What is the staff to child ratio for infants in British Columbia?

In Group Child Care (Under 36 Months), one infant and toddler educator may care for up to 4 children. From 5 to 8 children the group needs that infant and toddler educator plus one other educator. From 9 to 12 it needs the infant and toddler educator, another educator and an assistant. The maximum group size is 12, with a separate designated area for each group.

How many toddlers can one educator look after in a BC daycare?

In Group Child Care for 30 months to school age, one educator may supervise up to 8 children on their own. Above 8 the regulation requires an assistant as well, and above 16 a second assistant. In Multi-Age Child Care one educator may supervise a group of up to 8 children of mixed ages, of whom no more than 3 may be under 36 months.

What is the largest group a licensed daycare in BC can have?

Thirty, in Group Child Care (School Age) when no preschool child or child in grade 1 is present. For younger children the ceilings are lower: 25 in Group Child Care for 30 months to school age, 20 in Preschool, 12 in Group Child Care under 36 months, and 8 in Multi-Age Child Care.

Does the ratio count all the adults in the room?

No. Schedule E counts people in specific legal roles, and the wording matters. A band reading "one educator and one assistant" is met by a certified early childhood educator working with a certified early childhood educator assistant. A parent volunteer, a student on placement or an administrator does not count toward the ratio unless they hold the required certificate for the role being filled.

Do the licensee's own children count in the group size?

Usually yes. Under Schedule E, if a child is related to the licensee by blood or marriage and is a member of the group, that child counts within the group size. The exception is Family Child Care and In-Home Multi-Age Child Care, where the group size does not include a person aged 12 or over who is related to the licensee.

Can a centre exceed the ratio for short periods, like pick-up time?

The regulation does not provide a grace period. The required ratio of employees to children applies to each group, and the maximum group size is a limit on the number of children in a group rather than an average across the day. Staffing changes at drop-off and pick-up are a reasonable thing to ask about on a tour, because that is when a room is most likely to be stretched.

How many children can one person care for in Family Child Care?

Seven, and the licensee provides that care personally in their own home. The composition limits change with the ages present. If any child under 12 months is in the group, no more than 3 children may be under 48 months and only one of those may be under 12 months. If no child under 12 months is present, up to 4 may be under 48 months, of whom at most 2 may be under 24 months.

Is a lower ratio always better for a child?

A lower ratio means each adult is responsible for fewer children, which generally means more individual attention and faster response. It does not by itself measure warmth, skill or consistency. An experienced educator who has been with the same group for two years may serve a child better than a higher-ratio room with staff who change every few months. Use the ratio as a floor, then ask about turnover.

What happens if a centre is short-staffed one day?

It must still meet the ratio, which in practice means reducing the number of children present, combining groups where the licence permits, or calling in relief staff. How a centre handles this is one of the most revealing questions a parent can ask, because the answer shows whether the ratio is a planning assumption or something the centre scrambles to meet.

Where can I read the ratio rules myself?

Schedule E of the Child Care Licensing Regulation, B.C. Reg. 332/2007, published on the BC Laws site. Section 1 of that schedule contains the full table, with Column 1 naming the care program, Column 2 giving the maximum group size, Column 3 the number of children per group, and Column 4 the required ratio of employees to children.

Part 3 of 8

Staff-to-child ratios and group sizes in BC, in full

Q: What is the ratio in Multi-Age Child Care?

One educator for a group of up to 8 children. The composition is capped as well as the count: no more than 3 children may be younger than 36 months, and if any child under 12 months is present, only one child may be that young. The same limits apply to In-Home Multi-Age Child Care, where the licensee must personally hold an early childhood educator certificate.

Q: Does the ratio change when children are outside or on a walk?

The employee to children ratio in Schedule E applies to the group, not to a location, so it holds during outdoor play. Transport adds a separate rule: if more than 7 children travel in a single vehicle, at least one responsible adult besides the driver must be in the vehicle, and the driver must be 19 or older with the appropriate licence.

Schedule E of the Child Care Licensing Regulation sets the largest group permitted and the staff required at each group size, for every licensed care program in British Columbia. Here is the whole table and what it means on a tour.

By Tracy, Owner and Principal

Low tables and small chairs set out in the learning room

If you only check one thing about a licensed centre, check this.

Schedule E of the Child Care Licensing Regulation is a single table. It sets, for each of the ten licensed care programs, the largest group permitted and exactly how many staff must be with that group at each size. It is the most concrete quality signal in the whole regulation, and it is public.

Below is the full table, in plain language, followed by the parts that are easy to misread.

How the table works

Schedule E has four columns. Column 1 names the care program. Column 2 gives the maximum group size. Column 3 gives a band of children per group. Column 4 gives the staff required for that band.

A licensee must divide children into groups no larger than Column 2 allows, and must staff each group at no less than Column 4 requires for the band that group falls into.

Three words carry legal weight and mean different things:

Educator means a person holding an early childhood educator certificate.
Infant and toddler educator means an educator who additionally holds an infant and toddler educator certificate.
Assistant means a person holding an early childhood educator assistant certificate.
Responsible adult means someone at least 19 years old with at least 20 hours of relevant coursework and relevant experience, which is a much lower bar than an educator.

Staff qualifications covers what each of those certificates actually requires.

Group Child Care (Under 36 Months)

Maximum group size 12, with a separate area designated for each group.

Children in the group	Staff required
4 or fewer	One infant and toddler educator
5 to 8	One infant and toddler educator and one other educator
9 to 12	One infant and toddler educator, one other educator and one assistant

This is the tightest staffing in the regulation, and the only program that requires a specialist certificate as a condition of operating at all.

