Excerpts from the report:
Every child has the right to the best possible childhood. Ontario's vision is to make Ontario an international leader in achieving the social, intellectual, economic, physical and emotional potential of all its children. To make this vision a reality, the Ontario government launched its Best Start Plan in November, 2004. Ontario's Best Start Plan puts the central recommendation of the Early Years Study (McCain & Mustard, 1999) into action to create a 'first tier' for children 0 to 6 years. Early Learning for Every Child Today is a Best Start resource developed for Ontario early childhood settings that are the building blocks of the Best Start system.
Early Learning for Every Child Today is a guide to support curriculum and pedagogy in Ontario's early childhood settings, including child care centres, kindergarten classrooms, home child care, nursery schools, Ontario Early Years Centres and other family support programs, and early intervention services. It is a living document that will continue to evolve as early childhood practitioners working in early childhood settings use it. The Early Learning for Every Child Today complements, rather than replaces, specific curricular and pedagogical approaches, early identification protocols and regulated requirements now in place in Ontario early childhood settings. It also provides direction for programs that do not have an explicit curriculum or consistent pedagogical approach. It features a continuum of developmental skills and a shared language that will support early childhood practitioners and caregivers as they work together across early childhood settings.