by Henry Mathias, Head of Professional Practice and Standards

In October I was invited by the Lawson Foundation to Toronto to give the keynote presentation at an international symposium to promote the development of outdoor play in Canada. The Canadian charity had made a trip to Scotland earlier in the year to study outdoor play and fully funded my visit.

During the presentation, I shared Scotland’s journey to improve children’s experiences of outdoor play in registered early learning and childcare services and how regulation had changed to contribute to this.  As well as participating in the three-day symposium, during my two- week trip I met many of the movers and shakers developing outdoor play in Canada and visited a range of provision, including specialist outdoor nurseries.  In this blog I offer some reflections on my experiences during the visit.

I had visited the United States several times, but this was my first trip to Canada and I was immediately struck by the resonances with Scotland.  Not just the history, the place names and all the deep family connections, but compared to the States the language and the cultural mood music were generally much more familiar. 

For early learning and childcare, there was less open commercialisation and a generally more child-centred, pedagogical approach.  There was much positive affirmation of the role of indigenous traditions and the natural world in early learning and childcare programmes and the way that practitioners engaged with children.  I observed children being cared for with great dollops of Canadian positivity, kindness, openness and respect for difference.  I liked the holistic term ‘Early Childhood Educators’ used to describe all professionals working in early learning and childcare.From this initial impression, the differences from Scottish early learning and childcare then started to hit home.  Regarding regulatory practice, it was like stepping back in time and returning to a model based on compliance with prescriptive rules.  There is significant structural distance between the regulator and the regulated in Canada, with relatively little partnership working or improvement activity with providers and a lack of trust and fear of statutory regulation across the early learning and childcare sector.  For example, the fixed rules-based approach was illustrated by the blanket bans on any fires in services, prescribed outdoor play equipment and the rigid application of ratios regarding staff numbers and qualifications. 

There were also no registered forest nurseries and I struggled to see how they could become registered under their current system.  The formal regulatory relationships reminded me of early Care Commission days, when a new national regulator needed to establish its identity and a consistent benchmark across the country.  In many ways, I was actually taken back to pre-Care 

Commission days when local authorities were responsible for statutory regulation, with the Canadian provinces all having different standards and practice. 

Early learning and childcare providers in Canada need to grapple with local inconsistencies under a national framework.  Indeed, the nature of a devolved federal system in Canada means that it is even more complex than Scotland, before the establishment of a national regulator, with local municipal authorities forming an additional layer within each province. 

Providers shared stories with me of cat-and-mouse games with the regulator, intimidatory tactics and inspectors not having any early-years background, which was a blast from the past!         

I was surprised by a lot of this, as much of the cultural signalling had led me to expect Canada to be more flexible and proportionate in its regulatory approach.  Similarly, given the quantity and quality of the natural environment and its outdoor heritage, I was expecting Canada to be less risk averse to outdoor activities and forest nurseries. 

The symposium itself was fascinating in its differences, with the event carefully curated by an influential Canadian charitable foundation.  The symposium was compered by a professional host and all the delegates had been purposefully selected and matched in advance.  It was very interesting to attend a conference with academics, insurance companies and equipment manufacturers alongside regulators, policy makers and providers.  I had not appreciated the extent to which Canada mirrors the States, with a relatively small state regulator, powerful corporate interests and a justified fear of litigation.  The free market, Anglo Saxon model was exemplified by the limited scope of licensed provision, with a lot of childcare being completely unregulated, including childminding.