Choosing the right professional development
Professional learning should extend your practice, not simply fill a day. Four questions, two minutes — for any session, anywhere in Canada.
Inspired by AECEA’s Choosing the Right Professional Development FrameworkEducators are co-learners and researchers of their own practice, and professional learning should meet you there. The best of it stretches your thinking, leaves you with better questions than you arrived with, and sends you back to your room with something you can genuinely try alongside children.
Not every session does that. When one falls short the cost is real — the fee, a day away from the children you work with, and in much of the country no way to claim it back. The Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta wrote a framework to help educators tell the difference before committing: a short set of questions about the facilitator, the content, the true cost, and the fit with your own practice. We built the interactive version on this page with their permission, and extended it so it works in every province and territory.
Professional development should strengthen your skills, deepen your knowledge, and support your role in providing high-quality early learning and child care.
— AECEA, Choosing the Right Professional Development Framework
The four checks
1Evaluating the facilitator
Credentials matter, and so does what someone has done with them since. AECEA’s framework asks whether the facilitator holds post-secondary credentials related to early learning or to the session topic, whether those credentials are current — roughly the last ten years — and whether they have applied that knowledge in practice with children.
It also asks whether they know your context. Someone teaching about curriculum should be able to connect their content to the framework you work under, whether that’s Flight in Alberta, How Does Learning Happen? in Ontario, or one of the ten others.
Fair to askWhat are your credentials, and how do they relate to this topic? Where have you used this in practice? How does your content connect to my province’s framework?
2Evaluating the opportunity
Is the content grounded in research and documented practice, or in one person’s experience alone? Was it developed for the Canadian context, or brought in from a system that works differently? And does it invite you to think and try things — discussion, hands-on work, reflection — or mostly ask you to listen?
The test AECEA lands on is a practical one: will you leave with strategies you can put to work alongside children.
Fair to askWhat research is this built on? What does the session look like hour by hour? What will I be able to do differently the week after?
3Looking at system supports
The registration fee is rarely the whole cost. Travel, accommodation, materials and platform fees add up, and they aren’t always mentioned until you’ve committed.
Then there’s the question most educators get wrong: whether you can claim any of it back. AECEA’s framework tells Alberta educators to ask providers about release time and PD funding approval. That advice holds everywhere — but the answer is different in every province, and it’s more restrictive than most people expect. The table below has the details.
Fair to askWhat’s the all-in cost? Has this been approved for professional learning funding in my province? What are your refund terms?
4Is this a good fit for you?
The last check is the one only you can answer. Does this support your current role or where you want to go? Will you gain something new, or is it a repeat of training you already have? And after everything above — do you feel confident in this facilitator?
A session can be excellent and still be the wrong one for you this year. That is a legitimate answer.
What to watch for
Five signs of lower-quality professional learning
AECEA names these directly. Any one of them is worth a question; two or three together is worth walking away.
- The facilitator has outdated credentials, or none.
- The session is mostly lecture, with little interaction.
- Content is generic, or not relevant to early learning in your context.
- Costs are unclear, or include unrelated fees.
- No mention of reflection, feedback, or adapting the session.
None of these are proof a session is bad. They’re prompts to ask a question — and how a provider answers tells you a great deal.
Can you claim it back?
This is where most educators are working from a wrong assumption — in both directions.
Only a handful of jurisdictions will reimburse you for a workshop or conference, and several of those only for sessions on a government-approved list. Almost everywhere else, professional learning funding is aimed squarely at coursework toward a credential. Nova Scotia excludes PD workshops in writing.
But the reverse trips people up too: several provinces run a second, smaller professional-development programme alongside their credential funding, and educators routinely miss it. Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Yukon all have one.
Find your row before you register, not after.
Funding by province and territoryShow the table
Limited, capped or case by case
Credential coursework only
Not verified
| Where you work | Workshops and conferences |
The programme | Release time or substitute cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | Yes — approved list | ECE Workforce Supports Program The most visible gate in Canada: a named, session-level Approved List of Workshops and Conferences published by the province. If a session isn’t on it, you get nothing — ask the provider directly whether they’re listed. |
YesRelease time funding covers both workshops and coursework. |
| Saskatchewan | Yes — approved events | Professional Development Grant $300 per person per event plus mileage, covering registration, accommodation, travel and meals. Events must be delivered, sponsored or supported by the Early Years Branch — ask them for the current list. Separately, the Tuition Reimbursement Grant covers certification coursework. |
YesStaffing expenses — extra wages or a replacement staff member — are claimable within the same $300 cap. |
| Manitoba | Yes — non-profits | Training Grant — $400 per calendar year Flexible on content: no approved-provider list, just proof of cost and proof of completion. But limited to staff of licensed non-profit centres, nursery schools and licensed family or group homes — for-profit staff are excluded. Paid to the facility, which reimburses you. |
NarrowlyThe Staff Replacement Grant covers substitutes only while an employee attends an ECE Workplace Diploma. |
| Yukon | Yes — case by case | Learning and PD Funding Up to $500 per educator toward a credit or non-credit opportunity — webinars, online courses, conferences and in-person training all named. Approved per request. The published figure dates from 2022; confirm current amounts with earlylearning@yukon.ca. |
PartlyA centre-based stream funds PD days and team training. |
