Michal Perlman
Professor

Michal Perlman

Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development
Contact info
Phone: 416-978-0956

Biography

Michal Perlman is Professor at the Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology Michal Perlman has a PhD in developmental psychology and is a Professor in the Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She is cross appointment at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She is the Director of the Dr. R.G.N. Laidlaw Research Centre, also at the University of Toronto. 

She studies how early environments are associated with children’s wellbeing. She is particularly interested in the quality of interactions that children have with their caregivers both at home and in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. She has helped develop efficient ways of measuring the quality of interactions (and more global measures as well) and is developing interventions to improve the quality of interactions children experience. She also studies how to conceptualize and measure ECEC quality, parents as consumers of ECEC services, associations between ECEC quality and child outcomes and a range of policy questions related to ECEC. More recently Michal and colleagues who co-lead the FutureSkills centre at the University of Toronto have been identifying key skills needed for success in the 21st century and how to teach these skills to young children. Michal has published her work in a variety of peer-reviewed journals and her work has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the McCain Foundation, the Lawson Foundation a range of government counteracts and many others.   

Scholarly & Creative Works

  • Evaluating the validity of the responsive interactions for Learning-Educator-Child Dyad version
    2023, Early Childhood Research Quarterly
    Burns, S., Barron, C., Saleem, S., Jegatheeswaran, C., Jenkins, J., & Perlman, M.
  • Child cognitive development and parent roles: A preliminary comparison of Moroccan parents to united states and united kingdom benchmarks
    2023, Journal of Child and Family Studies
    Karam, R., Zellman, G., Perlman, M.
  • Change over time in interactions between unfamiliar toddlers
    2023, International Journal of Behavioral Development
    Lahat, A., Perlman, M., Howe, N., Recchia, H. E., Bukowski, W. M., Santo, J. B., Luo, Z. & Ross, H.
  • Instrument Development and Validation of the Home Child Care Version of the Assessment for Quality Improvement.
    Early Education and Development
    Perlman, M., Falenchuk, O., Burns, S., Hepditch, A., & Gray, K.
  • Analyzing referencing patterns in grey literature produced by influential global management consulting firms and international organizations
    2023, Plos one
    Saleem, S., Dhuey, E., White, L., Waese, J., & Perlman, M.
  • Examining evidence on skills needed in the 21st century using citation analysis: Understanding the quality of grey literature produced by influential global management consulting firms and international organizations
    2023, Plos One
    Saleem, S., Waese, J., Dhuey, E., White, L.A., & Perlman, M.
  • Do siblings influence one another? Unpacking processes that occur during sibling conflict
    2022, Child Development
    Borairi, S., Plamondon, A., Rodrigues, M., Sokolovic, N., Perlman, M., & Jenkins, J.
  • Information effects on parental choices for early childhood education and care.
    2022, Behavioural Public Policy
    Burns, S., Davidson, A., White, L., Hampton, D., & Perlman, M.
  • I felt like I was going crazy: Understanding mother’s and young children’s educational experiences at home during COVID-19.
    2022, Early Childhood Education Journal
    Burns, S., Jegatheeswaran, C., & Perlman, M.
  • Policy frameworks and parental choice: Using conjoint analysis to understand parental decision making for child care.
    2022, Journal of Family Issues
    Davidson, A. M., Burns, S., Hampton, D., White, L., & Perlman, M.
  • Centre-based child care attendance in early childhood and growth in later childhood: A prospective cohort study.
    2022, Current Developments in Nutrition
    Kucab, M., Keown-Stoneman, C., Birken, C., Perlman, M., & Maguire, J.
  • Development and evaluation of an open-source, online training for the measurement of adult-child responsivity at home and in early childhood education and care settings
    2021, International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning
    Rodrigues, M., Schneider, A., Sokolovic, N., Brunsek, A., Oré, B., Perlman, M., & Jenkins, J. M.
  • Positive and negative actions early in the relationship predict later interactions among toddlers
    2022, Plos one
    Perlman, M., Howe, N., Santo, J. B., Recchia, H. E., ... & Ross, H. S.
  • Changes in social pretend play as toddlers form relationships with peers
    2022, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly
    Luo, Z., Lahat, A., Perlman, M., Howe, N., Recchia, H., Bukowski, W., & Ross, H.
