FACT SHEETS
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A New Deal for Families - Fact Sheet
2011 Human Early Learning Partnership
There is a silent generational crisis occurring in homes across Canada. The Generation raising young children today struggles with less time, stagnant household incomes, and skyrocketing housing costs compared to the 1970s. The failure to invest in the generation raising young children is not consistent with Canada’s proud tradition of building and adapting.
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EDI Map Interpretation Fact Sheet
2011
A two page fact sheet providing information about the range of HELP maps and other graphics that illustrate the results of the Early Development Instrument (EDI), socio-economic information and other ecological data. HELP maps can be used in a variety of ways, from community mobilization to policy making, and are powerful tools for use in planning and community mobilization. Seeing the results for children in your neighbourhood ainspires a direct commitment to improving those results.
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Vulnerability on the EDI
2011
A two page fact sheet providing information about how vulnerability is defined in HELP's research. The fact sheet is intended for parents, community trainers, teachers, and other persons interested in gaining further understanding of what HELP researchers mean when they used terms such as vulnerability, cut-off and rate.
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The Early Development Instrument
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2011
A two page fact sheet providing information about the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The fact sheet is intended for parents, community trainers, teachers, and other persons interested in learning more about the EDI.
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The Middle Years Development Instrument
2011
A two page fact sheet providing information about the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI). The fact sheet is intended for parents, community trainers, teachers, and other persons interested in learning more about the MDI.
BRIEFS
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Early Childhood Rights Indicators
2012
Working with representatives from UNICEF, the World Health Organization and other international partners, HELP has developed an Indicators Framework for monitoring rights in early childhood. This Framework is intended to assist the 193 signatory countries to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in meeting their obligations.
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MDI Policy Brief
2011
The policy brief is intended as a tool for policy and program decision-making with regards to children's well-being in their middle years.
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Proportionate Universality Brief
2011
This policy brief provides information, including a definition, of proportionate universality. A system that incorporates the principle of proportionate universality for children in their early years would create and maintain a platform of universal services organized in a way that would eliminate the barriers to access that affect populations in the highest need.
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Aboriginal Steering Committee
2010
There is a broad understanding among Aboriginal Peoples of the inherent links between healthy children and healthy Nations. In this brief, we show how this understanding guides the family policy recommendations of the Human Early Learning Partnership in its report, 15by15: a comprehensive policy frame-work for early human capital investment; and why these same recommendations should command attention from both Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal Peoples.
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It takes a child to raise a community: ‘Population-based’ measurement of early child development
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2007
A description of the census of population-level early child development, using the Early Development Instrument (EDI), in British Columbia, Canada.
REPORTS
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Does Canada Work for All Generations? National Summary
2011
Canada is not currently working for all generations. There is a silent generational crisis occurring in homes across the country, one we neglect because Canadians are stuck in stale debates. My colleagues and I hope the 2011 Family Policy Reports for all provinces will refocus public dialogue on one of the most pressing social and economic issues of our time: Canada has become a far more difficult place to raise a family. Other languages: French
Full Provincial reports: British Columbia Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec (French), Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. -
Education
2010 Atkinson Charitable Foundation
A report of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW)
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Middle Years Development Instrument—Vancouver district report
2010 Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia
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Our children’s voices: The Middle Years Development Instrument
2010 United Way
Measuring the developmental health and well-being of children in middle childhood.
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Creating communities for young children: A toolkit for change
2009
This toolkit is designed to help communities understand the work of the ECD Mapping Project and to use the information in their neighbourhoods to create positive change for children. It is intended to support communities within BC, although many of the ideas will be adaptable to other jurisdictions.
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Eliminating the early vulnerability debt with new family policy
2009
Biologically unnecessary early childhood vulnerability costs Canada nearly 7-times the federal government’s current debt (accumulated deficit). Three major family policy changes are required to modernize Canada’s human capital investment strategy in order to capitalize on the economic potential that inheres in reducing early vulnerability. The first two fall within federal jurisdiction; the third falls under provincial jurisdiction, but is subject to the influence of federal spending power and policy leadership.
