Transcript Document

UEY Red Deer Preliminary Results
Research Forum:
December 1, 2009
Preliminary Results from the Parent Interviews and Direct Assessments
of Children Survey (PIDACS)
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Preliminary Results from the Parent Interviews and
Direct Assessments of Children Survey (PIDACS) is one
of several reports and products released by the Red Deer
Understanding the Early Years Project.
The UEY Red Deer Project is funded by the Government
of Canada’s Understanding the Early Years Initiative.
The opinions and interpretations in this publication are
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect
those of the Government of Canada.
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Why do anything?
……and let these fuel our action in
supporting families(because our future
is literally “in very small hands”
Charlie Coffey, 2008)
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Investing in Early Childhood Development: The
Economic Imperative
•
Leading economists have shown the importance of ECD to our province and country’s
economic future. Knowledge is the engine of the 21st century economy. Better brains and
innovative ideas fuel economic growth, create jobs, increase wealth, and secure our
financial future.
“The real question is how to use the
available funds wisely. The best
evidence supports the policy
prescription:
Invest in the very young.”
James J. Heckman, PhD
2000 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
Healthy Child Manitoba
The Early
Imperative:
PuttingDevelopment
Children and Families
First A Pan-Canadian Conference on Population Level
Measurement of Children’s Development – November 16, 2009 – Winnipeg, MB
The Parent Interviews and Direct Assessments of Children
Survey (PIDACS) has its origins in the National
Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). The
PIDACS has two components:
• A parent interview: about one hour in length, covering
family, social and economic circumstances; children’s
activities at home, community involvement, and the child’s
behaviour and health.
• Three assessments of children’s cognitive development;
including activities completed with children to determine
vocabulary, copying and printing skills, and number
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knowledge.
The Parent Interviews and Direct Assessments of Children
were completed in November and December of 2008 with a
sample of 2008-2009 kindergarten students and their
parents.
•
• 564 children completed the direct assessments and 468
of their parents or guardians were interviewed.
• The average age of the children was 5 years 6 months.
• Signed parent consent was requested. Translated parent
permission forms and information sheets were provided in
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several languages.
• The PIDACS data collection was conducted by an
independent contractor, R. A. Malatest & Associates Ltd., hired
by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
• The collection was done collaboratively with school
authorities, schools, local UEY staff, trained assessors,
parents and children.
• When fully completed, the final research report, written by
Dr. Doug Willms of the University of New Brunswick, will be
made available to the Red Deer UEY Project.
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Key Findings
Family Income: 14% of the children surveyed were living
in families with annual incomes below $30,000.
Parents’ Employment: About 44% of mothers surveyed
were not employed, while 4% of fathers were not
employed.
Family Life: About 13% of mothers surveyed were
experiencing depression.
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Family Life con’t
Parenting Style: Forty-nine per cent of parents reported
a positive, responsive “authoritative” parenting style,
which is below the Canadian average of 56%.
Reading: Seventy-seven per cent of parents read to
their children at least once a day, which is similar to the
Canadian average.
Screen Time: The average time per day children spent
watching television or playing video games was 2 hours,9
above the Canadian average of 1.6 hours.
Family Life con’t
• Red Deer parents were less engaged in interactive activities
than Canadian parents as a whole.
• Red Deer parents were not as likely to be involved in
– teaching the child to read words;
– taking the child outside to play;
– teaching the child to print letters or numbers;
– playing cards or board games with the child.
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Children’s Participation in Community Activities:
• About 22% of Red Deer children attended activities at a
family resource centre at least once per month, which is
above the Canadian average of 17%.
• Ninety-one per cent of children used libraries, which is
above the Canadian average.
• Twenty-nine per cent went to the movies at least once a
month, higher than the Canadian average of 20%.
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Children’s Participation in Community Activities con’t
• About 96% of families used parks, play spaces, and
recreational facilities at least once a month, while 87% of
Canadian families did.
• Child participation in organized sports was low, 1.1 times
per week compared to the Canadian average of 1.4 times
per week.
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Barriers to Participation in Children’s Programs:
Parents reported the following:
• 54% of parents reported that programs were not held at convenient
times
• 50% reported that programs had no space available
• 45% of parents said that programs were too costly
• 44% said that programs were only available for older children
• 41% of parents said that there was not enough time to participate
in children’s programs.
