With some kindergarten children now participating in online learning, questions persist about how they will learn the competencies needed to help them flourish both socially and academically.
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Particularly after the devastation of COVID-19, evidence is mounting for the economic argument of reinvesting in high-quality early childhood education.
A person sits on a tripod platform high above the street as protesters occupy an intersection during a demonstration to call for government action to on climate change in Vancouver in February 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
As Canada emerges from the pandemic, creating jobs and achieving full employment are top priorities. Relegated to the back burner are balanced budgets and reducing debt.
Family members’ involvement in encouraging children’s reading and writing in everyday play and family life can make a difference to children’s literacy achievement.
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Moving between in-person and virtual schooling affects children with anxiety disorders like selective mutism. In addition, access to diagnosis and support is delayed because of pandemic restrictions.
Researchers mapped the variation in preschool policies, and how they impact on what families pay, across all states and territories. Some places charge much higher fees than others.
What can be done to overcome systemic racial inequalities in the education system?
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COVID-19 has highlighted longstanding racial inequalities in the education system. Educators say there is a way forward and out of this.
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Art can be a way to promote and support mental health in children, and understanding children’s experiences through the pandemic as seen through children’s art may help support them into the future.
Children arrive by bus at Portage Trail Community School in North York, Ont., Sept. 15, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Teachers’ optimism is strained when they know much more could be done to minimize COVID-19 safety risks in schools and to help them support student needs during COVID-19.
The solution to better education in Canada isn’t a national department.
Here, children sit at St. Barnabas Catholic School in Scarborough, Ont., on Oct. 27, 2020.
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Statistics Canada could help provinces and territories design and implement interventions to improve schooling quality, and governments should better engage with the public.
Play is integral to how children process and understand their experiences.
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Supporting play begins with parents attending to their own wellness and seeing children as drivers of their own play.
Many children stuck at home during the pandemic are watching more YouTube videos than ever, for both entertainment and education.
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Developmental language disorder affects more than seven per cent of children, yet is not well known. If your child struggles in school, social interactions or reading, the underlying issue may be DLD.
All is not lost if your child has missed out on some of their usual social interaction during COVID-19. They might have actually gained something in spending more time with family.
Mathematical models can help figure out class sizes and configurations to minimize disruptions and school closures.
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If families embrace reading as fun and routine and teachers work more closely than before with the families of their students, it’s possible that remote learning won’t be a huge obstacle to literacy.
Six-year-old Peyton Denette works remotely from her home in Mississauga, Ont., on March 30, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Motivating students, encouraging their self-regulation and maintaining home-school communication are ways parents have the potential to positively influence learning outcomes.
Volunteers prepare meals for food banks on the floor of the Bell Centre in Montréal in May 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Food insecurity is income insecurity. After COVID-19, we must no longer tolerate the inequities of corporate charity and the stigma associated with relying on society’s leftovers for those in need.
Adjunct Professor, Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at Ontario Institute for the Study of Education (OISE) and Senior Policy Fellow at the Atkinson Centre, University of Toronto
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary