Kindergarten debate reopened
Coquitlam Now
July 18, 2008 
By: Stephen Smysnuik

Local childcare advocates are again discussing the option of full-day kindergarten for children aged three to five.

"I think, absolutely, the government's on the right track with having this discussion, [but] it's a feasibility study at this point," said Wendy Cooper, a local childcare and early childhood education advocate and chair of the provincial Child Care Council….

There's bound to be much debate on the topic, particularly, as Supt. Tom Grant pointed out at School District 43's board meeting on Tuesday, over whether it will be a preschool-based model or an educational model.

"Already, the daycare associations and their associated supporters are already starting their campaign, saying it can't be an education model, it has to be a play-based, child-care model that allows students to work through the developmental stages," he said.

Board vice-chair Brian Robinson commented at the meeting that B.C. might be moving in an entirely different direction than Scandinavian countries, for example, which put a lot of funding towards early childhood education.

"The country that has the highest educational success [Finland] doesn't start their children in school until they're seven years old," Robinson said.

"In terms of schooling, we're heading in a completely different direction."

Cooper, however, believes education begins as soon as a child is born -- the six years between birth and full brain development are a learning process essential to how a child relates to the world. "It's about rich brain development through stimulating experiences," she said. "Socialization is a huge feat, and learning through play is the modern-day, early childhood education philosophy."

This is why, she said, people should not differentiate between daycare and early childhood education.

"Licensed quality childcare is excellent early childhood education," she said.

The only difference between daycare now and how it would be if the government decides to implement an early childhood education plan involves the funding.

"I think that everyone agrees that more public money supporting children under six is a good thing," Cooper said, adding that on a global scale, Canada is lagging in its funding for early childhood education.

As far as how the programs would be implemented, she speculated that there might be a partnership between what exists in the communities already, as opposed to formal kindergarten class in schools.

According to the Early Childhood Learning Agency's report, children who have participated in full-day kindergarten "experience positive outcomes in their academic and social-emotional development," but only if the programs are "well-designed and well-implemented."

The report also indicated that expanded options for parents with small children have a positive effect on the workforce.

All-day kindergarten would be an opt-in program in case parents felt their children weren't ready or believed it wasn't the right decision to make. Kindergarten in its present form isn't mandatory…