Affiliated Services for Children and Youth >> Professional Education Outreach and Consultation Services

Professional Education Outreach and Consultation Services

Professional Education outreach sessions are offered
at a minimal cost to cover staff travel, time and handouts. Outreach is always subject to availability of staff. Due to the high demand for Professional Education, we require at least one month’s notice for outreach consultation and presentations. These services are available to those working with children and youth within the early learning and child care community in the city of Hamilton. Outreach or consultation may occur off-site or if available, in one of the meeting rooms at ASCY. If it is not planned or advertised, the professional education is considered to be outreach or consultation.
We recommend joining up with other centres to ensure we maximize the number of participants at any outreach event.

For a current schedule of Library Outreach Services, click here

Opening a Licensed Centre-based Program

ASCY, in collaboration with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and The City of Hamilton conducts regular meetings for potential new operators. This meeting is for those considering opening a licensed child care centre in the city of Hamilton . If you are interested in attending our next session, please contact the Ministry of Children and Youth Services at 905.521.7174

The following is just a sampling of outreach options we deliver. If you have any topics or professional education requirements not listed, we will endeavour to meet your needs ourselves or direct you to the appropriate resource.

ECERS R, ITERS R, SACERS Professional Education
This is a three-part series and a certificate is granted upon completion of all requirements.

ECERS R: Putting the Pieces Together
Professional education have been developed to cover each subscale of the ECERS R, i.e.: space and furnishings, routines, dramatic play, fine motor, diversity, etc.

Child Care Environment Consultation - Third Party
We will come to your location and use the ECERS R, ITERS R or SACERS to do an environment consultation, compile a report and return to discuss the findings with the staff. We will provide a letter to indicate that a third party observation has been conducted by a member of the ASCY team.

Curriculum and Programming Consultation
We are able to consult with your team or an individual staff person around child-centred programming, best practices, programming sheets, observation strategies, as well as areas in the learning centre which include art, music and movement, science, math and number, fine motor, language and literacy, gross motor, carpentry, blocks, sensory, observation and recording, etc.

Supervision Consultation
Consultation is available for new and experienced supervisors. Areas covered include: human resources, set up of new programs, administration issues, staffing, scheduling, team building, communication skills, and time management, etc.

Mentoring Support
ASCY staff, in partnership with community mentors, are available to support new grads, ECEs and supervisors on their mentoring journey. Professional Education includes how to organize and support a mentoring project in your environment. This support can be provided through a network, through the PIP - Partners in Practice professional education below, or on a more individual basis.

Partners in Practice (Mentoring)

PIP Part One
PIP Part Two
Reflective Practice
Ethics
Mentoring Culture in Organizations

Career Pathing
Support for individuals or staff teams who are needing mentoring or support in setting professional goals, changing jobs, visioning, and portfolio development.

Personality Dimensions
Two-or-three-hour sessions are available. Personality Dimensions is an entertaining presentation. This professional education helps us see and use different ways of rewarding and supporting people’s natural behaviours and values. Learn more about yourself and those you work with. (Very similar to True Colors).

Personality Dimensions: Team Building
Personality Dimensions: Career Building
Personality Dimensions: Learning Styles and Strategies
Personality Dimensions: Work Life Balance
Personality Dimensions: Sales, Marketing and Customer Service
Personality Dimensions: Leadership Development

Myers Briggs Type Indicator
This is a two-part professional education session. One hour for part one and up to three hours for part two. Looking at the world from the standpoint of type provides a framework for deeper understanding of oneself and others. Myers and Briggs designed the MBTI to make Carl G. Jung’s theory of psychological types available to the general public. Understanding the MBTI will allow you to understand your type preference and familiarize yourself with the type preference of those you work with. The Myers Briggs reports your preferences on four dichotomies. These four dichotomies indicate your preference for where you like to focus your attention, the way you like to look at things, the way you like to go about deciding things and how you deal with the outer world.

Myers Briggs Team Building
Excellent team building for staff who have taken and are familiar with their Myers Briggs “type”. Staff will lead the group through a variety of team-building activities and exercises.

Interactions
Do your eyes light up? Do you walk the talk? A very personal look at how critical our relationships are with the children, families and colleagues with whom we work. What you say, what you do, how you feel, what you believe and, most importantly, how you respond to the actions of others can make or break your day and the day of a child, a parent or workmate. Walk the Talk!

Emotional Crisis Issues
Many topics are available such as: bullying, sleep time, biting, divorce and separation, sleep time issues, anger. Please also refer to our “Family Teacher Resource Kits” for additional support and topics.

Reaching In Reaching Out (RIRO)
Social skills and reflection workshop for adults working with children. This is a resiliency promotion program for young children.

The Virtues Project
This is a simple step-by-step program that has been used in a wide variety of ways. The materials and programs of the Virtues Project support the development of character and self-esteem. The strategies also help us to remember who we really are and call forth the virtues in the children with whom we work, building their social skills, vocabulary and self-esteem.

Skilled Dialogue
This session helps us to see what we say and how we say it as well as what affects and effects our communication with diverse cultures.

Sleep time Solutions
This session will offer support and strategies for creating a calm, restful, warm sleep environment as well as ideas for non-sleeping children during the rest period.

