Kindergarten controversy
Parents wary of imposing too much structure on tots
February 22, 2008
Black Press/bclocalnews.com

What would kindergarten for three-year-olds look like? That’s the question many parents are asking themselves after last week’s provincial throne speech promising to explore the option of expanding the hours of kindergarten and opening the doors to younger children.

While the move could be the long-awaited answer for thousands of parents languishing on child-care wait lists, the announcement has been met with widespread skepticism.

In letters to editors and online parenting forums, hundreds of parents are voicing concerns that young children should not be rushed into a structured learning environment.

In response, the Minister of Education shied away from the word “kindergarten.”

“I don’t want people visualizing three-year-olds in what we would now look at as a kindergarten format,” said Shirley Bond, emphasizing the ministry is open to input from the public and early childhood educators in their feasibility study. “We don’t know what a model would look like, but we do think it’s important to ask the questions.”

The ministry plans … explore the feasibility of including four- and three-year-olds by 2010 and 2011 respectively. The goal is to improve student outcomes, Bond said.

“We know that one in four children arrive at the kindergarten door and they are not developmentally ready to learn and it makes it really challenging for them to (eventually) complete even a high school program.”

The plan also aims to make use of excess space in schools where student enrolment is declining.

“We have $8 billion worth of public assets,” Bond said. “How can we use them in ways that are meaningful?”

On Monday, the Greater Victoria school board passed a motion to assess the district’s ability to accommodate the change, should it be adopted by the government. Despite closing seven schools recently, the district has about 800 more empty spaces than when it started.

“It’s wonderful to see this new move toward early childhood education and it’s wonderful to see the Ministry of Education participating in that,” said board chair Tom Ferris.

Already, the district offers full-day kindergarten for ESL and aboriginal students at George Jay and Tillicum elementary schools. “Whether this particular initiative ever goes anywhere remains to be seen, but I’m hoping that we do end up with all-day kindergartens,” Ferris said.

But trustee Michael McEvoy warned that reserving space for future kindergarten classes could threaten the 40 or 50 child care facilities that lease space from the schools.

“We want to make sure we have space for those folks so I wouldn’t want to send out signals of alarm bells that any of this is going to be jeopardized.”

The potential conflict leaves some parents wondering what will happen to existing child care options if preschool-aged children are diverted to kindergarten in the coming years.

“I am appalled they would consider putting so many small businesses out of work with this proposal with homogenized settings for children so young,” wrote one parent on a Victoria-based online education forum. “The beauty of access to daycare is diversity for parents who need/choose it.”

Another parent expressed concerns that early childhood educators would be lured away from day care jobs for the potentially more lucrative salaries in the school system.

“The (teachers) considered the ‘cream of the crop’ would be skimmed off to the schools. Not all, but enough for a big impact. I understand this is already happening with the Strong Start programs. In the end, that leaves less qualified staff out there for non-school-based child care.”

Bond, however, says the initiative is all about choice.

“We don’t intend to replace child care,” she said.

“It’s not about either-or, it’s about a complementary group of programs. We still have an aggressive plan to add child care spaces.”

Michelle Kirby of the Greater Victoria Regional Child Care Council says she is ambivalent about the announcement.

“Some think that because it’s coming from the Ministry of Education and not the Ministry of Child and Family Development, that we can have some faith in this process,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I am mostly cynical, because they have consistently under-funded public education so far. Why would this be any different?”