This BRIEFing NOTE updates a previous document titled Proposed changes to child care regulations - Ontario 2014. Like the previous version, this document is concerned with specific elements of child care regulations proposed by the Ontario government. These—like the 2014 proposals (which were withdrawn by the government following community objections)—would significantly affect provision of child care in Ontario.
This BRIEFing Note identifies seven common myths about child care and provides responses for each based on what we know from research, policy and practice.
This BRIEFing NOTE is about multi-age grouping (also called mixed-age or family groupings) in early childhood programs. It is written to inform the dialogue about a proposal by the Ontario government to introduce regulations for multi-age grouping models in the province. It provides details and context for the proposals, briefly reviews pertinent research literature on multi-age grouping and examines how multi-age settings are regulated in other jurisdictions. The importance of ratios, group sizes and ECE training in multi-age grouping is explored.
This BRIEFing NOTE is about one of two current initiatives that will significantly affect child care, providing pertinent information about proposed changes to Ontario's child care regulations. It first provides the context, then briefly summarizes points from the research literature on staff: child ratios, group sizes and other program features (such as staff qualifications) that are linked to these.
All provinces/territories permit unregulated child care outside the child's home up to a maximum number of children; unregulated care arrangements are legal and permitted so long as they don't exceed the maximum number of children. The legal number of children allowed in unregulated child care is specified in provincial/territorial legislation, regulation or guidelines. Some jurisdictions have additional age specifications and several allow some unregulated group (centre) programs under some circumstances, for example for a limited number of hours a day.
In 2006, the Conservative government cancelled funds for a national child care program. Instead a taxable $100 a month cheque mailed to families for each child age six and younger would deliver "choice in child care". Although the public cost of this Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) will reach $17.5 billion in 2014, the federal government has not assessed the effectiveness of the program.
Debates about profit-making in human services include a range of considerations such as access and equity, the idea of the "public good", and democratic participation. A main focus of debates about for-profit early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Canada has been the impact of profit-making on program quality. Quality is a salient consideration in child care; child development research shows conclusively that "quality matters": good quality benefits children while poor quality may be detrimental. Thus, research from Canada, the United States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, etc.
This bibliography includes empirical research evidence and policy analysis on a number of domains relevant to differences between for-profit and non-profit child care. It is not completely exhaustive but includes the most pertinent documents. Most of the documents included are in published sources, primarily peer-reviewed sources. There are many additional position and policy papers, news stories, explanatory documents and other material on this topic that are not included here. Note that some studies fit into more than one category but are listed only once below.
Research and expert perspectives agree that one of the key elements that determines the quality of an early childhood education and care program is the number of adults to children - the ratio. However, it is also clear that the adult: child ratio is not the sole quality-determining element. Other important elements, especially training and qualifications, interact with ratio to form the structural and pedagogical base for quality in an ECEC program.
