"Full-day learning is part of our overall plan to help more children get a strong start in school, so they can go on to have successful, rewarding lives. By giving them more opportunities at a young age, we’re giving our children a brighter future.
- Leona Dombrowsky, Minister of Education"
(Ontario Full-Day Early Leaning – Kindergarten Program, 2010, p. 1)
- Leona Dombrowsky, Minister of Education"
(Ontario Full-Day Early Leaning – Kindergarten Program, 2010, p. 1)
What is Full-Day Kindergarten?
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Full-day kindergarten (FDK) is a
child-centred, play-based, developmentally-appropriate full-day program for
children age three to five years old. In FDK we want to create a
foundation for early learning in a safe and caring play-based environment that
fosters physical, cognitive, social and emotional development (Ontario Full-Day
Early Learning – Kindergarten Program, 2010).
According to Ontario Full-day Early Learning – Kindergarten Program (2010), the goals are:
Children’s development is seen as interrelationships between themselves, family, school, community and the world. The FDK program recognizes that these relationships are a part of the child and that they influence their development. We cannot think of a child in isolation as just themselves; they are influenced by the world around them including their environment and the people they interact with. The aim of FDK is to teach to the whole child thus fostering all areas of development.
According to Ontario Full-day Early Learning – Kindergarten Program (2010), the goals are:
- “to establish a strong foundation for the early years by providing young children with an integrated day of learning
- to provide a play-based learning environment
- to help children make a smoother transition to Grade 1
- to improve children’s prospects for success in
school and in their lives beyond school” (p.1)
Children’s development is seen as interrelationships between themselves, family, school, community and the world. The FDK program recognizes that these relationships are a part of the child and that they influence their development. We cannot think of a child in isolation as just themselves; they are influenced by the world around them including their environment and the people they interact with. The aim of FDK is to teach to the whole child thus fostering all areas of development.
Benefits of Full-Day Kindergarten
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In a study completed by the Ontario government, which monitored children in half day and full-day kindergarten for two years, it was revealed that children in full-day kindergarten had:
- “Reduced risks in social competence development from 10.5 per cent to 5.2 per cent.
- Reduced risks in language and cognitive development from 16.4 per cent to 4.3 per cent.
- Reduced risks in communication skills and general knowledge development from 10.5 per cent to 5.6 per cent.” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2013)