Excerpts from website:
The Integration Network Project addresses a critical issue in the development of early childhood learning and care (ECLC) in Canada today. That is the lack of integration or bridging between "care" programs in child care centres and "education" (kindergarten) programs in the schools. This fragmentation produces many problems for young children, parents, educators/ staff, and even governments: for example, the disruption and inconsistency which may inhibit the healthy development of children; the problems of insecurity, inconvenience and stress for parents; the problems of status and salary differentials for teachers and caregivers; and the problems of duplication, policy inconsistency and inappropriate resource allocation for governments.
The objectives of the Integration Network Project are to put this issue firmly back on the ECLC agenda by establishing an active network to produce and disseminate information articulating the problems and engaging the broader early childhood learning and care community in a "new dialogue". Teachers, educators, parents, academics and government representatives will be encouraged to start a new dialogue about the complex problems involved and will be challenged to come up with some new policy and practice ideas to resolve the problems.
Through the activities of document review, discussion, debating, visioning, interacting on a very focused problem, producing and circulating discussion papers and holding a conference/seminar, the intended results of this project are to establish an ongoing network to support and initiate new integration projects and policies across Canada.