News & Stories: Presentation

Presented by Kerry McCuaig, Senior Policy Fellow, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development; and Emis Akbari, Professor and Program Coordinator, School of Early Childhood, George Brown College | Senior Policy Fellow, Atkinson Centre, OISE/University of Toronto, at Putting the Public into Early Learning and Child Care, December 1, 2023

Presented by Kerry McCuaig, Senior Policy Fellow, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development; Emis Akbari, Professor and Program Coordinator, School of Early Childhood, George Brown College | Senior Policy Fellow, Atkinson Centre, OISE/University of Toronto; Shelly Mehta, Professor and Program Coordinator, School of Early Childhood, George Brown College, at the 20th Annual Summer Institute: Shaping the ECE Workforce for Canada’s Future, April 26, 2024

Excerpt: "With more than 8,600 spaces already at $10-a-day, our government has made regulated child care in Newfoundland and Labrador more affordable. Budget 2024 supports our efforts to increase capacity and create 6,000 new child care spaces by 2026 through: $27 million for continued implementation of the early childhood educator wage grid; Over $16 million for projects to increase the number of child care spaces; $2.7 million for bursaries and grants for students to become an early childhood educator; Launch of the Early Learning Gateway this spring, which will connect families seeking child care with service operators who have available space."

Presented by Zeenat Janmohamed, PhD, Executive Director and Senior Policy Analyst, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development

Presented by Kerry McCuaig, Atkinson Centre Fellow In Early Childhood Policy, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development

Presented by Dr. Emis Akbari, Senior Policy Fellow, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, at an ECE Appreciation event in the District of Timiskaming, October 12, 2023.

The early learning atmosphere in Ontario includes a number of significant policy changes that have created new opportunities and new challenges. Examples include moving the jurisdictional responsibility for early learning and child care to the Ministry of Education, a new regulatory body for early childhood educators, the expansion of degree programs in early learning, the unionization of early childhood educators and a blend of the teaching and early learning profession.

The 8th Summer Institute on Early Childhood Development addressed how these changes impact early learning professionals and focus on relationships amongst families and professionals that involve practitioners, colleges and universities, professional associations and government.

Measuring and monitoring quality in early childhood and care programs can help to inform research, policy development, and program practice. The following research papers discuss measures of quality and help us think about initiatives in the early learning sector to improve program quality, focus on relevant indicators of quality, and how to improve social and development outcomes for children.

In partnership with Invest in Kids, Better Beginnings, Better Futures and Toronto First Duty, the Atkinson Centre facilitated this one-day event focussing on the implementation of With Our Best Future in Mind. Topics included service integration, parent/community involvement and the Community Vitality Survey.

Event was held on April 11, 2012.

The symposium on Collaborative Practice in Action brought together 200 educators from across Ontario to share their knowledge with practitioners, researchers, government staff and school board officials. The symposium provided an opportunity to share examples of best practice and consider challenges that need to be addressed.

Kimberly Bezaire of George Brown College and Rachel Langford of Ryerson University summarized the key points of the day, in the presentation, "Voices from the Schools:School Teams Share their Experiences."

You've heard the claims from the famous HighScope Perry Preschool and Abecedarian studies about the tremendous payoffs of early education for disadvantaged U.S. families, but did you know that Canadian researchers are also amassing unique results documenting the cost-benefits of preschool here?

By age 4, 40% of Quebec youngsters are attending a full-time, publicly-supported learning and care program. Pundits point to the high cost, but new work by economist Dr. Pierre Fortin of the University of Québec at Montréal reveals the benefits begin immediately and the payoffs are more far-reaching than speculated. Award-winning economist Robert Fairholm of the Centre for Spatial Economics shows that almost all Canadian governments make the wrong decision when allocating their economic stimulus dollars. At a panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Lars Osberg, McCulloch Professor of Economics at Dalhousie University, these researchers presented their findings and provided some new ways of thinking and talking about the public's interest in early childhood.