Chapter 1: An Early Years Vision for Ontario
I am not a wealthy person and I have always had too much work to do. But my children were able to have all-day learning a few years back. It gave my boys a big help to their abilities and confidence. Tell the Premier it is a good thing that everyone in Ontario can have this choice for their children too.
Parent, North Bay
I have been listening for over a year to people like the parent quoted on the previous page. I have learned that there are countless numbers of Ontarians who care about early learning for children and supports for families. They know that experiences in early childhood have lifelong consequences. And they want Ontario to be a leader in ensuring that all our children get the best possible start in life.
So do I. As Special Advisor on Early Learning to Premier Dalton McGuinty, I was asked to recommend:
- how best to implement full-day learning for 4- and 5year-olds;
- how to reinvest and redirect resources from this initiative;
- how to build on the success of Ontario’s Best Start strategy for a comprehensive, continuous, and integrated system for children from birth to age 12 and their families.
We are all aware that the successful economies and societies of the future will be the best educated and the most innovative. We need our children to be creative thinkers and problem solvers. We need them to be compassionate, engaged, and literate citizens who will thrive in a diverse society. We need them to feel confident to take on the world.
Getting there means having the best education system in the world. We are on our way in Ontario but have work to do when it comes to early learning. The following table shows that Canada consistently scores low on international assessments of early learning and care. While we have some great programs with talented, dedicated people providing them, too often services are disconnected from each other. We leave it to families to bridge the gaps, avoid the overlaps, and negotiate their way, if they can. The current fragmented patchwork of early childhood services too often fails the best interests of our children, frustrates families and educators, and wastes resources.
The result? More than one in four children enter Grade 1 significantly behind their peers.1 Too many never entirely close the gap and go on to be disruptive in school, fail to graduate, and are unable to fully participate in and contribute to society. Too many end up living lives of misery, harmful to themselves and others. While our schools work hard to help these children catch up, research has shown that it is more difficult and more costly to intervene later than it is to address a child’s needs in the early years. And many children who are doing okay in school can do better ... much better.
In imagining an even better future for our remarkable province, it is clear that failure in school, child poverty, youth violence, and the unmet expectations of new Canadians and their children are enemies of prosperity for all of us.
The smartest thing we can do right now – to make a major contribution to Ontario’s future – is to ensure that all Ontario children have an even-handed opportunity to succeed in school, become lifelong learners, and pursue their dreams. Our best future depends on it!
Number of Benchmarks for Early Learning and Care
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| Sweden | 10 |
| Iceland | 9 |
| Denmark | 8 |
| Norway | 7 |
| France | 6 |
| UK | 5 |
| Germany | 4 |
| Japan | 3 |
| United States | 2 |
| Canada | 1 |
To fully benefit from full-day early learning for 4- and 5year-olds, we must deal with the chaotic mix of child and family services we currently have in our communities. It would be ineffective and costly to layer a new program on top of a web of unsolved problems. We must turn a jumble of children’s programs into a child and family service system that closes the gaps and offers a continuum of services for children from birth to age 12.
It is so important to get it right from the start of life and through the school years. Children are remarkably similar at birth, but by age 4 the gaps are already dramatic. We risk undermining the benefits of our investments in full-day learning if we do not address the needs of our very youngest learners and their parents. And if we do not build on the gains made in the 4-to-5 age group when children enter the primary grades of school, those gains will probably be diminished.
Our best future is one in which all children are:
- healthy and secure;
- emotionally and socially competent;
- eager, confident, and successful learners;
- respectful of the diversity of their peers.
The system I am proposing would create the conditions to enable significant progress towards this universal image of our children ... a future in which every child has every opportunity:
- Every child in Ontario who turns 4 by December 31 would be entitled to attend two years of a full-day, school-year Early Learning Program, operated by school boards
- Parents would have the option of extended programming before and after the traditional school day and year, not as an add-on, but as part of the Early Learning Program.
- Extended programming for primary school children aged 6 to 8 and after-school programming (e.g., sports, arts, communications) for children aged 9 to 12 would be offered by school boards at the request of 15 or more families in a school.
- Parent fees would be charged only for extended day/year programming.
- Programs for children and their families, which are now spread among multiple providers under a variety of auspices, would be integrated into Best Start Child and Family Centres, under a single municipal system manager. The centres would provide:
- flexible, part-time and full-day/full-year early learning/ care options for children up to 4 years of age;
- prenatal and postnatal information and supports;
- parenting and family support programming, including home visiting, family literacy, and playgroups;
- nutrition and nutrition counselling;
- early identification and intervention resources;
- links to special needs treatment and community resources, including libraries, recreation and community centres, health care, family counselling, housing, language services, and employment/training services.
- And when the above is established, parents would be entitled to expanded parental leave of up to 400 days on the birth or adoption of a child, reducing the need for costly infant care, and allowing more parents to stay home with their babies during the critical period of development, when the infant-parent bond is established.
