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by Shetu Modi |
Full-time kindergarten could alleviate child care woes
But should four and five-year-olds be in school all day?
DECEMBER 3, 2007
When Roma Denomme tried to find after school care for her kindergarten-aged son four years ago, she had trouble tracking down a day care provider who was able to accommodate his school schedule.
"Nobody wanted to take him back and forth to school for the half day," Denomme, who lives in Kitchener, said. Most of the providers she contacted didn't go to school at midday; they looked after children who attended school full-time. Denomme eventually found a provider willing to drop him off and pick him from school, but said it was "really, really hard." She thinks it would have been easier to find care if her son had attended school all day.
During the election campaign this year, the Ontario government proposed a plan to introduce full-time kindergarten. Last week, the issue was once again thrust into the spotlight when Premier Dalton McGuinty announced that full-time instruction for children in senior kindergarten would begin in 2010, and full-time junior kindergarten would be phased in the following year. Dr. Charles Pascal, who is the chair of the Education Quality and Accountablity Office in Ontario, was selected to help develop the program.
John Doherty, acting president of the Council for Early Child Development, believes having kindergarten children in school all day will make it easier for parents of younger children to find care.
"That's where the majority of subsidies for day care now resides, in that four and five and six-year-old age group," said Doherty. "By moving towards full-time kindergarten, you're going to start to free up a lot of subsidy spaces and we can move them down into the younger age group."
"There's no question it will take some pressure off child care," said Deb Matthews, Ontario's Minister of Children and Youth Services.
One model Ontario has looked at is the all-day program at the Bruce/WoodGreen Early Learning Centre in Toronto, said Matthews. Children can be in the classroom from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., but the program is comprised of both education and care.
"The school day is a lot shorter than the child care day," said Matthews. "So that's one thing (Dr. Pascal) is going to have to think about."
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Deb Matthews, Ontario's Minister of Children and Youth Services |
Amy Rowland is a child and youth worker from New Hamburg. Her three-year-old son and two-year-old daughter currently go to a licensed home child care provider in Kitchener, where she works. Despite her irregular hours, she believes all-day kindergarten would make it easier for her to find a local child care provider to take her children to and from school when they are old enough to attend.
"I'm kind of torn I guess, because I do also think that a full day for a kid is a long day, unless they have naptime or something in the afternoon," Rowland said. If the province goes ahead with the 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. model, Rowland would not want her kids in a classroom for that long.
"I'd prefer for them to be in a home," she says, adding that she thinks it would be more comfortable and relaxed than a school setting. A full day of school would not be compulsory for kindergarten children .
While introducing full-time kindergarten in Ontario may solve some of the child care problems parents face, there is also the question of whether a four or five-year-old is ready for a full day in the classroom .
"There is no generic answer," said Dr. Mary
the University of Western Ontario.
"I'm not convinced that all three, four and
five-year-olds are going to benefit by
a full day program doing anything,
whether they're in a child care centre
or a school." Children as young as three
can enter junior kindergarten, as long as
they turn four by December 31 of the same year.
"Some children will need a two-and-a-half-hour nap in the afternoon. Some children really need to be with their siblings. Some children will benefit best by being with a parent," she said.
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| Amy Rowland would rather have her children looked after in a home than remain in a school setting until 6 p.m. |
"I know plenty of adults, let alone children, who don't want to be in a social setting for eight hours, every day, interacting with others our age," Vernon said. "So I wonder why we find it appropriate for children. For all children." Vernon does think the program would be beneficial for children who thrive in a social context.
"It's all circumstantial," agreed Megan Russell, a kindergarten teacher at Lackner Woods Public School in Waterloo. "I think it might be a bit wearing for the younger ones."
But Russell said that a full day might allow her to do a bit more teaching.
"(In a half day) you don't have great teaching moments," she said, explaining that much time is spent helping children with tasks like zipping up their coats and opening up snacks.
- with files from Kate Robertson
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