Group Advocating for Licensed Outdoor Childcare
Photo by Markus Spiske
The Nature Based Child Care Advisory Committee, a group of early childhood educators and researchers, is once again pushing the province to license outdoor child care as an alternative to facility-oriented care.
Advocacy for outdoor-based early childcare education has been growing in strength, particularly since the COVID pandemic. In their most recent report on this movement, Victoria Times Colonist reporter Andrew A.Duffy, on October 10, 2023, noted that there are unlicensed full-time outdoor education childcare programs already operating in Victoria.
Enid Elliot, instructor in the Early Learning and Care Faculty at Camosun College and a member of the Nature Based Child Care Advisory Committee, interviewed in the article, comments, “The more we find out about getting children outside, it’s just so good for them and their development.” Noting that licensed outdoor education is already happening successfully in other places, such as the States of Washington (2021) and Oregon (2023), the campaign has asked the City of Victoria to help to put pressure on the Province of B.C. to move forward towards creation of a licensing model that is not solely tied to a building.
The Victoria Nature School offers a variety of programs, including the Forest School Preschool Programs for children aged 3-5, teacher training workshops for preschool and K-Gr. 6 education, and resources for teachers and parents. For preschoolers, they offer both licensed full-day programs, with a combination of rain-or-shine mornings in the park, followed by lunch and quiet time indoors and afternoons in a purpose-built outdoor classroom, and an unlicensed half-day fully park-based outdoor program. Lindsay Coulter, their program coordinator, notes that, “It’s not the program that gets licensed.”
Coulter explained the significance of licensing for the fully outdoor programs. It would mean that parents could qualify for subsidies, low-income families could apply benefits when accessing the programs, educators could apply for the wage enhancement grant, making it a more attractive teaching option, and families with a child requiring a support worker would be able to apply for funding to defray that cost.
The benefits of outdoor childcare include more outside time, less screen time, opportunity for “risky play”, and more time in nature, particularly for children who don’t have access to a yard or nearby park. It also fills a need for highly energetic children, children with sensitivities to indoor air quality, and children who are rendered anxious in crowded environments, who experience frustration within the limits of an indoor class-based program.
Currently, the lack of financial support available to licensed programs means that fully outdoor programs are only available to families who have personal financial resources to afford them. Coulter notes that licensing would offer programs the flexibility to not be tied to a building, would create more opportunities for children to engage with nature, and would make an increased number of childcare spots available for families.
Victoria Nature School offers the following resource links on their website at https://www.victorianatureschool.com/copy-of-list-of-all-professional-de for those wishing to learn more about outdoor ECE programming.
Coyote Guide- Wilderness Awareness School
Based out of Washington State this school provides many varied wilderness programs. From 9 months long to weekend courses there are many options for adults interested in outdoor learning and education.
http://wildernessawareness.org/adult/
Child and Nature Alliance of Canada – Forest and Nature School Practitioner Course
“This course is an intensive, self-directed professional learning opportunity for educators and early childhood educators who want to start up their own Forest and Nature School programs in their places of work. The course takes most educators, 8-12 months to complete, and educators must commit to completing all course content in order to become a certified ‘Forest and Nature School Practitioner'. Please see their website for more details.”
https://childnature.ca/forest-school-canada/
Fresh Air Learning
North Vancouver Forest School Program offers many professional development opportunities. Please see their website for more information.