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The early childhood development population database
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2009 Canadian Council on Learning
This report provides an inventory of databases on the population of children ages zero to six throughout the world. The document presents databases that are available in French, English and Spanish as well as special projects in many regions and countries.
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The early childhood rights indicators: A tool to monitor the Convention on the Rights of the Child and raise its profile globally, In: Early Childhood Matters
2009
Marking 20 years of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, this issue of ECM looks at various aspects of how child rights are being realised. It starts with a look at General Comment 7 on implementing child rights in early childhood and an interview with Lothar Krappmann, the Rapporteur of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Additional articles include contributions from child-focused organisations in India and Brazil, and discussions about child rights in relation to Roma children, the challenges of implementing child rights in emergency situations, the "forgotten article" regarding the right to play, improving child-friendliness of urban environments, improving the education of key professionals, and the development of indicators.
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15 by 15: A comprehensive policy framework for early human capital investment in BC
2009
The government of B.C. has committed to lowering the provincial rate of early vulnerability to 15% by fiscal year 2015. This goal is both commendable and achievable. With support from the Business Council of British Columbia, United Way of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Foundation, HELP has completed a groundbreaking research project that quantifies the costs and benefits of addressing early vulnerability in BC. The resulting report 15 by 15: A Comprehensive Policy Framework for Early Human Capital Investment in BC dramatically illustrates why all of us – individuals, businesses and governments – should care about the real brain drain in BC today resulting from early vulnerability.
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The Early Development Instrument (EDI) in British Columbia: Documenting impact and action in schools, community, and early child development
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2008
Since the Early Development Instrument (EDI) was implemented in British Columbia in 2001, many early learning initiatives have been undertaken with significant financial investment and intersectoral coalition effort. School districts have become involved in community coalitions by cooperatively planning and implementing new programs. Government has funded innovative school initiatives and extended the education mandate to include children from birth to age five. This study addresses the question of whether targeted communitybased initiatives can reduce vulnerabilities, as identified by the EDI, prior to school entry. The study investigates neighbourhoods and/or communities in 10 school districts where EDI results have identified reduced vulnerabilities. These school districts applied to be part of the study, as each believed that newly-implemented ECD programs were responsible for the improved EDI results. The study uses narrative to document promising program practices and their perceived impact on families, child development and social issues; it provides evidence of effective practice through participatory and reflective methodologies resulting in new insights for policy makers in school districts and communities.
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Expanding early childhood education and care programming: Highlights of a literature review, and public policy implications for British Columbia
2008
In the spring of 2008 the Early Childhood Learning Agency approached the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) to conduct a literature review of early childhood education and care (ECEC). In this report we share highlights of the literature review. We begin with a brief description of the approach used to generate the literature review and the public policy context that framed our work. We report on ECEC policies and programs in other jurisdictions, followed by findings from BC. We then examine the following five key issues in more detail: “school readiness” and child development outcomes in ECEC programs; parental preferences regarding ECEC programs; the inclusion of children from diverse cultural groups and with differing abilities; program expansion and integration of education and care; and issues related to the development of a comprehensive ECEC strategy. Finally we identify what we see as the major public policy implications of the literature review.
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Expanding early childhood education and care programming: References and information sources
2008
This is a collection of the references and information sources for Expanding early childhood education and care programming: Highlights of a literature review, and public policy implications for British Columbia, a literature review of early childhood education and care conducted by HELP at the request of the Early Childhood Learning Agency.
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Total Environment Assessment Model for Early Child Development
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2007
For the World Health Organization's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. This report provides a framework for understanding the environments (and their characteristics) that play a significant role in providing nurturing conditions to all children in an equitable manner.
