For a Century, This School Has Put Children First

When the Institute of Child Study opened its doors in 1925, the idea that young children might learn best through play, observation, and carefully structured freedom was radical. Nursery schools were controversial. The notion that children could be entrusted to trained educators – rather than remaining solely in the care of their mothers – was, to some, almost immoral.

What distinguished the Institute of Child Study from the start was its experimental orientation. Everything that happened in its classrooms was meant to be studied, understood and improved. That ethos carried the institute forward as it expanded beyond a nursery school, eventually becoming a full elementary lab school, a centre for teacher education and one of Canada’s most influential voices in early childhood research.

Nearly a century later, the questions facing educators are different – artificial intelligence, children’s mental health, their exposure to technology – but the institute’s leaders say the underlying challenge remains the same: understanding what children need, right now, to learn and thrive.

“What’s core is defining what we mean by quality education,” says Richard Messina, the principal of the institute’s lab school. “A quality education is defined by what we value.”

For much of the past century, Messina argues, education systems have valued grades, test scores and efficiency – often at the expense of curiosity, play and deep understanding. In an era where information is everywhere, he says, the role of the teacher must shift.

“[Educational philosopher and reformer] John Dewey was arguing pre-internet that we must teach the whole child,” he says. “Curiosity, questioning, understanding. We still haven’t done that in the large system of education.”

That philosophy shapes how the institute approaches technology – including AI. At the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, children in the early years – nursery through senior kindergarten – do not use digital devices at all. “We want them playing with beautiful material that they experience hands-on,” Messina says. Devices are introduced gradually, beginning in the primary grades, with an emphasis on digital literacy and critical thinking.

“We can’t deny that technology is part of our lives,” Messina says. “But we have a responsibility to introduce it in a way where children see both its benefits and its limitations.”

Chriss Bogert, the school’s vice-principal, frames this as an extension of long-standing commitments to digital citizenship. “It’s not about preventing the children from going on the internet,” she says. “We need to teach them how to go on it critically, thoughtfully, to be responsible, to be ethical.”

That work has taken on new urgency with the arrival of AI-generated content. When AI summaries began appearing in students’ Google searches, Bogert says, it became “a new point for us to teach the kids: how do you deal with that? How do you know that it’s a reliable source?”

Used carefully, technology can also deepen learning in ways that would otherwise be impossible. Bogert points to Knowledge Forum, a networked database developed through a long-standing research partnership with OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) scholars Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter. Students post theories, questions, and new information, building a visible web of ideas that allows the entire class to reflect on how knowledge develops collectively.

“It makes the knowledge growth of the community visible to everybody,” Bogert says – learning how to learn, together.

At the heart of the institute’s approach is a belief that learning is social, relational and deeply human. “Children need to feel secure in order to share what they’re thinking,” she says. “They need to feel known and valued, and to see themselves as contributors.”

That emphasis extends beyond the lab school. The institute also educates future teachers, supports parents, and houses the Laidlaw Research Centre, where scholars collaborate with educators and students to study how children learn – and how education systems can do better.

Rick Volpe, a professor of applied psychology in the institute’s teacher education program (which offers a Master of Arts in child study and education), sees this integration as central to the institute’s mission.

“We’re educating children, educating educators, and generating research in one place,” he says. “That’s a superb asset – not just for OISE, or the university, but for Canada.”

Evidence of the institute’s impact, he adds, often appears years later: in confident graduates, in universities eager to admit them and in adults who continue to love learning and advocate for others.

Bogert points to Dewey’s enduring wisdom: “The role of education is the continuing capacity for education. And that’s what we see in our graduates. They’re learning because they love learning. There’s a joyfulness in it.”

As the school marks its centennial, that joyfulness – and the security that enables it – remains the foundation. In an age when technology promises to revolutionize education yet again, the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study’s message is clear: children’s well-being comes first. The rest follows.