How Does Learning Happen? A Practical Guide to Ontario's Four Foundations (HDLH)
A new educator joins your team in October. On her second day she asks a fair question: "Everyone keeps saying HDLH. Is that the same thing as ELECT? Which one am I supposed to be using?"
Most supervisors can answer that in the moment. Fewer can answer it in a way that actually changes how the new educator plans her week. That's the gap this guide is for.
How Does Learning Happen? is short, readable, and genuinely useful. It's also one of those documents that gets cited constantly and opened rarely. Here's what it says, in plain language, and what it looks like on a Tuesday morning.
What Is How Does Learning Happen?
Definition: How Does Learning Happen? Ontario's Pedagogy for the Early Years (HDLH) is a 2014 resource from the Ontario Ministry of Education that guides how educators in early years settings build programs and relationships with children and families. It is organized around four foundations: Belonging, Well-Being, Engagement, and Expression. Under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA), the Minister's policy statement on programming and pedagogy names HDLH as the pedagogical document to be used by licensed child care programs in Ontario.
Two things are worth knowing right away.
It is not a curriculum. HDLH doesn't tell you which activities to run on which day. It describes the conditions children need to learn and grow, and it asks educators to reflect on how their program creates those conditions. It's built around questions, not checklists.
It is the expected pedagogy for licensed child care. This isn't optional reading. Because the Minister's policy statement names HDLH, your centre's program statement is expected to be consistent with it, and your daily practice is expected to reflect your program statement.
You can download the official PDF from the Ontario government's How Does Learning Happen page. It's worth keeping a copy open while you read the rest of this guide.
The View of the Child at the Centre of HDLH
Before it gets to the four foundations, HDLH sets out how it sees the three groups at the heart of any early years program. These lines are the lens for everything else in the document:
Children: "Children are competent, capable of complex thinking, curious, and rich in potential."
Families: "Families are composed of individuals who are competent and capable, curious, and rich in experience."
Educators: "Educators are competent and capable, curious, and rich in experience."
This matters more than it looks. If you believe a two-year-old is capable of complex thinking, you watch her differently. You wait longer before stepping in. You write down what she tried, not just what she did wrong. And you treat her family as people who know things about her that you don't.
Almost every practical expectation in HDLH flows from that view.
The Four Foundations of How Does Learning Happen?
HDLH describes four foundations that apply to every child, regardless of age, ability, culture, language, or setting. Each one comes with a goal for children and an expectation for programs. Here they are, in the document's own words, with what each one tends to look like in a real room.
1. Belonging
Goal for children: "Every child has a sense of belonging when he or she is connected to others and contributes to their world."
Expectation for programs: "Early childhood programs cultivate authentic, caring relationships and connections to create a sense of belonging among and between children, adults, and the world around them."
What it looks like on a Tuesday: A toddler who just moved up from the infant room is greeted by name at the door, and her favourite comfort object has a spot in the cubby with her photo on it. Children have real jobs, like watering the plant or handing out snack cups, so they contribute and not just receive. Family photos, home languages, and traditions show up in the room.
What you might document: Who a child seeks out. How a quiet child joins play. The moment a newer child first helps someone else.
2. Well-Being
Goal for children: "Every child is developing a sense of self, health, and well-being."
Expectation for programs: "Early childhood programs nurture children's healthy development and support their growing sense of self."
What it looks like on a Tuesday: Outdoor time is protected, not traded away when the schedule runs long. Educators name feelings out loud and help children through big ones instead of only stopping the behaviour. Rest is flexible for the child who's clearly done at 12:15. Self-regulation is supported, not demanded.
What you might document: What helps a child recover after a hard moment. Patterns in when dysregulation happens (transitions, hunger, noise). Growing independence with self-care, like handwashing or putting on boots.
3. Engagement
Goal for children: "Every child is an active and engaged learner who explores the world with body, mind, and senses."
Expectation for programs: "Early childhood programs provide environments and experiences to engage children in active, creative, and meaningful exploration, play, and inquiry."
