Child care sector improvements are still needed, advocacy organization says

A new survey found that the majority of early childhood educators in Manitoba are satisfied with their jobs.

Recent data shows that most early childhood educators in the province have strong job satisfaction and a high sense of accomplishment, however, sector improvements in staffing and training are still needed according to an advocacy organization.

The findings come after a Probe Research poll was conducted for the Manitoba Child Care Association (MCCA), a non-profit and membership-funded organization that advocates for child care and early childhood education.

Jodie Kehl, MCCA executive director, said the poll focused on the state of child care in the province and revealed “really positive outcomes,” along with gaps that need to be addressed.

“The primary gap that is that we’re still seeing significant staffing shortages,” Kehl said.

More than one-third of child care centre directors often operate with a conditional licence due to staff shortages, according to the poll, and 22 per cent of directors sometimes close spaces due to the shortages.

“Families are frustrated they can’t find 10 hours of space right now, so we know we need more spaces, but then when current spaces are staying closed because of staff shortages, that really compounds that for families as well,” Kehl said.

More than 800 MCCA members — including child care staff, centre directors and family child care providers — participated in the online survey conducted over two weeks in February 2025.

Kehl said some of the recruitment and retention issues among early childhood educators can be addressed by further increases to child care facility operating grants.

However, she said the provincial government’s implementation of a retroactive increased wage grid in May had a positive impact. At the time, Tracy Schmidt, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning, said that it was the largest wage increase for the sector in the province’s history.

The poll also revealed that 40 per cent of early childhood educators surveyed feel increasingly exhausted by the work, marking an increase of 11 per cent since a similar survey was conducted in 2016.

“Salaries are one piece of the puzzle, but salaries don’t necessarily take away exhaustion,” Kehl said.

“So, we have to look at (early child educators’) working conditions… Do (they) have time off the floor, where they’re not with children and families, where they can do documentation, where they can plan for pedagogical curriculum, where they can meet with families?”

In May, Schmidt also announced the province’s commitment to increase the number of professional development days for early childhood educators to five days a year by 2028.

The poll results also show that 81 per cent of early childhood educators are satisfied with their job, 93 per cent say they “often get a sense of accomplishment” from their work, and the average tenure in the industry is up “significantly” since 2016.

Just over 50 per cent of early childhood educators have seen a noticeable wage increase, even prior to the wage grid increase, according to the latest poll.

Kehl said the recent poll was needed as “a lot” has changed in early learning and child care since the last poll nine years ago, citing the pandemic and Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreements.

“We look forward to a solution-based partnership and relationships where we can identify gaps and continue to move the dial forward for the sector,” Kehl said.

Early childhood educators are provincially regulated through a classification system.