HIGHLIGHTS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION COMMISSION REPORT

Highlights from report on the next frontiers for daycare in Quebec:

The government should recognize that all daycare services are meant to be educational with a focus on nurturing, socialization, stimulation and development through play-based learning.

Early childhood education should be free for all children from birth to age 4, just like school.

One minister and ministry should be in charge of education for all Quebec children from birth to age 16.

There must be better continuity in educational services from early childhood through to school years.

One tool be created to track a child’s development during early childhood to help facilitate the transition to school.

Early childhood educators should have better training, including being required to have a diploma or degree and to participate periodically in professional development seminars.

All new family-based daycare providers should receive a college diploma before being accredited and that a specialized program be created with their needs in mind.

Degree programs for early childhood and primary education should offer more courses on preschoolers to better prepare kindergarten and pre-kindergarten teachers.

Tax credits should be cancelled for unregulated daycare centres to give parents incentives to put their children in an educational milieu.

Daycares that bill themselves as educational should be required to meet minimum standards or lose their accreditation.

More outreach and recruitment should be done to attract children from disadvantaged backgrounds to early childhood education programs.

To reach more vulnerable children, those who have never attended daycare should get priority in junior kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds.