Cultivating Belonging in Early Years and Child Care

Professional Learning Symposium | OCTOBER 28, 2022


To build capacity for a diverse, equitable and inclusive early years and child care community.
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These are some of education’s racialized and marginalized contributors.
BIPOC folx are often sidelined or erased in discussions of those who have contributed to education.
Today, we recognize their offerings. Today and every day, we thank and center them.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

EMPOWERING OUR EDUCATORS

REIGNITE

Providing an equitable space that meets us where we are at, and allows us to feel excited and passionate about our work with colleagues, children and families. Providing a space of safety to learn about ourselves, to reflect on our path, and to delve deeper into our passion for working with children.

REFRESH

Diverse opportunities for learning together and listening to the voices of colleagues, friends, and community partners, while discovering new practices, perspectives, and pedagogies that reinvigorate our 'why'.

RECOGNIZE

Participating by using this inclusive platform to build a stronger sense of empowerment, knowledge, and skills as we recognize the contribution and hard work of those in the early years and child care sector to fostering learning and development.
 

SPEAKERS

BROWSE SCHEDULE

Susan Stewart

Comedian, Author, Professional Speaker

Natalie Royer

Consultant, Strategist and Coach

SCHEDULE

Plenary Session

Welcome! We will start the day with a welcome video and a land acknowledgment from Eddy Robinson, followed by remarks from Sandy Palinski, Alex Sarchuk of Halton Region, and Becky Andrade of THRC. Attendees will also participate in a live poll to help us better understand your perspective on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the early years sector! Be sure not to miss a great start to our day!
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 8:15 am - 9:00 am
Plenary Session

We are kicking things off with some laughs and inspiration featuring comedian/author/speaker, Susan Stewart! With the humour is she is best known for, Susan will be sharing how changing your perspective (and re-writing the story you’re telling yourself) can help you be resilient in times of adversity or uncertainty.
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Workshop

Join Art Therapist Rapinder Kaur, as she takes you on an engaging, thought-provoking journey exploring how we can disrupt and reimagine ways of thinking and doing that inhibit the inherent power children are born with. Participants will leave with an understanding of liberation arts and will be offered tools on how they can think beyond diversity and inclusion by providing justice, dignity and belonging to the children their serve.
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Workshop

In this workshop, facilitators will explore recent studies, findings and initiatives related to race and racism in the field of early childhood. They will explore the intersectionality and complexity of Black mothering as a direct response to anti-Black racism and other forms of oppression. The workshop includes an interactive call to action for practitioners, administrators, educators and the like.
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Workshop

The Halton Early Years Mental Health Committee (EYMHC) is a cross-sector collaboration of service providers who work with infants/young children and their families. Research has shown that significant mental health issues can and do exist in very young children and tend to manifest as serious social, emotional or behavioural problems (Zeenah, 2009). This session will highlight the importance that you, as professionals in early childhood settings, play in promoting the mental health and well-being of all young children and their families. A child’s well-being and healthy brain development is contingent upon infants/young children having healthy relationships with their caregivers. Other important factors to consider include developing a sense of belonging and valuing and respecting an individual or family’s culture and beliefs. The session will also increase your awareness of the Halton Early Years Mental Health Toolkit itself; where to find it; highlight the many resources which can help promote professional development and explore further opportunities for embedding this content
into practice.
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Workshop

Focused on interactions in your workplaces, this session will engage attendees in discussions of belonging and inclusion. Grounded in an evidence based understanding of equity, diversity, and power, we will explore our understanding of how various workplace practices affect marginalized and racialized members of our organizations.

Some of the themes we will address include:

(1) the importance of building inclusive environments to support full participation of all individuals;
(2) thinking about ways to create spaces of belonging in our day-to-day work and examining challenges to inclusivity in one-to-one exchanges;
(3) understanding the role of power dynamics and its interplay with belonging.
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Workshop

Building diverse, equitable, and inclusive early years and childcare facilities is your aspiration. However, subtle biases can result in excluding some of the children and families that you serve. By becoming more aware of your language, actions and thought patterns, you can increase inclusion and equity in your daily interactions with children.



• Recognize specific bias that impact children

• Understand how language and behaviours impact marginalized children

• Identify and remove inclusion blockers
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Workshop

In this session we will explore pedagogical documentation that begins from teachers' curiosity about what is observed in children's play, ideas, and strategies. Linked to How Does Learning Happen, we will engage in conversations and think together about the questions we might raise in order to co-construct inquiry with children.
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Workshop

Regular physical activity is important for healthy child development. The early childhood education setting is highly influential on young children's movement behaviors. Increased effort is warranted to integrate more movement into early learning settings, given movement behaviors track from early childhood to later childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This session will cover the importance of physical activity promotion in early childhood education and how we can implement best practices to ensure sufficient integration of movement into childcare programming.
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 10:15 am - 11:45 am
Workshop

Early childhood educators’ professional growth journeys are sometimes isolating. This webinar will introduce the theory, application, and practice of critical friendships. It will invite participants to reflect on their own professional friendships and children's peer to peer relationships in a parallel process. What would be the impact of supportive professional friendship on practice? Participants should come ready to consider the possibilities and think about supporting and growing peer friendships.


Outcomes

* Learn about the theory and practice of communities of critical friendship.

* Learn about the possibilities of critical friendships.

* Learn about the possibilities of communities of practice that support voice and empowerment.
Date: October 28, 2022
Time: 10:15 am - 11:45 am

REGISTRATION

INDIVIDUAL REGISTRATION

Full Conference Access

ORGANIZATION REGISTRATION

Full Conference Access

THANK YOU
SUPPORTED BY OUR SPONSORS

THIS OPPORTUNITY IS FUNDED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE REGION OF HALTON, THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO AND GOVERNMENT OF CANADA UNDER THE NEW CANADA-ONTARIO EARLY CHILDHOOD WORKFORCE AGREEMENT, WHICH PROVIDES ONE-TIME FEDERAL FUNDING TO SUPPORT THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF A HIGH-QUALITY CHILD CARE AND EARLY YEARS WORKFORCE.