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March 2, 2026

Amanda Seyfried nails the 1700s Manchester accent in The Testament of Ann Lee – a linguist explains how we know

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Danielle Turton, Senior Lecturer in Sociolinguistics, Lancaster University

Imagine time-travelling to Manchester, England in the late 1700s. What do you think people would sound like?

That’s the challenge facing Amanda Seyfried in The Testament of Ann Lee: portraying a working-class Mancunian accent from three centuries ago.

When historical linguists reconstruct past speech, it is an interpretative process. It relies on written evidence, including spelling, poetic rhymes, criticisms in old pronouncing dictionaries about how people ought to speak, and dialect descriptions. From these fragments, we can piece together a historically informed reconstruction.

In the late 18th century, English certainly sounded different, but not unrecognisable. Manchester would have been variably rhotic at this time. This is the pronunciation of the strong “r” sound in words like “star” or “bird”. Rhoticity is a feature shared with present-day American English.

In terms of vowels, the northern pattern in which words like “good” and “blood” are exact rhymes was present then as it is today. Both of these features are present in Seyfried’s portrayal.

Another feature Seyfried exhibits, but which is no longer typical of 21st-century Manchester accents, is her lack of what linguists call diphthongs, or gliding vowels. You can hear this in words she says like “great” and “clothed” where she uses vowel sounds that viewers might recognise from traditionally Lancashire or Yorkshire speech. These sounds were entirely consistent with 18th-century Mancunian accents but not today’s.

Seyfried has said she based her accent on actor Maxine Peake’s – although Peake is from Bolton, and not Manchester proper, this is not a bad decision. Bolton has its own distinct accent, but smaller towns often retain older features for longer while urban centres tend to experience accent changes more quickly.

In that sense, Peake’s accent may reflect features that Manchester has since moved away from, making her a more suitable reference point than a present-day speaker from the city.

Historic accents on screen

Seyfried’s performance sits within a broadly plausible northern English frame. Viewers online are divided: some praise the accent, others find it distracting. The difficulty is that without recordings we cannot know exactly how a Manchester accent sounded in the 18th century. It is though, entirely possible that her pronunciation is closer to historical reality than modern ears expect.

To this end, dialect coaches on historical films face a dilemma: do they recreate the speech of the time as faithfully as possible and risk losing the audience, or use something more contemporary? How far back could we go and still understand English?

We would manage 18th-century English reasonably well. For instance, it’s easier to understand Robinson Crusoe in 1719 than the 1500s English in Shakespeare or even the late 1300s and early 1400s middle English in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. But recognisable does not mean identical, and reproducing it, accent and all, too strictly could alienate viewers.

Most historical films don’t try to recreate how people actually sounded in the past. In Hamnet, which is set in the 1580s, the characters speak in modern received pronunciation instead of the kind of English spoken in Shakespeare’s time.

Even in stories set closer to the 18th century, such as The Favourite, Olivia Coleman’s Queen Anne still sounds distinctly modern – arguably, even more so than her Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown. Actors playing Tudor courtiers, medieval knights and even Shakespeare himself are routinely given modern accents on screen. Audiences rarely question it – or even notice.

Sociolinguistic research has long shown that southern and “prestige” accents, like that of royalty or the upper classes, are often treated as neutral and timeless while regional varieties are more readily linked to place and class. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that when Manchester appears on screen – especially in a historical setting – audiences listen more closely.

Part of that scrutiny might stem from its rarity. Working-class accents are under-represented in major films, and are even less often heard in leading roles. When they do appear, they carry the weight of representation. That scrutiny is understandable. Accent carries belonging, and carelessness can feel dismissive.

Amanda Seyfried seems aware of this sensitivity, noting in interviews that she originally suggested Olivia Cooke, who is from Oldham in Greater Manchester, for the role of Ann Lee. That comment, I think, shows that she recognises something important: these accents signal place, history and belonging and they matter to people.

So how authentic is the accent in The Testament of Ann Lee? In the absence of recordings from that time, certainty is impossible. But perhaps the more interesting question is not whether Seyfried’s accent is perfect, but what it means to hear a northern voice carry a feature film. It shifts our assumptions about what the past sounded like, and about who we imagine at its centre.

Danielle Turton has received funding from The Leverhulme Trust.

– ref. Amanda Seyfried nails the 1700s Manchester accent in The Testament of Ann Lee – a linguist explains how we know – https://theconversation.com/amanda-seyfried-nails-the-1700s-manchester-accent-in-the-testament-of-ann-lee-a-linguist-explains-how-we-know-276917

March 2, 2026

England’s sewage scandal hinges on lack of water industry regulation – new docudrama reveals how profit drives pollution

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Alex Ford, Professor of Biology, University of Portsmouth

A new three-part factual drama, Dirty Business, highlights the murky world of the English water industry. This Channel 4 docudrama follows the lives of two concerned citizens from Oxfordshire in south-east England: a retired police detective called Ash Smith and a retired university professor called Peter Hammond, who is an expert in deciphering patterns in big data sets. Together, they have been investigating sewage discharges into their local river for more than a decade.

The series spotlights their struggles to get information from their water company about releases of untreated sewage, and for the Environment Agency (EA) to take their concerns about pollution seriously. Interwoven with their accounts are tragic stories of several families whose lives have been turned upside down through exposure to contaminated water.

During a beach holiday in Devon in 1999, for example, eight-year-old Heather Preen died after contracting a deadly strain of E. coli. The cause of the outbreak was not identified and a verdict of misadventure was returned by a jury. However, several others who visited the beach that day had also contracted that specific strain of E. coli, making causes such as food poisoning unlikely. Elsewhere in England, the series shows rivers depleted of life and discoloured with sewage.

Water bills are increasing by as much as 47% to improve the failing infrastructure. Customers are angry that some of their money is servicing the debts of the water industry. Meanwhile, reports point to large profits for some water firms.

Dirty Business captures the sense of anger and frustration felt by many people.

As a water pollution scientist with more than 25 years’ experience, I worry about the lack of corporate and political accountability across this sector. That includes financial accountability, accountability for human health, nature and water security.

England’s water industry has been privatised since 1989. As such, water company boards exist to make money for their shareholders.

Many water companies have been fined millions of pounds for polluting discharges, failure to maintain infrastructure and withholding evidence from investigative authorities. However, critics have argued that these fines have been built into the business model, as dividends are not related to environmental performance. The water industry is also now lobbying government against further regulation and fines.

Between 2019 and 2024, water companies in England discharged sewage for a total of 16.3 million hours. This is equivalent to sewage being constantly released from one pipe for more than 1,850 years.

Profit drives pollution

Since privatisation began, water companies in England have paid out an estimated £76 billion in dividends to shareholders while accruing approximately £56 billion in debts. Dirty Business highlights not only what went wrong with the water industry, but the tactics used to deny, deflect and distract from its poor environmental performance.

