1

Licensing Regulation

Amanjeet Kaur Sandhu

Childhood Studies, Keyano College

ELCC 341: Child Care Organization & Administration

February 8, 2023.
 2

Early Learning and Child Care centers, and childcare educators are influential in supporting the

child and families across Alberta. Many working parents and families rely on childcare providers

to assist their children's development and growth. When the parents go to work, they also want to

ensure their child is safe and developing physically and mentally. To support the parents and

families, the Government of Alberta makes rules and regulations called Licensing. Licensing

provides a high standard of safety and quality to parents and children. In the following

paragraphs, I will describe the Alberta licensing regulations so you can easily understand them.

Firstly, I would like to discuss and share information on safety, nutrition, child/staff ratio, and

space requirement policies of the licensing. If I talk about nutrition in childcare, it depends upon

whether the program provides three-time food (breakfast, lunch, snacks) in their program or the

parents bring it from home. If the licensed childcare holder offers the food, it always ensures that

the meal is given according to the child's requirement and by the food guide recognized by

Health Canada. "Where the license holder provides meals and snacks, ensure that the meals and

snacks are provided to children at appropriate times and in sufficient quantities under the needs

of each child" (Child Care Licensing Act Child Care Licensing Regulation, 2019). On the other

hand, suppose parents provide the food from the home. It ensures the child's name tag is on the

lunch box.

"Ensure that infant nutrition provided by parents is clearly labelled with the infant's name”

(Child Care Licensing Act Child Care Licensing Regulation, 2019). The essential part and first

point that all the centers remind is safety. We have emergency contacts posted on the wall and in

Infront of the phone in each classroom. If any accident happens in the center, the staff can call on

the emergency number. According to the childcare licensing act and Regulation (2019), The

contact numbers are posted on the wall for easy access to services such as Emergency medical
 3

service, ambulance service, fire department, police service, poison control centers, nearest

hospital or emergency medical facility, and child abuse hotline. In every center, the children's

health and safety are the primary aspects to be considered. The incident and illness reports must

be prepared if any incident or illness happens to the child and notifies to parents. Information is

provided to the parents by phone call or by email to the parents, and the child gets medical

attention if required and necessary.

Moreover, if a child experience any showing any symptoms of fever, cough, diarrhea, and

vomiting and any unexplained sign symptom of illness, then parents will be notified and

informed by the childcare provider, and the parents need to arrange the removal of the child from

the facility. In addition to this, another critical aspect is administering the medication for a child.

According to Child Care Licensing Act Child Care Licensing Regulation (2021), parents must

provide written consent. Medicine should be in the original labelled container and administered

as per the label supplied with the medicine. In addition, it should be stored away within the reach

of children in the classroom in a locked container.

Furthermore, the Albert licensing act has established regulations on space requirements for

children and staff in licensed childcare. As specified in the Childcare Licensing Act and law

(2019), providers must have a net floor area of 3 square meters per child based on licensed

capacity and primary play space. In addition, license-holder childcare facilities must provide

indoor and outdoor space according to Licensing regulations of physical space requirements of

indoor and outdoor space areas. In contrast, outdoor play must be within the sage and easy

walking distance from the premises. It also ensures the outdoor recreation is secure for the

children with the wall or the fence. As mentioned in Child Care Licensing Act Child Care

Licensing Regulation (2021), “outdoor space should be securely enclosed from all sides for the
 4

safety of the child and all entrances to and exits from the outdoor play space that does not lead

into the interior of the program premises are kept closed at all times while children are using the

outdoor play space” (p.18).

Also, in licensed childcare, the child ratio is an important aspect to consider. It is the term which

tells the number of educators present to supervise the children during their stay in childcare.

According to the childcare licensing Act and Regulation (2021), “the minimum primary staff to

supervise the children depends on the age of the children and number of children in a group.”

There are following child ratio should be followed by a licensed childcare program as per the

policy of licensing:

Age of Children Primary Staff Ratio Maximum Number of Children

Member to Children in a Group

Ratio

Infants less than 1:3 6

12 months

Infants 12 months to less 1:4 8

than 19 months

19 months to less than 3 1:6 12

years

3 years to less than 4 1:8 16

years

4 years and older 1:10 20

 5

The highlight shows that the mixed age group is permitted throughout the day between 8:30 am

to 4:30 pm. The ratio depends upon most children in the group. It benefits the director as they do

not need extra staff for the class. But it is challenging for the teacher, as she can only focus on

some of the children. Sometimes it is very stressful when the children are not playing in one

corner of the room. Some children are not listening, and showing challenging behaviour is the

hardest part. So the staff is tied with her rough day at the end of the day. With this all changes, it

affects the worker's education quality. The work will be different from what the teacher planned

for it. That will affect the professionalism of the staff. The most challenging part for an educator

is when one team must maintain a class with nine children.

