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Q & A Interview with Joan Waters—an early childhood luminary (available free online) |
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1. What drew you to the area of early childhood?
When I was a teenager, our minister's wife (an ex-kindergarten teacher) asked me to help with the young children in the Sunday School. Seeing my pleasure and interest, she suggested that teaching might be a good career choice for me. I received several scholarships, which enabled me to leave the small country town where I was brought up and begin training in Melbourne.
2. Name two of the most memorable experiences you've had, whilst being in the early childhood sector.
The first one is a day at the Three-in-One program in Singapore. Based on the ground floor of a public housing apartment building, it provides services for preschool children (two-six), primary school children (seven-12) and senior citizens (55+). The experience convinced me that senior adults, working alongside child development professionals, provided a richness of experience not found in other centres.
The second was as OMEP World Vice-President, welcoming over 900 delegates from many countries to the OMEP Congress in Melbourne in 2004. OMEP is the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education. The Congress was a great opportunity to be with like-minded professionals, to learn about their concerns, their successes and their struggles – and to show them our Australian programs.
3. You've written a book about the great women in the early childhood field – tell us about this. Did it shift your view at all on the work women do in early childhood?
During the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, many books were written about pioneering work by Australian women in politics, sport, law, medicine and the arts. There seemed nothing about the women whose vision and stamina established our profession. My book [With passion, perseverance and practicality] was an attempt to fill this gap. As I researched their individual stories, I was particularly struck by the broad social justice perspective shown by our ‘foremothers', and the energy and compassion they brought to their work. The period following WWII was marked by extraordinary optimism and enthusiasm for social equality and national cohesion, and a multi-disciplinary approach to early child development, now seemingly lost. I believe it is important that we who follow have a collective understanding of our history, as it can inform thinking and action in these present challenging times.
4. What are the issues you're most passionate about right now?
I am concerned that even in a wealthy nation like Australia, many children are not accorded their rights, and that we have no Federal Children's Bureau or Children's Commissioner. In spite of our government's official support for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children still suffer the effects of parental unemployment, gambling, drug and alcohol abuse. There are still children without adequate health and education services. There are still children imprisoned in detention centres. Still challenges to children's rights arising from the gene and embryo research programs. I would like to see many more early childhood educators take an active public role in advocating for children's basic rights – by speaking out, writing, networking, lobbying, protesting – on behalf of all children.
5. What inspires you about early childhood?
If you mean children in the period birth-eight years, then I'm inspired by the spontaneity of most young children and their ability to ‘live in the moment'. If you mean the early childhood care and education profession, then I'm inspired by the carers, teachers and academics who continue their work in spite of poor salaries and conditions, because they appreciate the importance of the early years.
6. In your own childhood Joan:
What was your most magical experience?
a. The day the letters on the paper made sense. Our town didn't have a Public Library until some years after I left, but the Mechanics Institute had a dusty collection of books for borrowing and our church library also had a children's lending section. I was probably one of the most frequent borrowers at both these places, reading adult and children's books without discernment.
Who did you most want to be?
b. For some years my heroine was Grace Bussell, a Western Australian girl who saved more than forty passengers from drowning when their ship was wrecked off Cape Leeuwin in 1876. I read her story over and over in the Victorian Reader Fourth Book, and imagined myself riding my horse into the swirling surf and returning time after time with grateful survivors clinging to the saddle (I had not seen the sea at that time, and indeed, still have not ridden a horse!). Later, Edith Cavell became the object of my fantasy play. My mother told me the story of the English nurse, matron of a Belgian hospital during World War 1, who was arrested by the Germans, charged with having helped 200 Allied soldiers escape to Holland, and was executed. I think I was inspired by bravery, but I'm pleased to say I've not had to demonstrate it!
7. When it comes to the education of Australian children, particularly in the early years, what do you think children most need, and what would you like to see more of?
Well-educated and well-paid teachers. I think we must eliminate the distinction between care and education by having some kind of graduated training system. While I studied in Pennsylvania, I had several periods of work in child care centres. All the staff members were called teachers – Level 1, 2, 3 etc. and paid according to their qualifications. Almost all were taking courses at night and in the summer to improve their knowledge. The daily program was a seamless whole, no such thing as a couple of hours of ‘education' surrounded by periods of ‘care.' Why couldn't this work in Australia? We have discussed this issue for many years, but seem to be unwilling to surrender our professional territorial boundaries.
8. Who are, or have been, the most influential people in your career?
First, Janie who showed me the possibilities in early childhood education. Then teachers like Frances Derham and Eileen Edwards; advisers such as Jeannie Sutherland and Beth Stubbs; writers like Lilian Katz and Loris Malaguzzi; and of course, hundreds of children whose lives I've shared for a time!
Joan's book With passion, perseverance and practicality was published by OMEP Australia in 2002.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 03 September 2010 )
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