I have studied the disinformation and misinformation by water companies with Hammond, a professor in computational biology. Our peer-reviewed article in the journal Nature Water highlights how companies maintain their profits by controlling the narrative and influencing the regulatory process.

Our study involved analysing water company communications – including company websites, social media, evidence given to parliamentary committees and public reports. We compared their strategies with a list of 28 tactics commonly used by tobacco, alcohol, fossil fuels and chemical industries to distract from serious environmental and human health issues.

We found that the English water companies and their sponsored lobbyists appeared to be using at least 22 of those tactics to deny, deflect or distort the facts. This results in the delay of civil, regulatory and political scrutiny.

Investigations ongoing

Since 2021, the EA in England has been conducting its largest ever criminal investigation into the water industry – which is still ongoing after five years. The House of Lords has been investigating the industry regulator, Ofwat. There are several other ongoing judicial reviews and civil court cases against several water companies.

A new government watchdog, the Office of Environmental Protection (OEP), has been conducting investigations into the financial and environmental regulators of the water industry. It concluded that “there have been failures to comply with environmental law by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the EA and Ofwat relating to the regulation of network CSOs [combined sewer overflows]”.

CSOs are overflow pipes which discharge untreated sewage into rivers and coasts at times of increased rainfall. These are permitted under certain conditions by the Environment Agency, such as exceptional rainfall, to prevent sewage backing up our drains.

But many swimmers, surfers and other concerned citizens have noticed these CSOs discharging sewage even on days when there was little or no rainfall.

An independent water commission set up by the current government has recommended “a complete overhaul of England and Wales’ water sector” and suggested merging Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and parts of the EA to create one new regulating body. Frustratingly for many, this commission was not given the scope to look into the pros and cons of bringing water back into public ownership.

The UK government halved the EA’s environmental protection budget from £170 million in 2009-10 (following the banking crisis) to £76 million in 2019-22.

Since 2009, the water industry has been left to police its own pollution incidences through a process known as “operator self monitoring” – whereby water companies are responsible for carrying out their own environmental monitoring. Evidenced by whistleblowers, the documentary portrays the shock and frustration within the EA to the rolling back of regulation by senior management.

Dirty Business illustrates how corporate greed and the fundamental lack of governance and regulatory oversight across the nation’s water industry allowed this sewage crisis to happen – at the cost of environmental and human health, and our future water security.

Alex Ford has received funding from UKRI research councils, EU, charities and industrial partners including the water industry. He has co-authored a scientific article with one the main characters serialised in the documentary drama ‘Dirty Business’.

– ref. England’s sewage scandal hinges on lack of water industry regulation – new docudrama reveals how profit drives pollution – https://theconversation.com/englands-sewage-scandal-hinges-on-lack-of-water-industry-regulation-new-docudrama-reveals-how-profit-drives-pollution-276699

March 2, 2026

Overdiagnosis? Why finding cancer isn’t always the same as saving lives

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ahmed Elbediwy, Senior Lecturer in Cancer Biology & Clinical Biochemistry, Kingston University

When South Korean doctors launched a nationwide thyroid cancer screening programme, diagnoses shot up 15 fold. Yet the death rate from thyroid cancer didn’t budge. More patients were being created than lives were being saved.

It is a clear illustration of a problem that is quietly reshaping how doctors think about cancer: overdiagnosis. Not misdiagnosis but the accurate detection of tumours that would not actually harm the patient.

Modern cancer screening is rightly celebrated as one of medicine’s great achievements. Finding cancer early saves lives. But as technology has become ever more sensitive, are we sometimes doing more harm than good?

Better detection

A cancer doesn’t spring from a single rogue cell flicking a switch. It develops through multiple steps, and many clusters of abnormal cells never complete that journey.

Some sit quietly in the body for decades. Only a fraction ever become life threatening. The problem is that once an abnormality is detected and labelled as cancer, it triggers a chain reaction – anxiety, aggressive treatment, serious side-effects – for a condition that might never have caused the patient any trouble at all.

Twenty years ago, many of these abnormalities would have been impossible to find. Today, state-of-the-art imaging and highly sensitive detection tests can identify tiny clusters of abnormal cells, faint genetic changes, and the smallest growths. As that technology improves, the boundary between a dangerous cancer and a harmless biological quirk becomes increasingly blurred.

This raises an uncomfortable question about rising cancer rates, particularly the well documented increase in diagnoses among the under-50s. Is this a genuine biological shift – cancers becoming more aggressive and appearing earlier in life – or is it partly a reflection of the fact that today’s younger adults are being screened, scanned and monitored far more intensively than previous generations?

Thyroid cancer is the starkest example. In South Korea in 2011, that 15-fold surge in diagnoses came almost entirely from screening, not from any real increase in disease. Researchers and clinical bodies eventually revised their guidelines in 2013, moving away from screening slow-growing lesions and towards monitoring rather than immediate surgery.

A woman having her neck examined by ultrasound. — Thyroid cancer is one of the most overdiagnosed cancers.
fizkes/Shutterstock.com

Prostate cancer tells a similar story. The introduction of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test produced a large jump in diagnoses, but death rates stayed flat – suggesting many men were being treated for cancers that grow so slowly, they never would have become life-threatening.

The consequences were serious. Surgery left many men incontinent or impotent, with no improvement in survival. Guidelines now favour active surveillance for many prostate growths.

For these two types of cancers, also those of the colon, the evidence increasingly points in the same direction: “watchful waiting” is often safer than immediate intervention. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy all carry significant risks and long-term side effects. Exposing a patient to those risks for a tumour that was never going to threaten their life is difficult to justify.

None of this means early detection should be abandoned. For fast-moving cancers – pancreatic, lung, some breast cancers – finding the disease early remains critical. The challenge is learning to distinguish between the cancers that demand urgent action and those that can safely be watched. That requires not just better technology, but better judgement about when to use it.

Fairness and transparency

Shifting towards a risk-based approach to screening also raises difficult questions about fairness and transparency. Who gets screened, how often and on what grounds? Those decisions carry real consequences, and they deserve a more open public debate than they currently receive.

What is becoming clearer, though, is that the old logic of cancer screening – find it, remove it – is no longer sufficient on its own. Overdiagnosis is a genuine harm, even if it is a less visible one than a missed diagnosis. For some patients, learning to live carefully with a monitored cancer may turn out to be safer than trying to eliminate it entirely.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Overdiagnosis? Why finding cancer isn’t always the same as saving lives – https://theconversation.com/overdiagnosis-why-finding-cancer-isnt-always-the-same-as-saving-lives-275869

March 2, 2026

The UK is about to start an experiment that could end smoking for good – but it won’t be easy

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Lisa McNally, Honorary Professor and Director of Public Health, University of Birmingham

Anyone born after January 1 2009 will never be able to legally buy tobacco in the UK thanks to the tobacco and vapes bill, which is expected to become law in March 2026. When it does, it will mean that the legal age for tobacco sales will rise by one year every year from 2027 onwards.

