Creating and Sustaining Communities of Practice

This session combines two presentations on Communities of Practice. The first shares the results of research conducted at the University of Alberta, while the second dives into how you can create and sustain a Community for Practice for early learning and childcare educators. Each 20-minute presentation is followed by a 10-minute Q&A opportunity.

Part 1: Growing Stronger Together - A Case Study on Communities of Practice with Canadian Family Childcare Educators

Family childcare programs care for a significant amount of young Canadian children, yet research and support in the early learning and childcare field largely focuses on centre-based programs. As a result, little is known about the unique needs of family childcare educators or how to best support their professional development. This case study explores how a facilitated community of practice (CoP) can offer targeted support for the family childcare field. Topics of interest included microsystem and macrosystem components, from…