All posts by Karen Hope

Karen Hope Consulting was established in 2014 and provides a disruptive approach to professional development workshops and teaching that aims to challenge dominant discourses and taken for granted practices. Karen is an early childhood consultant, associate lecturer and freelance writer who has extensive experience in a broad range of services within the early childhood care and education context. Karen’s consultancy practice and writing is strongly influenced by the Reggio Emilia project and this is reflected in her work and writing as a point of reference, resource, inspiration and difference. Karen writes and delivers work that is specific to each individual service developed in consultation with you. The delivery of sustainable professional development that results in real change is a key feature of her work. She can be contacted by email or via her website at: karenhopeconsulting@gmail.com www.karenhopeconsulting.com

What’s love got to do with it?

Posted on March 6, 2018 by

‘Half way down the stairs is a stair where I sit There isn’t any other stair quite like it. I’m not at the bottom; I’m not at the top So this is the stair where I always stop’ (Milne, 1932, p147). There are approximately 194 900 early learning staff currently employed across Australia, with long […]

8 ways to take care of yourself

Posted on January 31, 2018 by

Originally posted in 2018, this post was updated in December 2020. Karen Hope is a presenter at the 2021 ECA National Conference. The early childhood care and education sector has a workforce that often places the welfare and needs of others above their own. Because of this, in the face of ever competing demands and […]

Is it time to rethink professional development in the early childhood sector? The ‘expert’ model may not be delivering much bang for our training buck.

Posted on June 8, 2017 by

‘And beware of advice from experts, pigs, and members of Parliament’ (Henson, 2007). In early December 2013 the Federal Government announced that it intended to redirect unused funding from the Early Years Quality Fund, which was established to support the implementation of the National Quality Framework (NQF), to a new professional development programme: the Long […]

Hair Straighteners in the Home Corner

Posted on October 12, 2016 by

A year ago I wrote a blog piece called “Hair straighteners in the home corner. Is this what Froebel intended?” This piece was published on Early Childhood Australia’s blog The Spoke on October 14, 2015. When I was thinking of contributing to this forum I noted that the blog guidelines for contributors stated that: “opinion […]

The documentation pilgrimage

Posted on September 9, 2016 by

In the children’s literature classic Alice in Wonderland there is the following exchange between the curious, brave and intelligent Alice and the mysterious and devious Cheshire cat. “Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? The Cheshire Cat : That depends a good deal on where you want to […]

Being Equitable Does Not Mean We All Get the Same Thing

Posted on March 3, 2016 by

I spent December and January travelling through Europe. Being tuned to all things early childhood I made the following observations: Peppa Pig is annoying in any language. Noise cancelling headphones on a plane don’t cancel out everything Nutella crepes do taste better and are better for you, if made in France The last flight out […]

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