Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) affirms that children have the right to express their views on matters that affect them, and to have those views taken seriously. Despite the clarity of Article 12, children’s participatory rights are often treated as conditional, recognised only under certain circumstances, such as: when it is convenient when children are verbal […]
The privilege of working with our youngest citizens. The engine room of any organisation is the most important and influential. This is where the key driving force for ongoing propulsion happens. Everything moves forward when this room is in full operational mode. Working in the infant toddler environment in a long day care setting is […]
‘Being a professional requires you to exercise pedagogical judgment—every day. It does seem though we now have a ‘Christmas’ curriculum and it starts early.’ Karen Hope encourages educators to reflect on more than just the art and craft of Christmas in early childhood settings. I like this time of year and I celebrate Christmas. For […]
‘The word ‘love’ is a tricky one when applied to the early childhood education and care space.’ Karen Hope shares part two to her 2018 blog, ‘What’s love got to do with it?‘, keep reading to hear her perspective. The Spoke has published other blogs on this topic and are linked at the end of […]
KAREN HOPE shares what she has learnt about being ‘creative’ during the pandemic and engaging with children over Zoom, as well as the resources she has found useful—specifically from Nick Cave and the Reggio Emilia Educational Project. Early childhood educators and children have spent so much time this year online. We Zoom in and out. […]
What can the new ‘normal’ teach us about how and what young children should be learning? ‘Is it possible that we can use this opportunity to create a new normal around what and how young children learn?’ KAREN HOPE explores theories in early childhood education in a time where online learning has been the only […]
Do you have the face for early childhood teaching? The importance of early childhood educators being aware of the relationship between their face and the child’s recently struck KAREN HOPE. In this piece, Karen takes a closer look at this, as well as the children’s emotions and the impact these emotions might have on their […]
KAREN HOPE shares her perspective on another hot topic in the early childhood sector, delving into the pressure that educators face to photograph children in their care, to document learning. Do photos of children engaged with another child or an educational activity properly demonstrate what they learn? And is it time to re-evaluate the content that […]
KAREN HOPE shares some key discussion points after facilitating a group of educators, who were delving into re-thinking ways to document learning and development for educators and children. Karen asked the group ‘what current documentation practices might they leave behind?’—This opened up ideas to what changes could be implemented to create documentation to improve ideas, strategies, […]
‘Putting children on a hi-vis alert in the community is depriving them an opportunity to take responsibility for their own safety.’ KAREN HOPE and HELEN JENNINGS, explore what this means and give their perspective on pre-school aged children wearing hi-vis clothing when outside the enclosure of their early childhood setting. In parks, museums and other public spaces […]
Why is the Reggio Emilia educational project—which exists in a context so far removed from ours, culturally, politically and geographically—so important in our Australian context? While this project now has networks in many countries around the world, its influence in Australia has been significant both in our application of its theoretical and practical ideas. The […]
‘Half way down the stairs is a stair where I sit There isn’t any other stair quite like it. I’m not at the bottom; I’m not at the top So this is the stair where I always stop’ (Milne, 1932, p147). There are approximately 194 900 early learning staff currently employed across Australia, with long […]