I have spent much of my career working on smoking cessation and prevention, including supporting the roll out of England’s indoor smoking ban and leading local health improvement programmes. In 2006, a man once called me a “leftwing, do-gooder, fascist bitch!” after I spoke in the media in support of that ban. He wasn’t the only one to object.

The introduction of the new legislation will likely trigger similarly fierce opposition from supporters of the tobacco lobby. But this time, their arguments may be harder to land.

The government’s aim is to create a “smokefree generation”. The bill will not ban smoking outright, nor affect current smokers. Instead, it will gradually phase out legal sales to younger generations.

From a public health perspective, the logic is well established. Most smokers begin when they are young, and preventing uptake has long been the most effective way to reduce smoking rates. The policy is designed to stop new people starting, including the 127,500 young adults (aged 18 to 25) who take up smoking each year in the UK.

The world will be watching. Aside from the Maldives, the UK is now among the few nations proposing laws aimed at creating a smokefree generation. A similar approach was planned in New Zealand, but it was scrapped following a change of government. There were also reports of sustained lobbying against the new policy.

Those of us working in tobacco control recognise this pattern. Expect warnings about losing £8 billion in tobacco tax receipts, despite the far higher economic costs of smoking through its impact on the NHS, social care and productivity. It is claimed that legal challenges have already begun seeking to undermine the generational approach.

Attempts to invoke fears of a “nanny state” are inevitable. In practice, this argument often centres on defending young people’s right to buy tobacco, a position that has become harder to sustain as evidence of harm has accumulated.

The legislation will initially apply to those aged 18 and under, before extending year by year. Current smokers would not be directly affected. This helps explain the strong public backing for the policy. Opinion polls show support from over two-thirds of the UK population, including many people who smoke.

Enforcement

Responsibility for enforcing tobacco sales laws sits largely with local Trading Standards teams. They inspect retailers, investigate illegal sales and take action against non-compliance, including fines and prosecutions. However, these services have faced years of cuts and staff shortages, limiting their capacity.

From a public health delivery perspective, enforcement is where legislation succeeds or fails. If capacity is weak, rogue retailers may continue to profit from illegal tobacco sales, undermining the policy’s intent.

A recently announced £10 million investment in Trading Standards should strengthen their ability to act, but sustained resourcing will be essential if the law is to work as intended once in force.

Other concerns centre on changes to vaping regulation. The bill introduces new powers to restrict flavours and advertising, and vaping may be banned in some outdoor spaces. These measures aim to reduce the appeal of vaping to children. However, some fear they could also discourage adults from switching away from cigarettes.

Vaping currently plays a significant role in smoking cessation in the UK. Research evidence suggests it can be more effective than standard nicotine replacement therapy for quitting. Policymakers have attempted to balance youth protection with harm reduction, and vaping products will remain widely available. Debate will continue over whether the new restrictions strike the right balance or risk slowing the shift away from smoking.

Whether the UK will achieve a “smokefree generation” is not guaranteed. The legislation will need to be backed by effective enforcement, sustained investment in local public health services and continued support for smoking cessation once it becomes law.

Even so, it represents a significant step forward. The policy is grounded in prevention, supported by public opinion and informed by decades of tobacco control research and practice. If enforcement and cessation support keep pace with legislative ambition, the UK has reason to be cautiously optimistic that this could mark the beginning of a long-term endgame for tobacco.

Lisa McNally is responsible for managing public health budgets received by her employer from the UK Government . She is employed by Worcestershire County Council and is an Honorary Professor at the University of Birmingham.

– ref. The UK is about to start an experiment that could end smoking for good – but it won’t be easy – https://theconversation.com/the-uk-is-about-to-start-an-experiment-that-could-end-smoking-for-good-but-it-wont-be-easy-276114

March 2, 2026

Why we shouldn’t abandon handwriting at school

Source: The Conversation – France (in French) – By Atheena Johnson, Docteure en linguistique appliquée, Université Paris Nanterre

Over the decades, technological devices have been gradually integrated into language learning, as is recently the case with generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Does the sophistication of these tools eventually render pencils and pens obsolete? Or can digital uses be combined with manual writing? How does writing keep its value for the human being?

Pen or keyboard: an impact on memorisation

Handwriting has long been associated with memory and learning. It was in 1829 that the keystroke first appeared. It, thereafter, became common in 1867 thanks to the first manual typewriter. While students of the past learned to write exclusively by hand, today’s students alternate between screens and paper. However, research shows that these modalities do not have the same effects on memorisation and retention, and essentially, the acquisition of knowledge.

In a 2014 study, students were better able to answer analytical questions if they took their notes by hand. A 2017 study found that 20-25-year-old students retained the information they wrote by hand longer than the information that they typed on a keyboard.

In addition, it was discovered that students who used artificial intelligence from the stage of their
first draft remembered very little of what was actually written when they were tested for their ability to cite a text, unlike those who had composed their own texts from the draft stage. Finding a balance between written and digital production is, therefore, very important.

Less lexical richness in digitally produced written work

In an experiment conducted in 2019, before the generative AI boom that we know, we compared the handwritten and typewritten productions of students in English. We found a lesser lexical richness in typed productions, which confirmed the trends mentioned above.

There were 58 university participants in the study, each producing a typewritten text and a handwritten text at an interval of one week. The experiment took place as part of the preparation for a final evaluation. Participants could not use resources during the production: no dictionary or self-correction tools.

The objective of the study was to determine whether there were linguistic differences according to the mode of production. We were interested in the stylistic aspects, such as the informational value of the texts and the way they were arranged, as well as lexical aspects.

The majority of the texts showed a statistically similar informational value and textual organisation. This suggested that the mode of production did not influence the stylistic approaches used.

Regarding lexical diversity, however, the observation was not the same. Lexical richness was much greater in most handwritten productions. The typed productions had lexical weaknesses that were not present in the handwritten productions of the same participants.

These results may have implications for teaching English and how students are encouraged to produce their written texts.

Writing on screen is a learned competence

Since the digital transition has been condoning the pen to the closet, several countries have looked at the impact of digital uses on written skills: Spain, the United States and France.

However, recent studies highlight the importance of specific writing strategies for student progression, such as planning or proofreading. If handwritten production develops capabilities that the keyboard does not develop, keyboard mastery remains an essential but demanding skill.

The difficulties in writing today are primarily due to the place that it is given, receiving less priority in school curricula in Europe, the United States or China. What is of fundamental consideration is that the production methods are different at three levels.

Firstly, typewriting and handwriting take place in distinct spatial frameworks. Writing occurs in a unified space while typing takes place in two separate spaces: on the screen and on the keyboard.

Secondly, the way in which the individual composes with the spatial differences when planning, transcribing and revising a text is also very different. Finally, the perception and uses of students vary according to the production methods.

