Advancing early childhood care and education in Canada and the U.S,
the U.K. and Australia: An international symposium
Jacquelin Hayden, Bronwen Cohen, Marcy Whitebook, Rita Chudnovsky, Helen
Penn.
Childcare Resource and Research Unit, April 1998.
In November, 1998, a one-day symposium titled "Advancing early childhood
care and education in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia: Exchanging
knowledge and strategies across borders" was held at Toronto's Metro
Hall. These four nations have had a common approach to programs for young
children in contrast to the nations of western Europe. None has developed
a coherent program of universal publicly-funded early childhood care and
education. The purpose of the symposium was to compare and exchange knowledge
and strategies for taking action to benefit young children and families
across the borders of the four nations.
Almost fifty presenters and 150 other attendees presented and discussed
research and policy perspectives to stimulate discussion on key child
care policy issues. The exchange of ideas bridged not only national borders
but disciplinary ones to include developmental psychologists, political
scientists, economists, child development specialists and sociologists
as well as a wide range of service providers and community activists with
an interest in child care and family policy.
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