What it looks like on a Tuesday: Open-ended materials (loose parts, clay, blocks, water) are within reach. A group that got fascinated by worms after a rainstorm gets a second and third day to follow that interest. The schedule leaves long, uninterrupted blocks for play instead of rotating everyone every ten minutes.
What you might document: The questions children ask. The theories they test ("If I make the ramp taller, the car goes faster"). How long a child sustains attention on something they chose.
4. Expression
Goal for children: "Every child is a capable communicator who expresses himself or herself in many ways."
Expectation for programs: "Early childhood programs foster communication and expression in all forms."
What it looks like on a Tuesday: An infant's cues (turning away, reaching, a particular cry) are treated as communication and responded to. Children can show what they know through drawing, building, movement, music, and pretend play, not just words. Educators listen more than they talk, and they ask genuine questions they don't already know the answer to.
What you might document: The different ways a child communicates. New words or gestures. How a child represents an idea through art or construction.
One important note: these four work best as one lens, not four separate boxes to fill. A single moment, like two children negotiating who gets the red truck, touches belonging, well-being, engagement, and expression all at once. The foundations are a lens for seeing a moment fully, not a sorting system.
How Does Learning Happen vs. ELECT: How They Fit Together
This is the question new educators ask most, and the honest answer is simple: you use both, for different jobs.
HDLH describes ELECT as a foundational document in the early years sector and builds directly on it. ELECT also provides something HDLH doesn't: a continuum of development for children from birth to age eight.
How Does Learning Happen? (HDLH)ELECTWhat it isOntario's pedagogy for the early yearsOntario's foundational early learning frameworkMain question it answersHow do we create the conditions for learning?What does development look like, and what principles guide our practice?Organized aroundFour foundations: Belonging, Well-Being, Engagement, ExpressionSix principles and a continuum of developmentBest used forDesigning your environment, relationships, and program approach; writing your program statementInterpreting an observation; understanding where a child is developmentally and what typically comes nextStatus for licensed child careNamed in the Minister's policy statement under the CCEYAStill the foundational reference for developmental understanding
In practice, they work together in a single observation:
You notice a moment (HDLH's view of the child tells you it's worth noticing).
You interpret it using ELECT's continuum (what skill is this child working on?).
You respond by adjusting the environment or your interactions to support one of the four foundations.
For a deeper look at ELECT itself, see our complete guide to the ELECT framework.
How HDLH Shows Up in Your Program Statement
Every licensed child care centre in Ontario has to have a written program statement. Under Section 46 of Ontario Regulation 137/15 (the general regulation under the CCEYA), that program statement must be consistent with the Minister's policy statement on programming and pedagogy, which is the policy that names HDLH.
The regulation also lists the goals and approaches your program statement has to describe. They map closely onto HDLH's four foundations: promoting health, safety, nutrition, and well-being; supporting positive and responsive interactions; supporting self-regulation; fostering exploration, play, and inquiry; providing child-initiated and adult-supported experiences; engaging with families; and documenting and reviewing the impact of those strategies on children and their families.
That last requirement is where a lot of centres quietly fall behind. A program statement that says "we foster belonging and engagement" is easy to write. Showing, over time, that your practice actually does that is the hard part. That's what pedagogical documentation is for, and we've written a full guide to pedagogical documentation with real examples as a companion to this one.
A practical check: Pull out your program statement this week and read it next to the four foundations above. For each foundation, ask: "Could I point to something from the last month that shows we're doing this?" If the answer is "not really," that's not a failure. It's your planning priority for November.
Reflection Questions for Your Next Team Meeting
HDLH is built around reflection, and it includes its own questions for each foundation. These are a few of our own, written to be used in a 20-minute staff meeting. Pick one foundation per meeting rather than all four at once.
Belonging
Which child in our room is least connected right now? What's one thing we could change this week?
How do families see themselves reflected in our space?
Well-Being
When a child is dysregulated, what do we actually do first? Is it the same across all of us?
What part of our day causes the most stress for children? For us?
Engagement
What are children genuinely curious about right now, and how do we know?
Where in our schedule do we interrupt play that didn't need interrupting?
