PedPod by EX-PED-LAB

Welcome to the 2nd season of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB podcast!

This season, we will be exploring more perspectives through different formats. Apart from having guests from the continents of Asia, South America, and Africa, there will be episodes that feature global and local (GLOCAL) project initiatives from Banrkunne and EX-PED-LAB researchers.

We kick off this season with a conversation with Dr. Vina Adriany who is a Professor at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, and also currently the Director for the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Centre for Early Childhood Education Care, Education and Parenting (SEAMEO CECCEP). Vina's research interests lie in the discourses of gender and social justice in early childhood education and care (ECEC), and she is also interested in the impact of neoliberalism in ECEC.

In this episode, Vina shares:
“I think when we are talking about pedagogical innovation, it's not simply about new teaching methods or, you know, it's not simply about bringing new technology to the classroom. I'm not saying they are not important. They are extremely important. But I think we need to redefine what we mean by pedagogical innovation. So for me, pedagogical innovation is an attempt to challenge dominant discourse. It can be a Western production theory of knowledge. It can be an economic discourse, which is very strong when we talk about early childhood education. Economic discourse is everywhere. And it's also our attempt to decolonize and perhaps democratize our education because we are trying to create the bridge between Western knowledge and indigenous knowledge. Throughout our conversation, I hope it's clear that I'm not trying to completely deny the existence of Western theories, but I think there is a need to go beyond Western theories. So having local theories, in my opinion, can really complement Western theories on children's development. And also because we talk about, you know, that in Southeast Asia, communities play a very important role so I think when we talk about pedagogical innovation it's not only limited to teacher training programs but what can we do in order to also empower our communities because communities I think play a very important role in shaping educational practices of our children and also believing that teachers and our community are co-constructors of knowledge. So they are not a passive recipient of any programs, or any training that the government wants to implement, but they are also actively participating in the construction of knowledge. So I think that perhaps my understanding of pedagogical innovation really calls for, you know, a more decolonized perspective and also a culturally responsive approach to seeing education in general, especially early childhood education.” 

Happy listening! 

In this PedPod by EX-PED-LAB episode, Anthony Okely emphasizes that pedagogical innovations in early childhood education should prioritize rethinking and adapting existing practices to fit specific contexts rather than introducing entirely new methods. His work highlights the importance of play, high-quality educator-child interactions, and creating supportive environments for physical activity and development. He stresses that innovation should align with cultural, spatial, and resource-specific realities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where challenges like limited educator training and space constraints often exist.

Tony advocates for integrating movement and play into daily routines in ways that do not add extra burdens on educators, fostering collaboration with families, communities, and other sectors like health and urban planning. He highlights the need for evidence-based approaches, such as those developed through his Sunrise Project, which collects global data on movement behaviors in young children. Ultimately, he views innovation as being about small, meaningful changes that encourage creativity, strengthen relationships, and provide children with autonomy through play-based learning.

With this, we welcome you to the 10th episode of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB. Happy listening!

Welcome to the 9th episode of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB. In this episode, I had a dialogue with Jayne White, a full Professor in the University of Canterbury New Zealand, when she visited Barnkunne some months ago. Jayne specializes in dialogic philosophy, pedagogy and methodology, and she also is the Editor-in-Chief of the Video Journal of Education and Pedagogy.

In this episode, Jayne emphasizes the critical role of pedagogical innovations in early childhood education. She highlights pedagogy as both process and product, rooted in historical concepts of guiding learners, while evolving to incorporate strategies that enhance learning opportunities. Jayne underscores that children are natural innovators, urging educators to foster curiosity by adapting to children's concerns rather than adhering to rigid, outdated curricula. Teachers, as pedagogical innovators, must be courageous, creative, and responsive, embracing dialogic practices that promote collaborative inquiry and interdisciplinary perspectives: 

Happy listening! 