This comprehensive model applies logic, best practice, and evidence to the way we organize, manage, deliver, and account for services for children. It reflects what literally thousands of parents and practitioners told me – to make effective use of the facilities and resources we have, eliminate bureaucratic duplication, and respond to the needs of modern families, in order to benefit children.
When the model is fully implemented, all our elementary schools will be true community hubs for children and their families. Two hundred and twenty-seven thousand more 4- and 5-year-olds will have access to full-day learning. Many thousands of 4- to 12-year-olds will be able to attend extended day programs, where fees are more affordable to many more parents.
Our youngest learners and their families will enjoy pre-and postnatal supports, playgroups, parent resources, and expanded opportunities for flexible early learning/care, all offered in one-stop Best Start Child and Family Centres. And in the not too distant future, I see more parents using these centres as they foster their attachment to their new babies during their extended parental leave.
The new system would be developed under an Early Years Policy Framework and led by a new Early Years Division in the Ministry of Education providing overall leadership, direction, and improved accountability.
The implementation plan I am proposing for full-day learning starts in 2010–11. Within five years of full implementation, we can expect to see significant improvement in the numbers of Ontario children entering Grade 1 with the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical skills necessary to succeed.
Over time, we can also expect that results like these will continue to multiply and compound as children now and in the future move through the school system with higher levels of academic achievement and well-being.
We will see:
- improvements in Grade 3 and Grade 6 provincial literacy and numeracy results;
- higher secondary school graduation rates;
- higher postsecondary participation and success rates;
- children with challenges being identified earlier and getting help sooner;
- greater well-being of 12-year-olds, including greater resiliency and health outcomes;
- a reduction of youth violence and rates of family poverty.
And as a result, a cost-effective return on our early learning investment will be clear to all Ontario taxpayers.
Addressing Aboriginal Interests and Concerns
Throughout this report, readers will find the interests and concerns of Aboriginal peoples highlighted. While effective early learning programs are important for all children, they are uniquely important for Aboriginal peoples. (Aboriginal peoples include First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and non-status Aboriginal peoples.)
As a key aspect of my fact-finding, I met with the Chiefs of Ontario First Nations Education Coordinating Unit conducted roundtables with Aboriginal peoples, met with individual Aboriginal leaders and practitioners, and made visits to on- and offreserve early learning sites, both urban and rural. I attempted to ensure my outreach extended to a wide range of Aboriginal people, including leaders and elders, educators, and parents. According to the Ministry of Education, there are over 50,000 Aboriginal students who attend provincially funded elementary and secondary schools, including 5,000 children who live in First Nation communities but attend Ontario schools under tuition agreements.3 Most are either First Nations or Métis, and about 600 are Inuit students.
The implementation of full-day early learning for 4- and 5-year-olds must acknowledge the special concerns of Aboriginal communities. Aboriginal communities face unique struggles, including coping with the devastating impacts of a range of initiatives such as residential schools, the legacy of which continues to undermine their families and communities. Many expressed how the future of Aboriginal peoples depends on the development of their youngest children. An Ojibway educator said:
It is easy to say that our children are our future. But it is the truest of truths that teaching the love of learning to our little ones is the Creator’s way of helping us all pass on our traditions and help generations to come to have a more prosperous and healthy future.
Many reports have highlighted the health of Aboriginal communities, the significant numbers of youth who do not complete high school, and the particular challenges related to living in poverty. I have made a deliberate decision to let those reports speak for themselves and focus on the opportunities full-day learning can offer. (See references in Early Learning: An Updated and Annotated Summary of Evidence.)
Building on Our Strengths
Ontario has no shortage of locally grown best practices. We have a vibrant community sector that has developed innovative ways to serve children and their parents.
We have the benefit of decades of experience with Kindergarten. More than 90 per cent of 4- and 5-year-olds attend Kindergarten at least part-time. Ontario has excellent postsecondary institutions with advanced capacity for training our educators. The government has reduced class sizes for primary school students, including those in Junior and Senior Kindergarten. Its focus on literacy and numeracy in schools is showing excellent results in the early grades.
Good work has been done in developing new curriculum for the early years. The Province has also set an ambitious target to reduce child poverty.4 Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy adds to the Ontario Child Benefit and other initiatives.
The step-by-step transformation I am proposing builds on this excellent service base to make far better use of existing resources and to determine what new investments are necessary in order to better serve children and their families.
Reading This Report
While the main audience for this report is the Premier and the many people who will be called on to implement its recommendations, it is also written with the Ontario parent in mind – like the Premier himself, like me, and like the millions of other parents who honour their children every day through loving support and hope for their futures. When I use the term “parent”, I mean not only a child’s biological or adoptive parents, but all those people who identify themselves as parents by taking responsibility for the care and well-being of a child. These include extended family members, same-sex families, blended families, and older siblings acting as guardians.
