Culturally safe and inclusive schooling: Perspectives of children from refugee backgrounds.

The purpose of the study reported on here was to examine Syrian refugee children’s educational experiences in multiple contexts; back home, in transit countries, and in Canadian elementary schools. Theoretically framed by hermeneutics and employing an interpretive inquiry methodology, visual and textual data were collected from the children, and their parents and teachers. The participants’ own experiences and recommendations for constructing inclusive spaces for refugee children will be shared with implications for teacher education.

Supporting ECE candidates in partnering with refugee and immigrant families.

In this session, participants will gain an understanding of how to prepare early childhood candidates for working with refugee and immigrant families using approaches grounded in infant and early childhood mental health consultative approaches. These approaches allow for early childhood teacher candidates to embrace their role as an equal partner with families, understand the role of infant and early childhood mental health, and position early childhood candidates to be more effective, inclusive, and responsive practitioners.

That experience is cancelled: EC preservice teachers and the COVID 19 pandemic.

Participants who attend this presentation will gain insight into the experiences of preservice teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic who had unexpected changes to their preparation program. Teacher educators have likewise been forced to adapt and consider alternative ways of approaching education. As the entire field moves forward amidst a continuing pandemic, important conversations about teacher education should consider what lies ahead to best prepare early childhood educators for the field.

Practicum students identify tensions in an EC program-childcare center partnership.

Preservice teachers’ practicum experiences are an important component of educator preparation programs. This presentation shares the tensions practicum students identified during their experiences in a new partnership between the Early Childhood program and a local childcare center. Their insights helped improve the partnership but raised questions about the responsibilities higher education programs have when using diverse settings for field-based experiences.

Examining positionalities, practices, and processes for inclusion.

In this paper, we will present a self-to-system lens for inclusion that focuses on positionalities, practices, and processes. This lens is being used in a mixed-methods study to examine the role of program ecologies in supporting early childhood professionals’ 1) equitable referrals to preschool special education, and 2) their use of high-quality inclusive practices. We believe this self-to-system framework can be useful in reimagining pre- and in-service preparation for inclusion.

Nurturing inclusive early childhood educators’ professional “competence”.

Presentation of findings from an ongoing systematic literature review and auto-ethnographic engagement with professional competencies and guidelines in the field of early childhood teacher preparation. In response to themes and gaps we have identified in those competencies, we introduce a new framework we are developing for our birth-8 education and K-3 NAEYC-accredited teaching licensure programs. This session will involve audience participation in discussion around the use and content of competencies in inclusive education.

Early childhood teacher educator practices: Reflecting and modeling culturally responsive teaching

The purpose of this article is to report a self-study conducted by an international graduate teaching assistant to identify my teaching experiences and to explore how my teaching identity and methods could support teacher candidates to become more culturally sensitive and responsive in a multicultural classroom.

Students’ leadership journey: Developing leaders in an interdisciplinary ECE teacher preparation program.

Effective early childhood leaders transform the lives of children and their families and are essential to professionalizing the field. However, many TPPs do not offer leadership courses and content, limiting the development of ECE leaders. This session describes a leadership course in an interdisciplinary early childhood TPP. Examples of course assignments will be shared and participants will discuss leadership in ECE, methods of broadly conceptualizing leadership in ECE, and cultivating leaders in the field.

This session will focus on the commonalities and discrepancies between instructors' and students’ perspectives regarding team teaching in an early childhood teacher education program. The program utilizes an interdisciplinary approach involving two different schools within a university. We asked the participants to share their perspectives via surveys and interviews. We will share the results related to the benefits of team teaching and participants will be engaged in a discussion of strategies to address the challenges.

Walking alongside the learner: Teaching young children from diverse backgrounds in accordance with the ways they learn.

From awareness to advocacy: Best practices for educator diversity training

The presentation was prepared and will be delivered by an Assistant Professor of Education and her teacher preparation student. The researchers will share best-practices for educator diversity training, based on an analysis of student feedback on three sections of a state-mandated diversity course. Participants will leave with multiple resources and instructional techniques. These approaches can be used across different ability and experience levels.