Explore:
Inequities in early childhood education and care (ECEC), formal education and youth training.
Test:
Novel solutions to known problems, collaborating with stakeholders.
Create:
Knowledge mobilization tools, including evidence-informed policy.
We draw on multidisciplinary insights from many fields, including economics, applied psychology and human development, and political science. We work with researchers across Canada and abroad to answer questions, develop interventions and mobilize information.
Featured Insight…
The Economics of Age at School Entry: Insights from Evidence and Methods
This article reviews the growing literature on age at school entry and its effects over the life course. Age at school entry affects a broad range of outcomes, including education, labor-market performance, health, social relationships, and family formation. We...
Quantitative Analysis and Methods
Redefining Learning After COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped our lives and how organizations serve their communities, especially newcomers to Canada. In response to these challenges, organizations in the Greater Toronto Area, including Catholic Cross-cultural Services (CCS), have moved their...
Parental Employment Effects of Switching from Half-Day to Full-Day Kindergarten: Evidence from Ontario’s French Schools
Full-day kindergarten programs are expanding across North America, driven by a policy focus on early childhood development. These programs also affect parents’ budget sets and may lead to changes in labour market outcomes. We examine parents’ labour supply response to...
Better public child care is the engine we need for recovery post-coronavirus
On June 12, 2020, child-care centres in Ontario reopened following a lengthy period of lockdowns. This commentary article urges government action to better support this sector in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Child-care centres are doing their part to support...
Intervention Creation and Testing
Cultivating young minds: Exploring the relationship between child socio-emotional competence, early childhood education and care quality, creativity and self-directed learning
Creativity and self-directed learning (SDL) have been identified as two key skills that children need to develop for success in the 21st century. As such, developing such skills has become a priority. High quality early childhood and care (ECEC) can play a pivotal...
Enhancing Children’s Creativity in Early Childhood Education and Care: A Systematic Review and Multivariate Meta-Analysis of Studies Between 1969 and 2019
This study integrates evidence on the effectiveness of interventions within early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings that aimed to promote the development of creativity in young children, from birth to six years of age. We explored 44 studies based on 5,817...
“It is almost impossible to get a spot when you need it”: Understanding parental knowledge and experiences of Canada’s new child care policy
Starting in 2021/2022, Canada implemented a new early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy, the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC). CWELCC aims to reduce the cost of child care to an average of $10CA/day. However, prior implementation of similar...
Designing Effective Policy Responses
Variation All the Way Down: Charting the Subnational Trajectories of School Choice Policy across and within Multicultural Democracies
The expansion of choice within and outside the public education system has become a defining characteristic of countries across the Western world. Yet comparative analyses of these policy developments at the subnational level, where the most extensive and significant...
Are Citizens Responsive to the Regulatory State? The Effect of Regulation on Evaluations of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)
Public service delivery has increasingly involved mixed markets, with for-profit, not-for-profit, and government-delivered pro-grams. In such contexts, regulation can protect the public interest by enhancing safety, expanding consumer choice, or improv-ing the quality...
Understanding early childhood education and care utilization in Canada
This study examined early childhood education and care (ECEC) utilization in Canada, focusing on use of unlicensed home child care (HCC) from an equity perspective. Data from the 2011 cycle of the General Social Survey (GSS) were used. Across Canada, parent responses reveal that 16.6% of children between the age of 12 months and entry to school were in unlicensed HCC. Another 24% of working parents reported having no regular form of non-parental childcare. Families with higher incomes were more likely to report using center-based care.
Mailing Address
Department of Management
University of Toronto Scarborough
UTSC Instructional Centre
1095 Military Trail
Toronto, ON M1C 1A4
