Early Childhood Education in Canada Essay Example

care programs were initially established in the late 1850s in form of charitable and Quebec services with an objection of providing fundamental custodial care and supervision of young kids of mothers who were engaged in paid labor for their family support (Gestwicki, Bertrand at al 2011).

At the end of 1800s, there existed several child care education care program operated and managed by charitable organizations in Ontario. Influenced by child study movement, preschools and nursery schools started to be established in 1920s being part-day programs providing enrichment experiences for children via creative play. Eventually, more of these programs were inaugurated by groups of parents at a fee.
The preschools and nursery schools emphasized that their core purpose to provide children with developmental experiences but not just custodial care for kids while their parents worked (Cutter-Mackenzie, Edwards at al 2014). Antecedent by many private kindergartens in most parts of the country, kindergarten as a part of public school system was established in1885 in Toronto and started receiving provincial funding two years after. Initially, kindergartens were for 3-5 years old children and offered a full school-day program. Generally, these kindergartens were seen as opportunity for preparing children for their entry into formal education system which highly emphasized on the development school related skills. After the Second World War, most schools across Canada started publicly funded kindergartens. In early 1950s, Toronto started establishing public kindergartens for the 4 years old kids as a result of post war wave of immigrants.

In Canada, there is always a differentiation between programs which are part of education system and often viewed as educational primarily whose main role is perceived as providing basic care to

children during their parent’s absence. These perceived differences are reflected in the crucial differences in ways which workers are prepared for the job, remuneration levels and worker status. In spite of the differences child care and kindergarten alike are facing challenges in the maintenance of adequate supply for qualified workers and also reflection diversity of workforce population in Canada.

Kindergarten teachers are individuals teaching in kindergarten classroom and are members of teaching profession in Canada. For one to practice a kindergarten teacher course in Canada, one must either have a four-year undergraduate degree which include specific teacher training course (a B.Ed.), or an undergraduate degree plus at least one year teacher training. Typically, the teacher-training programs are courses on educational psychology, human development, teaching evaluations and methods. The course also includes programs like teaching children with special needs plus a 12-week practicum in the classroom under supervision of a qualified teacher.

In Canada preschool teachers are tasked with helping young learners to prepare for kindergarten by means of games and interactive play. Employment as a public preschool teacher requires a bachelor’s degree (Saracho & Spodek, 2010). However, other child care institutions employ teachers who have attained a high school diploma plus certification or associate degree. Additionally, Child Development Associate (CDA) certificate and a state license are other key requirement for the employment. First aid certificate and prior experience are added advantage to the candidates. Other basic consideration for the preschool teachers is the ability to handle behavior and discipline problems. The roles of the preschool is to develop schedules and routines for the children, maintain a comfortable and safe environment for the kids, implement and plan lessons

for the kids, address cultural and special needs and to provide appropriate discipline and supervision. The estimated remuneration for the preschool teachers is 31, 420 dollars annually. Apart from earning a solid paycheck, other benefits include, health insurance and pension plans, job security, vacation time and becoming experts as teachers.

According to the preschool curriculum, children are expected to leave the kindergarten with ability to communicate ideas, emotions and feelings, understanding of basic concepts like weight and length. Other expected outcomes are ability to use language and awareness of convections of written materials. Some provinces in the country have prescribed materials for use in the kindergartens while other territories provide a list of suggested curriculum activities and materials that might be used by the teachers. Generally, school boards are free to adapt their own programming based on local circumstances and needs. Even though there is no national approach to the kindergarten programming, there is a move towards the development of a common curriculum for the elementary and secondary schools including kindergartens (Essa, 2012).For the child care, territories/provinces do not have a specific philosophical approach or a specific curriculum for the child care. However, Quebec requires its child care curriculum to be practiced and used in child care centers and all regulated family child care.

The primary and main goal for kindergartens in all provinces is preparing children in readiness for Grade 1 and school readiness is identified as the core goal for the child care whereby the term “school readiness” is understood to mean development of pre-academic skills. These skills include for better emotional and physical health, willingness in trying new things, positive self concept and communication

skills. There is no set mechanism for assessing effectiveness of the kindergarten programs meant for preparing kid for Grade 1. Assessment to determine if the children have achieved or acquired the expected outcomes is done by individual school boards and teachers.

Conclusion

Early childhood education is an arm of education theory that relates with teaching the young children both formally and informally until the age of approximately eight years. In Canada, formal early childhood care and education have got a history that dates back two hundred years ago, however many issues surrounding the services for the young Canadians still continues to hotly contested. The preschools and nursery schools emphasized that their core purpose to provide children with developmental experiences but not just custodial care for kids while their parents worked. Preschool teachers are tasked with helping young learners to prepare for kindergarten by means of games and interactive play. The preschool curriculum, children are expected to leave the kindergarten with ability to communicate ideas, emotions and feelings, understanding of basic concepts like weight and length. Other expected outcomes are ability to use language and awareness of convections of written materials. The primary and main goal for kindergartens in all provinces is preparing children in readiness for Grade 1 and school readiness is identified as the core goal for the child care.

Reference

1. Cutter-Mackenzie, A., Edwards, S., Moore, D., & Boyd, W. (2014). Young children's play and environmental education in early childhood education.
2. Essa, E. (2012). Introduction to early childhood education.
3. Gestwicki, C., Bertrand, J., & Gestwicki, C. (2011). Essentials of early childhood education. Toronto: Nelson Education.
4. Saracho, O. N., & Spodek, B. (2010). Contemporary perspectives on language and
   

cultural diversity in early childhood education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub.