Taking the pulse of B.C. schools: A Q&A with Margaret MacDiarmid
The Tri-City News / Black Press
By: Tom Fletcher
September 06, 2009
EXCERPT

TF: All-day kindergarten is a big expenditure in a difficult time, so why is that a priority?

MM: The full-day kindergarten is an investment in the future. We know that money that we spend on early childhood learning makes a substantial difference later in life. We know that children who achieve better in school have better health outcomes, and we know that a dollar that we invest today in those students can save us up to $17 later in life.

Doing better educationally also is a huge determinant of quality of life. So we just feel this is the time to do this, in spite of the economic times, and we're delighted that we're going to probably have almost half of our kindergarten students have access to full-day kindergarten next year.

TF: Family structure isn't what it used to be, with parents working, divorce. Is kindergarten part of the evolution of society too?

MM: Certainly things have changed since I was a child, when most mums were home with their children. We also have a very heterogeneous society in British Columbia, we have single-parent families. We know that currently about one in four children are not ready for school when they start, and that does have a negative outcome for them in terms of their success in school.

Once we get the full-day kindergarten implemented, we are committed to some sort of early learning opportunity for four-year-olds as well, and my ministry's responsible for early learning generally, so we'll continue to invest in things like StrongStartBC and Ready, Set Learn that are in place.