On the Bottom Rung: Canada’s Early Care and Learning

Ms. Patricia Moore Shaffer Vice President of Research and Developement, Educational Policy Institute

Early care and learning should be one of Canada’s most significant educational policy issues in this new decade. Why? Because we are so very bad at providing high-quality early learning environments for our youngest citizens, and the rest of the world knows it. It was less than two years ago when UNICEF issued a report card in 2008 that compared government policy and results for young children and their families in 25 developed countries. Canada ranked in last place, achieving only one benchmark out of ten (for staff training in child care programs) while missing benchmarks for measurements of child poverty, parental leave, access to essential child health services, and quality early childhood education and care programs. Similarly, the OECD’s 2006 international study of early childhood education, Starting Strong II, also ranked Canada’s approach to child care last among the over 20 countries included in its study, noting that our nation had the lowest public investment, the lowest access rates, and among the highest parent fees in the world. 

Early care and learning, like its primary and secondary education counterparts, is primarily a provincial responsibility. There have been many attempts, dating back to the late 1980s through the present, to develop a national approach to early care and learning, but the abolishment of the Canada Assistance Program in 1996 and the establishment of the Canada Health and Social Transfer block fund asserted the provinces’ primacy in this policy area. With the exception of Quebec, which expanded its early learning and child care programs beginning in 1997 to ensure better access to families, child care in READ MORE...

Canada remains second to Finland in overall education and skills outcomes, but closed the gap by improving on two key indicators. The Board says between 2006 and 2007, working-age Canadians who graduated from high-school increased by a full percentage point to 86.6 per cent. The top performer in this indicator, the United States, only increased its proportion by 0.1 percentage point, to 87.9 per cent. In addition, says the Board, Canada’s proportion of graduates from science, math, computer science and engineering disciplines significantly improved. While it still earns only a ‘C’ grade on this indicator, it is an improvement from last year’s ‘D.’ Canada gets a ‘D’ grade when it comes to Ph.D. graduates — three and a half times below Sweden, the leading country on this indicator.
Source: Winnipeg Sun

THE NEWS

Finishing School 'Never Too Late'
Kate Smitko, Calgary Herald
Never Too Late is a program supported by United Way and Catholic Family Service. It’s a subsidized GED program that is based in the community; it encourages and supports adult learners as they work toward achieving their high school diploma. This program is great for this wanting to advance their career, but wouldn’t have the money to do so otherwise.

A Spanked Child May Be a Better Adult: Study
Vancouver Sun
Young children spanked by their parents may perform better at school later on and grow up to be happier, according to a controversial new study that is drawing scorn from critics. The U.S.-based research states that spanking children up to six years old made them more successful in school, more optimistic about life, more likely to take voluntary work, and more keen to attend university than their never-spanked counterparts.

Demographics Blamed for Changes to Calgary School
CBC News
The Calgary public school board's plan to turn Dalhousie School into a Spanish immersion program and move students to a nearby school is not running into the kind of opposition that often greets such changes. The move is not about saving money — as is often the case in such situations — but rather it is about the area's changing demographics, say board officials. Dalhousie parents invited to talk about the plan at a meeting Wednesday evening initially had little to say.

Small High School Has Big Impact for Homeless
Craig and Marc Kielburger, Vancouver Sun
There aren't many principals who would allow their students to duct tape them to the wall. But, when it comes to helping Cariboo Hill secondary school in Burnaby fundraise to fight homelessness, more than one staff member was willing to put themselves in a sticky situation. With the money raised, students were able to buy toques, gloves and socks for the winter. Considering in the 2008-2009 season the city's extreme weather shelter was open for 47 nights, these donations will provide warmth to the people who need it most.

Parents Protest Planned School Closures
Sarah McGinnis, Calgary Herald
As students headed back to class this week, Calgary school boards met with the public to debate the merits of closing two small schools. The southeast elementary has 173 students but space for almost twice as many children. Nearby Deer Run and Haultain Memorial schools also have fewer students than they can accommodate and district staff are recommending consolidating the kids into two schools. But some Queensland parents have spoken out against the plan.

