educators (ECEs) in Kitimat
The new accelerated basic ECE certificate will host 14 students at its Kitimat campus from January to December 2023.
“The program will highlight relationships with First Nations cultures and perspectives while embedding contextually relevant, place-based learning into our curriculum,” said Vicki MacKenzie-Davis, early childhood care education coordinator and instructor, CMC.
“Our graduates foster learning environments that celebrate mutually transformational relationships in creative and responsive pedagogical spaces.”
The need for child care in Kitimat and Kitamaat Village is growing with the local economy. With the LNG Canada export facility and other construction projects underway, further population growth is expected.
“The lack of available child care in Kitimat is reaching a crisis point, and the government has recognized that training new, well-qualified child care workers is essential for the economy to continue moving forward,” said Bradley Leier, associate dean of health and human services, Coast Mountain College. “As a college, we are excited to support this initiative with quality training in the community, so that parents can access the supports they need to continue in their careers.”
The program is funded through the StrongerBC Skills Training for Economic Recovery stream of the Community Workforce Response Grant.
“The big benefit of this investment is that by increasing the number of people studying to become early childhood educators, we can also improve parents’ ability to find child care so they can return to work, explore education or skills training themselves, while also increasing access to education for their children,” said Anne Kang, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Training
The program is open for registration and interested applicants can find more information by emailing: lkallio@coastmountaincollege.ca or visiting or visiting coastmountaincollege.ca.