Revolutionary Learning: Our Journey Continues in Early Childhood Education

I am a Registered Early Childhood Educator working in a leadership role in Ontario, Canada. I would like to share my learning journey with other educators, colleagues, pre-service educators, students and all others who are passionate about learning and teaching in the early years. 

I embarked on my formal learning journey thirty years ago by completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology. This led to an interest in working with children so I obtained a diploma in Early Childhood Education a few years later. After many years working in a variety of roles in the early learning profession, in many different geographical locations, I felt stagnant in my thinking. I wanted to feel inspired and fulfill my goal of becoming a lifelong learner so I began my MPEd journey.  

My aha moment came in my first semester of the MPEd program at Western University. By taking the time to research interdisciplinary perspectives in Early Childhood Education I was beginning to grasp the missing link, the bridge between past and present practice in early childhood education in Ontario. While there is no one right perspective it was helpful to understand how we landed in our current theoretical place in Ontario's early years pedagogy. I also realized how revolutionary our learning has been and how we must continue to transform our practice. Or, as Peter Moss stated "The educator needs to adopt pedagogical approaches and practices that support the purposes of education, the values of diversity and democracy, the ethics of care and encounter, and an attitude of researching and experimenting (2010, p. 16).  

I have watched so many educators, myself included, work so hard to promote the importance of early childhood education, to attempt to understand the political impact of our profession, and to continue to stay positive in a insufficiently compensated and demanding, yet rewarding career. 

We are in a period of transformation in early childhood education in Ontario. As educators we need to be armed with knowledge of our practice to advocate for our profession. As competent and capable educators we can share our perspectives with others to encourage revolutionary thinking and learning in education. I truly feel that early childhood education is at the forefront of the transformation of education. 

I hope by sharing my learning journey that I can help others understand why we have reached this place in early childhood education. I hope my moment of aha will help shed some light for others, struggling to make sense of our ever changing world in early childhood education. 

My journey has helped me understand how little I know and how much I have yet to learn. I find this both exciting and inspirational. I look forward to adding more thoughts and resources to this website as I continue to engage with a community of learners.