It’s an investment opportunity like no other. A chance to secure a brighter economic future by investing in tomorrow’s community leaders, today.

It’s called Early Childhood Development (ECD), and rather than measuring the return on investment in dollars and cents, Charlie Coffey, a director with the Council for Early Child Development, calls it a return on society.

At a Wednesday breakfast meeting at Best Western Vernon Lodge, Coffey, a retired executive for government affairs and business development for RBC, spoke to local community leaders about the importance of investing in ECD.

The first six years of a child’s development are crucial for lifelong learning, health and behaviour. More specifically, these formative years are where children develop cognition, language, motor skills, adaptive skills and social-emotional functioning.

Using recent research, Coffey explained the potential benefits of supporting ECD, and the pitfalls of choosing to ignore it. Citing a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, he explained how a $1 investment in high-quality early childhood learning can yield a $17 return down the road.

“If we don’t get it right in the early years, there’s a huge cost later on… incarceration, dropouts, special education, intervention programs, those sorts of things,” said Coffey, who also spoke in Salmon Arm on his Okanagan visit.

“If you want an idea of what your economy will look like in 15 years, take a look at what you’re investing in ECD today.”

An advocate in this field for more than 15 years, Coffey says Canada has dropped the ball in its support of early child development programs.

In a review of 14 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, Canada, investing just 0.25 per cent of its GDP, ranked last in terms of spending on early childhood education and care. By comparison, Denmark topped the chart at 2 per cent, eight times more than Canada.

In UNICEF’s Report Card on early child education and care in the world’s 25 affluent most nations, Canada was last again.

“When I read that, I was a bit angry. Why are we allowing this to happen?” asked Coffey. “There should be more significant change than what we are seeing in this province and country.”

On a provincial level, things aren’t much better. Research conducted by the University of British Columbia’s Human Early Learning Partnership shows that 29 per cent of children entering kindergarten don’t meet the developmental benchmarks needed to thrive in the classroom.

The study also indicates children coming from low economic backgrounds are most at risk, but the majority of vulnerable children in B.C. come from middle-class backgrounds.

To counteract this, the B.C. government is implementing its 15 by 15 policy, which aims to ensure 85 percent of all children entering kindergarten in 2015 will be ready to learn.

Coffey says the solution isn’t all that difficult. It’s just a matter of getting people on the same page.

“This is not complex. (We need) to show support for the people who are dealing with the community’s most precious resource, the children… getting different people at the same table.

“It might be uncomfortable for an ECD educator to meet with the chamber of commerce people. If you get the right environment, you can get the community focus together and talk about developing a vision.”

Lynne Reside, coordinator of the North Okanagan Early Childhood Development Coalition, says her organization is an ideal platform to get community leaders together. The range of attendees at Coffey’s speech was proof of that, as representatives from the school district, Interior Health, childcare agencies, the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce and the City of Vernon were all there.

via www.bclocalnews.com

Wages are the top priority for people working in P.E.I.'s child care centers, but they will have to wait to see how the government intends to spend $2.5 million promised them in the budget.

In a media briefing in advance of his budget speech Friday, Finance Minister Wes Sheridan said the years from birth to age four are the most important in a child's development. The budget contained $2.5 million in new spending for early childhood education, but Sheridan said negotiations over how it would be spent were ongoing.

Jamie McQuaid is keen to hear where the money will go. She has worked as an early childhood educator for five years. She is now working at Parkdale-Sherwood Headstart, and makes the average wage in P.E.I. daycares, about $12 an hour.

"If you're in it for the money you're not in the right career," McQuaid told CBC News Monday.

"It's the love of teaching and learning along with the children every day that keeps me going."

McQuaid would like to be earning as much as her sister, who works in retail. (CBC)

While McQuaid recognizes there is no shortage of places the promised money could be spent, she said wages need to be the top priority.

"It'd be nice to start somewheres around $18 and then kind of work your way up," she said.

"My sister now works in retail and she makes more than I did, starting out, and she has benefits, and I don't have benefits."

Carol Ford, McQuaid's manager, agrees wages should be on the top of the list.

"My wages would be my first choice," said Ford.

"I would like the special needs grant amount to go up, and I would like a sustainable system, in order for wages to go up."

Even parents picking up their children at Headstart Monday agreed wages are too low.

"Nobody wants to go to work for barely minimum wage or just over it," said Kim Doyle.

"They need to have the money to keep them in the field."

While wages of are considered a priority even amongst parents, people with several pre-school-age children are also concerned about the cost, which at Headstart is $28 dollars a day per child.

"We have three small children, it's a lot of money to be out per day," said Lynn Smith

"I think if the money was given to the centre itself, then maybe the fees per day could decrease a little bit."

The provincial government is expected to make an announcement about how the money in the budget will be spent some time in the next week or two.

via www.cbc.ca