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WHO final report: Early child development: A powerful equalizer
2007
This document synthesizes knowledge about opportunities to improve the state of early child development on a global scale. In keeping with international policy standards, early childhood is defined as the period from prenatal development to eight years of age. What a child experiences during the early years sets a critical foundation for the entire life course. This is because early child development (ECD), including health, physical, social/emotional and language/cognitive domains strongly influences basic learning, school success, economic participation, social citizenry and health. Other Languages: French Mandarin Spanish
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Development of a provincial hearing loss registry in British Columbia
2006
BOOKS
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New approaches for research in child development: Rules, rituals, and realities
2011 Palgrave-MacMillan
What we learned about identification and screening. In: Goelman H, Pivik J, Guhn M, editors. New approaches for research in child development: Rules, rituals, and realities.
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New approaches to early child development : rules, rituals, and realities
2011 Palgrave Macmillan
This book describes the process and outcomes of a collaborative, interdisciplinary research project on early child development. The project was interdisciplinary and collaborative in two ways. First, it included research from pediatrics, social work, community planning, landscape architecture, psychology, sociology, nursing, occupational and physical therapy, women's studies and Indigenous studies. Second, all of the ten studies were partnerships between university-based researchers and community-based professionals. The book describes the rules or formal guidelines which guided our work; the rituals which provided opportunities for meaningful interaction among the research teams; and the practical realities we faced in terms of time, space and money to keep the project moving
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New approaches to research in early child development: Rules, rituals, and realities
2011 Palgrave-MacMillan
The theoretical framework(s) that guided the CHILD Project. Chapter 2. In: Goelman H, Pivik J, Guhn M, editors. New approaches to research in early child development: Rules, rituals, and realities.
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New approaches to research in early child development: Rules, rituals, and realities
2011 Palgrave-MacMillan
Graduate student experiences in the CHILD Project. Chapter 10. In: Goelman H, Pivik J, Guhn M, editors. New approaches to research in early child development: Rules, rituals, and realities.
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New approaches to research in early child development: Rules, rituals, and realities
2011 Palgrave-MacMillan
What we learned about interdisciplinarity. Chapter 8. In: Goelman H, Pivik J, Guhn M, editors. New approaches to research in early child development: Rules, rituals, and realities.
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New approaches to research in early child development: Rules, rituals, and realities
2011 Palgrave-MacMillan
Conclusion: What differences can we make to make a difference? Chapter 11. In: Goelman H, Pivik J, Guhn M, editors. New approaches to research in early child development: Rules, rituals, and realities.
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The world book of happiness
2010 Lannoo Publishers
Social competences and human needs. In: Bormans L, editor. The world book of happiness.
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Patterns of Artistic Development in Children
2010
This book traces the development of artistic talent from early childhood to adolescence through a series of studies that look comparatively at development in talented and less-talented populations. It presents a model of artistic talent that attributes individual differences to the figurative abilities of talented children. The model proposes that artistic talent results from the continual coordination of heightened figurative abilities with conceptual processes throughout a period critical in semiotic development. The studies focus on the development of form, spatial relationships and composition. Milbrath's theory is richly supported by original examples of children's artwork.
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Art and human development
2009 Psychology Press
This interdisciplinary volume explores art, its development, and its role in the construction of knowledge. Presenting theory and research on artistic development as a cultural and creative endeavor, contributors examine the origins of human art during the Paleolithic cultural revolution, as part of a modern cultural transformation, in the growth of a creative artist, and in developing children.
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Children’s understandings and production of pictures, drawings, and art: theoretical and empirical approaches
2007 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers
This book presents an innovative approach to the psychological study of children's pictures, drawings, and art. With contributions from leading experts in the field, it compiles all the relevant theory and research on children's developing conceptions of pictures, drawings, and art. It is the first book to focus explicitly on children's knowledge and judgment of pictorial representations, including the understanding of their role as artist and viewer.
