Description
The last issue of Every Child for 2021 takes stock of where we’ve been and where we’re going. Jackie Brien suggests that we ‘make meaning’ of recent challenging times by transforming our learning and practice, while Peta Fitzpatrick suggests that we not paint over our 2021 ‘canvases’ or experiences but add to them in 2022 by focusing on such issues as social justice.
The issue contains several important articles from the world of professional practice in early childhood education and care settings. Samantha Truscott writes about how music can help both children and carers with those potentially difficult transition times in a service. Asha Rojahn discusses an innovative program in her service that makes use of a nearby river as a rich resource for learning. Sarah Young, Amelia Church and Tricia Eadie advocate for the pedagogical value of museum visits (excursions) and outreach programs (incursions) as a way of enriching experiential, embodied and inquiry-based learning for children. Toni Christie writes about how to transform routines in early learning services into rituals so that something as ordinary as getting ready for lunch can become a memorable experience infused with love, care and creativity. Nicola Yelland invites us to ponder multimodal literacies, that is, how we make meaning in different modalities—linguistic (written), visual, spatial, tactile, gestural, audio and oral. She has lots of useful examples of children creating in various different media in early childhood settings.
We have a couple of important think pieces in the latest issue. Bin Wu and Brooke Eastwood advocate for the Pikler/Gerber approach to infant education and care as instituted by the Resources for Infant Educarers organisation. The approach makes respect the core of every interaction we have with children. Fiona Boylan takes us through a discussion of mindsets, particularly the fixed and growth mindsets. Boylan reveals that a growth mindset can help children learn self-regulation, among many other important social–emotional skills.
In this issue we also profile Rowena Muir, Director of the Manuka Childcare Centre (MOCCA) in Canberra, and the winners of this year’s Narragunnawali awards, which recognise and celebrate the exceptional reconciliation initiatives of early learning services and schools.
Spark meaningful conversations with this edition of Early Childhood Australia’s Every Child magazine, available now.