This is why it is important to continue to emphasise the cognitive benefits of handwriting at school and elsewhere, while becoming aware of the formal training that digital writing implies so that students reach the same level of fluidity on screen as on paper. In class, it is a matter of thinking about the options offered in terms of writing tools. It remains to be seen what the impact of the increasing use of AI will be on written production, where writing mastery is equally essential and demanding.

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Atheena Johnson ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Why we shouldn’t abandon handwriting at school – https://theconversation.com/why-we-shouldnt-abandon-handwriting-at-school-276210

March 2, 2026

Enfants non scolarisés : en France, plus de situations qu’on ne l’imagine

Source: The Conversation – France (in French) – By Benjamin Denecheau, Professeur des universités, Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne (UPEC)

Les enfants qui bénéficient d’un accès très intermittent à l’école sont comptabilisés comme scolarisés. Ils disparaissent donc des statistiques de non-scolarisation. Michal Parzuchowski/Unsplash, CC BY

En France, les taux de scolarisation frôlent les 100 %. Pourtant, derrière ces chiffres rassurants, des milliers d’enfants connaissent des ruptures d’école parfois longues, parfois répétées. Placements, procédures judiciaires, hospitalisations : autant de situations où l’institution scolaire se désynchronise des parcours de vie. Si l’absence de données à leur sujet est criante, les travaux de recherche identifient progressivement ces situations, dont certaines ne sont pas inconnues des services de l’État.

En France, le taux de scolarisation est un des plus hauts d’Europe et avoisine les 100 % pour les enseignements primaire et secondaire. Il commence à décroitre à 16 ans, à la fin de l’obligation d’instruction. Toutefois ce nombre ne s’appuie que sur les situations connues : lorsque les enfants ne sont pas scolarisés, ils peuvent aussi échapper au recensement. Par ailleurs, des enfants peuvent être inclus dans la population scolarisée, tout en connaissant des périodes plus ou moins longues de non-scolarisation.

Dans un avis publié en 2024, la Commission nationale consultative des droits de l’homme (CNCDH) constate qu’en France ces situations en violation des dispositions prévues par les droits international, européen et français concernent une part non négligeable d’enfants, sans toutefois pouvoir en faire un décompte précis.

La liste des publics non scolarisés est longue : des enfants vivant en situation de grande précarité (notamment dans la rue, en bidonvilles, squats et hôtels sociaux…) ; des enfants vivant en territoires isolés, notamment en Guyane et à Mayotte ; des mineurs non accompagnés ; des enfants et jeunes allophones ; des « enfants de voyageurs » ; des enfants en situation de handicap (qu’ils bénéficient ou non d’une reconnaissance de leur handicap) ; des enfants en situation de danger ; des enfants malades ; des enfants en conflit avec la loi, dont ceux détenus en quartier pour mineurs ou en établissement pénitentiaire pour mineurs.

Une partie de ces enfants est sous les radars des institutions et les situations de non-scolarisation sont difficiles à recenser. Les sociologues Tanguy Mathon-Cécillon et Gilles Séraphin se sont attelés à cette tâche à Mayotte. Ils identifient plusieurs méthodes pour mieux compter les non-scolarisations, mais n’arrivent pas à un chiffre stable et sûr.

Toutefois, une autre partie des enfants non scolarisés est sous la responsabilité, et donc connue, de services (éducatifs, sociaux, de justice, de santé, etc.) ou d’associations qui les accueillent ou les prennent en charge.

Pourquoi des enfants connus des services de l’État sont-ils non scolarisés ?

Nos recherches sur les interventions judiciaires ou socio-éducatives permettent d’identifier plusieurs causes de non-scolarisation des enfants connus par les services de l’État.

La première est une conséquence des temps et des procédures non synchronisés entre l’école et les systèmes judiciaires et de protection de l’enfance. Ces derniers prennent des décisions qui peuvent générer des placements ou des déplacements des enfants qui changent alors de lieu de vie, et souvent de lieu de scolarisation. Pour autant, les enfants ne sont pas toujours rescolarisés aussitôt. Parfois les démarches administratives de réinscriptions ne sont pas immédiates, et génèrent un temps d’attente avant de pouvoir retrouver les bancs de l’école.

Ces multiples ruptures et difficultés peuvent également mettre à mal l’enfant et son rapport à l’école. Il peut être trop difficile d’aller dans un nouvel établissement scolaire, lorsqu’on ne connaît personne, que l’école et les apprentissages sont des épreuves quotidiennes, que l’on vient de changer de lieu d’habitation et d’être séparés de ses proches. Les données de la Direction de la recherche, des études, de l’évaluation et des statistiques (Drees, ministère de la santé) indiquent, par exemple, que 2,3 % des jeunes âgés de 6 à 16 ans hébergés au sein d’établissements de Protection de l’enfance (foyers et maisons d’enfants à caractère social) sont déscolarisés.

Du côté de la Protection judiciaire de la jeunesse (PJJ), nous avons mené une recherche dans des services de milieu ouvert : les jeunes y font l’objet d’une mesure judiciaire, mais restent au foyer familial (ils restent scolarisés dans leur établissement scolaire ou peuvent suivre une formation ou avoir un emploi, pour les plus âgés).

Sur un échantillon de 379 jeunes de moins de 18 ans, plus de la moitié n’était pas scolarisée (56 %), et une part importante n’était pas non plus en emploi ou en formation (18 %). Les changements réguliers subis par certains jeunes entraînent des écarts progressifs de l’école qui peuvent parfois s’installer dans la durée : les périodes de non-scolarisation se répètent et durent plus longtemps, ce qui augmente les difficultés scolaires.

Pourtant, ces jeunes sont suivis et parfois encadrés par des professionnels qui ont une responsabilité éducative parmi leurs fonctions. Cette contradiction peut en partie s’expliquer par le manque de moyens qui contraint l’action éducative à être intermittente (les éducateurs et éducatrices ne peuvent pas consacrer un temps suffisant pour suivre la scolarité et la soutenir, tel qu’il est attendu par l’école).

Par ailleurs, la scolarité est souvent reléguée à un statut secondaire dans ces interventions. Les professionnels privilégient d’autres entrées (la protection de l’enfant, le travail sur les liens familiaux, l’acte délinquant et le rapport à la loi pour la PJJ), et peuvent considérer l’école comme source de difficultés qui seraient supplémentaires à celles que subissent déjà les enfants. Ils peuvent donc soutenir les périodes de non-scolarisation qui permettraient à l’enfant de « souffler ».

Une demi-journée d’école par semaine = scolarisé

Par ailleurs, considérer que la situation ne peut être que de deux ordres, scolarisé ou non scolarisé, génère un chiffre noir de situations qui sont enregistrées comme une scolarisation, mais qui n’en sont pas réellement. Car si l’Insee affiche un taux de scolarisation à 100 % jusqu’à 12 ans, qui reste à 98,3 % à 15 ans, la scolarisation peut être intermittente pour certains.

