Thus, because learning was believed to occur “naturally,” at least in middle-class homes, it did not require any specific interventions on the part of mothers or fathers with respect to home reading, or homework support. According to the Commission, it was the school and other community agencies that were assigned the work of creating learning conditions for all children, including those from “deprived homes,” to prosper as learners in the years before and during schooling. Integrated learning would ideally intersect at the school as the heart of the community:

The school could be a community centre in the very real sense. It should be a co-ordinating centre for social services to preschool children and their families — pre-natal clinics, well-baby clinics, crèches and nursery schools for example. Liaison with public health nurses, librarians, community recreation and so on should be close and continuous. Administrative patterns should be devised to enhance such co-operation and joining efforts on the premise that the needs of the child should be met with the minimum of inconvenience to the child and his parents. (Hall & Dennis, 1968, p. 57)

In addition to this strategy of extensive services to address the impact of socio-economic inequality on children’s schooling success, there were specific recommendations for involvement of the Home and School Parent-Teacher Association in educating the school about community needs. In contrast to the BC Royal Commission on Education in 1960 reviewed in Chapter Five, the Ontario Provincial Committee on Aims and Objectives in Education called for more, rather than less, community involvement in schools. Recommendations for parental involvement included “enlist[ing] the volunteer help of Home and School and Parent-Teacher Associations, and other members of the community for school and out of school activities,” (Hall & Dennis, 1968, p. 198) in addition to:

Permit[ting] the establishment of a parents’ school committee in each school district, the purpose of which would be to assist the school staff in interpreting the school to the community, and to aid in keeping school staffs and trustees aware of the needs of the community. (p. 199)