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A Danish researcher is leaving B.C. with a good education about the local daycare situation.
But while sad to be leaving friends and acquaintances met here during a year-and-a-half contract job with SFU's Department of Communication, Pernile Bjorn, the mother of two young girls, is also relieved to be heading home&emdash;where daycare is affordable, accessible and well-organized.
Bjorn was accustomed to getting involved in her children's daycare and was only too happy to become a director with the Step-by-Step Child Development Society when she enrolled her four- and eight-year-old daughters in all-day and before- and after-school care in Coquitlam.
It wasn't long, however, before the realities of Canada's patchwork childcare system hit home.
"In Denmark... we would sit around and talk about how to spend the budget&emdash;on organic food or whatever. Here, it's how do we get a budget," said Bjorn.
Still, Bjorn, who is heading back to Denmark in July to become an associate professor with the IT University in Copenhagen, says she was impressed with the dedication of the staff and the focus on play and social development.
"The approach is very similar to Danish," said Bjorn about the way children learn about how to deal with conflict and other social skills by playing together. "It's something that can't be learned by reading a book and children need those skills for life."
In Denmark, most children attend daycare but it's not considered a form of parental neglect, the way it often is in Canada, she said. Instead, most parents put their children in daycare because they see it as an important part of their child's development.
Consequently, it's highly subsidized and forms part of the country's social safety net. Parents pay only 30 per cent of the costs; taxes pay the rest and town authorities are responsible for overseeing institutional and private centres.
"Even the Crown prince and princess go to daycare," said Bjorn, noting that she paid twice as much for daycare here in Coquitlam as she would back home.
In Denmark, child-care is provided for children from birth through 10 years.
Although institutions may vary from district to district, all have "creches" for infants and toddlers (newborn to three years) and kindergartens for children between three and six. In addition, youth centres offer before- and after-school care to children aged seven to 10 years old.
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Parents have to sign up early to get a space for their child after a year-long maternity leave but the local authority guarantees a space.
It might not be at the centre closest to home but, like schools, centres aren't far apart.
Danish daycare workers are paid about the same as teachers in that country&emdash;roughly twice as much as childcare workers in B.C.&emdash;and they are expected to be trained and constantly upgrade their education.
In fact, daycares, which have a high degree of parent involvement, typically have training budgets for their staff.
"It was pretty shocking to hear what people here get in pay," Bjorn said.
She speculates Denmark can afford such a system because residents pay 45 per cent of their wages in taxes and, in most cases, both parents work. Daycare is also such a hot political issue that many cities bend over backward to provide good care.
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But the biggest difference is the Danish view that daycare is good for kids and society versus the opinion here, where it's considered a matter of individual choice and not valued as highly.
Said Bjorn: "You have to change that attitude if you want to see better daycare."
- reprinted from the Burnaby News Leader