What can the CQI do for you?

Quality Consultations and Capacity Building initiatives make up a large part of our communities opportunities for professional learning and leadership growth. It is our hope that by sharing and explaining some of these opportunities, you will be more equipped with the necessary resources required to achieve your Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) goals as well as your agency`s around quality programsgoals. The following are some examples of how your Program Quality Coordinator can support you within the CQI Model.

The CQI

Since the implementation of the CQI in 2016, your Program Quality Coordinators have been engaged within your agency to support you and your programs with your ongoing professional goals around quality. Consultation referrals are sent to the coordinator who then facilitates the consultation using a coaching/mentoring model. The role of the Quality Coordinators is to facilitate a menu of consultative services as required and requested. This menu includes:

A) Pedagogical Leader/Supervisor Consultations

These consultations are used as an initial consult to develop quality improvement strategies related to the agency goals or create an action plan related to a specific referral. The Quality Coordinator provides opportunity for reflection and acts as a critical friend or coach. During these consultations, the small group will review goals and discuss logistics and rationale to identify priorities to be addressed, describe areas of consultation and services available to support and enhance programming.

B) Staff/Program Consultations/Mentoring

These consults will support the educator or program in reflecting around their interests and goals. The number of consults required will vary depending on the referral. The Pedagogical Leadercan be present but it is not necessary to the consultation being completed. Examples of this are:

  • Educators wanting to reflect on their environment, their program plans, engaging children and families, documentation, child guidance strategies, HDLH?, self-regulation or anything aligned to their curriculum or CPL.
  • Program staff requesting joint consultations on their program goals for example; room set-up, outdoor play, HDLH?

C) Program Quality Training/Consultations

These consultations support agencies with additional training related to identifiedinterests or goals. This additional training is provided to a group of staff members and covers a specific topic. Whenever possible, thePedagogical Leaderparticipates in this training as a co-facilitator. Examples of this are:

  • Reflections during monthly staff meetings on topics of interest such as Emergent Curriculum, HDLH?, Documentation
  • Lunch and Learns or mini staff reflections during sleep time on topics of your choice for example; Image of the Child

D) Serious Occurrence (SO) Consultations

As trends are identified, on-site consultations and feedback sessions are available to support reflections. This consultation may result in a referral for additional services.

E) Transfer to Practice Consultations

These consultations are used to facilitate the positive transfer of new or prior learning into practice. Any professional learning can result in this type of referral.

A constant focus of these consultations will be to embed the early learning pedagogy, Principles of the ELF and CECE Standards of Practice in all areas of a program.

Our Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice state that:

“RECE’s are reflective and intentional professionals who engage in continuous professional learning. They collaborate with others to ensure high quality early childhood education and regardless of position or title are leaders.”(p. 14)

It is our goal to reach all educators at some point either through consultations or professional learning opportunities to support them in their personal and professional learning goals. Below you will find a list of examples and topics for discussion. These ideas can be shared using a “Communities of Practice” model within your program sites or your agency as a whole. They can also be provided as series workshops, book studies or topics of reflections within smaller more intimate settings during planned consultations, lunch and learns or during sleep time. This list is not exhaustive therefore we welcome any and all ideas you may have.

Topics / Content
Book Studies / See list of books available for loan under
Circle Time / Morning Meetings / The why’s and how’s
College of ECE / Continuous Professional Learning Portfolio (CPL)
College of ECE / Standards of Practice, Practice Guidelines, Case Studies, Exploring Interprofessional Collaboration and Ethical Leadership
Cycle of Inquiry / A study of inquiry based learning through play. Discussions around how ways to follow through on our observations and document our reflections.
Dispositions / How they influence our work
Documenting, Documentation, Pedagogical Documentation / An introduction to the basics of documentation. Reflections around its’ use and hands on opportunities to practice
ELECT / Reflections around the six principles, what they mean and how HDLH? helps us think about how the principles work together.
ELECT / A study of the Continuum of Development and how we can incorporate it into our program plans and goals for children and families. The Why? What? and How?
Emergent Curriculum / What does it mean and look like in our programs?
Engaging Families / Building relationships and connections between educators, the programs and the families. Discussions around how to maximize the potential forfamiliesto positively support their children'searlysocial, emotional and intellectual development through inclusive practices.
Environments / Setting up your environment with and for the children
How Does Learning Happen? / What’s it all about? How do the four foundations influence our practice?
How Does Learning Happen? / We would reflect on one foundation at a time.
Image of the Child / Reflections around our personal values and beliefs to create our unique images of the child.
Infant Development - Stimulation / Discussions around brain development, synapses and early stimulation of the senses and the long term effects.
Image of the Educator / Reflections around past experiences that influence our behavior and on the importance of collaboration.
Image of the Family / Reflections on our beliefs of the role of the family in our programs
Inquiry Based Learning / How open-ended questions can support learning
Invitations vs Provocations / Discussions and examples shared
Leadership / What does that mean for me? Reflections around our roles and professional practice.
Loose Parts / Reflections on the benefits of incorporating Loose Parts and examples of how to do this.
Literacy and Numeracy / The beginning ofliteracy and numeracydevelopment is embedded in the everyday communications, actions, thoughts and drawings of babies, toddlers and young children. Reflections around this topic as well as ideas on how to promote emergent literacy and numeracy activities and experiences within your program.
Mirror, Mirror / Is your program a reflection of you? Reflections around making values visible.
Outdoor Play / Curriculum planning for outdoors
Physical Literacy / Discussions around how to incorporate play-based activities into your programs that will promote physical literacy and the practice of fundamental movement skills.
Play / Defining types of play, how and what children learn through play, it’s importance, etc.
Quality / Group discussions on what quality means and looks like
Schemas in Play / A study of schematic play and how children’s repetitive actions allow them to construct meaning in what they are doing.
Reflecting in Communities of Practice / This could be a book study or a shorter reflection on ways of engaging educators in meaningful dialogue
STEM / Incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics into play-based programs
Self-regulation / Adults are helping children to build the necessary skills that are critical toregulatethinking and behavior. Discussions around the meaning and importance of self-regulation in the early years.
Think, Feel, Act / An introduction to the six research briefs developed for Early Childhood Educators
Think, Feel, Act / We would reflect on one brief at a time

Be sure to sign up on LMS (you will need to obtain the enrollment key from your supervisor) and on the Sudbury Families Professional website: to access up-to-date resources and professional learning opportunities.

“The most valuable resource that all educators have is each other. Without collaboration

our growth is limited to our own perspectives.” Robert John Meehan