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Publications

A collection of publications written by Atkinson Centre team members, in addition to important articles, documents and reports related to early learning and child care.

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Early Learning and Early Childhood Education - An Accord by the Association of Canadian Deans of Education

The Accord on Early Learning and Early Childhood Education by the Association of Canadian Deans of Education (ACDE) seeks to address the uneven provision of quality early learning experiences by highlighting practices that focus on the learning and care of all children; promoting improved, better connected education for preschool and elementary children; and recognizing educator knowledge as vital to effective education for early learners and their families. It was launched at the Canadian Society for Studies in Education Conference, Victoria, B.C. on June 2.

Recommendations for the future administration of the EDI in Ontario

Excerpt: "The Ontario Government has undertaken a review of the administration of the Early Development Instrument (EDI), including how data are collected, analyzed and reported. An external consulting firm, Malatest & Associates, conducted the review with a final report due in December 2012. The purpose of this paper is not to inform the consultant’s work but to use the occasion of a review to broaden the discussion about the EDI. Our interest lies in maximizing its benefits. Only by understanding the critical underlying principles of the EDI can we then address the issue of its administration."

Work Progresses on Ontario’s Early Years Puzzle

Excerpt: "The task of creating coherence out of the province’s early years services took a step forward on January 23, 2013 with the release of the Ontario Early Years Policy Framework. It’s not the kind of document that gets media attention or stirs attention deep in the sector. The framework is about governance and while that isn’t as exciting as money or legislative change it is an essential forerunner if the latter are to be accomplished effectively."

Waterloo’s Story: Implementing a Comprehensive Vision for Seamless Care

Excerpt: "Ontario’s implementation of the bold vision for school board operated seamless child care across Ontario that was described in, With Our Best Future In Mind , has hit a few road blocks. After a great deal of lobbying, some general election politicking, and resulting legislative changes, today, most school boards in Ontario have reverted to the status quo in terms of how before and after school programs are delivered. In the majority of school boards before and after care programs are delivered by a third-party agency resulting in access to service that ranges from comprehensive to skeletal. The exception to this pattern exists in Waterloo, Ontario."

Research Bulletin: Playing favorites is bad for child health

Excerpt: "In a study recently published in Social Sciences and Medicine, PhD student Dillon Browne and psychologist Jennifer Jenkins sought to determine if being a disfavoured sibling can have negative consequences in terms of general health. Browne and Jenkins followed 501 families over a period of 18 months as part of an investigation called the Kids, Families, Places Study, led by Dr. Jenkins at the ¥..."

Research Bulletin: Playing favorites is bad for everyone

Excerpt: "In a study recently published in the journal of Developmental Psychology, psychologist Jean-Christophe Meunier and his colleagues at the ¥ tested to see if playing favorites, as a family style, has negative consequences for all children in the family, rather than just the disfavored child."

Research Bulletin: Siblings Teaching Siblings

Excerpt: "Research demonstrates that young children teach one another, showing individual differences in the amount of teaching they do and the strategies they use. There is a special teacher-learner relationship among siblings, in particular.... We developed a measure to capture teaching between siblings when the youngest child was age 3 and their older sibling between 4-8 years old..."

Research Bulletin: Genes, Experience and Parenting Behaviour

Excerpt: "In a recent study, Dr. Rossana Bisceglia and her colleagues wanted to see what factors affected mothers' ability to provide sensitive care to their children. The hypothesis was that both biological and environmental variables would impact mothers’ sensitivity, and that certain combinations of factors would be more detrimental to parenting than others."

Modernizing Child Care in Ontario - Responses

The following are responses to the Government of Ontario's OMSSA Response to Modernizing Child Care in Ontario: Sharing Conversations, Strengthening Partnerships, Working Together.

Modernizing the Early Years: Submission to the Government of Ontario in Response to Modernizing Child Care in Ontario (PDF Download)
September 2012

Excerpt: "The Atkinson Centre’s response to the Province of Ontario’s discussion paper, Modernizing Child Care in Ontario, draws on extensive evidence documenting the elements that support quality and accessible service delivery.  It is informed by consultations with members of the Atkinson Task Force, an alliance of early childhood program operators, professional organizations, parents and educators."

Modernizing Child Care - Questions to answer: more to ask (PDF Download)
July 2012

Excerpt: "Modernizing child care in Ontario is longer on questions than answers.  Perhaps that’s wise for a sector that feels it is not sufficiently consulted.  If viewed as a conversation starter, it provides an opportunity to build a consensus around much needed changes to early childhood service delivery.  What follows is an initial response to the document..."

Additional Publications

Posted on Longwoods.com.

Article by Kerry McCuaig: "The needs of modern families have changed; the services designed to support them have not. Children's programming in Canada is divided into three distinct streams – education, child care, and family and intervention supports.... The result is service silos. Children and families don't experience their lives in silos; their needs can't be dissected and addressed in isolation."

Trends in Early Education and Child Care

Report by Kerry McCuaig, Jane Bertrand and Stuart Shanker: "Over the last few decades the science of early development has witnessed explosive growth. New technologies confirm that infancy and early childhood are the first and most critical phases of human development. A child’s earliest experiences shape the structure of genes and the architecture of the developing brain. At the same time families have changed, becoming more diverse and are raising young children in circumstances that are significantly more complex, and for many, more stressful."

Atkinson Letter - Modernizing the Early Years

Early years programs are undergoing significant changes in Ontario. Full day kindergarten will be available to all 4-and 5-year-old children by 2014. School boards are required to secure extended day options where there is sufficient demand. Child care programs are repurposing to serve younger aged children and their families.

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