Expression
Which children communicate mostly without words, and how are we listening to them?
When did we last ask a child a question we didn't know the answer to?
Write down the answers. Those notes are documentation of your program's reflective practice, and they're useful when you review your program statement.
Common Misunderstandings About HDLH
"HDLH replaced ELECT." It didn't. HDLH builds on ELECT and points to ELECT's continuum of development as a resource. Ontario educators use both.
"The four foundations are a checklist." They work best seen together. A plan that tags every activity with exactly one foundation misses the point. A rich moment usually touches several.
"HDLH is only for preschool." It applies across the early years, infants included. Belonging for an infant looks like consistent, responsive caregivers. Expression looks like cues being read and answered.
"Documentation means photos on a wall." Photos can be part of it. HDLH describes pedagogical documentation as "more than recording events," a way of learning how children think and making that learning visible. A wall of cute pictures without interpretation isn't doing that job.
"We wrote our program statement once, so we're covered." The program statement is a living document. The expectation is that it's implemented, reviewed, and reflected in daily practice, not filed away after licensing.
Where Root Skills Fits
We built Root Skills to make the notice, interpret, respond loop easier to do every day, not just before a licensing visit.
Observations: Educators log quick, dated notes per child. The monthly tracker shows who's been observed recently and who's falling behind, so no child quietly goes unseen.
Quick Guide: Write one line about what you saw, choose the ELECT domain and age group, and get back a developmentally grounded interpretation, one or two classroom actions, and a warm message you can send the family the same day. That family message is HDLH's idea of educators and families as partners, made practical.
Weekly Plan: Generate an ELECT-aligned week from your room's actual observations, so your program responds to what children are showing you, which is exactly what HDLH and your program statement expect.
Root Skills tags planning and documentation to ELECT. The four foundations stay where HDLH intends them to be: the lens you and your team bring to every moment.
Root Skills is free for 14 days, no credit card required. Start your free trial at rootskills.ca
Frequently Asked Questions
What is How Does Learning Happen? How Does Learning Happen? Ontario's Pedagogy for the Early Years is a 2014 Ontario Ministry of Education resource that guides how early years programs support children's learning and development through relationships with children, families, and educators. It is organized around four foundations: Belonging, Well-Being, Engagement, and Expression.
What does HDLH stand for? HDLH is the common short form of How Does Learning Happen?, the title of Ontario's pedagogy document for the early years.
What are the four foundations of How Does Learning Happen? Belonging, Well-Being, Engagement, and Expression. Each has a goal for children (for example, "Every child is an active and engaged learner who explores the world with body, mind, and senses") and an expectation for programs.
Is How Does Learning Happen mandatory for Ontario daycares? Under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, the Minister's policy statement on programming and pedagogy names HDLH as the pedagogical document to be used by licensed child care programs. Licensed centres must have a program statement consistent with that policy statement.
Where can I find the How Does Learning Happen PDF? The official PDF is available free from the Ontario government's How Does Learning Happen page. The page also links to companion resources.
What's the difference between HDLH and ELECT? HDLH describes how to create the conditions for learning (pedagogy). ELECT provides foundational principles and a continuum of development that helps educators understand what development looks like from birth to age eight. HDLH builds on ELECT, and Ontario educators use both.
Is HDLH a curriculum? No. HDLH does not prescribe activities or a set curriculum. It describes foundational conditions for learning and encourages educators to reflect on and adapt their practice for the children and families in their program.
The Bottom Line
How Does Learning Happen? asks one big thing of educators: see every child as competent and capable, and build your room, your relationships, and your days around that belief. The four foundations give you the language. ELECT gives you the developmental map. Your observations and documentation are the evidence that it's actually happening.
The next time a new educator asks "HDLH or ELECT?", the answer is "both, and here's how they work together."
Sources: Ontario Ministry of Education, How Does Learning Happen? Ontario's Pedagogy for the Early Years (2014; PDF); Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 and Ontario Regulation 137/15, Section 46 (program statement). Quoted goals, expectations, and views of children, families, and educators are taken directly from the HDLH document. Reflection questions in this post are Root Skills' own.