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Posted on The Conversation.

Excerpt: "Early childhood research anchored in brain development showed that up to a third of students started Grade 1 so far behind they never caught up. By the time they entered school it was both very difficult and very expensive to make up for the foundational skills they missed during their early years."

This project aims to foster quality in the Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) sector by identifying evaluations of innovative approaches to ELCC in Canada that could be scaled to spread their impact.

The ELCC Innovation ToolKit identifies innovations in the following areas: ELCC governance; funding; inclusion and equitable access; the learning environment including curriculum, program supports, transitions to kindergarten and parent engagement; the workforce including educator training, professional development, compensation and recognition; and monitoring and accountability.

Governance, administration, service providers, educator training early childhood programs in selected OECD countries.

Posted on Early Years Study.

The fourth landmark study, titled Early Years Study 4: Thriving Kids, Thriving Society, led by the Honourable Margaret McCain, builds on over 20 years of research and calls for an annual investment of $8 billion to bring Canada up to the OECD average enrolment rate for early childhood education.

Excerpt: "The COVID-19 virus has changed the channel on child care. No longer a private responsibility borne largely by mothers, it is a social one vital to all those parents who make up the army of first responders in a time of crisis."

Excerpt: "COVID-19 has propelled us into a new epoch for public education. This is a chance to renew the system to meet the challenge, empowering this generation of child survivors to confront the disparities, environmental degradation and the other conditions that gave rise to the pandemic and create a more sustainable and just world."

Posted on The Conversation.

Excerpt: "As of June 12, child-care centres in Ontario can open, following reopenings in most regions of Québec. But while these child-care centres are doing their part to support families in the post-coronavirus recovery, and Ontario is offering some extra help, Canada needs to find economically efficient ways of supporting child-care programs while simultaneously incentivizing quality. In so doing, it would follow some of the smartest approaches to economic recovery, development and social wellness already evidenced in parts of Canada and the world."

Posted on The Conversation.

Excerpt: "The coronavirus has uncovered myriad inequities within systems of education, from childrens’ and families’ access to resources, to the supportive and safe environments that are necessary for optimal learning. Inequities are exponentially greater in times of crisis. In Canada, more than 2.3 million primary-age children remain at home. Challenges of inequity were immediately apparent as public school authorities began responding."

The mandated 5-year review of the Child Care and Early Years Act (CCEYA) is open. The province has allowed a very short turnaround time for the public to respond.

Excerpt: "A system that addresses the needs of parents and children requires building more physical infrastructure, and more affordable access, but critically it requires more educators. This involves not just better wages and benefits, but an infrastructure that sustains quality work including access to excellence in pre- and in-service training; pedagogical leadership, and the availability of special needs specialists and family support workers to help address child/family needs, as in most schools."

Posted on The Globe and Mail.

Excerpt: "The key is quality, not just quantity. And quality depends on well-trained and resourced educators. Poor pay and working conditions drive qualified educators out of the field. Quality concerns are found everywhere, including in Quebec, the leader in affordable child care."

Excerpt: "Two-years of kindergarten delivered within the school system leverages existing investments within public education and ameliorates several issues facing families, communities and government: High rates of illiteracy (including reading, writing and numeracy) that are a drag on the economic futures; Growing special education demands fueled by an increase in academic and language gaps and behavior challenges that are easier to address when interventions begin early; Increasing child care costs to families that reduce parental, particularly the labor force participation of mothers."