Current studies say that young children need a balance of “child-initiated play in the presence of engaged teachers” and more “focused experiential learning” led by teachers. 

Manitoba Education recommends 45 minutes to one hour of child-initiated play per half day during the kindergarten year.

Holistic education, or holistic learning, emphasizes play-based learning. Playing is discovering. How a student interacts with people and the environment is a big part of understanding how they learn. These factors are accounted for in a holistic approach to education. 

2023-2024 Education Budget Announcement

Manitoba’s Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister, Wayne Ewasko, has unveiled the provincial government’s operating funding plan for the public schools of Manitoba, with an allocation of $1.65 billion. This represents a noteworthy $100 million increase in new operating funding.

The increased investment seeks to improve student literacy and numeracy rates, as well as Indigenous-related education.

Holistic Early Learning

Early Returns, Manitoba’s early learning curriculum framework, considers play to be a testing ground for language and reasoning skills. It expands intelligence and promotes advancement in literacy, math and science concepts. 

The learning environment is set up to be inclusive of everyone’s abilities and needs. Ample opportunities are provided to explore literacy, numeracy, music and art. 

The curriculum is set up to foster learning throughout the day. Language development during free play, in routines, and other daily activities.

Mandatory kindergarten?

No

Early Childhood Education Announcement

The Governments of Canada and Manitoba have extended the Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Agreement. 

Almost $98 million will be invested over four years to continue building and strengthening early learning and child care in the province. 

$15 million of this fund will go towards affordability, infrastructure, and diversity and inclusion.

On diversity and inclusion, there will be more Francophone and Indigenous programming and greater supports for those children with additional needs.

The Manitoba school system will see a funding increase of $120 million in the upcoming school year. 

Among many uses such as operating costs and infrastructure, part of the funds will be invested in a new pilot program that will support engagement with elders and knowledge keepers in schools to promote the inclusion of First Nations, Métis and Inuit histories, culture and customs in the provincial curricula.

The Department of Education in Newfoundland and Labrador subscribes to an inclusive education philosophy. It promotes “a continuum of supports and services in the most appropriate setting (large group, small group, individualized) respecting the dignity of the child.”

The classroom is seen as a diverse setting where a variety of students can bring their own learning styles, abilities, experiences and backgrounds. In this learning environment, the differences among students are not merely respected but embraced. 

Inclusivity and holistic ideals in an education system are closely associated with each other. 

By adopting an inclusive mindset, the need for appropriately personalizing an education experience for a student rises. The holistic learning approach allows a school to dig deep to retrieve such information that would allow it to be truly inclusive.

2023-2024 Education Budget Announcement

The Newfoundland & Labrador Department of Education is investing $3.5 million to expand the Pre-Kindergarten Pilot Program. Also, it is allocating a budget of $25 million towards the sustenance of school-based reading specialists, teaching and learning assistants, teacher librarians, and English-as-a-second-language teachers.

Holistic Early Learning

Newfoundland and Labrador has a Return to School Plan. It directs educators to meet the returning students at their skill levels and build strong relationships that support further learning. Assessment practices will have flexibility and allow multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding of key concepts. 

Teachers are expected to maximize the effectiveness of assessment strategies and practices by understanding the purpose of assessment and knowing how the collected data will build efficacy and achievement. They have to ensure that all formative assessments are rich, varied, and used for instructive purposes and not for summative assessment. 

The assessments have to encompass a large variety of data sources, and they should provide opportunities to students to demonstrate progress in a full range of learning.

Mandatory kindergarten?

No

Early Childhood Education Announcement

A Provincial Reading and Mathematics Assessment (PRMA) for grade three, six, and nine students will begin in May 2022. 

The Premier’s Task Force on Improving Educational Outcomes, Now is the Time, identified a need for a new provincial assessment of curriculum outcomes in reading and mathematics curricula to better align with national and international assessments.

The Department of Education Culture and Employment in Northwest Territories (NWT) is in the process of renewing its JK-12 school curriculum. After consulting with other provinces and Indigenous Governments and Educations, the following 5 themes were identified: 

1. The Importance of Indigenous Ways 
2. High-School Transitions 
3. Rigour in the Curriculum 
4. Accountability for Learning 
5. Key Learning for Life

Reflecting on the 5 themes, the emphasis on the continuous aspect of lifelong learning is clear. It begins early on, as early as junior kindergarten in NWT’s case. There is a greater momentum to include culturally responsive educational material, and abide by an evidence-based curriculum that considers all the important early learning milestones. 

