In the fall of 2025, the Ontario Mentorship Collaborative for Early Years Professionals (OMC), a group dedicated to supporting mentorship initiatives across the sector, organized its first hybrid symposium. Establishing a platform for professionals and communities to engage in knowledge sharing and discussions, the symposium examined the significance of mentorship, addressed its importance at every career stage and promoted growth within the profession.
We spoke with Barb Brown RECE, Executive Director of Connections Early Years Family Centre and OMC Past Chair, and Alicia Graovac RECE, Mentorship Program Coordinator, Connections Early Years Family Centre and OMC Representative, about the formation and vision of the OMC and the success of the Visions and Voices on Mentoring in Early Childhood Education and Care Symposium.
Why is mentorship important in Early Childhood Education?
Alicia: Mentorship provides opportunities for purposeful reflection and for challenging and extending one’s own experience, thoughts and ideas. It aligns with our pedagogy: when done correctly, mentorship provides relationship-based, scaffolded learning that is centred in belonging, engagement, expression and wellbeing. It’s a responsive and engaging way of approaching professional learning and mirrors the relational nature of early childhood education and care (ECEC).
Mentorship goes beyond knowledge transfer. It sets the stage for meaningful learning and builds community, ensuring educators feel authentically seen and heard.
What is the Ontario Mentorship Collaborative (OMC)?
Barb: The Ontario Mentorship Collaborative is a group of ECEC professionals from service system managers, professional resource centres, post-secondary institutions and individual programs, each with their own proven track record of delivering positive initiatives to the early years. The OMC believes that mentorship is essential and our focus is on how mentorship can support the growth and knowledge of early years professionals at every stage of their careers. Our intent is to foster professional growth, enhance quality, facilitate the successful induction of new educators, and improve staff retention. We share best practices, resources, and research to advance mentoring initiatives in ECEC across the province.
Why was the OMC formed?
Barb: The OMC began as a grassroots discussion/sharing group, starting as people in two regions (Windsor and York) who were piloting mentorship initiatives in their communities, discussing approaches and observations, recognizing the impact their programs were having on individual RECEs and their local workforces. Over time, we became aware of other communities across Ontario considering or starting mentoring initiatives and we extended invitations to join the conversation, becoming, essentially, a community of practice. When discussions began around hosting a symposium, we felt it was time to formalize ourselves and created the Ontario Mentorship Collaborative for Early Years Professionals.
What was the vision for doing the Symposium?
Barb: The goals of the symposium were to explore the role of mentorship in the ECE profession, facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas among professionals and across communities and explore current research on mentoring and how that can inform ECE professional practice. The goal was not to define mentorship or direct what it must look like in practice, but to inspire new ways of viewing mentorship and to gain recognition for mentorship as a viable workforce strategy to address quality and retention.
What topics were covered in the Symposium?
Alicia: Some of the topics included:
- Emergent themes in mentoring in Ontario;
- The relational nature of mentorship;
- How mentorship can support a sustainable workforce, and the frameworks needed to support it;
- Hearing personal stories on the impacts of mentorship across the seasons of the profession; and
- How community partnerships can support mentoring initiatives.
Who attended the Symposium? What feedback or response did you receive from those who attended?
Alicia: The symposium was attended by 360 people (240 in person and 120 virtually), including service system managers, centre-based and home child care supervisors and directors, postsecondary educators, policy experts, and RECEs in various sector positions. Based on survey feedback collected after the symposium, participants strongly indicated that the information they gathered would be useful within the scope of their professional practice, and that they gained new perspectives on mentorship and the positive impact of mentoring relationships on professional practice.
Is there a plan or vision for more symposiums in the future?
Barb: Post-event feedback indicated strong support for a future symposium. The OMC is building on the momentum created by the symposium and other initiatives it has undertaken, and we anticipate another symposium in 2027 to continue the conversation with hopes to also explore some of the themes that we did not get a chance to touch on yet.
Are there resources available online from the Symposium or information that RECEs may use for further information on mentorship?
Alicia: The OMC is building its online presence and hoping to be able to have resources available once launched. One resource available is the Rethinking Mentorship in Early Childhood Education and Care: Diverse Perspectives for Transforming Practice and Policy edited by Barbara Pytka and Terry Kelly, professors in ECEC at Seneca Polytechnic, which contains contributions from some members of the OMC and symposium presenters. The book mirrors the Symposium’s goal of sparking inspiration and new thinking on mentorship. If anyone is interested in hearing from some of the authors of the book, the OMC is hosting a Virtual Author Speaker Series on Thursday, May 14, 2026 from 7 to 9 p.m. To register, click here.
If anyone is interested in participating in the Ontario Mentorship Collaborative, they can e-mail omc@connectwithus.ca.
Biographies
Barb Brown RECE is the Executive Director of Connections Early Years Family Centre and responsible for the Windsor-Essex Registered Early Childhood Educator (WERECE) mentorship program and mentorship hub for the Windsor-Essex Service System Manager. Barb is also a former College Council member and past Chair of the Standards of Practice Committee.
Alicia Graovac RECE from Windsor, Ontario, has a strong commitment to serving children and families through EarlyON initiatives. She currently works as the Mentorship Program Coordinator at Connections Early Years Family Centre and is a part-time instructor in the Early Childhood Education program at St. Clair College. Her passion for community engagement and professional development in early childhood education drives her work.
Additional resources
- Mentorship for Black early learning professionals: Creating spaces for guidance and growth
- Success and growth through mentorship of Black early learning professionals
- Consultation on Mentorship Programs Summary – 2025