  • Heterogeneity in maternal and child mental health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
    2022, Early Childhood Research Quarterly
    Saleem, S., Burns, S., Falenchuk, O., Varmuza, P., & Perlman, M.
  • Teaching home-visitors to support responsive caregiving: A cluster randomized controlled trial of an online professional development program in Brazil
    2022, Journal of global health
    Sokolovic, N., Schneider, A., Perlman, M., Sousa, R., & Jenkins, J. M.
  • A critical analysis of international organizations’ and global management consulting firms’ consensus around twenty-first century skills
    2022, Review of International Political Economy
    White, L. A., Saleem, S., Dhuey, E., & Perlman, M.
  • Because ‘everybody believes in different things’: Examining tolerance of divergent preferences, beliefs, and morals in kindergarten students
    2021, Social Development
    Danniels, E., & Perlman, M.
  • Scotland embarks on a national outdoor play initiative: Educator perspectives
    2021, Early Education and Development
    Howe, N., Perlman, M., Bergeron, C., & Burns, S.
  • Early child development in low- and middle- income countries: Is it what mothers have or what they do that makes a difference to child outcomes?
    2021, Advances in Child Development and Behavior
    Rao, N., Cohrssen, C., Sun, J. Su, Y., & Perlman, M.
  • What do parents want in terms of early childhood education and care?
    2021, Early Education and Development
    Saleem, S., Burns, S., Davidson, A., Hampton, D., White, L., & Perlman, M.
  • Validating an efficient measure of responsivity in father–child interactions
    2021, Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement
    Sokolovic, N., Borairi, S., Rodrigues, M., Perlman, M., & Jenkins, J. M.
  • Assessing quality quickly: Validation of the Responsive Interactions for Learning-Educator (RIFL-Ed.) measure
    2021, Early Education and Development
    Sokolovic, N., Brunsek, A., Rodrigues, M., Borairi, S., Jenkins, J. M., & Perlman, M.
  • Do mothers or children lead the dance? disentangling individual and influence effects during conflict
    2021, Child Development
    Sokolovic, N., Plamondon, A., Rodrigues, M., Borairi, S., Perlman, M., & Jenkins, J. M.
  • How stable is program quality in child care centre classrooms?
    2021, International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy
    Varmuza, P., Perlman, M., & Olesya, F.
  • Ontario as a case study for modernizing Home Child Care licensing and support
    2021, Canadian Public Administration
    Varmuza, P., Perlman, M., & White, L. A.
  • How much variability is there in children's experiences with different educators?
    2021, Early Childhood Research Quarterly
    Vincett, M., Perlman, M., Pauker, S., & Jenkins, J.
  • A meta-analysis and systematic review of the associations between professional development of early childhood educators and children's outcomes
    2020, Early Childhood Research Quarterly
    Brunsek, A., Perlman, M., McMullen, E., Falenchuk, O., Fletcher, B., Nocita, G., Kamkar, N., & Shah, P. S.
  • Child care policy and child care burden: Policy feedback effects and distributive implications of regulatory decisions
    2020, Journal of Behavioral Public Administration
    Davidson, A., Burns, S., White, L., Hampton, D., & Perlman, M.
  • Is educators’ years of experience in early childhood education and care settings associated with child outcomes? A systematic review and meta-analysis
    2020, Early Childhood Research Quarterly
    McMullen, E., Perlman, M., Falenchuk, O., Kamkar, N., Fletcher, B., Brunsek, A., Nocita, G. & Shah, P. S.
  • Early childhood specialization among ECEC educators and preschool children’s outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis
    2020, Early Childhood Research Quarterly
    Nocita, G., Perlman, M., McMullen, E., Falenchuk, O., Brunsek, A., Fletcher, B., Kamkar, N., & Shah, P. S.
  • Scottish government policy for child care expansion and implications for outdoor play and learning programs
    2020, Canadian Journal of Environmental Education
    Perlman, M., Howe., N., & Bergeron, C.
  • Training and skills development policy options for the changing world of work
    2019, Canadian Public Policy
    Jansen, A. J., White, L. A., Dhuey, E., Foster, D., & Perlman, M.
  • Associations between director’s characteristics, supervision practices and quality child care centres
    2019, Early Education and Development
    Perlman, M., Howe, N., Gulyas, C., & Falenchuk, O.
  • Understanding unlicensed child care utilization in Canada: Implications for demand and oversight
    2019, International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy
    Varmuza, P., Perlman, M., White, L.
  • Risk perception, regulation, and unlicensed child care: Lessons from Ontario, Canada
    2019, Journal of Risk Research
    White, L. A., Perlman, M., Davidson, A., & Rayment, E.

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