Welcome to the 8th episode of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB. In this episode, I had an online conversation with Marilyn Fleer, a Professor Emerita in early childhood education and development and leader of the Conceptual PlayLab at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia where she is also a Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellow. Her research interests lie in the areas of early childhood science, engineering and technologies with particular attention on digital visual methodology framed through cultural-historical theory.

In this episode, when asked about pedagogical innovations, she responded: 

Happy listening! 

Welcome to the 7th episode of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB. In this episode, I had a conversation with Mathias Urban, the Desmond Chair of Early Childhood Education and Director of the Early Childhood Research Centre (ECRC) at Dublin City University, Ireland (DCU). His research interests lie in answering questions of policy related to diversity and equality, social justice, evaluation, and professionalism in education and care systems for young children, families, and communities in diverse socio-cultural contexts.

In this episode, Mathias talked about some of his projects where they ask: What is it that makes early childhood systems resilient, responsive to disruption, but also leads to them, well, ensuring more just and more equitable outcomes for all children? Further, he shares that we "can talk about innovation in a way in a technical sense and can say actually sort of what kind of new programs do we need or should we talk about artificial intelligence and the benefits of it. I would say that the critical task of, and you might want to call it innovation, you might find other terms for that, is to actually fundamentally rethink the purpose of education in our times, as I said, in the second quarter of the 21st century, and to look at whether the purpose of education can still be preparing children for a future that we think is largely known in terms of this is what you need to learn now in order to be able to cope in 20 years time."
 

Find out more about Mathias' thoughts on pedagogical innovations--click on this link to listen to the podcast! 

Welcome to the 6th episode of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB. In this episode, I spoke with Hege Fimreite, an Associate Professor at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and the leader of the EX-PED-LAB project. For her PhD, she worked on a project titled "Kollegarettleiing og endring av den kollektive kunnskapen i barnehagen" (peer guidance and changes in the collective knowledge in the kindergarten).

In this episode, Hege used the metaphor of a wave to explain her thoughts on pedagogical innovations: 

Click on this link to listen to the podcast! :)

What do we need to further develop sustainable pedagogical innovations?

This is a quote from this episode. 

Welcome to the 5th episode of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB. In this episode, I had a dialogue with Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson, a Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Gothenburg. Ingrid once held the UNESCO Chair in Early Childhood Education and Sustainable Development and was once the president of OMEP (Organisation Mondiale pour l'Éducation Préscolaire). Her main area of research is early childhood education and early learning environments.

Happy listening! :)

Welcome to the 4th episode of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB. In this episode, I had a dialogue with Elin Eriksen Ødegaard, a professor at the University of Western Norway, KINDknow Centre's Research Director, and incidentally, was my PhD supervisor and still currently my mentor. Elin's role entails building capacity and creating opportunities for further research and development in the field of early childhood education and care not just in the Nordic region but also in different parts of the world. Elin's research interests and specialization lie in children's narrative meaning-making, play and exploration, co-creation, and pedagogical innovation for sustainability. 

Happy listening! :)

Welcome to the 3rd episode of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB. In this episode, I spoke with Helle Marie Skovbjerg. Her ResearchGate profile says she is "Denmark´s first Professor in play and a part of Design School Kolding's overall focus on play, in close collaboration with the LEGO Foundation". Helle leads the Lab for Play and Design in the Design School Kolding where they work with play philosophy, playful design solutions, and childhood studies. As such, in this episode, we talked about the role of play in pedagogical innovations. 

Happy listening! :)

Welcome to the 2nd episode of PedPod by EX-PED-LAB. In this episode, I had an exciting conversation with Ana Marjanovic-Shane, an Independent Scholar and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of "Dialogic Pedagogy: An International Online Journal." In talking about pedagogical innovations, she asked me if I knew the etymology of "pedagogy/pedagogue," and posed many interesting points about innovations in education for the youngest children. I have learned a lot from this conversation with her!

Ana had been awarded Fulbright Scholarships to pursue her research interests including dialogue, democracy, and drama in education in different countries. She is currently involved in a research project called “Play internal politics and self-governance among young players.”