© European Early Childhood Education Research (EECERA) MMX

For the last 10 years, Tessa has worked on the BBC series A Child of Our Time – she sees herself as an interpreter of research. A Child of Our Time, brought together 25 children from all over the UK as part of a longitudinal study which the BBC began in 2000. These Millennium children are now 10 years-old and the BBC intends to follow them through to 2020. Tessa reflected how this had been and continues to be an ongoing and endlessly exciting journey.

The BBC have made 66 programmes so far. Two books have been published ‘Child of Our Time’ and ‘Child of Our Time Early Learning’.

Referencing the 2007 UNICEF report on the well-being of children, Tessa talked about how British children came out the worst from a survey of 21 countries. Are our children really that unhappy? She went on to examine various statistics reflecting the rise in stress and anxiety concerns for young children in our society today.

She asked, how much does this early exposure to serious stress influence their lives in the long run?

Using a number of clips from the ‘A Child of Our Time’ series, Tessa’s presentation looked at the development of children’s confidence and well-being as well as stress and anxiety during their early years. The clips reflected the influence of both family and cultural norms on development and included a look at first day at school, broken families, a 48-hour study of child-parent dialogue and also how the children engaged in free-play vs video game/tv time.

For copyright reasons, we are not able to show the detail of the video clips which were used within this presentation.

We would like to hear your reflections to Tessa Livingstone’s keynote. Please leave a comment below. Join In. Dialogue. Debate.

© European Early Childhood Education Research (EECERA) MMX

Marshall talked about two broad themes, firstly, action research as an approach to enquiry and secondly, leadership for sustainability.

She shared a dynamic model of action researching, through which she emphasised the question; what choices am I making? Marshall highlighted that action research is a very systemic process, with contextual sensitivity, a process that required a multi-dimensionality of thinking.

Marshall quoted David Ore, when referencing environmental sustainability. “The crisis we face is first and foremost one of minds, perceptions and values hence it is a challenge to those institutions presuming to shape minds, perceptions and values. It is an educational challenge. More of the same kind of education can only make things worse.”

This presentation was dedicated to her enquiry at the River Dart and its surrounding woodland in Devon, UK – to remind Marshall, as she presented, what and whom she is answering to.

Marshall then explored action research – as a resource, a soft discipline for dangerous, demanding times – this helps bring context into question, and invites those she works with to have the resources for radical questioning.

Marshall went on to summarise the key points of Action Research, including to:

• Engaging in cycles of action and reflection.
• Working with multi-ways of knowing and respecting and valuing these.
• Seeking participation and collaboration.
• Paying attention to issues of power.

She spoke of the three forms of action research, first person, second person and third person.

We would like to hear your reflections to Professor Judi Marshall’s keynote. Please leave a comment below. Join In. Dialogue. Debate

There was a fantastic buzz and excitement as the EECERA community came together once again – this year for our 20th conference! Friends were reunited, new members welcomed, as we had the opportunity to take a look around the gallery’s Pre Raphaelite exhibition.

The reception officially opened with a performance from Birmingham’s SAMPAD dancers. Welcome speeches followed from:
Councillor Len Gregory, Lord Mayor
Sue Eggersdorf, Operational Director for Integrated and Extended Leadership with the National College
Tony Howell, Director of Children, Young People and Families, Birmingham

© European Early Childhood Education Research (EECERA) MMX

Continuing the theme of knowledge and voice, she identified two different voices – the non-western voice versus the western voice. Gupta not only wants to understand, but also to make sense of these influences on education; Indian vs Western, traditional vs modern.

The purpose of her research has been to examine the colonized conditions within the post-colonial world of early childhood education and early childhood teacher education in India. The colonized condition can be found in early childhood classrooms where schools in the non-west are expected to employ a pedagogy based on the understandings of the development of young children who have grown up in the West.

How can voice be made more inclusive and multi-layered? How can we strive to make mainstream educational discourse more inclusive of multiple voices and more reflective of educational traditions other than our own? She believes the field of educational research would benefit from the discussion of topics that look at perspectives of educational practices of the non-west.

Within her research (across India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and the Maldives) Gupta found that even today within these diverse non-western educational traditions there were some strong common themes, which may not necessarily be found in Western education. This included the fact that education was often viewed as a more encompassing concept – involving the school, the family as well as the broader community and not just formal definition of education often found in the West.

In conclusion, Gupta left us with two thoughts:

1, Instead of focusing on standardizing teaching strategies, curricular approaches and assessment systems we need to shift our focus more toward the end goal of the child’s well-being, acknowledging that children might reach that state of well-being in different ways and through different experiences depending on the larger cultures that they are living within.
2, Perhaps it is more useful, that instead of establishing a research base that is Western or Non-Western, we begin to move away from an either/or approach and work towards a creation a hybrid third pace which reflects and includes multiple perspectives.

We would like to hear your reflections to Amita Gupta’s keynote. Please leave a comment below. Join In. Dialogue. Debate

We were delighted to learn that the CREC logo was ‘designed’ by Tony’s son, who just two days ago became a Dad himself.

Delegates can look forward to a range of new themes at this year’s conference, including a best competition award and best EECERA journal award at the Gala Dinner, as well as a chance to dialogue online through Twitter and this blog ‘EECERA voices’.

We look forward to hearing your comments, reflections and questions over the coming days. Join in. Dialogue, Debate.

© European Early Childhood Education Research (EECERA) MMX

Drawing on her research from The Stockholm Project and the thoughts of Descartes and Deleuze, Dahlberg posed many questions to us as she explored a range of perspectives not commonly held within early childhood education.

Importance of listening to children’s voices – but teachers asking questions they already know the answer to, questions that aren’t really questions – what happens if we transgress this idea?

Is it the case that more and more of the problems are located inside the child?

Emhasis of the self as the site of change – is it the case that we are going from the social self of the welfare state idea towards a non-liberal idea of an autonomous and entrepreneurial self?

Who is speaking? Who is the hero? Who is the genius?

We would like to hear your reflections in respond to Dr Gunilla Dahlberg’s keynote. Please leave a comment below. Join In. Dialogue. Debate

© European Early Childhood Education Research (EECERA) MMX

Wednesday, 8th September 2010 at 2:15 pm
Pick up: University Campus
Drop off: University Campus
Price: £10 per person