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The Institute of Child Study
45 Walmer Road, Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5R 2X2
Tel. 416.934.4526
Fax. 416.978.6485


Historical Background

Child Study as a formal field of inquiry originated in the first few decades of this century, as a social movement to improve children's health and welfare. From the beginning, the founders of the movement believed that any serious effort to improve the lot of children would have to be informed by a sound body of scientific data. They also believed that these data would have to be gathered by investigators from a broad array of disciplines, including medicine, public health, social work, dentistry, psychology, law, and education. 

Since the 1920s, the Institute of Child Study, at the University of Toronto, has been a research and training centre focused on the understanding, education and care of young children. The mission of scholarship, research, and teacher training are supported by the Laboratory School at the Institute. In the 1920s, Laura Spelman Rockefeller provided the money to establish nine institutes for the study of child welfare and development. Among them was St. George's School at the University of Toronto which later became the Institute of Child Study. 

The school's establishment in 1926 was part of a Canada-wide research and training program launched by the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene. The Department of Psychology, the School of Hygiene (now the Department of Public Health) and other agencies undertook a variety of research, education and service activities for the mental health of school-aged children. 

The first Director of the Institute, William Blatz, was a professor in the Department of Psychology and a tireless child advocate. He was also a recognized authority on the study of children's social development and the author of an influential theory of children's security. This theory had a major impact on the lives of children who attended the Institute's laboratory school. Through the work of his student, Mary Ainsworth, it also has had a major impact on the direction of academic research throughout the world. 

The School's early program was an outgrowth of the World War I Hart House Muscle Function Re-education Program developed between 1916 and 1919 to rehabilitate injured soldiers. This project revealed that patients were most effectively helped if they became active and increasingly independent participants in their training program. Starting with 2-4 year old children, Dr. Blatz sought to test some ideas that emerged from the work of the Hart House team. Specifically, the extension of the perspective that emerged from rehabilitation work with war veterans to early childhood education meant an emphasis on self-direction and progressive achievement. Much effort went into persuading parents that these ideas would not harm their children. As the School developed it evolved into Nursery and Parent Education Divisions. Scholars from a number of departments in the University contributed to planning and study in the School. 

In 1930, Dr. Blatz was asked to include under his direction the Windy Ridge School. This private progressive school had been started by a group of prominent Torontonians in 1928. St. George's School for Child Study, including the research and graduate education activities, was named The Institute of Child Study in 1939. Windy Ridge joined the Institute of Child Study when the school moved to its present location at 45 Walmer Road in 1953.


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