The Voice of Early Childhood

Dr Helen Simmons, Senior Lecturer in Education, shares with us her work on promoting partnerships with parents which are respectful, meaningful and inclusive. Angelica and Helen discuss that there is no formula or recipe for good parenting; losing your identity when becoming a mother; the importance of connection over knowledge and even advice; fathers feeling welcomed on a local and policy level; how we can gain families' trust in services and support networks; where does parental doubt come from...and much more.

Episode breakdown:

• 01:40 - Lack of research around parenting
• 03:55 - Tuning into the whole family, not just the child
• 05:55 - Parents want to be seen
• 06:25 - Losing your identity when becoming a mother
• 10:40 - Finding parenting support groups
• 13:05 - Parent-led opportunities to be heard
• 14:25 - Being supported or feeling lectured and judged?
• 20:00 - The Johari Window
• 21:15 - The family are the experts in their own child
• 22:05 - Fathers entering spaces seen primarily for women
• 23:35 - How do we make the initial steps of engaging families?
• 25:50 - Where does parental doubt come from?

Hear and read more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Matt Bawler, Teacher and Head of Early Years, shares with us his insight into the research, theory and neuroscience behind Carol Dweck's work on fixed mindset and growth mindset, and how he applies this to practice with young children and parents.

Matt and Angelica tap into:

• 01:15 - Getting it right from the start: Proactive vs reactive
• 02:50 - I am, I can, I will
• 03:45 - Shared language and partnership
• 04:50 - Growth mindset for parents and families as well as children
• 05:30 - Defining growth mindset
• 08:45 - Are you praising the product or the process?
• 10:00 - Carol Dweck's experiment
• 11:50 - The neuroscience behind growth mindset
• 14:20 - Celebrating mistakes
• 15:30 - Growth language linking to areas of development
• 17:00 - Modelling lifelong learning: It's ok to not know the answer
• 18:20 - A joined up educational approach: Huge influence of early childhood
• 19:30 - Pressures of being a parent/carer
• 21:30 - Not 'me and my child', but 'us and our children'
• 22:00 - Losing teaches you more than winning
• 24:25 - Critical thinking and growth mindset
• 26:00 - Is competition a bad thing? And am I enough?
• 27:45 - Not wrapping children in cotton wool
• 28:45 - Consistent co-regulation and modelling self-regulation
• 29:45 - We will always lose, make mistakes and come across difficult situations
• 30:45 - Self-esteem, resilience and sense of self
• 31:00 - Strengthening neural pathways through building on previous experiences
• 33:00 - Gender normative stereotypes
• 35:30 - Children and adults as co-learners: Breaking down power dynamics
• 37:00 - Skills-based adaptability
• 37:50 - Going outside of our early years bubble
• 38:00 - From fire fighting to active advocacy

Hear and read more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Maureen Hunt, Early Years Consultant, talks to us about self-efficacy for under 5's. Angelica and Maureen discuss slowing down and making time for independence, and seeing children as capable and competent and allowing them to persevere and build confidence. They also consider anxiety in children, supporting a sense of self, encouraging feelings of pride and satisfaction, persisting during set backs and avoiding limiting beliefs.

Maureen and Angelica tap into:

• 00:50 - What is self-efficacy
• 01:30 - Performing certain tasks - is this too adult-led?
• 03:30 - Allowing children to struggle
• 06:30 - Seeing everything as a learning opportunity
• 07:00 - Anxiety in children
• 08:00 - Coping with challenges
• 09:00 - Preventing mental health issues through a good sense of self
• 10:00 - Working with families to support children's independance
• 12:30 - Sensitive ways of moving through frustration
• 13:50 - Praising for effort, not accomplishment
• 15:50 - Celebrating effort and small wins
• 18:00 - Developing resilience and the willingness to having a go
• 19:00 - Avoiding limiting beliefs: A key factor in poor mental health
• 20:10 - Exposing children to failure or encouraging to succeeed?
• 22:15 - Vygotsky: Scaffolding and the zone of proximal development
• 23:00 - Routines of the day becoming teachable moments
• 24:30 - Not comparing children to others, but focusing on their strengths
• 25:30 - Children need to have choices to have a sense of control over their lives
• 26:50 - Supporting self-efficacy from birth

Hear and read more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Laura Hughes, Early Years Teacher, shares her career journey, from teacher training to working in a private nursery for 10 years, and most recently re-training as a teacher and stepping into having her own class.

