Head, Heart and Hands

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Head, Heart and Hands

• The Nova Scotia Child Care Association

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What is the Nova Scotia Child Care Association?

• NSCCA is a non-profit organization that
  recognizes that child care practitioners are the
  main ingredient in high quality child care and
  provide a valuable service to society.

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Vision Statement

• The Nova Scotia Child Care Association has a
  vision of a valued, stable, well paid, well
  trained and professional workforce that is
  supported in offering high quality early learning
  and child care to the children and families of
  Nova Scotia.

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Head, Heart and Hands

• The head represents intellect, skills and
  knowledge of our members, and NSCCAs philosophy,
  intentions and plans to reach our goals.
• The heart represents caring for ourselves, our
  colleagues, families and the children we care
  for.
• The hands represent the quality in practice we
  strive for, and our courage to take action and
  make a difference with limited resources.

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Why become a member?

• The Nova Scotia Child Care Association works
  toward its members being recognized as
  professionals in their field by supporting the
  use of standards of practice, a professional code
  of ethics and advocating on behalf of child care
  practitioners.

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NSCCA Mission Goals

• NSCCA is dedicated to increasing the recognition
  of the important role of child care practitioners
  in providing quality child care.

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NSCCA Mission Goals

• The association is committed to ensuring ethical
  practice and professional standards thereby
  increasing the quality of child care.

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What are standards of practice?

• Standards of practice identify the particular
  skills and abilities necessary to perform the
  required tasks in a competent fashion.
• Doherty, G. (2000)
• The NSCCA has adopted the Canadian Child Care
  Federations Standards of Practice as the
  foundation on which to build our quality of
  practice.

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Ethical Practice - our commitment to society

• Caring for Nova Scotias children is a big
  responsibility, and requires that we use ethical
  decision making.
• Ensuring that our practice is accountable and
  responsible is an important function of NSCCA.

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Member Services

• Members have many services available to them
  including ethics mentoring, a code of ethics,
  professional development, and advocacy and
  lobbying for members needs

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Canadian Child Care Federation Affiliate Member

• NSCCA is an affiliate member of the Canadian
  Child Care Federation
• A NSCCA board member sits on member council and
  acts as a liaison
• Members receive subscription to Interaction

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NSCCA Committees

• NSCCA has a number of committees that work to
  further the aims of the association
• Members are encouraged to volunteer
• Meet like minded colleagues, network and learn
  new skills

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Work for a Worthy Wage it makes a difference!

• The Nova Scotia Child Care Association has
  developed a minimum suggested salary guideline
  which it is sharing with the sector and
  stakeholders to highlight the full cost of
  quality early learning and child care.

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A Voice for Quality

• As a NSCCA member your voice will be heard
  through the advocacy of a recognized association
  you will be able to share your feelings and
  concerns in a safe and professional environment
  and you will be part of an important group,
  working toward making the child care profession
  the best it can be.

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What is advocacy?

• Advocacy is arguing in favor of something, such
  as a cause, idea, or policy.
• You can engage in advocacy by meeting with a
  legislator on an important issue, writing an
  editorial for a newspaper, raising awareness for
  a cause at a community event, or even promoting
  an issue while having dinner with friends.

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Belief Caring Action

• Advocacy occurs when you engage in conversation
  about an issue you care about. It can occur in
  many forms - - speaking out, letter writing,
  protesting, voting, and even wearing a t-shirt
  that makes a statement.

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Children dont have a public voice

• Thats why they need ours!

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Share your knowledge

• We have a professional body of knowledge about
  child development and early childhood education
  we need to share it

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Share your professional experiences

• We work with children and their families and see
  first hand what is, and is not, working for the
  families and children in our communities. These
  personal stories give meaning to statistics.

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Talk about childrens worth and well-being

• Were in the business of happy childhoods. We
  know that child-hood is a meaningful time for
  development in its own right. A childs future
  contributions are important, but not as important
  as her well-being today.

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Stand-up for our profession

• We are living the growing pains of an emerging
  profession. We know how important our jobs are
  to children and their families. We must speak
  out on behalf of care-giving and early childhood
  as a profession and for the special expertise
  needed to be a professional.
• (Goffin Lombardi, 1988)

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Activate parental power

• Daily interactions with parents provide many
  opportunities for parents and early childhood
  educators to recognize their common concerns and
  goals for childrens well-being

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Expand the constituency for children

• We can work with other groups who have an
  interest in social policy and the well-being of
  our society. We can inform others about the
  needs of children, DAP, and the supports families
  need to be strong and healthy

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Sensitive periods in early brain development
Pre-school years
School years
High
Numbers
Peer social skills
Symbol
Sensitivity
Language
Habitual ways of responding
Emotional control
Vision
Hearing
Low
1
2
3
7
6
5
4
0
Years
Graph developed by Council for Early Child
Development (ref Nash, 1997 Early Years Study,
1999 Shonkoff, 2000.)
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Advocacy is our collective responsibility

• It is time for us to speak out about what we know
  and believe. Together we can move forward on the
  critical issues facing young children, families,
  and the early childhood profession.

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Join Us