Professional Resources – Journal Articles Part One

“The Early Childhood Educator”

The Journal of Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia

Winter 2020

Vol.35, No.1

http://www.ecebc.ca/

Since August of 2019 I have been a member of ECEBC which is the main focus for choosing this journal. I appreciate the 25 pages of columns, news, updates, and focus articles which are laid out in a clean design, printed in black and white on semi glossy paper. The articles are always interesting, relatable, and provide connection to my continuously learning. There are very few advertisements in the journal and when they do appear they are related to children, parents, and early childhood educator professionals development and education.

Focus Article 1

“Dropping In: Reflecting on Early Years Settings”

Author Kim Atkinson

http://www.ecebc.ca/

Kim Atkinson – Is an early childhood educator and pedagogist, and she was the lead writer of the new BC Early Learning Framework.

Kim Atkinson’s questions, “Why is it that early years setting are configured in the same ways? Why do they all have the same materials? What values, assumptions, and histories underlie this conformity? What knowledge is privileged, and what knowledge is silenced when early years settings all look alike? Why does it matter?” (ECEBC, 2020, p. 8), grabbed my attention and piqued my curiosity. When reflecting on a past assignment of designing a centres environment it brought me back to Kim’s questions. Many early years design setting have a “block area, a car and truck area, a house corner, a puzzle area” (ECEBC, 2020, p. 8), a reading nook, an art space, and an active zone. Now I wanted to read and learn more from Kim Atkinson.

Over a course of seven years Kim and a colleague travelled all over British Columbia visiting over 50 child care programs of all different models. They had a standard joke: “If we were to be blindfolded, put on a plane, and dropped into an early years room anywhere in the province, we would not be able to tell what community we were in” (ECEBC, 2020, p. 8), as all the programs setting look alike. Through a critical reflective lens Kim encourages educators, families, and communities to envision these settings, materials, learning skills, in different ways, with different possibilities along with expanding on diversity of culture, place, and history context. Experimenting and inspiring programs to have their own local identity. This lead me to thinking about “the cycle of professional practice – practice: is continuously examined, evolves, is open to professional challenge, changes as new research and theories evolve, is defined and redefined” (Dietze, B. & Kashin, D. 2016, p. 7). I can already envision positive changes through me and my co-works critical reflective lens within my centre. Kim strives for programs vision to “serve as places of dialogue in which community members discuss, share, and debate the values they hold about knowledge, education, and how to live well together in ways that are respectful, local, and meaningful” (BCELF, 2019, p. 12).

My hope in the future for Kim and her colleague, “if they happen to drop into these programs including my own centre blindfolded, they’ll know where they are!” (ECEBC, 2020, p. 9).

Focus Article 2

“Peer Mentoring for Early Childhood Educators: Building Capacity and Leaving a Legacy”

Authors: Laura K. Doan and Soon Young Jang

http://www.ecebc.ca/

https://ecepeermentoring.trubox.ca/

Dr Laura K. Doan – Principal Investigator for the Peer Mentoring for Early Childhood Educators and is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC, where she teaches in the Early Childhood Education and Master of Education programs.

Dr Soon Young Jang – Project Manager for the Peer Mentoring for Early Childhood Educators and is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC.

When reading is article I learnt “50% of early childhood educators leave the field within the first five years of work (ECEBC, 2020, p. 14 (2012)). From ECEBC research “early childhood educators identified the work as being both overwhelming and deeply satisfying” (ECEBC, 2020, p. 14). However the available support for beginning and experiences early childhood educators in this field has been limited and extremely random when available. Laura was startled by the statistics ECEBC provided while researching for her doctoral in 2019, and instantly decided she wanted to “deepen her connect with local and provincial early childhood educators to find out what they need and want in regards to support in this field” (ECEBC, 2020, p. 14). From her research she developed the “Peer Mentoring Project” as a pilot study for new and experienced educators to work closely with the support from “Peer Mentors”. Through online support, access to faculty, visits to early learning programs the project has been be able to “Support their ongoing professional identity development needs, increasing their levels of teacher-efficacy, and boosting confidence in their abilities as educators”. With this amazing project, which I can relate to and admire deeply, will “build capacity and leave a legacy” in our early childhood education journey. A goal Laura is strongly dictated to. Funded by the Ministry for Children and Family Development, partnership with Thompson River University in collaboration with ECEBC, I believe for myself along with other co-early childhood educators, our future is in trusting hands with continuous support from this unique team of Early Childhood Educator Professionals, by providing/learning knowledge together will encompasses our cycle of professional practice.

Reading this article has opened up my mind to the possibilities that I, one day may join a peer mentor group to help support and encourage new and experienced early childhood educators. A lot of my inspiration to support others comes from the amazing and dedicated faculty team at NIC Early Childhood Education Department, – Paula Avender is currently a Peer Mentoring Project facilitator, co-students in my NIC courses who endless support one another, and my work place centre who encourages me to continuously learn more.

If your are interested in learning more about the Peer Mentoring Project with Dr Laura K Doan check out the video on my “References and Resources I Find Interesting” page.