What's happening at CRRU?

Here at CRRU we are continuing to track Canada-wide child care developments in Building a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. We are analyzing the data from our follow-up survey on COVID-19's impact on Canadian child care and have an article on this topic coming out shortly in the Journal of Childhood Studies. CRRU welcomes our new Social Research Assistant, Patrícia Borges Nogueira, who will be working with the team on various upcoming projects. We are also pleased to be able to work in the CRRU office again.   

Featured

ON: Sign the Ontario bilateral child care agreement with the federal government
Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Nonprofit Network & YWCA Toronto, 18 October 2021

NS: Province moves ahead on Canada-wide early learning and child-care system
Government of Nova Scotia, 15 October 2021

AB: Calgary's new mayor wants a child care deal with feds if Alberta doesn't strike one
Power and Politics, 19 October 2021

US: The myth of parents as savvy childcare consumers 
The New Republic, 19 October 2021

Research, policy and practice

From “nobody's clapping for us” to “bad moms”: COVID-19 and the circle of childcare in Canada
Gender, Work & Organization, 19 October 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of child care to national economies and women’s labour force and economic participation. This paper analyzes how COVID-19 has affected paid child care, unpaid child care and other paid work, and the relationship between these sectors of the care economy. Findings suggest that educators felt their safety was not prioritized, and that their contributions were undervalued and went unrecognized. Mothers, who provided the majority of unpaid care, not only lost income due to care demands, but struggled to access necessities, with some reporting increased personal insecurity. Those attempting to work from home also experienced feelings of guilt and distress. The author concludes by saying pandemic recovery and preparedness policies must aim to promote gender equality and must consider all sectors of the care economy and the relationships between them.

Family Story releases survey on national perspectives on childcare investments and policies
Family Story, 14 October 2021
In a new national survey of 800 American adults, many parents reported that they find it difficult to afford child care and are overwhelmingly supportive of Congress making greater investments in child care and family support. Specifically, the survey results show widespread support for a suite of social policies including expanding paid family and medical leave, extending child tax credit, increasing child care subsidies, free pre-K, increased funding for education and increasing wages for child care workers. The survey demonstrates that, despite efforts to polarize the issue, a bipartisan majority feel the government should invest more in providing affordable, quality child care options to families.

More than half a million child care workers would benefit from a $15 minimum wage in 2025
Economic Policy Institute, 9 June 2021
This report analyzes the projected effects on child care workers of the 2021 Raise the Wage Act which calls for raising the US federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025. The policy is expected to increase the wage of more than 43.5% of child care workers, who are paid particularly low wages, the majority of whom are women, Black and Hispanic workers. The analysis also shows that pay increase would be concentrated at the bottom of the wage distribution and would significantly reduce inequality in this profession. The authors note that low wages which leave workers economically vulnerable and compromise the quality of care must not be treated as a solution to make child care affordable.

Disaster capitalism as neoliberal instrument for the construction of early childhood education/care policy: Charter schools in post-Katrina New Orleans
International Critical Childhood Policy Studies, 29 August 2021
This paper examines the impact of neoliberalism on early childhood education, care, and policy both as a global phenomenon and in the form of disaster capitalism in post-Katrina New Orleans. Neoliberalism is discussed in general terms and then analyzed through a critical, feminist, poststructural, and postcolonial lens in order to reveal the way in which early childhood policy and practices in the United States have been used as mechanisms to control and privatize services like public education for young children, creating vast inequities and denying access to a free and appropriate education for many.

Child care in the news 

QC: Daycare strikes continue despite Quebec's offer of immediate pay raise
Montreal Gazette, 15 October 2021 

QC: Faced with strikes in daycares, Quebec boosts salaries for early childhood educators
CBC News, 14 October 2021

QC: Québec augmente le salaire des éducatrices dès maintenant
La Presse, 14 October 2021

ON: 800 kids on childcare waitlists in Grey as sector struggles to recruit ECEs
The Owen Sun Times, 14 October 2021

ON: Ontario remains holdout for federal daycare plan
CBC News: The National,12 October 2021

AB: Local child care centre advocating for federal subsidy
High River Online, 17 October 2021 

BC: Early childhood education training leads to jobs in Nanaimo
Government of British Columbia, 14 October 2021

BC: Program that blends daycare and kindergarten at the same site expanding to more B.C. schools
CTV News Vancouver, 18 October 2021

BC: Sechelt doubles childcare spaces in revamped proposal
Coast Reporter, 17 October 2021

BC: B.C. announces expansion of seamless child care program
CPAC, 18 October 2021

US: Biden's Commerce Secretary demands higher pay for childcare workers. 'Our economy cannot run without these women.'
Business Insider, 17 October 2021

US: Childcare staffing is 'at a critical point' as workers leave the industry and it can't afford to hire them back. A CEO says it's 'beyond a shortage.'
Business Insider, 17 October 2021

US: Funding universal pre-K and not childcare would be a disaster
The New Republic, 13 October 2021

US: Raising the future: The child care crisis 
PBS NewsHour, 12 October 2021

EU: Proposal to freeze childcare fees faces pushback from creche owners
Irish Times, 13 October 2021

AU: Adaptable childcare hub designed for 100-year cycle
The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 October 2020

Events