With overactive kids who are not listening to you. The children with rough and tumble player

who is hurting everyone. The educator sometimes cannot maintain the safety of the children, and

children get hurt. The other challenge is that implementing the new framework at the workplace

is challenging because the parents sometimes need help understanding what we are trying to do.

Like the Flight, the framework says the child is a mighty learner, so let them explore themselves

with the risks and set their limits. But parents said it caused an injury. That can cause mistrust

between parents and teachers.

On the other hand, the Child staff ratio is different when the child sleeps or rests on the cot or

crib. According to Childcare Licencing and Regulation (2021), it should be done in the following

ways:

Age of Children Primary Staff Member to Children Ratio

 6

Infants less than 12 months 1:6

Infants 12 months to less than 19 months 1:8

19 months to less than three years 1:12

Three years to less than 4.5 years 1:16

4.5 years and older 1:20

There are many benefits to the children who attend childcare. Childcare plays a vital role in a

child’s holistic development. Attending childcare early on helps children develop social skills

and emotional resilience. According to Chandler (2019), children's early years are essential to

their well-being and holistic development. “Quality, early childhood experience can provide

members of the next generation of the workforce with a solid foundation of knowledge, skills,

competencies, attitude, and behaviours that will contribute to their success in the more

technologically based economic environment.” Early childhood facilities help and support

children in building skills and holistic development.

They will develop lifelong learning, and that will help in their successful future. When the child

learns everything from his life, it also benefits the parents because they do not need to think and

be scared for their child's future. When the child is in childcare with well-educated staff, it helps

promote and develop problem-solving and negotiating skills and explore everything around

them.

Recently, licensing has changed the rules and regulations, which is good and bad for the

organization. The first change that if you were licensed or approved under the previous act and

regulation. You now fall into one of two categories: licensed facility or home-based program.
 7

The last Childcare Licensing Act had five types of childcare. But they change it into two types of

childcare facility-based and home-based. However, have changes in provincial and territorial

regulations affected Early Childhood programs in recent years? Which is funding? Although the

government provides funds to meet the needs of low-family income, more than those funds are

needed to support families and parents financially. On the other hand, the Government's focus is

on the health and nutrition of the child, and more attention should be paid to the educator's

qualification, which reduces the facilities' quality. According to Chandler (2019), “Provinces and

territories set a minimum requirement for EC services and only focus on Child's health and

nutrition but ignoring the other important factor of qualification of educators” (p.29).

On the other hand, if we talk about the standards, regulations, and enforcement practices which

affect the quality of work and productivity of childcare centers, such as the government cutting

off the allowance for the staff, which impacts their productivity negatively and becomes the

reason for stepping out from this profession. However, regulation helps to improve the quality

and standard of safety and health measurement of the children in childcare centers. In addition to

that, it also impacts individuals' ability to work in childcare with children, families, and staff. If

you follow the regulation, then it helps to understand the environment and enhance the

professionalism of individuals and groups. But I find the most challenging part of licensing work

is the child-staff ratio which happens when we have short staff in daycare. It is hard to

accommodate the temporary staff issue when any outbreak happens in childcare.

In conclusion, I must say that it is a very immeasurable idea to enroll your child in childcare

where a professionally qualified educator takes care of the child’s well-being and overall

development. Educators' professional education helps promote and foster the child's social,

physical, emotional, and intellectual development. They help the children to develop self-help
 8

skills, a social and emotional resilience which makes a safe and thriving future. In addition,

government policy and regulation help strengthen and manage facilities' productivity. In contrast,

changes in the rules and regulations sometimes impact the morale and well-being of staff

positively and negatively.

Reference

Chandler, K. (2019). Administering for Quality: Leading and Collaborating in Canadian Early

Childhood Education Programs, 6/E. North York, Ontario: Pearson Education

Canada.ISBN: 9780134755625/ e-book ISBN: 9780134858029

Child care licensing act child care licensing regulation. (2019).

Https://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/regs/2008_143.pdf

Child care licensing act child care licensing regulation. (2021).

Https://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/regs/2008_143.pdf