It was early December 2023, and I was talking with a colleague, a Tertiary Supervisor visiting student pre-service teachers on their first ECEC placement. The student she had visited that day was experiencing a challenge. As with most practicums, the student was required to observe and document play and learning and then develop and evaluate […]
I was very fortunate to attend the Early Learning Summit hosted by The Front Project in Canberra late last year. On the journey home, I found myself reflecting on the conversations and future visions for our sector along with a lingering question: Why did I choose this career? Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash I […]
Neuroscience is not an overly familiar term or topic of conversation heard in our early childhood settings. Defined as the study of the structure and function of the human brain and nervous system, neuroscience has been a growing focus of research worldwide over the past two decades. Interestingly, weaving its way through this field of […]
Agency is a concept that is familiar, but not always well understood in early childhood education and care (Burr & Degotardi, 2021). Whenever agency is made reference to in early childhood publications, the standard definition in the Glossary of the Early Years Learning Framework is often quoted to frame the discussion (see The Spoke – […]
Consider the term early childhood education and care. In my experience, including the word care has produced some strong opinions within our sector. I have heard many times that if we are to strive for professional recognition as a collective group of early childhood practitioners, we need to lose the word care. ‘Early childhood education’, […]
Industry … it is a word I have heard spoken in and about early childhood education and care (ECEC) since I first began working in ECEC centres 20 years ago. I have never liked it (to the point of visibly cringing mid-way through a conversation if I hear it). Back then, I couldn’t explain why. […]