Laura and Angelica tap into:

• 02:00 - The start of my teaching journey: Not knowing where you want to be
• 02:50 - Transition from a school to a private nursery: Big fish in a small pond
• 03:45 - Imposter syndrome
• 04:30 - Getting the confidence back to step into teaching
• 06:25 - The biggest difference of working in a nursery compared to a school
• 09:30 - The impact of the higher level of structure in a school
• 11:15 - Walking into the staffroom and not feeling comfortable
• 14:15 - Data and paperwork in a school vs private nursery
• 19:15 - Are you more equipped to work with children once you become a parent?
• 23:08 - The importance of a supportive team around you
• 25:30 - Creating your new classroom
• 28:00 - Celebrating children's treasures
• 29:00 - Giving children time: The practicalities of this
• 33:00 - Hierarchy and power dynamics between teachers and families
• 36:00 - Understanding the family context
• 37:00 - How do you get to know 27 families as fast as possible?!

Hear and read more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Hayley Fuller, Early Years Specialist, shares with us her work around supporting transitions to school. Angelica and Hayley unpick this common topic through 3 lenses: children being ready for the transition, families being ready and also educators being ready.

Hayley and Angelica tap into:

• 03:20 - Getting to know the new setting
• 05:00 - School ready skills
• 07:40 - Attachment: Focusing on personal, social, emotional development
• 09:45 - Pressures around academic skills
• 11:45 - It's not just about the Early Learning Goals
• 13:00 - Understanding and supporting families'/parents' emotional needs
• 15:20 - Embarrassing behaviour?
• 16:00 - Learning from 'break downs'
• 17:00 - Taking learning opportunities from NOT sharing
• 21:55 - Delayed gratification
• 26:00 - Building trust with families
• 29:15 - Children and families feeling represented and part of the setting
• 31:30 - Including the child's voice in the transition
• 32:55 - Is circle time useful?
• 35:00 - Familiar cue around the setting

Read Hayley Fuller's article on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Jesslynn Jeffrey, Director of her own early childhood and training centres in Malaysia, joins Angelica Celinska in exploring leadership. Jesslynn shares her own journey from stepping into the early childhood sector at age 19 to opening multiple settings and training centres. Jesslynn and Angelica discuss delegating, giving your staff agency, knowing your limits and finding balance as a leader, giving your team opportunity to grow and creating new leaders.

Jesslynn and Angelica tap into:

• 01:20 – The start of an educator's journey
• 02:45 – Lack of family support for your career
• 03:30 – Being given opportunities and thrown in the deep end!
• 04:40 – Opening your own childcare and education business
• 06:00 – Enrichment centres
• 07:30 – Support network at the start of your journey
• 09:00 – A strong team around you
• 10:00 – NGO - inclusion for SEN children
• 11:00 – Knowing your limits as a leader
• 13:00 – Putting boundaries in place
• 16:00 – When work doesn't feel like work
• 19:00 – Delegating to your team
• 19:50 – Allowing your team to grow
• 22:45 – Upskilling your team and investing in training
• 23:35 – Giving up control as an owner
• 24:15 – Trusting your team: Having confidence in yourself and your team
• 27:00 – Giving your team flexibility in their work

Hear and read more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Tamsin Grimmer and Angelica Celinska explore physical touch as a way in which early childhood educators can demonstrate their love to children in their care. As one of the love languages, physical touch can be demonstrated in many different ways, and needs to be part of getting to know each unique child. This episode includes considerations around different types of appropriate and loving physical touch, children's consent and agency, safeguarding, power dynamics, role modelling and consistency between home and the setting.