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Carefair: Choice, duty and the distribution of care
2006 Oxford University Press
Men’s care patterns are relatively inelastic despite dramatic shifts in women’s labor force participation. The article recommends a caregiving analogue to workfare that would use policy more aggressively to influence men’s choices between employment and care. The “carefair” concept is defended by invoking two arguments for enforcing work duties common in liberal regimes: the moral hazard argument and the new paternalist competence argument. The logics explicit in these arguments resonate substantially with theorists and practitioners in the liberal cultural milieu and can be appropriated to justify state intervention that would challenge both patriarchal socialization patterns and economic incentives.
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Healthier societies: From analysis to action
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2005 Oxford University Press
Extensive research has shown that social factors are as important as biological ones in determining health, and their impact is enormous in both adults and children. The challenge of changing public policies and programs remains. Healthier Societies: From Analysis to Action addresses the fundamental questions which will lead the way toward countries investing seriously in improving social conditions, as a way of improving population health. The book is divided into three parts. Section one addresses to what extent health is determined by biological factors, by social factors, and more fundamentally, by the interaction between the two. Section two examines four case studies that demonstrate the ways in which social change can dramatically affect adults' health, as well as launch children's lives onto healthy trajectories. This section analyzes the cases of nutrition, working conditions, social inequalities, and geographic disparities. The third section of the book takes a serious look at what would be involved in translating the research findings described throughout the book into action.
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The British Columbia atlas of child development
2005 Western Geographical Press
This Atlas outlines the geography of British Columbia. This is followed by a brief demographic survey of early childhood in the province, visually displaying where children live and their ethnic and language diversity. The third chapter reports on results obtained using the Early Development Instrument (EDI) and illustrates near future developmental opportunities and challenges. Chapter 4 focuses on the social and economic characteristics of neighbourhoods that co-occur with favourable and worrisome EDI trends. The Atlas concludes by discussing the implications of EDI and socioeconomic data for community planning and public policy.
RELATED REPORTS
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The science of early child development
2010
The science of early child development encompasses the fields of neurobiology, genetics and the social sciences, including psychology, social work and medicine. Research conducted over the past few decades gives us a much better understanding of human brain development and the impact of experience from conception onwards. The first phase of life is one in which there are both great opportunities and great risks that can set trajectories across a lifetime. Early experiences affect how genes are expressed and how brain connections are built. Thus early life has a long reach forward.
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With our best future in mind: Implementing early learning in Ontario
2009
In partnership with parents, full-day learning will provide Ontario children with high-quality programs that help lay the foundation for a healthy and productive life. In November 2007, the Ontario premier asked Dr. Charles Pascal to recommend the best way to implement full-day learning for 4- and 5-year-olds. This document provides the highlights of his advice.
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The social inclusion project for at-risk children and families
2009
The report includes a description of the objectives of The Social Inclusion Project for At-Risk Children and Families and the project outputs with detailed information and examples for both the research and deliverables components. The final sections of the report consist of the follow-up to the research and deliverables components of the project based on the findings of the research studies and on the feedback provided by members of the Lower Mainland communities targeted in this project. Recommendations to government and non-governmental agencies in terms of the support required by families and their service providers derived from the information drawn from these sources.
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Early childhood matters: strengthening the young child’s care environment
2007 Bernard van Leer Foundation
This edition of Early Childhood Matters is devoted to the Foundation's issue area: Strengthening the care environment. It lays out the foundation's thinking on both the near environment of parents, caregivers and teachers and the further environment of systems, policies and public opinion. Emphasising the importance of taking a holistic approach to young children's development, it includes contributions from CARE USA and Right to Play along with views from Guatemala, Thailand, Jamaica, Uganda and Colombia.
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Early years study 2 – Putting science into action
2007 Council of Early Child Development
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Starting strong II: Early childhood education and care (OECD)
2006
This review of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in twenty OECD countries describes the social, economic, conceptual and research factors that influence early childhood policy.
