This field review of the effects on learning and child development of early learning and child care (ELCC) programs in Canada is prepared for the Canadian Council on Learning. There are two major institutions (i.e., contexts) in which preschool learning occurs for many children. The first is the family. The second is early learning and child care programs such as kindergarten, child care centres, nursery schools, preschools, family home child care arrangements and other types of family support and related programs.
The objective of this review is to determine the current state of knowledge about the effects of these types of programs on early childhood learning and development, including cognitive, language and socioemotional development, and then to recommend directions for future Canadian research to expand this base of knowledge. This review seeks to determine what is known about the key characteristics of these programs that may affect learning and development (e.g., program type and design, quality of services, age of entry and exit), the characteristics of children and families that may moderate these effects on child development (e.g., gender, family background), and factors, such as peer and parenting relationships, that may mediate early childhood learning and development.
This review does not summarize literature on the effects of the family on learning in early childhood, except insofar as it is necessary to discuss the analytical and empirical separation of family and non-family effects. Instead, this study focuses on what we know about the impact of ELCC programs on children's early learning.