In Conversation About Care - Session Recording
Recorded On: January 13, 2022
"The work of Early Childhood Educators is complex, and this complexity is largely invisible to those who don't know the work"" (Richardson et al., 2017).
Nowhere is this more true than in how care and acts of care are conceived and articulated in the context of Early Childhood Education. A constant jockeying between the importance of care vs. that of education and learning, readily dismisses care as purely custodial, a narrative which woefully undervalues those who perform care work professionally.
What is care? How does care unfold in our interactions with young children and their families? What is the relationship between care and education And in what ways is care a political and ethical practice?
This multi-faceted panel discussion seeks to answer all those questions and more as we reflect and co-construct an understanding of care both as individuals and as ECEC professionals.
Our panelists included an Early Childhood Leadership professor and researcher, a local child care centre Director, a children’s services supervisor, and the Executive Director of the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario (AECEO). Together, they shared experiences, research, and perceptions related to care, as we reflected and co-constructed an understanding of care both as individuals and as ECEC professionals.
Tina Bonnett - Tina Bonnett is a faculty member of the Early Childhood Leadership degree program at Fanshawe College. Her Doctoral work examined the relatedness of relational leadership and infant care, and her Master’s degree focused on infant/caregiver attachment relationships and the primary care approach. Tina is an Early Childhood Education and Care advocate and proponent of care-based pedagogies. She is also a Certified Trauma-Integration Clinician who works for a parenting organization as an Attachment Clinician.
Kathy Harris - Kathy is a Pedagogical Leader at Huron Heights Early Learning Centre-London Bridge. Kathy has worked exclusively for London Bridge Child Care Services during her 25 year career as a Registered Early Childhood Educator. Kathy plays an active role in the local early years sector with Strive and LCCN taking on roles such as project lead, facilitator and advocate.
Teresa Sulowski - Teresa Sulowski is the Supervisor of Children’s Services for the City of St. Thomas-Elgin. She represents St. Thomas-Elgin Social Services on the STELIP Council. Teresa has worked in various areas of Early Learning Programs and is an elected council member at the College of ECE. She holds a B.A. in Adult Education from Brock University, and a M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Athabasca University.
Alana Powell - Alana Powell is a proud Registered Early Childhood Educator, and the Executive Coordinator at the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario (AECEO). Alana completed her MA in Early Childhood Studies from Ryerson University where her research engaged in critical exploration of care discourses in Ontario’s 2014 and 2018 elections. Prior to her role at the AECEO she was a contract lecturer at George Brown College’s School of Early Childhood.