What's New
More Child-Care Spaces for Lunenburg
Government of Nova Scotia, July 27, 2026 Excerpt: "Families in Lunenburg will benefit from more early learning and child-care spaces opening in their community. The Lunenburg Day Care Centre is receiving about $4.5 million to help it expand, allowing for 77 new child-care spaces. “The Lunenburg Day Care Centre has...
Have child, need job: How child‑care problems prevent many families from re‑entering the workforce
The Conversation, July 21, 2206 Excerpt: "More than 300,000 Canadian families faced child-care access barriers last year that delayed a parent’s return to work, underscoring the urgent need to expand child-care access. This was despite other tangible and important gains related to Canada-wide child care — the affordability of care...
Inaugural awards for excellence in early childhood education
The Government of New Brunswick, May 22, 2026 Excerpt: "Sixteen early childhood educators in the anglophone sector are being recognized with the inaugural Minister’s Excellence in Early Learning and Child Care Awards. The awards, given out in four categories, honour early childhood educators, administrators, operators and inclusion support workers who...
Maneuvering Through Economic Challenges
Monday, May 4 | Mount Pearl-Paradise Chamber of Commerce, Newfoundland Speakers: Scott McCain – Chair, McCain Foods & Chair, Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation Inc. Stephen McNeil – Former Premier of Nova Scotia; former member of the Prime Minister’s Canada–US Relations Council Overview: The Atlantic provinces are navigating challenging...
Child Care Investments Really Do Pay Off
Economists Michael Baker, Johnathan Gruber and Kevin Milligan have just produced a remarkably important research study. We all know about the studies (here, here and here) that show that Quebec’s $5 a day child care had really significant positive impacts on women’s labour force participation. The employment rate of Quebec women went from substantially below the rest of Canada to substantially above. The fixed, predictable parent fee removed a major barrier to mothers’ employment. And Pierre Fortin and his colleagues (here) have given us good reason to believe that these increases in women’s employment generated by predictable parent fees brought in enough additional tax revenue to more than pay for the costs of the child care program. But this paper by Baker, Gruber and Milligan goes farther and deeper than that.
Fixating on a ‘magic number’ of childcare hours misses what’s most important for kids’ development
The Conversation, April 9, 2026 Excerpt: "Families with kids juggling full-time work may have been alarmed by media reporting this week, suggesting “too much” time in early childhood education and care could harm their child’s development. Data from a major Australian study, the First Five Years project, was released by...
The Kidder-Pascal Awards for System Change & Innovation in Education
People for Education, April 2026 Excerpt: "The Kidder-Pascal Awards for Systems Change and Innovation in Education celebrate visionary leadership, bold ideas, and transformative action that advance the promise of public education in Canada. Named in honour of Annie Kidder and Charles Pascal— two of Canada’s most influential champions for public...
An Updated Look at Pre-K in Large American Cities
CityHealth in partnership with the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) | March 2026 Excerpt: "Decades of research show that high-quality early learning programs can positively impact children’s learning, development, and health. Therefore, we strongly believe that access to a high-quality early learning program is one of the best...
Good‑quality child care? What parents should consider, and how it can be assessed
The Conversation, March 2, 2026 Excerpt: "Children’s experiences during early years form the foundation for their development. For many children in Canada and across the globe, these early experiences include substantial exposure to early learning and child care. And government investments in early learning and care in Canada and elsewhere...
Driving Insights from the Early Childhood Education Lab
University of New Brunswick | February 2026 Excerpt: "A strong early learning and childcare system depends on a skilled and stable workforce. Across Canada, early learning centres continue to face persistent staffing shortages, high workloads, and limited time for professional learning. These pressures make it difficult to recruit and retain...
How children’s play with everyday objects can encourage skills needed for STEM success
The Conversation, Feburary 12, 2026 Excerpt: "Parents looking to support their children’s learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will find no shortage of branded STEM sets, subscription science boxes, private coding programs or educational toys for kids.If the idea of STEM in early childhood is associated with these...
In Boston, Bringing the Best of Pre-K Practices into the Elementary Years
Boston has focused on creating and implementing a curriculum that aligns the content and instructional practices of the pre-K through second grade span.
Mrs. Margaret Norrie McCain Tribute Video
Children's Aid Foundation of Canada, October 21, 2025 Description: "This tribute celebrates the extraordinary legacy of The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, whose lifelong dedication to early childhood education and social justice has transformed lives across Canada. Through the voices of those she has inspired, we honour a visionary philanthropist, a...
How ECEs shape our children's futures
The Globe and Mail, October 21, 2025 Excerpt: "Child care is also a powerful economic engine. A report from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, in partnership with YMCA Canada, found that every dollar spent on improving ECE wages can generate up to $2.06 in economic return. Investing...
Province to remove barriers, make way for more child care at schools
On Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, government tabled Bill 19, the school amendment act. If passed, this act will enable school districts to provide child care to children of all ages, including infants and toddlers. Districts also will be allowed to provide care during non-school days, such as professional development days, and winter, spring and summer breaks.
Daycare in Denmark is a basic right. Could Canada offer the same?
When Lisa Petersen had her first child, she knew she would be heading back to work before long. So when her daughter, Naia, was a few months old, the former B.C. educator logged onto an portal run by the city of Copenhagen and selected her ideal daycare.
Making Numeracy and Literacy Learning Visible in Play-Based Publicly Funded Programs
There is an increased movement toward locating early childhood programs within school environments. However, there remains some tension between long-held perceptions of play and the realities of play-based pedagogies, resulting in increasing pressure for evidence of outcomes in academic skills, such as numeracy and literacy.
The Importance of Junior Kindergarten
Every child deserves the best possible start. Expanding public education to include 4-year-olds through universal junior kindergarten is not just an investment in early learning, it’s an investment in equity, families, and our collective future. By ensuring access for all, we can close gaps before they widen, strengthen communities, and give every child the foundation they need to thrive.
L'importance de la maternelle 4 ans
Chaque enfant mérite le meilleur départ possible. Étendre l'enseignement public aux enfants de 4 ans grâce à la mise en place d'une maternelle universelle n'est pas seulement un investissement dans l'apprentissage précoce, c'est aussi un investissement dans l'équité, les familles et notre avenir collectif. En garantissant l'accès à tous, nous pouvons combler les écarts avant qu'ils ne se creusent, renforcer les communautés et donner à chaque enfant les bases dont il a besoin pour s'épanouir.
Junior Kindergarten: Sustaining current & future labour markets in fast growing communities.
Date: September 22, 2025 Location: Crowne Plaza, Downtown Moncton. Across Canada we are facing challenging economic times. Building a viable work force is critical, and making early learning and child care available for employees is essential. Junior Kindergarten is a popular part of this equation in North America. Currently, just over...