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Pre Reading, Numbers, and Vocabulary: Average scores on
vocabulary and pre-reading skills were comparable to Canadian
averages.
Number knowledge scores were considerably higher than the
Canadian average; the Red Deer kindergarten children were
very skilled at number knowledge.
Behavioural Outcomes: Scores of inattention, anxiety,
depression and physical aggression, were comparable to the
Canadian averages.
However, 16% of children in the Red Deer sample displayed low
positive social behaviour, above the Canadian average of 13%.
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Use of Child-Care Arrangements: Forty per cent of parents used some form
of child-care arrangement while they were working or studying.
• About 41% used two or more different types of arrangements.
• On average, children were cared for in child-care arrangements for about 21
hours per week.
• Only 5% of the parents of kindergarten children used day-care centres or
before or after-school programs.
• Twenty per cent of children were cared for by a non-relative in someone
else’s home.
Neighbourhood Characteristics: 87% of parents considered their
neighbourhoods to be safe, lower than the Canadian average of 90%
• 86% rated their neighbourhoods as being cohesive, which is below the
Canadian average of 91%.
• About 80% of parents in Red Deer indicated that they felt that they had high
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levels of social support from family, friends and others.
General Findings
Children who tended to have lower scores on the three assessments of
vocabulary, number knowledge and copying and printing were
• boys
• children whose fathers were unemployed or had not completed high
school
• children living in single-parent families
Boys were more likely than girls to have low positive social behaviour
and to display problems of inattention and physical aggression.
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Key Messages
About our Community
• All members of a community have a role to play in supporting children and
families.
•
A sustainable, comprehensive, inclusive community action plan to support
children’s development can be created with input from all stakeholders, using
quality local research data.
•
Such an action plan can improve service delivery, address gaps in service,
avoid duplication of services, and create sustainable programs for children
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Current and Potential Coalition Members
Current- UEY Advisory Committee has representation from
CFSA
Alberta Health Services (SACHYN)
Red Deer Native Friendship Centre
Heritage Family Services
City of Red Deer
Red Deer College
Red Deer Catholic Schools
Red Deer Public School
Family Services of Central AB
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Current Coalition Members con’t
Current- Children’s Working Group- a coalition of stakeholders with a
focus on children 0-12 that has representation from
Red Deer Public Library
Red Deer Public Library Family Literacy Programs
Children’s Services Centre
Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre
Central Alberta Child and Family Services Authority
Alberta Health Services Public Health
Alberta Health Services Mental Health
Red Deer Native Friendship Centre
Heritage Family Services
City of Red Deer
Red Deer Catholic Schools
Red Deer Public Schools
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Current Coalition Members con’t
Current- Children’s Working Group- a coalition of stakeholders with a
focus on children 0-12 that has representation from
Red Deer Public Library
Red Deer Public Library Family Literacy Programs
Children’s Services Centre
Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre
Central Alberta Child and Family Services Authority
Alberta Health Services Public Health
Alberta Health Services Mental Health
Red Deer Native Friendship Centre
Heritage Family Services
City of Red Deer
Red Deer Catholic Schools
Red Deer Public Schools
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Current Coalition Members con’t
Current- Children’s Working Group- a coalition of stakeholders with a
focus on children 0-12 has representation from
Red Deer College
Village Gate Parent Link Centre (at Family Services of Central Alberta)
Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter
Youth and Volunteer Centre
City of Red Deer
Family Services of Central Alberta
Red Deer Housing Authority
Red Deer Child Care Society
Family School Wellness
Central Alberta Refugee Effort
Central Alberta Immigrant Women’s Association
POTENTIAL COALITION MEMBERS…
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Where to next?
“ Would you tell me please which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,”
said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where……..”
said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
-----From Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland
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“The charge to society is to blend the skepticism of a scientist,
the passion of an advocate, the pragmatism of a policy maker,
the creativity of a practitioner, and the devotion of a parent - and
to use existing knowledge to ensure both a decent quality of life
for all of our children and a promising future for the nation.”
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For more information, contact Laurie Lafortune, Red Deer
Understanding the Early Years Coordinator at Family
Services of Central Alberta: 403-309-8224
[email protected]
Research Summaries and the full report will be available at
www.fsca.ca
Thank you for your participation!
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