Health implications of children in child care centres Part A: Canadian trends in child care, behaviour and developmental outcomes

Question 1

What child care quality score is recommended to promote child development?

Answer 1

67%

Question 2

What is the average quality score for non-profit child care centres?

Answer 2

62%

Question 3

What is the average quality score for for-profit child care centres?

Answer 3

55.4%

Question 4

What are some examples of child care centre quality assessment tools?

Answer 4

ECCOS (Early Childhood Classroom Observation Scale)

ECERS (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale)

ITERS (Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale)

Question 5

What is the recommended child to caregiver ratio?

Answer 5

3: 1 for children <24mo
4: 1 for children 24-30mo
5: 1 for children 31-36mo
7: 1 for children >36mo

Question 6

What are the integrative elements required for quality child care?

Answer 6

1. respect for the child;
2. a collaborative partnership with families;
3. quality indoor and outdoor physical and learning environments;
4. a purposeful learning program;
5. a supported workforce;
6. leadership at the program level;
7. effective administrative practices at the program level;
8. an effective infrastructure that includes a vision of an early learning and child care system;
9. government policies and processes based on evidence, system-wide planning and resources;
10. public funding for operating and capital costs;
11. adequate wages and parent fees;
12. research and evaluation, and communication of the research; and
13. skilled and knowledgeable child care practitioners, with some formal postsecondary training in early learning and child care

Question 7

What proportion of Canadian caregivers have training in ECE?

Answer 7

30% working within the child’s own home

36% outside the home

Question 8

What is the effect of high quality child care centres on development?

Answer 8

Mixed evidence but data suggests that they may have a positive effect on both behavior and cognitive domains

Question 9

What are the recommendations regarding child care centres?

Answer 9

1. Child care centres should be designed to deliver and maintain high-quality care because there is some evidence that high-quality child care improves some cognitive and behaviour outcomes
2. To optimize the quality of child care centres, staff ratios should be in keeping with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association (3:1 for children younger than two years of age, 4:1 for children 24 to 30 months of age and 5:1 for children 31 to 36 months of age).
3. To further improve child care centre quality, child care staff should have some training in ECE. To minimize staff turnover, staff should be appropriately remunerated.
4. Child care can be expensive and a barrier to employment of single mothers. Health care providers, government and non-government organizations and families should collaborate to further develop affordable, accessible, high-quality child care.
5. Institutions with a high number of employees may want to consider creating an onsite child care facility.
6. Quality research studies (randomized, controlled and minimizing/accounting for confounding variables) are needed to more clearly understand the health outcomes of nonparental care.