C’est-à-dire qu’une part minoritaire des élèves accède à des enseignements, mais sur des temps relativement restreints. Ça n’est donc pas une scolarisation pleine, loin de là. Par exemple, les élèves hospitalisés en service de soins lourds bénéficient au mieux de quelques heures d’enseignement organisées par des associations, pour quelques disciplines, celles qui peuvent être délivrées par les enseignants impliqués. Ailleurs, ce sont les enfants de familles identifiées comme « voyageuses » qui suivent des cours dans les camions-écoles, pour une ou deux demi-journées par semaine au maximum. Enfin, une récente recherche conduite par les sociologues Hugo Bréant et Lorenn Contini dans les lieux d’enfermement a confirmé le faible nombre d’heures d’enseignement auxquelles avaient accès les mineurs : elles dépassent rarement la dizaine par semaine.

Dans son avis sur l’accès à une scolarisation effective pour tous les enfants, publié en 2024, la Commission nationale consultative des droits de l’homme (CNCDH) met en lumière l’insuffisance des moyens pour garantir l’accès à l’école pour tous les enfants. Elle relève également un manque de données et donc d’attention sur la question de la non-scolarisation en France.

Or, la non-scolarisation est une atteinte aux droits des enfants et en premier lieu au droit à l’éducation, établit dans plusieurs textes majeurs, notamment la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme (article 26), la Convention internationale relative aux droits de l’enfant (article 29), et enfin le Code de l’éducation, adopté en 2000, qui précise qu’il s’agit de la première priorité nationale, et que le service public de l’éducation « contribue à l’égalité des chances […]. Il reconnaît que tous les enfants partagent la capacité d’apprendre et de progresser » et qu’il vise à garantir la réussite de tous (article L111-1).

Mais cela va bien au-delà. La CNCDH souligne l’interdépendance des droits fondamentaux. Ne pas aller à l’école, c’est ne pas avoir accès aux connaissances, qui permettent aussi d’être plus au fait de ses droits et de mieux les assurer (sur la santé par exemple, qui nécessite de maîtriser des démarches administratives pour accéder aux soins, de savoir lire une notice de médicament, etc.). Faire l’expérience de périodes de non-scolarisation, c’est aussi être exclu du principal lieu de socialisation, après la famille, pour les enfants, un lieu où l’on apprend à vivre avec des personnes d’autres milieux sociaux, où l’on découvre l’histoire et les cultures, un lieu par lequel on devient pleinement citoyen.

Benjamin Denecheau ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Enfants non scolarisés : en France, plus de situations qu’on ne l’imagine – https://theconversation.com/enfants-non-scolarises-en-france-plus-de-situations-quon-ne-limagine-276107

March 2, 2026

Suplemento cultural: el cine español de 2025

Source: The Conversation – (in Spanish) – By Claudia Lorenzo Rubiera, Editora de Cultura, The Conversation

Bruno Núñez y Sergi López en una fotografía promocional de _Sirât_. BTeam Producciones

Una versión de este texto se publicó por primera vez en nuestro boletín Suplemento cultural, un resumen quincenal de la actualidad cultural y una selección de los mejores artículos de historia, literatura, cine, arte o música. Si quiere recibirlo, puede suscribirse aquí.

La del título es una expresión manida, lo sé, pero también cierta. Y probablemente este año más que ninguno. Aunque, como todas las quinielas pronosticaban, hubo dos películas que coparon muchos de los Premios Goya que se entregaron el sábado (con Los domingos llevándose el de Mejor Película), el 2025 ha sido un año excelente para la, y perdonen otra vez el cliché, cosecha.

Déjenme resumirles los hitos de este año: se consiguió el premio Panorama del público en el Festival de Cine de Berlín con una ópera prima; se enviaron dos películas a la sección oficial del Festival de Cannes –una de las cuales salió premiada y ahora tiene dos nominaciones a los Óscar–; un equipo de sonido compuesto por mujeres conquistó una de esas nominaciones, la primera hecha íntegramente a mujeres; una película española consiguió la Concha de Oro en el Festival de San Sebastián; el público acudió en masa a las salas a ver películas no precisamente “fáciles” pero que han atraído audiencias y presentado debates y, entre otras cosas, se habló (con éxito) de historias de seres humanos que no siempre salen en la gran pantalla.

En el 40 aniversario de los Goya celebremos que en los últimos meses hayamos podido ver filmes como Sorda, Sirāt, Romería, Los domingos, Ciudad sin sueño, La cena, Maspalomas, Tardes de soledad, La furia, Muy lejos, Una quinta portuguesa, Un fantasma en la batalla o La buena letra, entre otros muchos.

Y para brindar por ello tenemos dos artículos nuevos (además de otros que se han ido publicando a lo largo del año) que explican, por un lado, la espiritualidad en Sirāt, la película de Oliver Laxe, y, por otro, el diseño sonoro de este filme y de Sorda, de Eva Libertad. Son dos análisis estupendos que ayudan a entender las profundidades de sus historias y también el hecho de que, en el cine, la técnica siempre funciona cuando está al servicio de aquello que se quiere contar al espectador.

Por cierto, aprovecho este hueco para mirar al pasado. El Goya de Honor recayó en el cineasta, escritor, artista y hombre que lo hace todo Gonzalo Suárez. Hace un tiempo publicamos un artículo que repasaba su carrera y que, sobre todo, destacaba su tremenda libertad a la hora de abordarla. Su discurso de la gala es, como todo lo de Suárez, imprescindible: “El cine es el último reducto en el que podemos soñar despiertos”.

También me gustaría recuperar un tema atemporal que lanzamos en 2024 por estas mismas fechas y que utilizaba siete títulos españoles para explicar en qué consiste eso que muchas veces llamamos “lenguaje cinematográfico”. Porque no hay nada como los ejemplos con obras maestras para hacernos entender algunos conceptos.

La otra cara de Estados Unidos

Las recientes protestas contra la detención de migrantes en Minneapolis y la despiadada reacción del gobierno estadounidense provocaron que muchos de los que seguíamos el desarrollo de la acción desde la distancia buscásemos refugio en la cultura.

Por un lado, se multiplicaron las referencias a la película Civil War, dirigida por Alex Garland y estrenada hace casi dos años, en la que un Estados Unidos distópico vive un conflicto civil bajo el mandato de un presidente autoritario que ostenta un (ilegal) tercer mandato.

Por otro, el sector musical, que se ha mostrado más combativo que Hollywood, dio la cara una vez más. Si la semana pasada los irlandeses U2 lanzaban por sorpresa un EP que analizaba los diferentes conflictos mundiales, incluidos los asesinatos de dos norteamericanos en las calles de esa ciudad, hace casi un mes era el jefe de todo esto, el mismo Springsteen, quien ponía música a la ira que le consumía.

