Building a Community Architecture for Early Childhood Learning and Care

1. Building a Community Architecture for Early Childhood Learning and Care Name of your organization and town/city go here SESSION ONE

2. Getting to Know Ourselves • What’s happening to us? • What’s affecting our lives? • Who are we? Who’s not here? • How did we get here?

3. An overview An overview of our project & Early Childhood Learning & Care

4. What we hope to accomplish • Design a service model of early learning and child care that is community-responsive while supporting Canada-wide goals • Build awareness • Develop a consensus on moving forward

5. Why now? There are sources of federal funding for ECLC: • The Early Childhood Development Initiative provides $500-million annually. • The Multi-lateral Agreement on Early Learning and Child Care provides $350-million annually • The federal/provincial/territorial child care agreements provide $1-billion annually until March 2007. • CAP-C and CNCP programs with provincial agreement. • Aboriginal Head Start and on-reserve child care programs.

6. Canada-wide goals Sound child development strategies promote: • Healthy populations • Social inclusion • Life-long learning

7. Canada-wide goals

8. Deconstruct the Guiding Principles • Accessible • Comprehensive • High Quality • Inclusive • Affordable • Publicly funded • Responsive to the community • Accountable

9. Research Support for Principles • Child Development • International Comparisons • Social justice/social inclusion/population health • Demographics • Economic Analysis

10. Action Research • Our project is based upon a collaborative approach to investigation that provides people with the “means to take systematic action to resolve specific problems”.

11. Action Research cont’d • We will work through consensual and participatory procedures that help the people in this room and other community members investigate our own problems and issues, capture our stories, • We are inspired to develop community-crafted plans, that identify the needs of families and then to respond to the problems and barriers to integrated systems of early childhood learning and care.

12. The process Look • Gather relevant data • Build a picture-define and describe Think • Explore and analyze: what is happening here? • Interpret and explain: How/why are things as they are? Act • Plan (report) • Implement • Evaluate

13. Work of the taskforce Over the next few sessions: • An overview of the project and early learning and child care • An environmental scan and assessment of services in our community • Develop a comprehensive service model • Review of the blue print

14. What we will produce A blueprint for policy makers and community activists that answers: • How a system of early learning and child care would look to children, parents and communities. • How existing community resources can be organized to serve as a strong foundation for new investments. • What are the components of a comprehensive, integrated system of quality early childhood learning and care?

15. The blueprint The Blueprint will answer how services can be organized to: • Provide children with quality early learning opportunities at the same time as parents are supported to work/study and parent effectively • Be accountable to governments and communities • Make efficient use of public resources • Improve outcomes for children, families and communities

16. The Blueprint cont’d The Blueprint will also answer: • What outcomes for children, families and communities do we expect from public investments in early learning and child care? • What barriers impede the development of integrated services and how can we overcome them?

17. What do we mean by Early Childhood Learning and Care? YWCA Canada uses this definition : • An early childhood learning and care program supports the healthy development of all young children At the same time as it: • Supports parents to work, study and care for other family members • Supports parents in their parenting role • Supports women’s equality

18. Child care Service fragmentation Nursery school Pre/post natal Family resource/ info centre ? Kindergarten ? ? ? Special needs Parent/ child drop-in Where to begin? Head start

19. The barriers For children: • services are not consistent and quality varies For parents: • either not available, not the right kind or too expensive For providers: • fragile funding, difficulties finding and keeping staff For communities: • rising demand for more expensive intervention programs

20. Integrated services • Quality early learning and care environments for children that parents access on a full time, part time or occasional basis. • Children attend on their own or with their parents, allowing stable relationships with staff and peers. • Readily accessible information & referral to specialized services.

21. How others do it: Québec • Ministry of the Family regulates and funds children’s centres for children 0-4 years. • These centres provide parent information and support; plus group and family based educational care on full, part time and occasional basis. • Parents pay one low fee. • Ministry of Education provides before and after school programs for children 5-12 years right in the schools the children attend.

22. How others do it: Finland • “Educare’ concept combines education and care into a single service. Formal school begins at 7. • Central Ministry funds regional government to provide service to children 0-6. All children entitled to attend. Affordable user fees.

23. Neighbourhood hub model Kindergarten Child care Pre/post natal Nursery School Family resource/ info centre Parent/child drop-in Special needs Head start

24. How others do it: Toronto First Duty • Kindergarten, child care and family support services combine into a single program for children 0-5 • All space and resources are shared • Integrated curriculum draws on the content and practice of the three streams • Kindergarten teachers, ECEs, parenting workers and teaching assistants plan and deliver the program as a team with reciprocal recognition of credentials

25. Quality early learning and care National and international studies concur, quality services depend on: • Strong staff training and fair working conditions • Regulations that support quality and are enforceable • Universal access • Adequate, stable funding

26. Closing Conversation • What did you do today? • What surprised you? Pleased you? Challenged you? • What insights did you gain today? • How will you use this information? How will you share this with others?

27. We Can Do It! We teach children that things go better when people work together. Our lessons will help make the communities of the future a better place to live.