Thriving Workplaces for Early Childhood Educators

You have been invited to participate in a research study. Before you agree to take part, please read the following to help you understand what is involved.

Who is conducting this study?

Wellesley Institute is a research and policy institute that works to improve health and health equity in Toronto. The researchers at Wellesley Institute conducting this study are Anoushka Chandarana, Dr. Christine Sheppard, Dr. Brenda Roche and Jesse Rosenberg. This research has been funded by the Metcalf Foundation.

What is this survey about?

This survey is part of a research project to understand how Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) experience their workplaces across the City of Toronto. Your input will help us identify ways to better support workers like you.

We are also conducting a parallel study on Personal Support Workers (PSWs) in the City of Toronto.

Who can participate in this survey?

We are inviting up to 250 licensed Early Childhood Educators to complete the survey. To participate, you must be:

1) Registered with the College of Early Childhood Educators;

2) Currently employed at a licensed childhood care setting (either facility-based or home-based);

3) Have at least 6 months of work experience as an ECE; and

4) Be employed within the City of Toronto (i.e., East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Toronto, York)

What will I do as a participant?

This 14-question survey includes questions on the nature of ECE jobs. You will also be asked some questions for us to better understand who completed the survey and to describe the experiences of different groups working as Early Childhood Educators. You can also provide us with your email address, only if you want to:

1) Receive a $10 incentive
2) Participate in a follow-up focus group.

How long will the survey take?

The online survey will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. You are encouraged to complete the survey from a private location.

Will I be paid?

You will receive a $10 incentive for completing the survey. The incentive will be distributed as an e-gift card through Everythingcard.ca within one week of the survey closing. You must provide your email address at the end of the survey and click “done” to submit your responses and receive the e-gift card.

How will my data be used?

Data will be analyzed in aggregate form, described only as a summary of all results, so that the information you provide cannot be connected back to you. The findings from this research will be presented in a final report that will be posted publicly on Wellesley Institute’s website. Findings may also be shared in an academic journal, through social media or at relevant conferences or workshops.

The research team will take all necessary steps to safeguard your identity and ensure any personal information you share with us cannot be used to identify you. If you would like to participate in the focus group, we will temporarily link your email addresses to your responses to the participant socio-demographics and workplace characteristics sections of the survey. This will help us select a diverse pool of focus group participants with different work profiles. To protect your privacy, this dataset will be anonymized once the focus groups are complete.

How will my data be stored?

Survey responses will be exported from SurveyMonkey, and will be saved on Wellesley Institute’s private, encrypted cloud-based SharePoint server, available only to members of the research team. The responses will then be permanently deleted from SurveyMonkey.

Your contact information (e.g., email) will be stored in a password protected folder on Wellesley Institute’s private, encrypted, cloud-based SharePoint server, separate from all other project documents and data. It will not be linked to the study data for analysis, and will be deleted once incentives have been distributed, and focus groups have been completed. The data will only be accessible to members of the research team.

All study data will be completely anonymized, which means that all identifiable information (e.g. email addresses) will be deleted before survey analysis, and there will be no way to identify your individual survey response.

How long will my data be stored for?

Identifiable survey data (email addresses) will be permanently deleted once incentives have been sent out and focus groups have been completed. All other study data will be stored securely for up to 5 years. The approximate date that the data will be destroyed is December 2031.

Is my participation voluntary?

Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary. You can exit or close the survey at any time, and your responses will not be collected. For survey responses to be collected, you must go to the end of the survey and click the “done” button. You may withdraw your survey responses after you have submitted them by December 12th, 2025, which is one week after survey closure. After this date, email addresses will be deleted, and we will not be able to determine which responses are yours. You can do so by contacting the research team at Anoushka.Chandarana@wellesleyinstitute.com.

Withdrawing will not impact your incentives, or your relationship with Wellesley Institute or Toronto Metropolitan University, now or in the future. You are entitled to the full incentive amount if you withdraw from the study by December 12th, 2025.

Your choice to complete the survey will not affect your employment.

Will this study help me or others?

Completing the survey will not help you directly. The researchers will use the findings to make recommendations to governments and policymakers that help build healthy workplaces for workers like you.

What are the risks associated with this study?

There are few risks to completing the survey. You may feel uncomfortable with some questions during the survey, or you may worry that your responses may impact your professional reputation or the reputation of your organization. You will not be asked to share the identity of your organization on the survey, and you are encouraged to only share information that you feel comfortable sharing. You have the right to skip any question you do not want to answer or end your participation at any point in time.

You may worry that your identity will be revealed. You will be asked to provide your sociodemographic information and email addresses. You can skip these questions or end your participation at any time. Once we have completed data collection, all your responses will be anonymized, and any identifiable information will be permanently deleted.

If you are experiencing distress and/or require extra support, these free resources may be helpful for you:

Gerstein Crisis Line
416-929-5200 (available 24/7)
https://gersteincentre.org

Distress Centres of Greater Toronto
416-408-4357 (available 24/7)
https://www.dcogt.com/408-helpline/

211 Ontario Services
Call 211 (available 24/7)
Text 211 (available Monday to Friday, 9AM – 7PM
Chat option: https://211ontario.ca/chat
https://211ontario.ca

Has this study received ethics approval?

This study has been reviewed and approved by the Toronto Metropolitan University Research Ethics Board (REB # 2025-292). If you have concerns or questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the Toronto Metropolitan Research Ethics Board at rebchair@utorontomu.ca or 416-979-5000.

Who can I contact if I have questions?

If you have questions about the study, please feel free to contact:

Anoushka Chandarana (she/her), Researcher & Principal Investigator - Anoushka.Chandarana@WellesleyInstitute.com or 416-972-1010 x 258

Christine Sheppard (she/her), Researcher - Christine.Sheppard@WellesleyInstitute.com or 416-972-1010 x 258

Brenda Roche (she/her), Director of Research - Brenda.Roche@WellesleyInstitute.com or 416-972-1010 x 257

Jesse Rosenberg (he/him), Director of Policy – Jesse.Rosenberg@WellesleyInstitute.com or 416-972-1010 x 223

Access to our final report:

We will post our research report presenting main findings of this research on Wellesley Institute’s website. You can visit our website to access the report in the future. We may also organize a webinar to share our findings back with our research participants that you are welcome to attend. Details will be available on our website by Fall 2026. Please visit www.wellesleyinstitute.com.

Informed Consent

You may save or print a PDF copy of this consent form for future reference.