kidSKAN Team
The kidSKAN Way
kidSKAN is for everybody with an interest in early childhood development in Saskatchewan. We have diverse visitors, with differing interests, so we have organized our content to make it easy to find. You can browse by Audience, by Project, or by Key Concept using the menu column on the left. Whenever new content gets posted to kidSKAN, we classify it to try and keep things focused. That way, we can serve very different users with one comprehensive web site. Subscribe to our email newsletter in the menu at the top left. Let us know what you think, by sending us an email through the Contact Us menu item, or submitting a document to us to publish. It is it is our goal to use this web community to connect, support and work with people across the province.
New Generation Squeezed poll finds generational split on public funding priorities
Canadians 55 and older think younger adults should “wait their turn” when it comes sharing in the country’s wealth, despite evidence that it’s getting harder for adults with young children to raise families.
This was a finding from a recent poll conducted for UBC researchers Paul Kershaw and Lynell Anderson from the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP). The poll included respondents from Saskatchewan, as well as those in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada; the full polling data is available here.
UBC researchers commissioned this poll as a follow-up to the release of their national report card, Does Canada Work for All Generations? The report looked at the challenges today’s young families – Generation Squeezed – are facing across the country.
Kershaw partnered with kidSKAN’s Nazeem Muhajarine and Sue Delanoy to release the report card at the University of Saskatchewan on Oct. 18. The Generation Squeezed story received media attention across the country and even from the New York Times.
Take online survey on new physical activity guidelines for kids in the early years
We’re encouraging members in kidSKAN to fill out a survey on new physical activity/sedentary behaviour guidelines for children aged 0-4 that are being developed by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP).
New Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines for older children were released in January 2011.
CSEP is looking for feedback on the draft guidelines. The link to the survey monkey is only open for 10 days, so fill it out quickly. It should only take about 10 minutes.
kidSKAN project manager receives award for her research on communities of practice
Congratulations to kidSKAN project manager Fleur Macqueen Smith, who wil be receiving the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health’s Knowledge Translation Graduate Student Award at the Canadian Public Health Association’s annual conference in June for her master’s research on communities of practice.
Fleur interviewed people in two communities of practice to develop a checklist to build effective communities of practice in person and online, which we are using to guide the kidSKAN community of practice; the graphic to the left shows a tag cloud of what one person discussed. The checklist reads:
Watch Clyde Hertzman's Governor General's Lecture on Early Childhood Development
WATCH THIS TALK HERE
Early childhood researcher Clyde Hertzman spoke to an enthusiastic audience of 130 people inside Convocation Hall at the University of Saskatchewan Friday, March 25 at noon. This lecture was streamed live and is archived here.
Hertzman spoke at length about the challenge to our society to support children's development during the early years. Only 3-4 % of children are born with something that would lead them to be vulnerable, yet approximately 25% are by the time they reach kindergarten (27% in Saskatchewan).
Kershaw brings early childhood development message to Sask
Dr. Paul Kershaw, who’s been dubbed an “Evangelist Professor,” brought his message about early childhood development to Saskatchewan on Monday.
The Northwest Regional Intersectoral Committee brought him to North Battleford on Nov. 15 to speak and conduct a workshop on how to put “Smart Family Policy,” which covers early childhood development, on the political agenda. In the evening, kidSKAN brought him to Saskatoon to early childhood advocates at Prairieland Park.