A holistic approach has an unique advantage, in that while it is inclusive by design, and supplements the existing curriculum.

2023-2024 Education Budget Announcement

The Northwest Territories Department of Education has pledged $10.3 million in new funds to improve access to childcare and early education.

It has also been announced that NT will pivot to BC’s curriculum by 2028. Agata Gutkowska, a cabinet spokesperson, says “With an emphasis on Indigenous knowledge and a focus on literacy and numeracy skills, we believe the B.C. curriculum will benefit N.W.T’s junior kindergarten (JK) to Grade 12 students.”

Holistic Early Learning

The Canada-wide Early Learning agreement reached between Canada and Northwest Territories calls for NT to commit to develop and fund a plan to educate diverse learners. This includes children needing enhanced or individual supports, Indigenous children, children of newcomers, official language minorities, etc. 

NT also will monitor student progress as a part of its data sharing and reporting objective.

Mandatory kindergarten?

No

Early Childhood Education Announcement

Supporting Child Inclusion and Participation (SCIP) funding is a proposal-based funding program that will help NWT children be on track with their early childhood development through access and participation in early learning programs. 

In particular, the program supports families and children with specific development needs and enhances early learning programs.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in Nova Scotia is committed to continuing the progress made in inclusive education and curricular development. 

To this effect, it implemented the Multi-Tiered System of Supports, which is an integrated school-wide approach that is universal, focused and intensive. 

Much like the holistic education model, it too is student centered, and “provides assessment, instruction, and intervention at three different levels, or tiers: classroom, small group, and individual.” This is an excellent fit with the holistic view of education, which facilitates the differentiation of instruction by holistic formative assessments. 

2023-2024 Education Budget Announcement

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in Nova Scotia, has pledged an additional $47.1 million to public schools to handle growing classroom sizes and hire teachers. It has earmarked $6 million to refresh classroom technology. 

In response to declining reading scores, the education minister of Nova Scotia, Becky Druhan, has announced that several measures will be implemented to support students’ learning. These include a renewed emphasis on phonics and phonological awareness for students in Grades primary to 2, and the provision of software to facilitate learning in math, reading, and writing.

Holistic Early Learning

Nova Scotia has a provincial literacy strategy that aims to ensure that early learners have the literacy skills to thrive in school and in outside environments. 

The province has dedicated $3.2 million for this cause. More direct support will be provided to students, and more help will be provided to educators in order to fortify literacy learning in all subjects.

There will be a focus on reading fluency, comprehension and writing skills. All teachers will reinforce student learning through classroom data and assessment to drive decisions on literacy instruction.

Mandatory kindergarten?

No

The Government of Nunavut has an early childhood education department responsible for childcare programs for “pre-natal children up to age 12”. 

Federal funding for early learning and childcare has been extended to 2025. This will “create more childcare spaces in underserved communities, invest in training and professional development opportunities for early childhood educators, and develop culturally appropriate educational resources.”

There is a lot of great work being done around the country in creating specific culturally appropriate programs for Indigenous schools and programs. Here are some wonderful examples that demonstrate how to authentically integrate Indigenous language, customs and history into the education system.

Holistic Early Learning

The Canada-Nunavut Early Learning Framework calls for the healthy development of all children by ensuring high-quality early learning which are rooted in Inuit culture, tradition and values. 

The Learning to be Together Again plan for returning to school advises educators to use existing assessment processes and information shared by their students’ previous teachers, as a starting point for instruction and assessment. Such insights are to be used to facilitate learning recovery. 

It asks educators to use strategies that recognize each student’s unique talents and skills and not just rely on formalized tests or measures.

Mandatory kindergarten?

No

Early Childhood Education Announcement

For the 2021-2022 school year, The Department of Education in Nunavut is prioritizing differentiated instruction in its recovery learning plan. Its Learning to be Together Again framework talks about implementing core learning outcomes and providing differentiation in instruction and assessment, to understand where students are now and determine where they need to be.