THE EVOLUTION OF STRIVE: A JOURNEY TOWARD INSPIRED LEARNING
The landscape of early childhood education is ever-changing, reflecting shifts in policy, research, and the needs of educators and caregivers. One of the most compelling examples of this evolution is Strive, as we have transformed over the years from including more structured quality assessment frameworks into a dynamic professional learning community while both meeting the needs of the community at the given time.
A Look Back: The Roots of Quality Initiatives (2003-2014)
Strive’s origins can be traced back to 1999 when Members of the Behaviour Panel identified that children’s behaviour is affected by the quality of the environment they're in, and by the care they receive. This led to the creation of London’s Quality Child Care Project (QCCP) in 2003, managed by Merrymount Children’s Centre.
Throughout the early years, QCCP focused on key areas including mentoring, environments, assessment tools, quality standards and indicators, and professional development. Over time, the initiative evolved to reflect changes in policy and emerging community needs. Key milestones included:
2004 - Official launch of Raising the Bar on Quality in London and area
2010 – Child care oversight transferred to the Ministry of Education (MEDU).
2013 – Renamed the Quality Child Care Coordinating Committee (QCCCC) to align with new early childhood education policies.
2014 – Introduction of the "How Does Learning Happen?" framework, emphasizing pedagogy over measurement.
By 2017, the initiative rebranded to what we are today, Strive, marking a significant shift from a standards-based approach to a more reflective and growth-oriented model.
A Shift in Philosophy
QCCCC Strategic Plan (2016-2018): Defining Quality
The QCCCC aimed to enhance child care through professional learning, defined quality indicators, and collaborative inquiry. Its approach worked to define these quality indicators based on pedagogical practice and developing a corresponding assessment framework, while recognizing that no two programs are the same, and that we are all in different places in our journey.
Professional Learning – Creating meaningful educational opportunities.
Quality Standards & Indicators – Defining benchmarks for best practices.
Innovative Collaboration – Encouraging knowledge-sharing among practitioners.
Human Resources - An intentionally designed organizational structure.
Communication - Raise awareness and the profile of QCCCC.
Financial Sustainability - Obtain necessary resources to ensure growth and vitality.
Throughout this strategic plan, creating a strong foundation was essential. Accessibility was always of the utmost importance and professional learning opportunities encouraged reflection and inquiry. However, this reflection and inquiry may have looked very different than it does today as we continue to reflect on how we view “quality”.
Click HERE to view the full strategic plan.
Strive Strategic Plan (2020 - 2023): Leading Inspired Learning
After the rebrand to Strive, our first strategic plan’s mission was to enhance quality practices and build professional capacity in the sector through reflective learning and collaboration. Key strategic directions included:
Be Leaders - Strengthen organizational capacity, pursue new funding, raise brand awareness, and advocate for the sector.
Support Professionals - Provide diverse learning opportunities, resources, and reflective practices to help professionals grow.
Engage Partners - Foster strong partnerships to drive innovation and a connected, effective sector.
The plan emphasized leadership, professional development, and collaboration to achieve long-term sustainability and high-quality care. At this time, we had doubled the amount of professional learning offerings from previous years.
Click HERE to view the full strategic plan.
Strive’s Current Strategic Plan (2024-2026): Leading Inspired Learning
The latest Strive plan moves toward an engaged and empowered early years community. Instead of emphasizing quality measurement, Strive has more heavily focused on reflection and inquiry, and fosters a culture of mentorship, leadership, and continuous learning. Working with those who began this journey, our committees, and the community, we shifted away from those checklist type assessment tools from recognizing that “quality” doesn’t necessarily look the same for every centre, child, family, and educator.
Key shifts in our newest strategic plan include focusing on:
Capacity Building – Developing educators’ skills in an organic and sustainable way.
Advancing Mentorship – Encouraging peer-led learning and professional guidance.
Strengthening Leadership – Cultivating strong, reflective leaders in the sector.
Our community has shifted interest to a process that values reflection and sustainable evolution rather than a prescribed method to measure.
Click HERE to view the full strategic plan.
Our Committees
Since the start of QCCP the work has been driven by its engaging committees. The Advisory Committee as we know it today used to be called The Quality Child Care Project Coordinating Committee and then the Executive Committee. The Professional Learning Committee was originally the Professional Development Coordinating Committee (PDCC). There were also additional committees including the Mentoring Committee and the Environmental Assessment Tools Committee. Although the names have evolved, the committee's goals have always been to guide our work through the vital voice of community members and partners and therefore support a thriving early years community.
Advisory
Members of the Advisory Committee represent the diversity and complexity of the Child Care and Early Years sector. Strive leverages administrative support from a backbone organization; Childreach, and takes all organizational initiatives to the membership for endorsement.
Interestingly, we found some notes from a “Quality Initiative Meeting” from March 4, 2015. The members lists at the time were:
Katie Stortz
Sheryl Third
Anne-Marie Coughlin
Jeff Haveman
Sheri Spriggs
Lori Wilson
Holly Gerits
Kelly Walker
Barbara Jackson
Cyndi Frizelle
Professional Learning
This committee influences, supports and promotes accessible professional learning opportunities within the early childhood community in London and surrounding counties. Goals are to influence the early learning community to provide learning opportunities that align with evidence-based practice, support our community to participate in learning opportunities that contribute to individual goals and the advancement of our profession, and promote a professional learning culture that upholds a high image of children, families and educators.
Long standing organizations that have sat on our committees throughout the years include London Bridge, London Children’s Connection, Whitehills Childcare Association, YMCA, Fanshawe College, St Thomas-Elgin Children’s Services, Thames Valley District School Board, All Kids Belong, and Parkwood Children’s Centre.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Professional Growth in Early Years Education
Strive’s evolution showcases a broader trend in early childhood education and care: moving away from rigid quality measurement toward a more dynamic, reflective, and community-driven approach.
As we look ahead, Strive continues to advocate for an engaged and empowered early years sector—one where learning is inspired, leadership is cultivated, and collaboration is at the heart of everything we do.
We would not be where we are today without the amazing work of all those involved with the QCCP and QCCCC history and are so excited to continue to grow alongside you, the community and professionals we serve!
