Advancing the Profession: Childcare Administrators Network
The Childcare Administrators Network, or CCAN as its members call it, is an unusual organization. It is for childcare directors only and it is very local. And it doesn't have a website because it only seeks to serve administrators in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia.
"The thing about organizations like this is that no one else is going to set one up for you, and if they do, it won't serve your needs," explains Lila Hope-Simpson of the Home and Heart Child Development Centre in Wolfville. "And childcare administrators are typically isolated in their centres for the simple reason that they are usually the only one."
The CCAN began very simply about 15 years ago when a group of childcare administrators began meeting informally over lunch. After a few meetings they realized that they had a lot of shared concerns.
"They weren't the sort of questions you would bring up at a provincial association but they were very important to us," says Hope-Simpson. The directors asked one another questions such as "What do you do at your centre when a parent comes late?" or "How do you set your policy on fees?" "Do you have any good ideas for field trips?"
The organizers decided to mail out a letter to all the other childcare directors in the Annapolis Valley, and the organization was launched.
At first, the members met for potluck lunches in one another's centres. "That in itself was very educational because you can learn an awful lot just from looking at what is on the walls of another centre," says Hope-Simpson.
As time went on the organization began to evolve.
"We started developing our agendas ahead of time so if we wanted to bring in a guest speaker or if we wanted to sponsor a workshop or if we wanted to talk about a certain topic, we could come prepared for that," she explains.
It has evolved still further. Today it has an annual fee, bylaws and an executive, and minutes are kept. "We also collect a dollar to cover the cost of lunch and another dollar to make a bursary we give to a student in early childhood education at our community college."