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Early childhood educators got letters last week warning that a grievance filed by Nova Scotia Teachers Union could cost them their jobs.

“If the NSTU grievance succeeds, a potential result is that all ECEs would be replaced by certified teachers,” reads the letter from the Department of Justice, which is responsible for hosting the grievance filed by the union representing teachers.

“If this was the result as ordered by the arbitrator, this could affect your ongoing employment. That said, even if this were the outcome, we would not anticipate any such impact to ECE employment to occur at a minimum before the 2020-21 school year.”

Meanwhile the NSTU is claiming that the Department of Education caused the current impasse by creating a pre-primary program that violates the contracts under which their membership works.

“There appears to be a perception the teachers’ union sprung this in the middle of the night in order to deprive people of their jobs,” Paul Wozney, NSTU president, said of the grievance that was filed in November 2017.

“… Our quarrel is not with early childhood educators, this is a question of the rights of teachers under a collective agreement. The government sold Nova Scotians on this program that they’re going to have a teacher and they’re going to have an ECE in the classroom.”

The issue goes before arbitrator Lorraine Lafferty in July.

185 classrooms and counting

“It appears that the pre-primary program as offered in Nova Scotia is meant to be child care" - NSTU position paper on pre-primary

At stake is who fills hundreds of jobs in the new pre-primary program the Department of Education has been rolling out to prepare four-year-olds for the school system — certified teachers who are NSTU members or trained early childhood educators.

The NSTU wants a system based on the Ontario model where there is a teacher supported by an early childhood educator in each class.

“It appears that the pre-primary program as offered in Nova Scotia is meant to be child care for children four years old by December 31 offered in public schools,” states the NSTU’s position paper on how it regards the existing pre-primary program.

The Nova Scotia model of the program has two categories of early childhood educators — a lead ECE who usually has a four-year university degree in early childhood development and a support ECE with a two-year college diploma.

There is at least one ECE per every ten children with a maximum of 24 students to a class taught by three ECEs in this province.

Fernando Nunes disagrees with the NSTU’s claim that the pre-primary program is operating as a government subsidized daycare.

“It is not babysitting and it is not classroom teaching,” said the chair of Mount Saint Vincent University’s Child and Youth Study Program.

Graduates from the school’s four-year program have a level 3 ECE qualification — the highest recognized by the province — because they have specialized training in the social and cognitive mental development of young children.

“Our graduates are trained to promote play in very specific ways that are not just haphazard,” said Nunes.

“… the focuses of their training are very different than the teachers at the elementary level. So I don’t see how a teacher who has not taken early childhood training can really function effectively in an early childhood environment.”

Enrolment for Mount Saint Vincent’s Child and Youth Study program has increased in the wake of the pre-primary expansion and stands at 315 majors this year.

Other unions object

"… This (grievance) has financial ramifications for the province as a whole, it is to the detriment of children and for our members themselves." - Grant Dart, CUPE national representative

While Wozney said the grievance is not meant to create a union turf war, that has been the effect.

Both the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union and the Canadian Union of Public Employees which represent many ECE’s have registered as intervenors in the grievance arbitration to oppose the move.

“I don’t know what (the NSTU) is thinking,” said Grant Dart, CUPE national representative.

“… This (grievance) has financial ramifications for the province as a whole, it is to the detriment of children and for our members themselves. We have people that were ECEs in childcare centres and made career changes to be part of this program as it rolled out.”

Last week’s budget brought the province’s total investment so far in the pre-primary program to $34.2 million.

There is also a disparity in the pay between NSTU-certified teachers and early childhood educators.

According to the Department of Education, a new full time teacher with an ATC 1 license makes $59,287 annually based on a 195-day school year.

A lead early childhood educator has a starting wage of $24.29 an hour, which based on a 213.75 day year works out to $36,993 annually.

The average starting wage of a support early childhood educator meanwhile is $19.63 per hour which works out to $25,979 annually.