CBC Archives

Ask students to raise their hands if they attended day care before they started attending school. As a class discuss the issues of day care, dual-income families, and one parent staying home to raise children. The following questions should be raised: What challenges do you think might arise for parents who both work outside the home? What are the pros and cons of having a child in day care? Should the government regulate and oversee day care the way it does public education? Why or why not? Should the government subsidize day care? Why or why not?

Working in small groups, have students visit Who Cares for Our Kids?: The Changing Face of Day Care in Canada on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site. Place students in groups of four or five and assign one group to clips 1 and 2, one group to clips 3 and 4, one group to clip 5 and the Additional Clip “Is daycare bad for boys?”, one group to clip 7, one group to clips 9 and 11 and the Additional Clip “A lottery for the lucky,” and one group to clip 12 and the Additional Clip “Day care down under.” Students should read the Did You Know? sections with each script as well. As they view, have students take notes on the download sheet Investigating Day Care in Canada.

Groups will transfer the key points about their clips onto chart paper.

Invite each group to display and present its findings to the class, in order of the clips as listed. Encourage discussion and questioning to be sure that all students have a good understanding of what is presented on the site.

Students can write an information paragraph or essay summarizing the findings of their group.