‘Will they really get the support they need?
Daycare owners and workers worried pre-primary program won’t work
With pre-primary programming starting at three schools in the Cape Breton Regional-Victoria School Board this fall, daycare staff and operators are worried the move will affect them and students negatively.
Starting this September, Glace Bay Elementary, Jubliee Elementary (Sydney Mines) and Cusack School (Sydney) are going to be offering classes for students who are four years old by Dec. 31, 2017.
Amber Gillis, assistant director for Wiggles and Giggles Daycare in Sydney, thinks it is a bad move for children.
“I do not agree whatsoever. I just don’t think the kids are ready for school at age four,” explained the early childhood educator, who has been working at Wiggles and Giggles for nine years.
“Some kids will be going at three (years of age) . . . they just don’t have the attention span. They are expecting a four-yearold to sit in a chair, all day long.”
This is an opinion echoed by
many working in early childhood education, like Catherine Roach, director of Jewels and Gems Daycare in Glace Bay.
“Kids could be going to school when they are three-and-a-half . . . they are still babies at three and four,” she said with a laugh that seemed to reflect a bit of shock she was feeling about the province’s pre-primary program
announcement on Tuesday.
Some parents, like Brittany MacLean of Sydney, are excited about the program.
“I think it’s great for lowincome families who don’t necessarily have other childcare options,” said the mother of two boys, ages two and 14 months.
For her, giving kids a chance to get used to a school environment at an earlier age is a good thing and she is excited to take advantage of the program that will cut child-care costs for her family.
“The cost of daycare around here, it’s crazy. Especially for someone who works shift work or is like me, a casual worker. My husband is a substitute teacher so this is a huge incentive for us,” explained MacLean.
However, Gillis, who is also a mother, says she would rather pay money for child care than to have her daughters, ages 15 months and three years, go to school at age four.
“If I’m able to skip the preprimary program at school, I’ll gladly skip it and pay daycare because I think it is more beneficial to their social, emotional development,” she said. “I can’t put a price tag on my daughters’ well-being.”
Gillis believes the smaller groups in daycares allow staff to better serve the needs of the child.
“If there is only one or two teachers in the school programs and a child is having an emotional day, will they really get the support they need?” she asked.
The ratio for teacher to students is something that has left both Gillis and Roach concerned and confused.
“I don’t understand how the ratios are going to work in the school because for pre-schoolaged kids, it’s supposed to be a 1–8 ratio. But in the schools it’s not going to be that, from what I hear,” said Gillis.
Roach says she’s also heard, through emails from the Minister of Education’s department, there may be changes in the ratio numbers given to the daycare centres.
“I think the ratio could be changed to 1-10 and I think that could work for a five- or even a four year old, but for a threeyear-old or an 18-month-old, I think that’s too much because they need more care,” she explained.
“Sixteen toddlers in a room with two staff is a little much. But I don’t know if it will happen. That’s just talk right now. I guess they will discuss it with us operators.”
Roach said she thinks the government plans to keep talks going with daycare operators during the transition, insuring it is working for them as well as the schools implementing the programs.
Still, she worries about the effects it will have on parents as well as the children, stressing the daycare centres are able to provide more hours of child care and workers are better trained to deal with the needs of both the child and the parent.
“In the ECE training, we are trained to meet the needs of the parent and the child — the anxiety, the separation from a parent . . . I mean, school is school, to me anyway. I don’t know how regular teachers are trained to deal with that.”
Both Gillis and Roach believe the opening of pre-primary programs in the public school system will lead to changes in enrolment in daycare centres, but at this point they are unsure what they might be.
“There’s going to be some impact and it’s going to be a big age change,” Roach said.