Ontario - ELECT

[playfelt]

Here is what I saw at the one Saturday workshop (I had been asked to set up my felt for sale as people arrived to give them something to look at/buy while waiting for everyone to arrive.)

They were setting the chairs up in a circle I assume for people and in the middle were things like a pile of blocks, a fisherprice farm set and animals, a few other toys. I was only there till it started so have no knowledge of what actually took place. But from what I read in the ELECT document and what I have seen when they advertise full day kindergarten and talk about play based it all looks pretty much like we do it anyways. Now having said that there are two groups of caregivers that this is not usual for and those are the ones that program every second from the time the children arrive till they are gone and have very little time set aside for the children to choose what to do next and the opposite spectrum of those that just put a bin of toys out and sit back and let the children "play". Most of us are somewhere in the middle which if I interpret the document shared above is where we should be.

To a certain extent it seems to be something being offered with the idea of it being a way to show that independent caregivers are "just as good/trained" as those that work in licensed centres. Daycares are to be using the ELECT principles as of now I thought ie Sept 2013 with it spreading/filtering down to agencies etc. as soon as possible. - ie anyone they can control will be expected to at least appear to be using the program/concept.

Ok where does that leave the rest of us - well first off I would like to see a document specifically designed for us for children under age 3 and not what was set out for ages 3-5 which is what we have now. For those with no formal training I think it would be a great way to get some sort of framework in the mind of what they should be looking for/including in their daycare. For those with training in child development/ECE/etc. I haven't seen anything yet that is different and unique other than the teachers in JK/SK are expected to do less teacher led lessons and allow more time for the children to set the pace/goals/topics/ etc.

My plan is to just muddle along as I do now. IF they ever get to the point where they are licensing independent providers they will need to make the training easily available to everyone and it will have gone through several revisions by then and hopefully an addendum that would actually apply to daycare age kids.

Not telling you not to go don't get me wrong as I think any workshop that makes you stop and think and either shows you another way to do things or validates what you are already doing is a good workshop. Just not sure I need to spend an entire day doing it. For me I have enough experience, previous workshops, various placements, etc. that just getting the handouts and reading is usually all I need to get started. No different than reading any teacher's manual, program resource guide etc. or book on parenting, etc. If you attend you get a certificate so that part is nice.

I would like to read the handouts to see just how off base I really am on this. My training is as a teacher so when I went to teacher's college the JK program was just starting - yes way back when, and the Jk/K programs were all about introducing kids to group as many did not attend daycare. They learned to get along, their shapes, how to count, seasonal themes, skills needed to go on to grade one and learn to read. Then like everything the gr 1 curriculum became the K curriculum and it kept filtering down to the point we were expected to cover an awful lot of academics at the daycare stage so the kids would be ready for JK/K. Now it appears they are seeing the fallacy of their thinking and again letting little kids have more time to learn and grow at their own pace before tackling so much desk type academic work. At least we can dream that is why they are doing it.

[mela]

Can someone provide some examples of this whole ELECT thing cuz I am so confused. Thanks

[playfelt]

Mela do you have a copy of the actual Elect document? When you get to the end of it there are tables of the kind of skills to be looking for.