News: October 2012 Archives

Extensive Financial Analysis Questions Ability of Commercial Child Care Chains Such as the Edleun Group to be Profitable and Provide the Quality Affordable Services Required by Parents
Source: CNW, October 25, 2012 (news release)

Excerpt: "An extensive financial analysis of the Edleun Group - Canada's only publicly traded commercial child care chain - questions if this business model can be profitable and provide the affordable services that families need. Dragomir's report concludes that: "If it was that easy to profit by building quality child care services that most parents can afford, there wouldn't be just one publicly traded commercial child care chain in Canada." Sharon Gregson, Coalition of Child Care Advocates spokesperson, says the report was commissioned because of rising concerns about the rapid expansion of commercial child care and the evidence that it is neither in the public interest nor the best option for children and families."

Child Care a Surefire Investment for Government
Source: Vancouver Sun, October 23, 2012

Excerpt: "Imagine an investment where you can receive a 40-per-cent rebate, then get an annual rate of return from seven per cent to 16 per cent with a guarantee of at least a 300-per-cent to 400-per-cent overall return of the initial investment in the first 10 years. Does this sound too good to be true? Perhaps it is, but a broad assortment of "experts" back these claims and suggest it gets even better when the economic spinoffs come into play."

It's Time for Canada to Improve its Grades When it Comes to Children’s Rights
Source: Toronto Star, October 14, 2012 (editorial)

Excerpt:  "The Harper government is determined to push forward with a new first nations education act despite the opposition of native chiefs. But the act will almost certainly be boycotted by most first nations leaders across the country, even if it does become law. All sides bear responsibility for this shambles. Native children will pay the price."

Excerpt: "We have known for years that children from poor or abusive families have more challenges in school and, as adults, have markedly worse health. Now, scientists understand why. The experiences of a child during the first 2,000 days of his or her life affect brain circuitry and impair social and mental development because genes react to the environment. The policy implications of this research, undertaken by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), are enormous. By providing early learning enrichment, it is possible to reverse the impact of adverse circumstances on a child’s brain. Hierarchical differences are apparent as early as kindergarten, according to research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences..."

Onsite Daycare Still a Scarce Commodity
Source: Globe and Mail, October 9, 2012

Excerpt: " For working parents, the joys of having a new baby can swiftly diminish when faced with finding safe, loving child care once maternity leave ends. The Top 100 Employers list includes a dozen employers offering this family-friendly perk. Some also offer attractive advantages not always available at regular licensed daycares, including environmental programs, highly trained instructors and unique environments... Workplace daycare is not common in Canada. One often-repeated reason is that setting up a new daycare is a costly venture – $10,000 per year per new child care space, according to 2006 Ontario government figures. Thus, most companies don’t want to take on either the cost or the responsibility of getting into the child care business. On the current Top 100 list, the majority of companies offering on-site daycare are either in British Columbia or Quebec."

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YK: Whitehorse Daycare Owners to Rally on Friday
Source: CBC, October 4, 2012

Excerpt: "When engaged in what looks like child’s play, preschoolers are actually behaving like scientists, according to a new report in the journal Science: forming hypotheses, running experiments, calculating probabilities and deciphering causal relationships about the world. The report’s author, Alison Gopnik, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, says she based it on more than 10 years’ worth of research and studies, including some of her own…"

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Early Childhood Education in Focus
Source: Metrofocus, September 25, 2012

Fraser Mustard’s Vision for Kids Lives On
Source: Toronto Star, October 2, 2012

Excerpt: "Four months before his death, Fraser Mustard, medical pioneer, champion of early learning, educator, sparkplug for scientific innovation and lifelong foe of conventional thinking, began building his legacy piece by piece. Weakened by cancer, he could not leave his house. So his followers came to him. The Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development took shape in his living room. Last week, the University of Toronto officially launched the institute. "I wish he was here," said Maria Sokolowski, its academic director. "But he knew this would happen.""

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Why You May Want to Stop Texting While You're Parenting
Source: Globe and Mail, October 1, 2012

Excerpt: "The University of Toronto has launched The Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development (IHD)--a bold and necessary response to the challenge of providing every child the opportunity to have the best start in life. IHD is the first institute of its kind in Canada, bringing together University of Toronto researchers from a variety of disciplines--such as education, medicine, psychology, biology and social work--to connect in new ways and make the most of the early years of human development. The new institute is named in memory of early human development champion Dr. J. Fraser Mustard and encompasses faculties and divisions across U of T as well as its affiliated hospitals."

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Why the First 2,000 Days of a Child's Life are the Most Important
Source: Globe and Mail, September 27, 2012

Excerpt: "The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) continues to press for real change for First Nations children in this country. Today, Canadian officials are presenting a report at the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding policies and measures including their efforts in addressing the gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in the fulfillment of their rights to health and education. "Canada has, thus far, failed to close the gap for our children as unilateral, outdated policies continue to make our children the most vulnerable in this country. This is absolutely unacceptable and demands action through working directly with First Nations," said AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo. "… This government must invest in our children, the fastest growing population in this country. We simply must not and cannot leave another generation of children behind.""

