Wage increases for early childhood educators, more support for centres

Prince Edward Island’s early childhood educators will see a wage increase and licensed child care centres will get more support for extra health and safety measures to benefit children and staff.

Starting October 1, 2020, salaries will go up for 367 early childhood educators and more than 110 autism assistants and special needs assistants in the province. 

“Prince Edward Island continues to lead the country in early childhood education and the foundation of our success is our dedicated and professional early childhood staff. We value our early childhood educators, autism assistants and special needs assistants who play a vital role in providing our youngest Islanders with a strong start. This wage increase is the first step of a multi-year plan to support our early childhood sector and to encourage others to pursue a career in early childhood.”

- Education and Lifelong Learning Minister Brad Trivers

Early childhood education wages will include the following increases:

• $0.50 per hour increase for level 1 educators;
• $1 per hour increase for level 2 educators; and 
• $1.50 per hour increase for level 3 educators.

Special needs assistants and autism assistants will receive a $1 per hour wage increase.

Also, early childhood centres that currently receive the Quality Enhancement Grant and provide service to children from birth to school entry will get an increase in their annual funding.

“We are very pleased with the commitment to increase wages to advance the early learning and child care system in PEI,” said early childhood development association executive director, Sonya Hooper. “We appreciate the continued support especially throughout the pandemic, and we look forward to working together towards a longer-term plan.”

To further support centres, the province will be using a portion of its federal COVID-19 relief grant to provide licensed early learning and child care centers with additional support staff, personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies to meet health and safety measures.

Funding for the wage increases was announced in the Prince Edward Island 2020-2021 provincial operating budget. 

Media contact:
Lexi Drummond
Department of Education and Lifelong Learning 
902-213-4098
lrdrummond@gov.pe.ca