Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
May 27/2014
With Our Best Future in Mind……
Charles E. Pascal
Benevolent Society’s
Next 200 Dialogue
1
“The challenge for all societies is to close the gap between what we know about the determinants of early child development and what we do.”
2
Would like chat about….
O The wizardry of Oz
O Economic Prosperity & Quality Early Learning
O The challenges of the parent policy
O Integrating supports for children & families
O Organizing thinking & Behavior for Change
3
The Wizardry of Oz:
o NQF/NQS
o Remarkable innovations
o The Productivity Commission
o Great local leadership—Benevolent Society
4
5
Economic Prosperity
&
Quality Early Learning
Nutrition/Attachment/
rapid brain growth
Emotional & social
foundation
More formal learning/problem
solving/higher order cognitive
-9 Mths Birth 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24+++
6
World of work And retraining For life
Towards a truly seamless life of learning
Working Backwards to a Prosperous & Robust Economy
A productive economy requires a well-trained workforce that is flexible, always committed to learning new things.
Providing a well-trained and flexible workforce requires a high level of graduation rates from post-secondary education with skill-sets informed by creative problem-solving…..and….
7
Working Backwards to a Prosperous & Robust Economy
A high rate of high school graduates with commitment to learning, working well with others, ability to solve problems, eager to learn from mistakes—which in turn requires
That we ensure that those who enter the formal system of schooling are capable, happy and resilient learners, whose pre-school vulnerabilities have been dealt with to ensure their success in schooling and this requires….
8
Working Backwards to a Prosperous & Robust Economy
The highest quality early learning environments for children at home and beyond……
9
The Critical Quality Focus
O Staffing for success
O The ongoing measurement of what counts
O Increasing focus on outcomes
10
Staffing for Success 11
• Use of play-based/problem-solving curriculum
• Understanding the brain • Engaging Parents as genuine partners • Documenting progress
Early child development
knowledge and skills
• Emergent learners • Use of evidence
Reflective practitioners
• Anti-oppression training • Adapting to individual differences
Embracing Diversity
Information>Action
Input Process Outcomes
How is the child doing?
How is the family doing?
How is the program doing?
How is the system working?
How is the community doing?
What’s the societal impact?
12
Early learning makes BIG economic sense 13
• Early Learning highest employment multiplier (job creator) of all economic sectors - 43.5% more then the next highest ranking industries
Employment multiplier
• Spending on Early Learning has an economic multiplier effect on local economies, generating up to $1.7 dollars for every $1 spent
Economic Multiplier
• 2:1 to 17:1 payback on public funding for developmentally enriched early learning program from increased taxes by working parents + reduced social services
Investment Payback
• GDP grows by almost 1% for every 1% drop in vulnerability rate going into grade 1. Over working life=20% jump in GDP, even after interventions to reduce vulnerability on front end
GDP Growth
• Effective early learning programs benefit all: Majority of vulnerable children – more than 60 % – live in moderate, middle-class and affluent families
Benefits for all
Some preliminary results from my homeland
14
The Challenges of Parenting Policy
O Home environment has high impact
O What to do from a policy perspective
to ensure high quality parenting?
15
Constructing a parenting policy….
O Lately, I’m thinking we need:
O Universal “parental guidance policy” with:
O Individualized menu of provision
O Brokered through local
“Child & Family Centres”
16
o
17
What exists: Service fragmentation & chaos 4
Preschools
Child care
Parenting centres
Children’s mental health centres
Schools
Four School
Boards
Public health
Municipalities
Community
services
Parks & recreation
Ministry of Health
Ministry of
Children & Youth
Ministry of Education
Early intervention
Healthy Babies
After school
Recreation
Organizing, thinking & behaving for a change
O From fragmented to seamless
O The tyranny of transitions
O Moving boxes around won’t cut it
O Overcoming “hardening of the categories” & “short termism”
18
Organizing, thinking & behaving for a change
O The deathly challenge of short-termism
O Horizontal policy & the silver bullet
O Wonderful Dance of Policy, Research &
Practice
O Situating it all in the largest context
19
The wonderful dance of research, practice & policy
Practice
Research
Connecting to the larger context!!
21
Living
Standards
Canadian
Index of
Wellbeing
Time Use
Community Vitality
Democratic
Engagement
Education
Leisure and
Culture
Environment
Healthy Populations
22
Removing Obstacles to Change
• “No one organization at the provincial level or in the community is responsible for driving change; process is important but without accountable leadership, it’s a pathway to nowhere.”
Fuzzy governance
• “Too many cross purpose legislative silos = time spent filling out multiple budget forms, spending less time on service and preventing key changes to better serve kids and their parents.”
Hardening of the categories
• “While many in my community are sincerely dedicated to improving coordination of services, they are hampered by their own traditions. The Best Start table is a forum to keep an eye on each other, defend turf, and prevent anything more than marginal changes.”
The obstacle of tradition
• “We need a non-partisan approach for doing the right things for a change.” Short-termism
• “More money is nice but it is not the fundamental barrier if existing resources are not used effectively.”
Resources for a change
• “Success is a barrier for some communities who confuse high level collaboration with true integration and systems change.” Success
![Freeman, Charles - The Closing of the Western Mind [2002]](https://img.pdfslide.us/doc/110x75/5449643db1af9f53618b5052/freeman-charles-the-closing-of-the-western-mind-2002.jpg)