Tamsin and Angelica tap into:

• 00:40 – Love languages
• 04:00 – Why is physical touch so important?
• 06:45 – Different ways of using touch
• 08:45 – Physical touch and safeguarding
• 09:45 – Auditing physical touch
• 11:15 – Consent and children's rights
• 12:45 – Tuning into behaviour
• 13:20 – Agency and nappy changing
• 14:55 – Role modelling consent and choice
• 17:30 – Encouraging consent between children
• 18:10 – Consistency at home and in the setting
• 20:00 – Sharing as an abstract concept
• 21:40 – Equalling out power dynamics through loving pedagogy
• 23:00 – Role modelling the sharing of feelings
• 25:40 – Not all children respond well to physical touch

Read Tamsin Grimmer's article: Tuning into children's love languages on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Jan Dubiel and Angelica Celinska discuss the highly debated topic of data in early childhood. The term 'datafication of early childhood' is used to describe the over use of data in the sector. Jan discusses the need to have a more measured conversation about data in early childhood education. In this episode Angelica and Jan explore the challenges, controversies and importance of data, including statutory assessments such as the EYFS Profile and the Baseline Assessment, for example, considering that it is not the issue of having a baseline, it's the type of baseline and how the data is used.

Jan and Angelica tap into:

• 01:00 - Resistance to data in early childhood
• 02:45 - What do we mean by data?
• 03:25 - Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts
• 05:45 - How can we represent children's learning authentically?
• 06:30 - Progress is not always sequential
• 07:20 - 'Early years-ifying' language and data
• 09:00 - Data is a way of knowing whether we are getting it right or not
• 10:00 - Is recording data taking us away from children?
• 13:20 - Stronger advocacy with the use of data
• 15:00 - Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
• 18:50 - Reception Baseline Assessment
• 22:15 - Data which works for the setting and the children
• 24:10 - Juxtaposition between early years data and health data
• 25:20 - Leuven scales of involvement and wellbeing
• 29:20 - It is vital for educators to take ownership of data in early childhood
• 31:00 - Evidence based-practice, qualitative data and quantifiable data
• 32:00 - Reframing data - is it useful?

Read and hear more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

Gemma Thomas-Bohr discusses her work as The Toddler Translator, including how parents and educators can tune into children's behaviour through understanding the triggers, modelling and responding sensitively.

Gemma and Angelica tap into:

Logical vs emotional response - 04:35

Tantrums, meltdowns, self-regulation...let's understand the behaviour and re-invent the language - 08:00

Are we instantly reacting or sensitively responding to a child's behaviour? - 13:05

Acknowledging we as adult's lose our temper - 13:55

All emotions are natural - 15:15

Modelling how we deal with emotions - 16:15

Self-care as priority for parents - 19:00

Finding the bahaviour trigger - 21:10

The 3 C's: Calm, Compassion, Communication - 25:15

Co-regulation: Physical touch and synchronised breathing - 27:55

Consent and agency - 30:55

Balance, boundaries and control - 32:40

Stage appropriate communication - 36:30

Vocabulary toolbox and behaviour as communication - 38:45

Generational trauma - 40:00

There isn't a perfect parent: Not comparing yourself to other parents - 45:40

Support system - 48:25

Read and hear more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com

David Wright, Early years Ambassador for Paint Pots nurseries, shares his international work in the early childhood sector. Angelica and David discuss the wider context of early childhood, including the power of education in addressing wider societal issues through children, the innocence of youth and how influences from the media and community change this. David explains that our hope lies in the next generation, and early childhood is a window of opportunity to make a difference to children, including with 'cumulative doses of therapy' - every interaction makes a difference to a child.

Dr Lala Manners and Angelica tap into:

International practice: A global movement - 01:40

Inspiration from Dr Martin Luther King - 07:30

Motivating the sector to actively advocate - 11:20

Early childhood centres as places of respite - 12:25

Beyond early childhood: Reaching outside of our sector - 14:25

Children's rights - You have the right to kick leaves! - 16:20

What is a successful society and is it really a case of GDP? - 17:30

A missed opportunity in the pandemic - 18:05

Facilitating children to have freedom to be themselves - 26:00

A sense of what real poverty looks like - 27:50

'I can't feed all the children': Being realistic about the support we can give - 29:00

Read and hear more, including David Wright's speech, on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com