Now available! Professional Advisory: Practices that harm children As a Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE), your first responsibility is always the children, prioritizing their well-being, safety and care. While working with children can bring emotional, stressful and challenging moments, RECEs have ethical and professional responsibilities to support positive and caring interactions with children in their care at all times. Each year, approximately one-third of the concerns received by the College involve inappropriate guidance of children, which can lead to damaging and long-term effects on a child’s sense of safety, belonging and overall well-being. To help address this, the College published the Professional Advisory: Practices that harm children. The purpose of the professional advisory is to clearly communicate about practices that harm children in early learning environments and which violate: – the Professional Misconduct Regulation under the Early Childhood Educators Act; – Section 48 of Ontario Regulation 137/15 (General) of the Child Care and Early Years Act; and – the College’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. The College advises you to review this professional advisory, which: – outlines legislation that identifies actions and behaviours by RECEs that are not allowed when interacting with children; – describes harmful behaviours and provides examples of what they look like in practice; – and explains the consequences of an RECE’s conduct that is harmful to children or puts them at risk of harm. How you can use this resource: – Explore the content at your own pace along with other College resources (e.g., Practice Guideline: Supporting Positive Interactions with Children); – Engage in collaborative inquiry and reflection; – Use it to support conversations with staff and families, onboarding processes, communities of practice or team meetings; – Incorporate it into policy review and development; – Consider the topic for your next CPL Portfolio goal and related learning activities; and Download and/or print the tables of practices that harm children for quick access, posting on bulletin boards or a space for notes/reflections. The College is also developing an accompanying reflection guide that will include scenarios, reflection questions and practice guidance to be considered alongside your own ideas and reflections about practices that harm children. Stay tuned for publication in early 2026. For questions or more information, please contact the Professional Practice department at practice@college-ece.ca. Email Us | Visit Us Online | 1 888 961-8558 Copyright © 2025 All rights Reserved. |
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