EXCERPT FROM: Edmonton Journal
By Jeff Bisanz
Re: "Caring for kids goes corporate; Expected stock listing of daycare operator has some people in industry uneasy," The Journal, Jan. 25.
The article's focus on corporations creating childcare spaces is understandable, but it reflects what we regard as a misunderstanding of the issue.
The majority of young children in Alberta live in homes where parents are unable to provide full-time care themselves, usually because they work. Consequently, the demand for childcare is very high and continues to grow. Working parents need help, and spaces in child development centres are scarce.
The period from birth to six years of age is extremely important for children's long-term development and for their capacity to learn, adapt, and reach their full potential. Highquality environments during early childhood help children develop intellectually and socially. In child care, as in many other human services, quality depends largely on the degree of professional training staff members receive and also on the resources available to support children and staff.
The issue, then, is not just how to generate childcare spaces. Rather, it is how to create spaces that are very high in quality, as well as affordable and accessible for the parents who need them. The problem with corporate "solutions" is that they tend to focus on creation of spaces, rather than quality. Ensuring the high levels of quality our children deserve is expensive and requires continual reinvestment of resources. A corporate business model that minimizes this sort of reinvestment in favour of profits for shareholders often is not well suited for this task.
We need to be creative in finding ways to generate spaces for young children that are affordable and accessible.