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2011 General Social Survey: Overview of Families in Canada
Source: Statistics Canada, October 18, 2012

Description: "Cycle 25 of the General Social Survey (GSS) is the fifth cycle to collect detailed information on family life in Canada. The previous GSS cycles that collected family data were Cycles 5, 10, 15 and 20. Cycle 25 covers much the same content as previous cycles on families. Topics include family origin of parents, leaving the parental home, conjugal history of respondent (marriages, common-law unions, separations and divorces), children of respondent (birth, adopted, step), maternity and parental leaves, child care arrangements, (re)partnering and fertility intentions, child custody and financial support arrangements for children and ex-spouse after a union break-up, and work history. Like other GSS cycles, cycle 25 also gathered data on the respondent's main activity, education, and other socio-demographic characteristics. The target population for cycle 25 is all persons 15 years of age and older in Canada, excluding residents of the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, and full-time residents of institutions."

Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity: From Fruit Flies to Kindergartners
Source: PNAS supplement, October 16, 2012

Excerpt: "The Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) provides a measure of our quality of life that assesses those things that matter to Canadians beyond the economy. It draws on a deep well of data, primarily from Statistics Canada, and tracks 64 separate headline indicators within eight interconnected quality of life categories (or domains) central to the lives of Canadians: Community Vitality, Democratic Engagement, Education, Environment, Healthy Populations, Leisure and Culture, Living Standards, and Time Use. The CIW then combines measures on these domains into a composite index – a single number that goes up and down, much like the Dow Jones or TSX, and provides a snapshot of how our wellbeing is changing. The findings uncover some troubling truths about the connection between our wellbeing and the economy, and beg the question: Are our governments truly responding to the needs and values of everyday Canadians?"

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Public Investments in Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada 2010
Source: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, October 2012

Excerpt: "The Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development, the Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Early Child Development and the Marie Curie International Network on Early Childhood Health Development are pleased to offer this one-page summary of take-home messages based on what we have learned from the international conference Models of Early Childhood Services."

Also, click here for event presentations>

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Description: Presentation prepared by Sue Makin for the Ontario Family Health Management Network summarizing the conference "Models of Early Childhood Services: An International Conference" (Montreal, June 2012).

Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 44 of the Convention - Concluding Observations: Canada
Source: Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, October 5, 2012

Excerpt: "The Committee is concerned that despite the State party’s significant resources, there has been a lack of funding directed towards the improvement of early childhood development and affordable and accessible early childhood care and services. The Committee is also concerned by the high cost of child-care, the lack of available places for children, the absence of uniform training requirements for all child-care staff and of standards of quality care. The Committee notes that early childhood care and education continues to be inadequate for children under four years of age. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned that the majority of early childhood care and education services in the State party are provided by private, profit-driven institutions, resulting in such services being unaffordable for most families…"

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Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Closer Perspectives
Source: Symposium Books, 2012

Abstract: "New theoretical ideas and empirical research show that very young children’s learning and thinking are strikingly similar to much learning and thinking in science. Preschoolers test hypotheses against data and make causal inferences; they learn from statistics and informal experimentation, and from watching and listening to others. The mathematical framework of probabilistic models and Bayesian inference can describe this learning in precise ways. These discoveries have implications for early childhood education and policy. In particular, they suggest both that early childhood experience is extremely important and that the trend toward more structured and academic early childhood programs is misguided."

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Abstract: "Poverty-related developmental-risk theories dominate accounts of uneven levels of household functioning and effects on children. But immigrant parents may sustain norms and practices—stemming from heritage culture, selective migration, and social support—that buffer economic exigencies. Comparable levels of social-emotional functioning in homes of foreign-born Latino mothers were observed relative to native-born Whites, despite sharp social-class disparities, but learning activities were much weaker, drawing on a national sample of mothers with children aging from 9 to 48 months (n = 5,300). Asian-heritage mothers reported weaker social functioning—greater martial conflict and depression—yet stronger learning practices. Mothers’ migration history, ethnicity, and social support helped to explain levels of functioning, after taking into account multiple indicators of class and poverty."

InBrief - Executive Function: Skills for Life and Learning
Source: Center on the Developing Child, September 27, 2012

Description: "Being able to focus, hold and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having a sophisticated air traffic control system to manage information at a busy airport. In the brain, this mechanism is called executive function and self-regulation, a group of skills that, with the right formative experiences, begin to develop in early childhood and continue to improve through the early adult years. A new evidence base has identified these skills as essential for school achievement, success in work, and healthy lives. This two-page summary outlines how these lifelong skills develop, what can disrupt their development, and how supporting them pays off in school and life."

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Excerpt: "Dear Minister, As education critic for Ontario New Democrats, I am pleased to submit to you the following comments in response to your Ministry’s discussion paper entitled “Modernizing Child Care in Ontario.” Action is badly needed to address the current child care crisis in this province. As numerous advocates and experts have indicated, Ontario lacks a comprehensive early learning and care system."

Encyclopedia on ECD: Home Visiting Programs (Prenatal and Postnatal)
Source: Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Development, September 21, 2012

- Home visiting programs and their impact on young children’s school readiness (Erika Gaylor & Donna Spiker)
- Prenatal/postnatal home visiting programs and their impact on the social and emotional development of young children (0–5) (Nancy Donelan-McCall & David Olds)
- Maternal mental health outcomes and children’s mental health and home visiting (Robert T. Ammerman & S. Darius Tandon)
- Evidence for the role of home visiting in child maltreatment prevention (Kimberly Boller)
- Replicating and scaling up evidence-based home visiting programs: the role of implementation research
(Diane Paulsell)

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From Rose-Coloured Glasses to Reality: Addressing the Family Policy Deficit in Canada
Source: Healthcare Quarterly, Special Issue, 2012

Description: Six new papers have been added to this topic:

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