Un crimen limpio

Recuerdo la época en leí las novelas de Henning Mankell como una de las más disfrutonas y, a la vez, sórdidas de mi vida lectora. Mankell desarrollaba asesinatos y truculencias mientras desnudaba la sociedad sueca y yo vivía enganchada a los casos del inspector Wallander. Al final tuve que desintoxicarme porque el mundo que él presentaba parecía tan real como cruel.

Como no todo van a ser tragedias, aprovechamos dos aniversarios (el centenario de la publicación de la novela El asesinato de Roger Ackroyd y los cincuenta años del fallecimiento de su autora, Agatha Christie) para rebuscar en lo que ahora se llama el cozy crime, que no es otra cosa que la investigación de crímenes en un entorno protegido.

En una época en la que el true crime parece ocuparlo todo, los seguidores (entre los que me incluyo) de series como Solo asesinatos en el edificio estamos de enhorabuena.

Todas esas palabras que soltamos

¿Alguna vez se ha apuntado a un gimnasio que le ofrecía un functional traininig? Está de enhorabuena. Está de enhorabuena. En The Conversation no podemos decirle cómo mejorar la técnica de las dominadas o conseguir meter más burpees en un minuto, pero podemos ayudarle a desmenuzar, lingüísticamente, aquello por lo que ha pagado una suscripción.

Nuestros expertos tan pronto analizan el “functional” como el “training”. Y para todo tienen reflexiones y respuestas.

– ref. Suplemento cultural: el cine español de 2025 – https://theconversation.com/suplemento-cultural-el-cine-espanol-de-2025-277029

March 2, 2026

Syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette : les patients atteints de « tics tabous » subissent une forte stigmatisation sociale

Source: The Conversation – France in French (3) – By Rena Zito, Associate Professor of Sociology, Elon University

Les tics de langage obscènes dont sont atteints certains patients touchés par le syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette les poussent à dire ou à faire ce qu’ils souhaitent le plus éviter. Dominic Lipinski/Stringer via Getty Images

Le syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette est encore très mal compris du public, et fait l’objet d’une importante stigmatisation. Le réduire à une « maladie des jurons » ne reflète pas la réalité complexe de ce trouble du neurodéveloppement, puisque seule une minorité de patients est concernée par ces symptômes.

Le 22 février 2026, durant la cérémonie de la British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), à Londres, John Davidson, dont l’existence a inspiré le biopic primé I Swear, a involontairement proféré une insulte à caractère racial lors du discours de Michael B. Jordan et Delroy Lindo. La séquence est devenue virale, et le tollé qui s’est ensuivi a ravivé le débat public sur le syndrome de Gilles de la Tourette et son symptôme le plus frappant, les tics de langage obscènes, désignés sous le terme de « coprolalie ».

M. Davidson est une figure familière du public britannique depuis son adolescence, époque à laquelle il a figuré pour la première fois dans un documentaire de la BBC consacré au syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette, dont il est atteint. Depuis lors, il a consacré des décennies à sensibiliser le public à cette pathologie, un engagement qui lui a valu une distinction honorifique en 2019, remise par la reine Elizabeth II.

Les réactions suscitées par les tics de Davidson lors de la soirée de la BAFTA révèlent que le syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette demeure une pathologie profondément méconnue. En tant que sociologue, je consacre mes recherches aux dimensions sociales de cette affection (avec lequel je vis moi-même), notamment à la stigmatisation liée à la coprolalie. Si la majorité des personnes atteintes par le syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette ne présentent jamais ces tics tabous, celles qui en souffrent doivent supporter le poids du jugement social.

Qu’est-ce que le syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette ?

Le syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette est un trouble du neurodéveloppement qui affecte environ 0,5 % à 0,7 % de la population. Il se caractérise par des mouvements et des sons involontaires, appelés tics, qui débutent généralement dans l’enfance et, pour certains individus, persistent à l’âge adulte.

Les tics peuvent être moteurs, tels que des clignements d’yeux ou des haussements d’épaules, ou vocaux, comme le raclement de gorge ou l’émission de sons brefs. Certains se limitent à un geste ou un son unique, tandis que d’autres combinent plusieurs mouvements ou impliquent des verbalisations plus longues – par exemple, un claquement de doigts suivi d’un mouvement brusque de la tête, ou la répétition de mots ou de phrases.

La coprolalie, soit l’émission involontaire de propos obscènes ou offensants, constitue l’un des aspects les plus mal compris de la pathologie. Environ 10 % à 20 % des personnes atteintes du syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette présentent ce type de tic.

Moins d’une personne sur cinq atteinte du syndrome Gilles de La Tourette présente des tics tabous, comme la coprolalie, mais leur impact sur la vie sociale est disproportionné.

L’intensité, la fréquence et la forme des tics évoluent souvent avec le temps, des périodes de calme relatif alternant avec des phases d’exacerbation des symptômes. De nombreux patients ressentent une sensation de tension désagréable avant l’apparition d’un tic, appelée besoin prémonitoire, comparable à une démangeaison qu’il faut impérativement soulager. Pour d’autres, les tics surviennent de manière plus subite, à l’instar d’un éternuement imprévisible. Certains parviennent à réprimer temporairement leurs tics, souvent au prix d’un inconfort ultérieurement accru, tandis que d’autres en sont incapables.

Les tics peuvent être physiquement éprouvants, entraînant des douleurs et des blessures aiguës ou chroniques. En outre, les personnes atteintes sont fréquemment confrontées à la stigmatisation et à la discrimination. Elles vivent sous la pression constante de devoir contrôler ou dissimuler leurs symptômes, ce qui engendre une lourde charge psychologique. Ces patients présentent un risque accru d’automutilation et de suicide.

Bien que l’étiologie du syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette ne soit pas encore totalement élucidée, une forte composante génétique est vraisemblablement en cause. Cependant, s’il s’agit souvent d’une pathologie familiale, ce syndrome peut également résulter de complications périnatales ou d’infections.

Comprendre les tics tabous tels que la coprolalie

Bien que seule une minorité de patients souffre de coprolalie, les représentations médiatiques du syndrome de Gilles de la Tourette se focalisent de manière disproportionnée sur les accès de vulgarité. Ces tics tabous, choquants et inattendus, marquent en effet davantage l’imaginaire collectif que des tics plus fréquents, mais moins spectaculaires. Ce stéréotype de la « maladie des jurons » dénature la réalité vécue par la plupart des malades.

Par ailleurs, la coprolalie n’est en effet qu’une forme de tic tabou parmi d’autres. On dénombre également la copropraxie (gestes obscènes) et les tics non obscènes, mais socialement inappropriés, tels que des bruits de baisers, des crachats ou le fait de toucher autrui.