Group Child Care (30 Months to School Age)

Maximum group size 25, with no more than 2 children younger than 36 months in a single group.

Children in the group	Staff required
8 or fewer	One educator
9 to 16	One educator and one assistant
17 to 25	One educator and two assistants

The step at 8 is the one to notice. A room with 8 children may lawfully have one adult in it. A room with 9 must have two.

Preschool (30 Months to School Age)

Maximum group size 20.

Children in the group	Staff required
10 or fewer	One educator
11 to 20	One educator and one assistant

A preschool may operate without the assistant only if it runs a parent education program approved by the medical health officer, a parent who has completed that program is present to assist, and the medical health officer has approved the arrangement in writing.

Group Child Care (School Age)

Two different sets of limits, depending on who is in the group.

If any preschool child or child in grade 1 is present, maximum group size 24: one responsible adult for 12 or fewer, two for 13 to 24.

If no preschool child or child in grade 1 is present, maximum group size 30: one responsible adult for 15 or fewer, two for 16 to 30.

School Age Care on School Grounds uses the same two bands.

Multi-Age Child Care

Maximum group size 8, and one educator supervises the whole group.

Composition is capped as well as the count. No more than 3 children may be under 36 months. If any child under 12 months is present, only one child may be that young.

In-Home Multi-Age Child Care

Maximum group size 8, with the same composition limits as Multi-Age. The licensee personally provides the care in their own home, and must be certified as an educator.

Family Child Care

Maximum group size 7, cared for personally by the licensee in their own home.

If any child under 12 months is present: no more than 3 children under 48 months, and only one of those under 12 months.

If no child under 12 months is present: no more than 4 children under 48 months, of whom no more than 2 under 24 months.

In Family Child Care and In-Home Multi-Age Child Care only, the group size does not include a person aged 12 or over who is related to the licensee.

Occasional Child Care

If any child under 36 months is present, maximum 16: one responsible adult for 4 or fewer, two for 5 to 8, three for 9 to 12, four for 13 to 16.

If no child under 36 months is present, maximum 20: one responsible adult for 8 or fewer, two for 9 to 16, three for 17 to 20.

Child-minding

Maximum 24, counted with a weighting: each child under 12 months counts as 2.5 children, each child from 12 to 35 months counts as 2, and each child 36 months or older counts as 1. One responsible adult for 8 or fewer weighted children, two for 9 to 17, three for 18 to 24.

A worked example

Take a centre licensed for 24 children, made up of 8 Group Child Care spaces for 30 months to school age and 16 Multi-Age spaces. That is the licence held by this centre, according to the Fraser Health Fraser North public list printed 27 June 2024.

Work it through with Schedule E.

The 8 Group Child Care spaces sit in one group. At 8 children, the band is "8 or fewer", so the legal minimum is one educator.

The 16 Multi-Age spaces cannot be one group, because Multi-Age caps a group at 8. They are two groups of 8, each needing one educator.

So the legal minimum staffing for a full building of 24 children is three educators across three groups. Not one room, not one adult, and not the ratio you would guess by dividing 24 by anything.

Run the same arithmetic on any centre's published capacity and care types and you learn the shape of the building before you visit it.

What the ratio looks like across a real day

The ratio applies to a group at every moment children are in care, which sounds obvious and has consequences that are easy to miss.

At opening. Few children have arrived, so a group may sit well under its band. This is usually the most generously staffed part of the day.

Mid-morning. Everyone has arrived. This is the moment the group is at its largest and the band that applies is the one that matters most. If a group of 9 in Group Child Care for 30 months to school age has crossed from the "8 or fewer" band into "9 to 16", an assistant must now be present.

Outdoors. The ratio follows the group outside. It is not relaxed for the yard.

On a walk or a field trip. The ratio still applies, and transport adds its own rule. If more than 7 children travel in a single vehicle, at least one responsible adult other than the driver must be aboard, and the driver must be 19 or older holding the right class of licence. Group Child Care (School Age), Family Child Care and In-Home Multi-Age Child Care are exempt from the extra-adult requirement.

At nap. Children under 36 months must have a separate sleeping area away from the activity area, which means a group may be split across two spaces while a single band still governs its staffing.

At pick-up. Numbers fall again, and shifts change. This is the other end of the day where a stretched room shows.

Reading a ratio properly

Two adults is not two educators. "One educator and one assistant" is the legal minimum for a group of 9 to 16 in Group Child Care for 30 months to school age. An assistant certificate requires one course from a basic early childhood education program. An educator certificate requires a full training program plus 500 hours of supervised work experience. Both are adults in the room; they are not interchangeable.

Ratio is a minimum, not a description. Nothing prevents a centre staffing above it, and many do. The question worth asking is not "what is your ratio" but "how many children and how many staff are in this room on a normal Tuesday afternoon".

Group size is per group, not per building. A centre licensed for 24 children is running multiple groups. Ask how many groups run each day, how they are divided, and whether they combine at any point.

Ask about the edges of the day. Early morning and late afternoon are when attendance thins and staff shifts change. That is when the ratio is most likely to be tested.

Ask what happens when someone is sick. A centre that answers this immediately and specifically has thought about it. That single answer tells you more about how a place runs than the ratio itself does.

Next, staff qualifications explains what stands behind each of the roles named in this table.

Questions parents ask

Frequently asked questions

Licensed child care in BC