How to recognise a quality childcare service?
Educational child care Kensington should allow children to develop their different skills, to have positive relationships with others (children and adults) and to stimulate their taste for learning.
To achieve this, the experts recommend in particular that the educators be trained in early childhood, that they participate in professional development activities as well as that they know and apply the educational program proposed by the Ministry of the Family.
The quality of the child’s experiences in his childcare also has a big influence on his development. Thus, in a healthy environment, the teachers are warm, sensitive and attentive to the needs of children. They offer stimulating activities and have clear rules and expectations that toddlers understand well. In addition, they communicate and collaborate with parents to ensure the well-being of children. An educator-child ratio below the allowable limit is also associated with quality childcare.
In addition, in quality child care:
- The premises are safe and clean;
- The schedule is adapted to the children’s rhythm;
- The food is of good quality;
- The activities play materials and books offered are varied and adapted to the age of the children;
- There is enough room for children to move inside and out.
The teacher-child relationship
Childcare centres (subsidised or not) cannot accommodate more than 80 children from 0 to five years old per facility. The ratios are one educator for five children before 18 months, and one educator for eight children for children under four years of age. For four-year-olds, the ratio is often ten children per group. In family child care, the standard is one educator for six children (including a maximum of two infants 18 months and under) or nine children (including a maximum of four infants) when the caregiver is supported by an assistant.
An asset to develop language and knowledge
In a quality educational childcare services, toddlers have many opportunities to develop their language and knowledge. For example, the simple fact of being surrounded by different people (children and adults) with whom to interact and speak stimulates the language of toddlers.
In addition, when educators use rich vocabulary, correct words, and add words to children’s sentences, they help them develop their language. Activities such as storytelling, songs and nursery rhymes also help enrich the language of toddlers.
Even when the children are not yet speaking, teachers can comment on their games and thus gradually develop their language and knowledge. For example, if a child is playing with blocks, his teacher can say to him, “You take the blue block. Little by little, she teaches him words, but also colours.
Several experts have shown that educational child care services allow:
When the educators at Kensington childcare from Busy Bees use books to ask the children questions and ask them to imagine the rest of the story, they lead them to develop their thinking and creativity.
- to enrich the vocabulary
- improve the production of complex sentences
- to promote knowledge of colours, letters, and shapes
- reduce language difficulties in kindergarten
- Achieve better academic results in the language of instruction in elementary school
However, some researchers believe that the positive effect of child care on language becomes minimal if the child is already receiving quality support at home. For example, if the parents talk to them a lot, they add words to their sentences and often tell them stories.