This report is about implementation; it covers the important building blocks necessary to achieve a new child and family service system for Ontario.
Chapter 2 reviews briefly the evidence on which my conclusions are based. A comprehensive review of the research is contained in a companion document titled Early Learning: An Updated and Annotated Summary of Evidence. References to findings in my report can be found in this document, which can be downloaded from the Early Learning Advisor – Ontario website at www.ontario.ca/earlylearning.
Chapter 3 describes how the new system will be implemented, including the system leadership needed, the early learning programming framework and curriculum, staffing, parent engagement, monitoring and reporting of children’s progress, and community planning. Another important companion document in development is the Early Learning Program Curriculum discussed in section 3.2. It will be available shortly at www.ontario.ca/earlylearning.
Chapter 4 reviews funding and chapter 5 discusses implementation success criteria and timelines. There are recommendations in chapters 3, 4, and 5. They are to be read as an integrated and integrating whole. They are interdependent parts of a plan for systemic change. Endnotes at the conclusion of the report provide more detail.
Listening and Learning
I have sought and received the very best knowledge, advice, and experience to enable me to write this report. I have met with large groups and small across this province – from Windsor and London to Trenton and Ottawa, from Thunder Bay and Fort Frances to North Bay and Timiskaming, from Toronto and Niagara to Webequie and Sandy Lake (two far north First Nations reserves).
I have talked with and heard from countless parents and people on the front lines of service in schools, family support programs, child care centres, and public health agencies; community, advocacy, municipal, and school board leaders; and representatives from Aboriginal communities, labour groups, economists, business leaders, and more. I have “shadowed” outstanding practitioners to learn first-hand the incredible difference they make in the lives of children and their families. And I have consulted with experts in other jurisdictions in Canada and Europe.
A website was set up to encourage understanding and dialogue. There were nearly 13,000 “hits” and I received more than 2,300 submissions and over 2,000 emails and telephone calls. I have been in contact with nearly 700 organizations in Ontario, and I have reviewed volumes of research.
I conducted 83 community fact-finding roundtables all over Ontario. Each roundtable represented a diverse gathering of parents, educators, and others. Participants were encouraged to contact me regarding additional ideas or concerns. In total, almost 3,500 people participated in these roundtables, and 24 per cent followed up at least once by sending personal emails. All of this provided a remarkable number of memorable moments of learning, including the wisdom of an Aboriginal elder in the far northern reaches of our province, a coffee shop chat with new moms, and a “show and tell” circle with 4- and 5-year-olds who gave me their fresh and unfettered sense of what matters to them.
Our Best Future
All Ontario will benefit as more of our children do better in school, build great careers, have their own children, and contribute to our economic prosperity and social cohesion.
All Ontario will benefit when we can say that our early learning system has contributed to Ontario’s successful fight against child poverty and campaign against youth violence.
We need will and skill to move Ontario towards an integrated and comprehensive system of child and family services. We need the backing of all political parties and successive governments to succeed over the long term. We will all be learning along the way about how to make programs better each day for children and their families.
Will and skill, moving and improving ... with our best future in mind.
Chapter 1: An Early Years Vision for Ontario
Chapter 2: A Brief Review of the Evidence
Chapter 3: Full-Day Learning: Leaving the Patchwork Behind
Chapter 4: Funding Our Best Future
Chapter 5: From Words to Action
Acknowledging the "We" of Authorship
Footnotes
1 Assessments indicate that 27 per cent of children in Ontario (and a similar percentage across Canada) are vulnerable when they enter Grade 1 – they have learning, health, and behaviour problems that are likely to interfere with their academic achievement and ability to get along with others. For example, see the following:
Janus, M. (2006). Measuring community early child development. CAP Journal, 14 (3), 12–14.
Lloyd, J., & Hertzman, C. (2008). From EDI to FSA: Longitudinal analysis with linked population data. In J. Lloyd (Ed.), Bringing It Together. Ottawa, ON: Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Centre, Canadian Council on Learning.
Kershaw, P., Irwin, L., Trafford, K., & Hertzman, C. (2006). The British Columbia Atlas of Child Development (1st ed.). Vancouver, BC: Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia.
Willms, J.D. (Ed.). (2002). Vulnerable Children. Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta Press.
In some communities, the percentage of vulnerable children is much higher. Many families and communities face societal barriers (such as poverty; employment demands; transient living conditions; parental health problems; minority ethnocultural, racial, or linguistic status; and limited time and/or resources) that make supporting their children’s optimal early development difficult. While children facing these barriers are more likely to have problems, vulnerable children are present across the socio-economic spectrum.
3 Aboriginal Education Office, Ministry of Education. (2007). Ontario First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework. Toronto, ON: Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Available at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/aboriginal/fnmiFramework.pdf.
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