Now is the time for the government of British Columbia to amend the Community Care and Assisted Living Act and the Child Care Licensing Regulations to include a category of care that licences child care programs operating full-time outdoors without a premise/building. Already a leader in early childhood outdoor education, British Columbia has an opportunity to be a national frontrunner in this popular and rapidly growing movement. The fact that the playing field is still inequitable. The gaps are unacceptable and create barriers for children across all populations to have access to licensed, regulated care. When we advance the categories of care to include outdoor childcare without a premise and/or building, then the commitment that “all children can receive care in licensed programs” will be a lived reality impacting our communities and province.
Enid Elliot, PhD: I am an early childhood educator who has been continually surprised, intrigued and delighted by the babies, children, families and early childhood educators with whom I have worked, played and journeyed. I am currently on faculty at Camosun College and am an adjunct professor at University of Victoria. My current questions concern the pedagogies that emerge as educators and children explore/engage deeply with all the layers of the natural/material landscape found outside school walls, as well as learning from Indigenous worldviews and narratives that honour our connections with the natural world