Today Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a list of almost 600 schools that will be part of the first phase of introducing all-day kindergarten. Ontario is already the only province that offers two years of kindergarten, divided into "JK" and "SK".
Personally I'm happy with the development, although I seem to be in the minority on this one. My children's school is not included on the list for full-time programs, so it won't have an impact on us, despite the fact that our family will have two kids in kindergarten next year (one in SK, one in JK). However, I have seen the impact that the JK program has had on my kids, and I think that it could have a real impact on the kids who get to be a part of it.
There are concerns that not all kids can handle that much school at that age (some kids aren't yet four years old when they start school) but I don't really see how it's much different than being in daycare. They're still away from home all day, every day. In this case, they're just being exposed to more learning opportunities and adjusting to the school routine that will be theirs until around age 17.
The one comment that I keep reading is that it's just "free daycare". Personally, I find that offensive, and I'm not, nor have I ever been, a teacher. Kindergarten is so much more than daycare. Yes, there is playtime involved, but it is usually with a specific (if sneaky!) goal in mind. While some daycares do run on an early childhood education curriculum, most home cares do not. I'm also certain that the kindergarten teachers who spent five years at university studying to teach our youngest students don't appreciate being called glorified daycare.
Anyway, if you're looking for the list of schools who will be offering all day kindergarten in 2010-2011, you can find it here.
1 comments:
The thing I find funniest is our kids want to go to school full time at that age. It's a WIN-WIN situation for everyone!
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