U of A Adopts Honour System for Sick Students
Elise Stolte, Edmonton Journal
The University of Alberta has permanently done away with doctor-signed sick notes, asking students to self-declare instead when they are too ill to complete assignments or write exams. As for students wanting to take an 'flu vacation,' or those who 'forgot' to study and need a convenient excuse to postpone the inevitable: "we trust the students," said university registrar Gerry Kendal. "We saw that in high school. We're just not expecting that's going to happen to any significant degree whatsoever (now)."

Canada Lags in Graduating PhDs: Report
Anna Mehler Paperny, Toronto Globe and Mail
For the 10th year running, the Conference Board of Canada gave Canada a D grade for educating and graduating PhD students: Canada ranked last of 17 “peer countries” reviewed in the board's annual report card. Canada was one of several countries to get a D, but it ranked the lowest out of all of them: It saw 209 people complete PhDs out of every 100,000 between the ages of 25 and 29 – below the United States, at 289 people, France at 259 and Japan at 210.
 
Canadian Study Says Israeli and Palestinian Universities Suffering from Conflict
Mike Blanchfield, Canadian Press
The cycle of violence in the Middle East is quickly claiming another casualty: higher learning. A Canadian-authored report to be released Thursday concludes that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has eroded university education and academic freedom in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel, undermining the region's aspirations for peace.

Jan. 18 Strike Date Looms
John McPhee, Halifax Chronicle Herald
Support workers in rural schools and hospitals have set Jan. 18 as a strike deadline in their contract dispute with the province. Those workers previously have had wage parity with Capital Health employees, who received a 2.9 per cent raise for 2008 and 2009. But the province is offering them one per cent this time around. The Canadian Union of Public Employees represents about 3,000 school employees, such as teacher’s aides, school bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers.

Chill Feared on Inner-City Projects
Bartley Kives, Winnipeg Free Press
Late last year, the Manitoba legislature passed legislation meant to attract more development to blighted sections of downtown by offering tax credits for new mixed housing-and-commercial projects or redevelopments of existing buildings. The provincial program would offer education-tax credits to projects that already qualify for municipal property-tax credits. But developers may walk away if the province takes too long to iron out the details.

China Education Resources Partners With the Coca-Cola Company
CNN Money
China Education Resources Inc. ("China Education", "CER", "the Company") (TSX VENTURE: CHN) (PINK SHEETS: CHNUF) Wednesday announced that it has launched a joint promotional campaign in China with Coca-Cola Company ("Coke") promoting Qoo, a non-carbonated beverage developed by Coke targeted at the youth market.

Thousands of Schools Remain Shut
BBC News                
Heavy snow has extended the holidays of hundreds of thousands of pupils as head teachers kept their doors closed. About 9,000 schools were shut across England on Wednesday, with 950 closing today in Wales, and at least 250 in Scotland and 16 in Northern Ireland.

Recession Fuels Shift from Private to Public Schools
Greg Toppo, USA Today
It's too early to tell whether the recession has had a profound effect on public schools' educational mission. But parents and educators across the nation say it's already bringing subtle changes to the culture of many public schools as some families seek the personal attention they received from private schools before bringing their children to public institutions.

India Issues Advisory for Students in Australia
Ed Payne and Harmeet Shah, CNN
A weekend killing in Australia has prompted the Indian government to issue an advisory for its college students studying in that country. Australia has seemed increasingly less safe for Indian students over the past year. During a one-month period over the summer, at least 10 Indian students were attacked. The most severe case left an Indian student in a coma; another student was stabbed in the stomach. More than a dozen arrests were made.

Skills to Fix Failing Schools
Laura Pappano, NY Times
Much in K-12 education is being turned on its head, especially where fixing failing schools has become a national focus. This means new education leadership jobs: running charter schools, directing turnarounds of troubled schools and founding nonprofits with creative answers to education challenges. Such work demands educators who are more M.B.A./policy-wonk, which is why universities are unveiling degree programs that pull professors from schools of education, business and public policy.

How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada
Canada earns top marks for its Education and Skills performance, according to the Conference Board’s How Canada Performs comparison with 16 other developed countries. The updated Education and Skills rankings, published Thursday, give Canada an “A” grade, an improvement from last year’s “B” result. Canada remains second to Finland in overall Education and Skills outcomes, but closed the gap with the leader by improving substantially on two key indicators