Happy International Women’s Day 

                                     from Ryerson ECE students!

1. Resources and events from CRRU:

Rally for a national child care system in Canada!
Organized by Ryerson ECE students, this International Women’s Day event will feature a Hokie-Pokie flash mob followed by a rally in support of funding for child care. “That’s what it’s all about!”

IWD events accross Canada:  http://www.internationalwomensday.com/search.asp

National child care often promised, still missing

Educated, employed and equal: The economic prosperity case for national child care

Lack of child care costing Canada: report

A tale of Two Canadas: Implementing Rights in Early Childhood: http://www.cccabc.bc.ca/res/rights/ccright_tale2can_brief.pdf

 Presentations from “Early childhood policy, provisions and practice: Critical questions about care and education”
PowerPoints are now available from a recent symposium at Ryerson University. Presentations by Peter Moss, Martha Friendly and Kathleen Flanagan now online; more to follow.

2. Full School Day Kindergarten Exemplar Videos:  

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/early_learning/fdk/exemplar_videos.htm

 3. Resources From Early Years Community Developers:

Family Dynamics of Immigrant and Refugee Families

Many newcomer families in Canada find it difficult to cope due to lack of family or social networks, especially for those coming from community-centred cultures.  The February 2011  ANCIE Bulletin, from the AMSSA Newcomer Children Information Exchange, provides information on challenges newcomer families face, family structure, information for service providers and resource links. Download a copy of the ANCIE Bulletin here (bottom of page).

The Current State of Canadian Family Finances 2010

Canadian families are finally in six figure territory. Unfortunately it is on the wrong side of the ledger. In its 12th annual assessment of the state of Canadian family finances, the Vanier Institute of the Family reports that average family debt has now hit $100,000. Not only that, the debt-to- income ratio, which measures household debt against income, stands at a record 150%, meaning that for every thousand dollars in after-tax income, Canadian families owe one thousand five hundred dollars.

The report notes that despite recent job gains, governments at all levels need to be concerned about the prospect of rising unemployment as workers who dropped out of the labour market attempt to jump back in – and as those who are working part-time hours (over 900,000 workers) continue to seek full-time hours.  In particular, families with younger members preparing to enter the workforce face tremendous pressure.  Only 5% of the new jobs created since mid 2009 went to the 15-24 age group. 

A year ago, the Vanier Institute cautioned that for far too many, there is too little income, too much spending, too little saving and too much debt. As governments at all levels craft their budgets for the coming year and look at cutting programs to reduce their deficits, they need to be mindful that the state of Canadian family finances continues to be fragile in many households.  Download the report here.

Family Roots:  British Columbia’s Changing Families

A new report produced by the Ministry of Children and Family Development offers valuable insight into the challenges, goals and key priorities of B.C. families – and how they have changed over the past few decades.  Titled, Family Roots, the report is the Province’s first step in establishing a comprehensive baseline of government programs and services supporting children, youth and families, upon which the success of future actions and investments will be measured. This work will continue with the development of a cross-ministry “children’s lens”, which will also set out clear actions as government works to strengthen services for B.C. children, youth and families.  The report presents a snapshot of the changing face of families, from the stay-at-home moms of the sixties to the rising incomes – and accompanying time challenges – of today’s predominantly two-working-parent families, who may still have kids living at home well into their twenties and thirties.  Download the report here.

4. Resources From First Call:

a. PLAN (Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network) is conducting a survey for their project called Family Talks.  The project goals are:

• to identify what people’s main priorities and top concerns are for their relatives with disabilities
• to share information and knowledge by engaging people in conversation on the website
• to build families’ capacities and spark innovation

They are asking partnering groups and organizations to pass the survey along to their constituency bases.  It is completely anonymous and takes about 10 minutes to complete. Furthermore, all results will be made public by this spring.  Link to the survey: www.familytalks.ca

b. Stuart Shankar Presentation on Early Learning

 In his presentation Pathways: Scaffolding for Early Learners, Stuart Shankar, Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at York University, looks at the importance of self-regulation in children’s learning. He argues that shifting the focus from intelligence as narrowly conceived in terms of IQ to looking at the kinds of experiences that build self-regulation opens up an entirely new perspective on why it has been so difficult to change educational trajectories. It also brings to the fore what can be done to enhance school-readiness, or enhance the learning process throughout the school years and beyond.

 View the slide presentation here.