Students will learn about the qualitative research process as it applies in the Early Years sector, and how it can support Early Years leaders in their role to help implement the national child care plan at a local / regional level. They will explore how a co-design or co-construction of a policy from the perspective of key stakeholders can help inform a policy at the local, provincial, and national levels. The key outcome to the project is to further the development of leadership competences within the Early Years sector.

Students will be involved at various levels in the research process: 1) coding skills; 2) focus group planning skills; 3) focus group facilitation skills; and 4) interpersonal skills within a leadership setting.

Students will be supported by the Principal Investigator of the project through weekly face-to-face meetings and an end of the week online meeting. The team of student researchers will have access to a cloud based platform to work collaboratively and share their experiences during the research process. They will also be included in community based meetings so that they can become more knowledgeable on the Early Years leadership network within the region.