Children’s Rights and Global Citizenship Panel - Session Recording
Facilitated By: Fred Seabrook (Host), Adebola Adefioye (Panelist), Asad Choudhary (Panelist), and Dr. Hala Mreiwed (Panelist)
Recorded On: November 15, 2024
Leading Inspired Learning: A London-Middlesex System-Wide Professional Learning Day
This panel discussion invited participants to consider the ways in which children’s rights and global citizenship are conceptualized and practiced in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector. Together, through a lens of critical empathy, panelists discussed the challenges and opportunities of enacting rights-based pedagogies in everyday practice. Those attending were invited to participate in a question and answer (Q & A) following the discussion.
Facilitator Bio
Fred Seabrook (they/them) is an Ontario-based RECE and public speaker with experience in childcare, elementary school, pre-service and professional learning spaces. Fred describes themself as an early childhood anarchist, a reflection of their professional and academic work toward equity-based liberatory pedagogies, community care and mutual aid, and rejection of oppressive norms, tacit and explicit (e.g., policies), imposed on children, educators, and communities in our sector.
Facilitator Bio
Adebola Adefioye (she/her) has a big heart and a passion for supporting racialized women and educators to build leadership and advocacy skills. She is the team lead of Adebola Adefioye Consulting. She founded The Afro Women And Youth Foundation after her daughter’s experience of racism in Grade 2. She is a professor in Early Childhood Educator (ECE) at Cambrian College in Sudbury. She works from an anti-oppressive and anti-racist lens, continuing to seek opportunities for meaningful community collaborations and partnerships.
She has won many awards, including the 2021 Ontario Premier's Award, United Way Greater Toronto Black Leadership Award, Seneca HELIX Female Entrepreneur Award, YWCA Sudbury Woman of Distinction Award in the social justice category, the 2022 Black Faculty & Staff Community Network Award for Student Leadership and Catherine Howe Memorial Award at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Facilitator Bio
Asad Choudhary (he/him) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Education at Western University with research interests in Critical Policy, Equity, and Leadership Studies. He is a professor of the Early Childhood Leadership program at Fanshawe College, a Faculty Fellow for at Niagara University in Vaughan, ON, and a course instructor for teacher candidates at Western University. Asad was also a former principal in AB and ON and was the recipient of the Alberta's Distinguished Leadership Award during his time as principal for the Palliser Regional School District in Calgary, AB.
Facilitator Bio
Hala Mreiwed (she/her) is a children's rights advocate and advisor, educator, as well as researcher with over 20 years of experience in research, curriculum development and pedagogy, training and education, children's media and children's rights education. Hala holds a Master’s in Public Policy and Public Administration from Concordia University, and a PhD in Educational Studies from McGill University.
Her multidisciplinary research interests in children’s rights, human rights, education, social policy, media, creative drama, participatory action research, arts-based educational research, critical discourse analysis and their intersections, come from her experiences in Canada and abroad working in education, media, and with non-governmental and civil society organizations.