Transforming Early Learning Vision into Action in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

In Canada, the provinces are responsible for education. This article describes the approach that Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, has taken to implement a new vision for early learning including universal full-day kindergarten for all children aged four and five and modernizing the province’s childcare system. This new vision is based on the current neuroscience, child development research and international promising practices in early childhood education and care. The article chronicles the progress that has been made from 2009 to the present in implementing full-day kindergarten and provides an update about the current status of Ontario’s childcare modernization activities.