Welcome • Research • Child Study Centre

 

Our Mission

The Institute for Research on Early-Education and Child Health (REACH) is a multidisciplinary research group at Simon Fraser University.  The institute’s mission is to generate and share knowledge about early education and child health that will advance humanity by enriching the lives of young children and their families.  Current research projects focus on young children from infancy to eight years of age and the communities in which they live and grow.  We also have a special interest in advancing knowledge about the interplay between biology and environmental experiences that influence child health, psychosocial development and learning.  Through community outreach in real world settings, we strive to promote change that favors children in early education and public policy at local, national and international levels.

Research

At the Institute for Research on Early Education and Child Health (REACH), we believe that effective research focuses on the child and the child’s rights, advances theory, and defines the learning environments that promote child health and family well-being.  An important part of this process is ongoing collaboration among researchers and the creation of partnerships with the families, educators, administrators, child advocacy groups, and policy makers who will potentially benefit from our research. 

 

Child Study Centre

The Child Study Centre at SFU (CSC) offers comprehensive educational intervention programs and research to support children with learning difficulties; usually focusing on the issues related to child development, family supports, teacher education and policy reform. We are dedicated to:

• Providing effective assessment and instruction for children with learning difficulties and who attend schools in the lower mainland of British Columbia.
• Preparing educators to be leaders in schools and professions concerned with improving the lives of children who struggle in school.
• Preparing beginning teachers to meet the demands of teaching children with diverse learning needs within contemporary Canadian schooling.
• Training graduate students in research design and methods by linking theory with supervised practice.
• Engaging in meaningful research that has potential to reform policy within Canadian educational and/or healthcare systems.
• Engaging in dialogue at an international level with scholars, service providers and organizations that address global concerns about children’s learning and children’s rights to become fully educated members of a global society.

Global Initiatives

We are committed to improving the lives of children in Canada and internationally.  To this end, we seek opportunities to collaborate on research initiatives from diverse theoretical orientations that assist children and their families in countries throughout the world.  Our research has an interdisciplinary focus to address the complex issues that underlie policy making in a global environment.  We are currently in the process of developing an online journal to address issues related to education, care and health of children worldwide.