Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework (IELCC ) is a framework that was co-developed with Indigenous partners as well as by the Government of Canada. Indigenous IELCC supports children aged 0 to 6 in their development, learning and cultural identity. It also wholistically supports parents and families to participate in their cultures and languages.
IELCC Goals
The goal of IELCC is to provide Indigenous children and families with greater access to ELCC programs and services that are culturally-appropriate, high-quality, fully inclusive, flexible, and affordable. Indigenous IELCC programs and activities aim to support culturally-based language, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and physical development in the home, in a preschool or nursery school, or in a home child care or daycare setting.
IELCC Coordinator
The Indigenous IELCC at Mawiw is overseen by the Mawiw IELCC Coordinator, who is responsible for:
- Supporting, coordinating, and facilitating programs at the community level and supporting community needs and priorities in implementing IELCC
- Supporting the implementation of cultural programming at the early learning level
- Advocating for children and families
- Collaborating with early childhood educator (ECE) directors, childcare/Head Start staff, Health Directors, ISETS Coordinators to implement quality improvement plans
- Updating leadership
- Evaluating and monitoring children to determine physical and mental development, including social, motor development, cognitive and language skills
- Representing all early childhood programs at health, social, or education tables at the regional and national levels
- Ensuring a shared vision, principles, and a path forward for IELCC in the Atlantic Region
- Providing the necessary leadership in IELCC to collaborate with provincial and federal departments within the Atlantic Region
- Assisting with moving the path forward towards self-governance
