In your profession
Time to teach toddlers?
Is Ontario's relatively poor performance in the first Canadian Early Childhood Education Index cause for concern? Not according to former Ontario Deputy Minister of Education Charles Pascal.
"While more needs to be done, Ontario has stepped up big time as the only province to provide full-day learning for four- and five-year-olds," says Pascal, professor of human development and applied psychology at OISE/UT and former special early learning adviser to Premier Dalton McGuinty.
“The index is an opportunity to study best practices from other provinces,” he adds. “Each province is doing fantastic things, and we can learn from each other.”
The index is part of the Early Years Study 3 report; is assesses provincial performance on a 15-point scale. Only Quebec, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba received passing marks of 7.5 or more. Ontario came in fourth with 6.5 points.
The report, co-written by the late Fraser Mustard, Toronto's internationally renowned early-childhood expert, advocates extending education to two-year-olds — a recommendation endorsed by Pascal.
The full report and related documents are available at earlyyearsstudy.ca .
Twit lit
Move over, Mordecai! Twitterature is coming to Québec classrooms. Line Beauchamp, Québec's Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports, announced that $71,750 will go to the Institut de twittérature comparée, following a successful experiment in Québec secondary schools. The organization will research how this Twitter tool can develop writing skills at the secondary level. Twitterature is when you use Twitter for literary creations of up to 140 characters.
Want to know more? Visit www.twittexte.com
