Podcasts
You are welcome to have a listen to a series of free podcasts that our Dr Deb has put together to promote thinking deeply about early childhood - let us know what you think, or if you have a question do let us know!
Episode 1: The rush hours: Reclaiming 11- 2 for young children
In this episode we explore the 11-2 time frame (or thereabouts) in early childhood settings to highlight some of the anxiety and stresses that we may unintentionally expose children to in this part of the day. We ask educators to be mindful of children's relationship with food and to further consider the role of self-regulation.
Episode 2: Identifying quality
In this episode we explore three questions around quality. Can quality look like something? Can quality be branded? How easy is it to masquerade as quality to get through an assessment and rating visit?
Episode 3: Sacred cows
In this episode we try to explore some of the traditional sacred cows in early childhood, such as sand, water and play dough and ask - are they essential for young children's learning?
Episode 4: Documentation fatigue
In this episode we explore the notion of 'documentation fatigue', an ailment that many educators face. We look at some solutions loosely around what Deborah calls the "5Ps".
Episode 5: The family tree VS identity
In this episode we explore the notion of children's identity and how it might be being railroaded by Family trees and portraits.
Episode 6: Is Reggio Emilia an unreachable star?
In this episode I try to explore the key tenets of Reggio Emilia and ask if in fact, makes this approach to early childhood education unreachable for most. You are welcome to share via the links below.
Episode 7: Are we documenting in an ethical way?
In this episode, we question the ethics of current documentation practices with a focus on a deeper consideration to involving children in deciding what is significant and what is made visible for others to see.
Episode 8: Context as the third teacher
In this episode I explore the idea of moving away from "environment as the third teacher", to context as the third teacher and challenge the idea that environments for children need to be more of the same from a catalogue.
Episode 9: Educational leader as respectful challenger
In this episode, we re-imagine the role of educational (or pedagogical) leader as one who is a respectful challenger in order to help us confront ideas and make the familiar strange.
Episode 10: Is there a silver lining in the federal budget for early childhood?
In this episode, we look at the recent federal budget and try to look for opportunities to grow as a self-managed profession in terms of the quality of our work with children.