Run the learning day for kids under 6. Two years of college, a licence in most provinces, and pay that is finally climbing.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$46,000
Starting
$35,000
Supervisor or director
$62,000
Job Bank's national median is $22.30 an hour, about $46,000 a year full time. Non-profit and school-board centres pay more than small private ones. This is honest work that has been underpaid for decades, and the gap between the low end and the high end is small.
$17 to $19 an hour
About $35,000 to $40,000 a year full time
Several provinces now set a wage floor and pay a top-up on top of what your centre pays, as part of the federal and provincial child care agreements. Ask any employer whether the top-up is already inside the rate they quote you.
$55,000 to $62,000
Supervisor or centre director, after several years
The other route up is a school board. Board-run child care and before-and-after-school programs usually pay better than private centres and add a pension.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Both ends are a two year college diploma, because that is what the provincial regulator asks for. The low end is cheaper tuition, a police record check for working with children, and the first registration fee. The high end is higher tuition plus books and placement costs and a higher registration fee. Some provinces and employers will pay your tuition if you agree to work for them afterwards, which can bring the real cost close to nothing.
Total debt is usually under $15,000, one of the cheapest routes into a licensed profession. Some provinces and employers will pay your tuition if you agree to work for them afterwards.
Pension in the public sector
School-board and municipal centres usually offer one. Small private centres usually do not.
Paid professional development days
Free or discounted child care for your own kids
A common perk at centres.
Hours that match a school day
Split shifts exist, but most centres close by 6pm and nobody works nights.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A two-year college diploma, then registration. You can be working in under three years.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 English is the main requirement. Work with young kids now: camps, babysitting, a community centre.
Early childhood education diploma
2 years
A 2-year college diploma with supervised placements in real child care rooms. Offered at almost every public college in Canada.
Register with your province
A few weeks
In Ontario you join the College of Early Childhood Educators. Other provinces issue a certificate or a level through a government branch.
First job
Weeks
Centres hire fast. Many students get an offer from their placement site before they graduate.
Move up
3 to 8 years
Room lead, then supervisor or centre director. Some go on to a degree and become a teacher.
English
You will write daily observations, learning stories and notes to parents.
Family studies or parenting courses
Direct preparation, and they count for admission.
Biology or health
Child development, nutrition and first aid all build on it.
French
French-language centres are short of staff everywhere in Canada.
Ontario has a full regulatory college, so only a registered early childhood educator may use the title and count toward the staffing ratio in a licensed centre. Most other provinces certify you through a government branch instead, often in levels: Alberta uses Levels 1, 2 and 3, and BC issues an early childhood educator certificate. Assistants can work in a room without the credential, but for less money and with less say. Certification does not transfer automatically between provinces, so expect paperwork if you move.
Almost every public college runs the program. A few examples:
Ontario
Sheridan, George Brown, Humber, Seneca, Algonquin, Confederation.
Western Canada
Red River College Polytechnic, Bow Valley College, Douglas College, Langara College.
Atlantic Canada
Nova Scotia Community College, Holland College, College of the North Atlantic.
Degree option
Some universities offer a 4-year early childhood degree, which helps if you later want to teach or run a program.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Special needs resource qualification
A short college certificate. Resource consultant jobs pay above the typical rate and are in demand.
Infant and toddler specialty
Required in BC to work with children under 3, and useful anywhere.
Montessori or Reggio Emilia training
Opens jobs at private schools and specialty centres, which sometimes pay more.
French-language certification
French centres and school boards hire quickly across the country.
First aid and infant CPR
Required by most centres. Take it before you apply.
Experience with kids before college
Camps, coaching, babysitting. It makes placements much easier.
Driver's licence
Home visiting and resource consultant roles need one.
In every province you can run a licensed or licence-exempt home child care business. You set the fees and the hours, and you keep what is left after expenses. The trade-offs are real: your house is your workplace, sick days cost you money, and licensed home care comes with inspections, ratio limits and record keeping. Many educators do this after a few years in a centre, once they know the job and have families who would follow them.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Open the room before the first drop-off. Greet families, then free play, snack, an outdoor block whatever the weather, lunch, nap, and the same again in the afternoon. Between all of it you are watching, writing down what kids do and turning it into next week's activities. Diapers, spills and conflict are part of the day. It ends when the last parent arrives, and you have real conversations with families every single day.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Quebec launched heavily subsidized child care in 1997, starting at $5 a day. It became the model the rest of the country argued about for 25 years before the national child care agreements were signed.
Ontario full-day kindergarten rooms are run by a certified teacher and a registered early childhood educator working as a team. It is one of the few places in Canada where the two professions share a classroom by law.
The large majority of early childhood educators in Canada are women. Recruiting men into the field has been a stated goal of the sector for decades with very little movement.
New child care spaces are being funded faster than trained educators can be hired to staff them. Centres across Canada have rooms sitting closed because they cannot find qualified staff.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.