Facts about high-quality licensed child care
High-quality licensed child care provides Ontario’s children with safe, responsive, and caring interactions that build a strong foundation for development and well-being.1
When children are nurtured in environments where their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical health is considered, they thrive in countless ways.
90% of adult brain development occurs between birth and age 52
High-quality licensed child care helps children develop vital skills during their first five years, which marks a critical developmental period in a child’s life.
Early childhood educators (ECEs) provide children with the foundation they need to grow into future leaders. ECEs use their extensive knowledge of learning and child development to create high-quality learning opportunities through play and exploration.
Educators are trained to:
- Understand brain development and how to support healthy growth1
- Identify children’s developmental stages and capabilities in social, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and physical domains3
- Build partnerships with families to support children’s well-being3
- Plan activities that promote learning and build on children’s current abilities and interests3
Participation in high-quality learning environments, can help support children and their communities and to improve social, health, and academic outcomes.
Benefits for children
- Improved physical and mental well-being4
- Decrease in chronic health problems7
- Increased self confidence
- Improved outcomes in literacy,5 math, and science6
- Higher rates of completing high-school
- Increase in conflict resolutions skills
Benefits for communities
- Increases the number of women in the workforce
- Decreases the need for social assistance9
- Increases household income9
- Decreases participation in criminal activity8
1 Ontario Ministry of Education. (2014). How does learning happen? Ontario's pedagogy for the early years. Toronto
2 Kolb, B., Whishaw, I. Q., & Teskey G. C. (2019). An Introduction to Brain and Behavior (6 ed.): Worth Publishers
3 College of Early Childhood Educators. (2017). Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.
4 Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2016). From best practices to breakthrough impacts: A science-based approach to building a more promising future for young children and families.
5 Domond, P., Orri, M., Algan, y., Findlay, L., Kohen, D., Vitaro, F., Tremblay, R.E., & Côté, S.M. (2020). Child care attendance and educational and economic outcomes in adulthood. Pediatrics. 1461
6 McClure, E. R., Guernsey, L., Clements, D. H., Bales, S. N., Nichols, J., Kendall-Taylor, N., & Levine, M. H. (2017). STEM starts early: Grounding science, technology, engineering, and math education in early childhood. New York: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.
7 Blewitt, C., Morris, H., O'Connor, A., Ifanti, A., Greenwood, D. and Skouteris, H. (2021), Social and emotional learning in early childhood education and care: A public health perspective. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 45: 17-19.
8 Yoshikawa, H., Weiland, C., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2016). When Does Preschool Matter? The Future of Children, 26(2), 21–35.
9 Oxfam Canada (2019). Who Cares? Why Canada needs a public child care system.
