Child Care Pilot Project

Background

Request for Proposals from Minority Francophone Communities Background Benefits for Communities Guiding Principles for the Pilot Project Enriched Child Care Services Scope of the Pilot Project Responsibilities of Project Manager Responsibilities of the Communities Criteria Application Instructions Evaluation Process Annex A - Evaluation Criteria for the Letter of Intent Annex B - Template for the Letter of Intent Annex C - Organization Chart for a Community

All children deserve a good start in life, to be healthy, safe, and ready to learn. Research studies have shown that the first years of life are very important for the development and well-being of children because it is at this time that they acquire abilities and skills that will influence learning, behaviour and health throughout their lives. It is during these early years that children develop language skills and begin to form their identity. As well, parents have a major impact on the development of their children through their role as primary educator, and by their choices and behaviours during the first years of their children’s lives.

Early, good-quality interventions for promoting children’s development, including language skills and identity, during this critical period can bring benefits for children that can last throughout their lives. They can also have positive future implications for society associated with the economic participation of these children, and to their contributions to social and civic life.

Studies on the development of Francophone children in minority Francophone communities have shown that an increasing percentage of these children face special challenges when they arrive at a French-language school because they lack the skills needed to integrate properly. Research results have shown that there is a significant disparity between the language skills of Francophone children in minority Francophone communities relative to Anglophone children. Language skills are crucial to a child’s readiness to learn and for having a good start in life. Early intervention that will give young Francophone children in minority Francophone communities the same chances of success, in French, as those enjoyed by other Canadian children is essential.

Research has been carried out to evaluate the effects of early intervention for young children and for disadvantaged children. However, nothing is known about the effects of early intervention on young Francophone children living in minority Francophone communities, notably the effects on the development of their language and identity.

The Child Care Pilot Project is a research initiative that has been designed to develop knowledge on the effects of enriched French-language child care services on the linguistic, cultural and overall development of children living in minority Francophone communities. The pilot project will offer enriched child care services in French to young Francophone children, and will evaluate the effects of those enriched services on their linguistic, cultural and overall development.

The pilot project is designed around the development of young Francophone children, and encourages parents to transmit their language and culture to their children, and communities to participate actively by, for example, using the information generated by the pilot project. By involving young children, families and communities, the pilot project supports minority Francophone communities that are proud of their identity and culture, and that are ready to participate fully in their own development.

The pilot project will generate new knowledge for minority Francophone communities that will add to that previously acquired on effective approaches in early childhood development, and will inform the development and delivery of child care services for young children in minority Francophone communities by identifying the interventions and family and community factors that influence language development, a sense of belonging and the development of positive results for the children.

The Child Care Pilot Project has the following aims:

• To provide data and analyses concerning the effects of enriched child care services in French on the linguistic development and cultural identity of preschool Francophone children in minority Francophone communities, and more particularly their knowledge and use of French, their knowledge of French culture and their sense of belonging to that culture;
  
  
• To provide data and analyses on the effects of enriched child care services in French on the readiness to learn of those children, including physical well-being and motor development, emotional health and approaches to new experiences, social knowledge and competence, and general knowledge and cognitive skills; and
  
  
• To increase knowledge of the socioeconomic, family, cultural and community factors that influence the development of young Francophone children living in minority Francophone communities.