Baylen Dupree, star de l’émission « Baylen Out Loud » de la chaîne états-unienne TLC — Baylen Dupree, vedette de l’émission « Baylen Out Loud » (TLC), souffre d’une forme sévère de syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette incluant la coprolalie.
Slaven Vlasic/Stringer via Getty Images

L’un des aspects les plus déroutants des tics tabous réside dans leur capacité à être contextuellement pertinents, tout en demeurant involontaires. Un patient pourrait par exemple hurler « J’ai une arme ! », lors d’un contrôle de police. Les tics peuvent être déclenchés par certains stimuli de l’environnement social, en particulier lors de moments de stress intense.

Pourquoi la vulgarité prédomine-t-elle dans certains cas ? Les tics résultent d’un dysfonctionnement des circuits neuronaux impliqués dans le mouvement et le contrôle des impulsions. Or, les termes tabous possèdent une forte charge émotionnelle et sociale ; ils tendent donc à être plus solidement ancrés dans les réseaux langagiers et émotionnels du cerveau que les mots neutres.

Cela explique pourquoi la coprolalie peut également survenir, bien que plus rarement, chez des individus souffrant de lésions cérébrales, de maladies neurodégénératives ou de troubles épileptiques.

Les défis du quotidien avec la coprolalie

Les symptômes de tics tabous sont souvent associés à une gravité clinique accrue du trouble, à une plus grande fréquence de comorbidités ainsi qu’à des difficultés relationnelles majeures. L’insertion sociale des personnes touchées par le syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette qui en sont atteintes peut s’avérer précaire. Mes recherches sur la stigmatisation de la coprolalie mettent par ailleurs en lumière la profondeur de la détresse qu’engendrent les idées reçues.

Un préjugé courant veut que les tics révèlent le fond de la pensée de l’individu. En réalité, les tics contraignent souvent les personnes à dire ou à faire précisément ce qu’elles souhaitent le plus éviter.

La lutte contre les préjugés est un enjeu crucial, d’autant plus lorsque les tics prennent la forme d’insultes ou de calomnies.

Comme me l’a confié une des personnes que j’ai interrogées durant mes travaux : « C’est comme si mon cerveau transformait mes intentions les plus polies en armes cruelles. Sortir devient terrifiant… Savoir que j’ai en moi ce mécanisme de confrontation qui peut se manifester subitement, alors que je ne le souhaite absolument pas. »

Ces tics socialement inappropriés peuvent attirer une attention malvenue sur les patients et les conduire à l’exclusion, au harcèlement, à des altercations et constituer un obstacle à l’accès à l’emploi. Un autre participant l’a résumé ainsi : « Il n’existe aucun travail où l’on accepterait un aménagement spécifique m’autorisant à injurier mon patron. »

Anticipant ces réactions, de nombreux patients souffrant d’une coprolalie marquée se retirent de la vie publique ou vivent avec le fardeau de devoir sans cesse s’expliquer et sensibiliser leur entourage.

Une autre idée reçue est que la coprolalie se manifeste systématiquement par le fait de hurler des obscénités en public. Si tel est le cas pour certains patients, comme John Davidson à la remise des prix de la BAFTA, d’autres parviennent à réprimer, masquer ou minutieusement contrôler leurs tics en société. Toutefois, ces deux réalités sont tout aussi éprouvantes l’une que l’autre. En outre, comme tout tic, l’atteinte coprolalique peut fluctuer avec le temps.

Enfin, soulignons que le stress lié aux tics tabous s’étend au-delà de l’individu. Les membres de la famille des patients affirment fréquemment ressentir un sentiment d’impuissance face à la détresse de leur enfant. Ils se sentent également peu soutenus par les institutions scolaires, et expérimentent le poids du jugement d’autrui lorsque ces tics se manifestent.

Afin de pouvoir participer pleinement et sereinement à la vie de la cité, les personnes atteintes du syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette, et plus particulièrement celles souffrant de tics tabous, ont donc besoin de toute la compréhension et le soutien possible.

Rena Zito ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Syndrome de Gilles de La Tourette : les patients atteints de « tics tabous » subissent une forte stigmatisation sociale – https://theconversation.com/syndrome-de-gilles-de-la-tourette-les-patients-atteints-de-tics-tabous-subissent-une-forte-stigmatisation-sociale-277116

March 2, 2026

What Bad Bunny meant when he said ‘Canadá’ — and why we’re still talking about it

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Rodrigo Narro Pérez, Assistant Professor, School of Earth, Environment and Society, Faculty of Science, McMaster University

Weeks later, a single word from the Super Bowl half-time show continues to reverberate across social media: “Canadá.”

As Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny named countries across the Americas at the end of the show, he included Canada as an unexpected reference. This timely invocation made visible what is so often overlooked.

More than one million Latin American people live in Canada, according to Statistics Canada, and for those communities, “Canadá” does not register as novelty. It names a known reality in a country where Spanish is now the most spoken non-official language.

Against this backdrop, Bad Bunny’s halftime performance has lingered as a deliberate cultural and historical intervention that centred Puerto Rico with intention while also gesturing toward a wider hemispheric story of the Americas and their entangled histories. What unfolded was not merely entertainment but an anticolonial re-mapping of the Americas.

From the transformation of the football field into sugarcane fields to Bad Bunny’s unapologetic insistence of performing only in Spanish, the performance centred Black, Latin American and Caribbean cultures in a space often framed as the apex of popular culture in the United States.

But this was not just Spanish in the abstract. It was the distinct Puerto Rican Creolized Spanish that is legible across much of the Latin American Caribbean and its diasporas.

And, given the criticism the performance has drawn both before and after the event, it’s worth underscoring that this took place within a space long shaped by uneven representation.

Latin America lives in Canada

As Latin American scholars working and living within diasporas in Canada, that moment reflected questions our students bring and the histories they carry with them.

At McMaster University, our work in Latin American and Latinx studies begins from the premise that Canada is part of the Americas. Through interdisciplinary teaching and research, we bring together students from across the university — some with personal ties to Latin America and the Caribbean, others encountering these histories for the first time — to think hemispherically, with particular attention to Blackness, Indigeneity, migration and the ongoing, persistent and evolving impacts of colonial rule.

And despite the rapid growth of Latin American and Latinx communities in cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Hamilton, scholarship examining their experiences remains limited, with tangible consequences. Latinx students in Toronto, for example, face some of the lowest high-school graduation rates among major demographic groups.

Our research underscores that these lives are not peripheral to the hemisphere, but central to it.

Celebration as a practice against erasure

When Bad Bunny said “Canadá,” he reminded Canadians that they exist within a story they so often imagine unfolding somewhere else.

For many Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean communities in Canada, that moment affirmed a lived experience. For others, it offered an invitation: to recognize that joy can function as resistance, that culture carries memory and that music can be a way of sharing history.

Scholars of popular culture have long noted that Bad Bunny’s work consistently centres Puerto Rico, not only as a place but as a political reality. This melding of lineage and geopolitics is significant, situating the half-time show as a continuation of a tradition in which culture becomes a vehicle for collective hope.

