NCCIH

ELCC training programs for educators working in Inuit communities

July 2025

High quality, culturally relevant early learning and child care (ELCC) programming is an important tool for addressing Indigenous health inequalities. Key aspects of quality ELCC programming include participation in traditional activities, language revitalization, family participation in programs, and family and community involvement in program planning and governance. Indigenous children and families face numerous barriers to high quality, culturally rooted ELCC programming, including challenges around training and attracting qualified early childhood educators with the knowledge and skills needed to create culturally safe and relevant early learning environments for Inuit children and families.

This fact sheet presents findings from an environmental scan of post-secondary ELCC training programs and curricula in Canada that focused on training early childhood educators to work with Inuit children, families, and communities. Specifically, it discusses the characteristics of ELCC training programs, including the mode of course delivery; type of training program; inclusion of Inuit knowledges, perspectives, worldviews, and approaches in curriculum; and requirements to complete practicums in an Inuit ELCC setting. The results of this study were intended to complement an earlier environmental scan conducted by the NCCIH, which explored of post-secondary ELCC training programs for ELCC educators working in First Nations communities across Canada.

View or download the fact sheet (PDF)