Four years ago, Nicole Doyon and her family fled from the expense of the Lower Mainland to Vernon, B.C., so that she could stay at home with her two sons.
Now, the debut of full-day kindergarten across much of the province next month has thwarted that plan, with her five-year-old, Jax, at school all day a year before she had expected.
“I hate the whole idea of it,” says Ms. Doyon. “They are still young at five. We are expecting them to be so much older than they really are.”
She’s considering becoming a kindergarten dissident – she might pull her son out of the classroom after lunchtime if he feels he can’t handle the stresses of the new environment.
While Ms. Doyon is anxious, Nicole Aerts in Saanich is excited at the prospect of full-day kindergarten, seeing it as an excellent education opportunity for her daughter, Tamara, and an answer to her daycare dilemmas. “It’s a really good fit for the kids, and organizationally, it makes my life as a working parent so much easier,” she said.
Despite stretched coffers, B.C. will spend $424-million to begin rolling out universal, full-day kindergarten, an undertaking that policymakers promise will boost graduation rates and test scores, although its full impact won’t be known until the first group graduates from high school in 2022.
But universal kindergarten isn’t being universally embraced. Some, like Ms. Doyon, are worried about the long day that children will face, while others criticize the province for embarking on an expensive new program even as it reins in education spending in other areas.
Tamara Aerts,5, plays in her backyard, as her mom Nicole and older sister Kimberly,7, watch at their home in Victoria Thursday.— Deddeda Stemler for The Globe and Mail
Right now, full day kindergarten is limited to 6,000 children deemed to be at risk of having difficulty in school, who are either of aboriginal descent, speak English as a second language or have special needs. This fall, half of all children entering kindergarten will be enrolled in a full-day program, pushing that total to 21,000, with the whole cohort following next September.
Despite a provincial deficit forecast at almost $2-billion, B.C. education minister Margaret MacDiarmid said the expansion of kindergarten is a good investment.
“If you have excellent, high-quality, play-based learning for kindergarten students, that does make a difference,” Ms. MacDiarmid said. “They are more likely to do well in school, to do well in testing, to have higher graduation rates and more of them go onto post-secondary education.”
Half-day programs don’t provide enough time to get through the curriculum and are not allowing all students to thrive, she said.
Twenty-nine per cent of students aren’t ready to face Grade 1 after a half-day program, according to early development index testing that measures the physical, emotional, social and cognitive development of children, Ms. MacDiarmid said.
A further 18 per cent do not meet the expectations of standardized tests in Grade 4, and 20 per cent drop out of high school, she said.
The government hopes more class time will improve the numbers, as does the BC Primary Teachers’ Association. “It’s going to be a real gift of time for the kids coming into the program,” said Lori Boychuk, the association’s president, and a kindergarten teacher for 30 years -- who will be teaching her first full-day class this year.
Full days won’t have children learning more, but will give them more time to learn though playing. “When you sit them down in front of books and paper, they zone out,” Ms. Boychuk said.
Ms. MacDiarmid acknowledged some parents have concerns about placing too much of a burden on young shoulders. “One of the things parents are worried about is that kids are going to be lined up with desks and have little briefcases and laptops,” Ms. MacDiarmid said. “If you go into one of these classrooms, you will see kids playing.”