| British Columbia | Indirectly | ECE Education Support Fund Covers ECE-credential coursework at Registry-recognised institutions. Workshops aren’t reimbursed to you directly — but BC funds workshop delivery through the ECE Professional Development Bursary Fund, which subsidises sessions run by non-profit agencies. Look for sessions already funded through it. |
Yes — courseworkThe Workforce Bursary stream covers up to $5,000 per semester, stated to include loss of wages and travel. Confirm current terms with ECEBC. |
| Québec | Limited | Parcours travail-études / RAC96 Funds recognition of prior learning and work-study pathways. Standalone workshops generally aren’t covered. |
YesRAC96 reimburses the employer for up to 96 paid hours at the educator’s real hourly rate. |
| Nova Scotia | No — excluded in writing | Continuing Education Program The department states plainly that professional development workshops are not eligible for reimbursement. Credential coursework at eight named institutions only, applied for within 60 days of completing a course. See the Terms and Conditions. |
Yes — for courseworkThe programme has historically paid the facility an hourly substitute allowance for class time, plus a travel allowance. Confirm the current figure — the published terms are the 2025–26 edition. |
| Nunavut | Not verified | ECE Certification Funding We could not confirm this against a primary source. Funding appears to be arranged case by case through your regional Early Childhood Officer, with no published amounts. Contact them directly rather than relying on this row. |
Not verified |
| Ontario | No | ECE Qualifications Upgrade Program ECE diploma coursework at recognized Ontario colleges. No universities, no out-of-province, no completed semesters. |
Not reallyThe Training Allowance is a stipend to the student, not substitute cost reimbursed to the employer. Widely mistaken for release time. |
| New Brunswick | No | ECE Tuition Reimbursement — up to $3,000 For a completed ECE certificate or diploma. If you work in a designated centre, your 10 required annual learning hours are met through free EECD and Professional Learning Hub training instead. Non-designated centres have no annual requirement. |
No |
| Prince Edward Island | No | Early Childhood Education Grant Tuition up to $1,000 per year for courses approved by the ELCC Board. Salary, travel, accommodation and meals are explicitly ineligible. |
No |
| Newfoundland and Labrador |
No | ECE Trainee Bursary — $250 per course Narrower than it sounds: only for staff holding valid Trainee Level certification who are upgrading to Level One. Most certified educators can’t claim it. Confirm eligibility with AECENL before registering. |
No |
| Northwest Territories |
No | ELCC Scholarship Accredited post-secondary ECE study. The GNWT runs its own free workshops rather than funding third-party ones. |
No |
Alberta Workshops: yes
ECE Workforce Supports Program
Saskatchewan Workshops: yes
Professional Development Grant
Manitoba Workshops: yes
Training Grant — $400 per calendar year
Yukon Workshops: yes
British Columbia Indirectly
Québec Limited
Parcours travail-études / RAC96
Nova Scotia Workshops: no
Nunavut Not verified
Ontario Workshops: no
ECE Qualifications Upgrade Program
New Brunswick Workshops: no
ECE Tuition Reimbursement — up to $3,000
Prince Edward Island Workshops: no
Early Childhood Education Grant
Newfoundland and Labrador Workshops: no
ECE Trainee Bursary — $250 per course
Northwest Territories Workshops: no
Four things worth knowing.
Check whether your province has a second programme. Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Yukon all run a professional-development stream alongside their credential-coursework programme. Educators routinely miss it and assume they aren’t covered.
Approved lists are the real gate. Alberta publishes a named, session-level list; Saskatchewan restricts its grant to events supported by the Early Years Branch. In both, a session that isn’t on the list can’t be claimed no matter how good it is — so ask every provider directly.
Release time exists in more places than people expect. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Québec, British Columbia (for coursework), Nova Scotia (for coursework) and Manitoba (Workplace Diploma students) all fund wage replacement or substitute cost in some form. The terms differ sharply. Ontario’s Training Allowance is often mistaken for release time — it’s a stipend to the student.
Where we’re not certain, we say so. Nunavut’s programme could not be verified against a primary source. Yukon’s published amount dates from 2022. Nova Scotia’s terms are the 2025–26 edition, which expired 31 March 2026. Treat those three as starting points for a phone call, not as facts.
Compiled from official government sources in August 2026. Programmes change — confirm with your programme before you register. Spotted something out of date or wrong? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
What to do next
- Ask your network. Someone in your circle has probably attended this facilitator before. A two-minute message saves a wasted day.
- Ask the provider directly for their credentials, their philosophy, and how they evaluate their own sessions. AECEA suggests that if the session covers a curriculum framework, you ask whether the facilitator has completed formal training in it — in Alberta that means MacEwan’s Exploring Early Childhood Curriculum course — check current availability, intake runs in cohorts — or ARCQE’s Possibilities for Practice and Supporting Curriculum Practice series.
- Confirm funding before you pay, using the table above and your provincial program.
- Choose learning that helps you grow as a respected, well-prepared early childhood professional. That’s AECEA’s framing, and it’s the right one.
Ready to check one?
Bring any session to the toolkit — one from our directory, or one you found anywhere else. It takes about two minutes and gives you the questions to send the provider.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from. The four checks and the watch-for list on this page are drawn from the Choosing the Right Professional Development Framework, © Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta, used with their permission. AECEA wrote it for Alberta educators. ELCC & Community Development built the interactive tool and added the curriculum-framework and funding references for the rest of Canada. AECEA is not responsible for this adaptation.
If you work in Alberta, go to the source: read the original framework, download their one-page summary, or become a member. Their site is the place to go for Alberta-specific guidance and membership.
Provincial framework and funding details were compiled from official government sources in August 2026 and fact-checked against primary sources. A few programmes could not be verified and are marked as such in the table. Programmes change — confirm with your provincial programme before you register, and tell us if you spot something wrong.