Music historian and multimedia artist Katelina Eccleston, also known as La Gata, argues that music and dance in Black Latin American and Afro-diasporic traditions are never merely esthetic. On an episode of Reggaetón con la Gata, she framed movement as a site of reclamation of the body, space and autonomy.

When dance is stripped of its histories and recast as apolitical entertainment, the social and material conditions that produced those rhythms are rendered invisible.

Consumption without reckoning

At the same time Canadians enthusiastically consume Latin American culture. Music fills playlists, restaurants flourish and millions travel annually to destinations like Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

What is often missing, however, is a deeper engagement with the histories of colonialism, displacement, racialization and resistance that shaped these cultures and the lives of the people who carry them.

Bad Bunny’s naming of “Canadá” highlights that Canada is not adjacent to the Americas — it is part of it. It also serves as a reminder that Latin American and Latinx people are not newcomers to be acknowledged only through immigration statistics. They are already active participants in shaping the cultural, linguistic and political lives of this country.

As educators, we see this dissonance daily. Students are eager to learn about the region in ways that move beyond stereotypes and surface-level, performative multiculturalism. They want to see how histories of empire and extraction connect to contemporary migration, climate vulnerability and racial inequities, and they want language, culture and politics to be taught together, not siloed.

In a moment when Canada’s relationship with the U.S. is uncertain, it’s important to remember that Latin America is not only a place Canadians visit for some sunshine. It’s a region with which Canada shares economic ties, political responsibilities and a future.

The Super Bowl half-time show may seem to have been an unlikely site for this reckoning. But culture often arrives where policy lags behind.

In naming “Canadá,” Bad Bunny reminded Canadians that Latin American and Latinx lives are already here, already shaping the country, already demanding to be seen as people with history, presence and possibility.

– ref. What Bad Bunny meant when he said ‘Canadá’ — and why we’re still talking about it – https://theconversation.com/what-bad-bunny-meant-when-he-said-canada-and-why-were-still-talking-about-it-277148

March 2, 2026

Good-quality child care? What parents should consider, and how it can be assessed

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Michal Perlman, Professor of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto

Children’s experiences during early years form the foundation for their development.

For many children in Canada and across the globe, these early experiences include substantial exposure to early learning and child care. And government investments in early learning and care in Canada and elsewhere has increased dramatically.

Research has shown that exposure to high-quality early learning and care is associated with positive outcomes for children — and these associations are strongest for children from families with fewer resources, including lower incomes.

But what exactly is high-quality early learning and child care? As I have examined in my research with a number of colleagues, quality is multi-dimensional, encompassing both structural features (like educator/child ratios and the group size) and also what children experience.

The latter includes the quality of interactions between children and their educators. Robust evidence demonstrates that the quality of educator-child interactions is a stronger predictor of developmental and learning outcomes compared to other aspects of quality.

Yet despite decades of investment and reform, national and international evidence consistently indicates that, in many cases, the quality of these interactions in early learning and care settings is average at best.

Monitoring, improving child-care quality

An important mechanism for improving quality, increasing accountability and providing evidence for planning in early learning and child care: quality ratings and improvement systems (QRISs or quality ratings for short).

These ratings and improvement systems are structured around ongoing — commonly annual — measurements of program quality, including systematic assessments of educator-child interactions.

QRISs generally involve evaluations by external assessors that are conducted in early childhood education and child-care settings. Results from these assessments:

• Inform the development of targeted quality improvement plans for the learning and care setting and for individual educators.

• Can be publicly available to help parents decide where to send their children (although posting scores is not required).

• Can inform how quality improvement and system expansion dollars are allocated.

Young children seen in a garden with an adult speaking with them. — It’s important that planning in early learning and child care is informed by evidence.
(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency/EDUimages), CC BY-NC

Important features

For quality ratings and improvement systems to work, they need to have a few important features. For starters, they need to capture key aspects of quality. This means measuring what matters most, not merely what is most readily captured.

Most states in the United States operate quality ratings and improvement systems that involve visiting assessors who observe environments, including hard-to-capture qualities of educator/child interactions.

In Canada, the City of Toronto has operated such a system for years, as have several other Ontario municipalities. Prince Edward Island is in the process of implementing one.

In the face of substantial government spending on early learning and child care and the potential impact on children served by these programs, the cost of implementing quality ratings and improvement systems and their related assessments is small.

Given the high-stakes nature of assessments, they must be:

Valid: This means they’ve been tested to ensure they capture what they are intended to.
Reliable: Different assessors can consistently apply the standards they set across contexts and time periods.

Using valid and reliable measures is needed for the assessments to be fair. But developing such measures requires specific methodological and statistical expertise. Fortunately, several existing and efficient measures are available to capture quality.

City of Toronto’s quality assessment

The City of Toronto developed the assessment for quality improvement (AQI) with help from my team and me at the University of Toronto.

The city’s quality ratings and improvement system is built around the AQI which includes a suite of measures designed to assess global classroom quality (including educator-child interaction) in infant, toddler and pre-school centre classrooms, as well as in-home child-care and outdoor environments.

Results track inequity in access to early learning and child-care programs as well as the quality of these programs, enabling evidence-informed quality improvement. For example, early learning and care practitioners might receive coaching or assistance working on goals that emerge from the assessment.

The City of Toronto also uses assessment for quality improvement scores to determine what organizations or services are eligible to provide care to children whose families receive a child-care subsidy. The scores are posted online so that parents and other stakeholders can use this information when choosing care for their children.

P.E.I. is conducting annual assessment of all early learning and child-care classrooms in the province, relying upon the same assessment for quality improvement tool.

Assessments of individual educators

Current quality ratings and improvement systems focus on observing aspects of caregiver-child interactions in classrooms, but don’t systematically consider individual educators’ work with children.

Research increasingly shows that educators in the same classroom interact with children differently. This raises concerns about inclusion, equity and whether all children in early learning and care settings experience high-quality interactions — and how these are guided and informed by relevant policy and professional education.

Findings about differences in how individual educators interact with children suggest policymakers should additionally use more specialized quality improvement measures that consider individual educators’ responsiveness. Use of such individualized assessment, when it comes with coaching and support, has been shown to improve the quality of educator interactions with children.

Ongoing quality assessments matter for knowing our public investments in early learning and child care are synonymous with stable high-quality experiences for children. They provide actionable, evidence-based information that can guide how resources are allocated.

Systems like these have been in place for decades in the U.S. There is growing momentum toward quality-assessment approaches in Canada that are both methodologically sound and capable of informing meaningful action. When these approaches are combined with tailored coaching and supports for improvement, they merit increasing attention and support.

Michal Perlman receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Lawson Foundation, McCain Foundation and others.

– ref. Good-quality child care? What parents should consider, and how it can be assessed – https://theconversation.com/good-quality-child-care-what-parents-should-consider-and-how-it-can-be-assessed-274370