Playing with Rainbows
This is a play therapy program for children who have experienced war and migration. The program also helps when working with children who have been traumatized by abuse, divorce or other life conflicts.

It’s All in the Presentation
This series helps new or aspiring presenters to develop skills in planning, designing, preparing for and delivering professional education or presentations to a group of adults.

For Goodness Sake (FGS) Support
Is your centre using or does your centre want to begin to use the For Goodness Sake program but is having difficulty either getting started or staying on task? We will brainstorm as a team and get things going for you and the children who need our help to succeed!

Setting the Stage
This series of professional education is a positive and comprehensive approach to helping children learn how to behave successfully. It focuses on how we, as adults, can "set the child up" for success by ensuring that our own behaviour and the environments in which the child lives will be the most likely to prompt successful behaviour. Setting the Stage is available in one, two or three sessions.

Checklist for Quality Inclusive Education
This two-part professional education will familiarize participants with the Checklist. Manuals in binder form are available for purchase and the tool is available free on-line at www.ecrtno website.

Preparing for Inclusion of Children With Special Needs
Inclusion is a process of creating an environment where children with disabilities have the opportunity to learn and interact with their non-disabled peers. We will explore how to be successful at providing the care these children need.

Understanding the Effects of Domestic Violence
The first module of this professional education focuses on understanding why the topic is important to ECEs and on increasing awareness of what domestic violence is and how it impacts children. The second module focuses on understanding the links between what is happening at home and a child’s reaction and efforts to cope in the child care setting. Concrete strategies to support children are presented. The third module focuses on when and how to report to the Children’s Aid Society, Frequently Asked Questions and applying what the participants have learned through case studies.

Diversity
We live in an ever-changing and growing society; how do we plan our programs to meet the life circumstances the children we teach live in on a day-to-day basis? This topic has a variety of professional education opportunities.

Make and Take Workshops (these always have a materials cost attached)
Make and Take workshops provide a wide variety of materials, activity ideas and teaching aids that can be used in various early learning and child care settings to enhance and expand on a topic, theme, and area of interest for young children.

Class-wide Use Of Visual Strategies
Visual Strategies are a valuable tool to augment the communication message we intend to send. Visual Strategies will aid in transitions, routines, games, play, and all communication with toddlers, preschoolers, and children who use English as a Second Language. Discover that you already use many of these techniques and how to make a conscious effort to increase your communication success!

Using Sign as a Communication Tool
This workshop is geared to Early Childhood Educators interested in using sign language with babies and young children in their classroom. This is a class-wide approach and intended to be fun.

Natural Playgrounds in Winter
Natural Playgrounds in Winter as a follow-up to the Natural Playground workshop, will explore natural settings in winter and winter curriculum planning. The workshop includes a winter "photo tour" of playgrounds and activities.

Esso Family Math
Esso Family Math is for those wishing to present the program. There are two levels: the JK to Grade One and the Grade Two to Five. These are taught separately and take five hours each to present. You learn about the program and the different math strands but, more importantly, you discover how much fun math can be and how we can inspire families to learn math and parenting skills at the same time.

Parent Engagement
Communicating with parents, parent newsletters, parent meetings, parent interviews, running parent support groups.

Early Learning Canada (ELC)
Staff are trained to deliver Early Learning Canada. Professional education can be provided as a two-day professional education session for people who would like to run the ELC eight-week parent group. We also have staff trained as Workshop Leaders who can partner with you or present a parent group at your centre on request.

Canadian Child Care Federation Training ( CCCF)
The CCCF have developed three excellent professional education packages to support workshop facilitation. These can be used for professional education, presentations, and parent discussion groups or staff meetings. These innovative kits - including a research paper, a facilitator's guide and presentation tools - are based on current themes in early childhood development.

Each of the series below can be offered in a full-day format or over a series of evenings or lunch hour meetings.

CCCF Quality Environments and Best Practices to Support Physical Activity in the Early Years
CCCF Children’s Health and the Environment
CCCF Children’s Rights
CCCF Leadership

Getting Your Ducks in a Row: Support for Board and/or Agency Development
Support for your board or agency is available on a consultative basis or through an outreach provided off-site or on-site.

Home Child Care Support Contact: contact Joyce Minten ext. 226 or on Mondays and Tuesdays contact Jeanette Day ext. 225

Starting Out in Home Child Care
This workshop is an introductory session for those individuals interested in opening a home child care business. The session provides information on your options, maximum ratios and other considerations such as health and safety, programming, etc.

Making Quality Happen in Family Home Child Care
The focus of this workshop is on maximizing learning environments for children in family home child care. We discuss ways of enhancing learning activities and positive child/teacher interactions using a quality environment checklist tool.

If you have a professional education need that is not offered through planned Professional Education or through the list above, call and discuss it with the Professional Education Team and we will do everything we can to connect you with a speaker or to provide the professional education ourselves.

Please contact a member of the Professional Education Team at ASCY to book an outreach.

905-574-6876
Maria Agro ext. 225
Lisa Bellardini ext. 239
Kim Burns ext. 235
Monica Carruthers ext. 233
Cathy Robb ext. 237
Lois Saunders ext. 231
Liz Soyka ext. 224
Richard Stronach ext. 230

For Bullying Information Contact: Chris Maleta ext. 238