2014 Jamaican Canadian Students Crossing Borders Early Childhood Education Professional Development Project

June 2014

Eighteen hard-working Jamaican ECEs are now back home in Kingston, Jamaica. 

As I reflect on their nine days of sharing, touring, learning, and play, I am warm in the heart.  The group consisting of Basic School, Preparatory School, and Day Care practitioners brought a wealth of knowledge and faith and passion to Canada.  They also home-made food and treats to share.  This tells me that in addition to all the other fundraising, and trip preparation, they were also shopping and cooking before they came to Canada; most for the first time.

Under the leadership of Dr. Christine Stennett  of Jamaica’s Early Childhood Commission and ongoing Students Crossing Borders Jamaican co-director,  Mr. Junior Rowe, the team came with goals to further the knowledge and understanding of early learning and care environments that are play-based and revolve around inquiry and the view of the child as more than an empty vessel.  This project is the manifestation of the work and vision of Students Crossing Borders' founder Fintan Kilbride and his successor, the late Lynn Caruso. http://studentscrossingborders.ca/ 

Community organizations in the GTA generously opened their doors, gave their time, and shared their experience with our visitors.  Many thanks go to the following:

Family Day Care Services for sharing the expertise, time, and kindness of Lisa Shortall, Vilma Raymundo and her team, Diane Daley, and for and informative morning and lunch discussion at the wonderful Don Valley Ontario Early Years Centre.  http://familydaycare.com/ 

Humber College School of ECE, especially Marsha Barrett, Laura Oyama, Alison Hughes, Bernadette Summers, Trudy Ruf, and their Jamaican Canadian students. The insights from those who know both cultures was invaluable. The Humber group were also instrumental in organizing the trip, but hosted a full day of knowledge exchange between Jamaica and Canada.  We also need to thank the staff of the Humber College Lab Schools for their generosity of spirit and time.  The Jamaicans were still talking about what they learned through discussions from you.

Macaulay Child Development Centre who generously shared the time and expertise of Lorraine Kirlew  MTAH is now on FACEBOOK so LIKE us www.facebook.com/MoreThanAHaircut   http://www.morethanahaircut.ca/  and her colleague Anthony Peculiar Davis. They presented and led a discussion around the innovative More Than a Haircut Barbershop Project of the Afro Caribbean Fathers of the Eglinton West neighbourhood.   Marsha Barrett arranged this event with Seneca College and the Jamaican team.  Many of the group said they’d be taking back fresh thinking around fathers and their roles. 

The Hincks Dellcrest Team, including Rochelle Fine, Ramani Jayakumar, Andrew McDowell Reesor, Grace Lockwood, who shared a view to the value of family programs, the Toy Caravan, and the wonderful Learning Through Play theory and resources. 

Upper Canada Child Care’s Ashton Meadows Child Care Centre team led by Colleen Pakkadis, and Tammy Nucci.  The group was truly inspired by your rich and natural early learning environment.  Your staff modelled best practice, and the environment truly was the third teacher. A special thank you to Rahila Iqbal and to Darlene Nantarath.  Their explanations and modelling really helped deepen the understanding of the application of play-based learning.   They brought theory to life!

School Photo: yrdsb.ca 

Photos: Audrey Gunawan

                                     

The York Region District School Board, represented by Sandra Sanz.  The Jamaican teachers were intrigued by the Ashton Meadows Public School Full Day Kindergarten classrooms and evidence of purposeful play in action.  Thank you to the Kindergarten teaching teams who allowed us into their space.

G98.7 FM Radio Station, especially Fitzroy Gordon Founder, President, CEO & Station Manager, and Nicola Harris for featuring the work and trip of the Jamaican ECEs and sharing their work with the community.  So warm!  Dr. Stennett sounded like such a media pro in her interview!

June Williams and the Seneca Lab School Team who let our large group wander and wonder about the lovely and intriguing environment.  The Jamaicans were really feeling moved to re-purpose simple items to make their classrooms and outdoor areas richer with the simple materials you modelled. 

The Seneca College School of ECE, especially Mary Fisher, Amy Shotbolt, Jo Blay, Josephine Umuhaya Muhoza,  Kathrina Lalog, Jennifer Sabitini,  Sharon Quan-McGimpsey, Tracy Cunningham, Nancy Cannon, Patricia Robertson, Gail Nisker,  Cindy Smith, Jinder Virdee, Lynne Besner, Cindy Smith Valenti, my ECA330CO class, and my ECA304 classes, and dear Bernie Dinnard-Williams from the Lab School!  These wonderful people helped with fundraising, advice, sharing space, carting things back and forth,  supporting the Jamaican Cultural Sharing Night Event, and many other thoughtful gestures.

 

Toronto Catholic Children’s Aid, especially Nicola Wheatle, and Jennifer Brown.  They did air port pick-ups, shopping trips, resource sharing and brought welcome baskets and chicken foot soup! 

Kids Come First Child Care staff for all their cooking and hard work and coming out and singing! http://www.kidscomefirstccc.ca/  

Students Crossing Borders members and supporters, including Bernadette Hart and her family, Fariba Langaroodi and her family, Dr. Clive Forrester, Sara McEwen, Michelle Pegler and Braydon Campeau, Kim Martyn, Farnoosh Droodgar and her family, Caitlin Wood, Rima Dib, Susan Snyder, Kathy Boelsma,  Elaine and Paul Forrester, Barb Culbert, Rose and Katelyn Forgione, Ricardo Thomas, Shawn Patterson, Nikita Kaarls-Edwards and Melyssa, Megan Shotbolt, Terry Wilson, my family; Evelyn Harrison and Mary Beth Kelly all added to the planning, moral, professional, and financial support of this professional development project.  Thanks also to those who provided sweaters and jackets to keep the Jamaicans warm.

The Jamaican Team, for reminding us all about passion, joy, faith, hard work, music, dance, colour, kindness in our work and in our play. Colette Allen, Jenneta Brown, Shari-Kay Boyd, Petagay Hamilton, Arlene Latibeaudiere,  Rosemarie Lewis,  Shani-Lee Small- Murray, Jermena Nelson, Wilma Reid,  Junior Rowe,  Nordia Brown-Riley, Nicole Vassell-Salmon,  Christine Stennett,  Angela Bowen Stewart,  Salome Swearing , Mervie Walker, Hillary Whittick, Rochelle Williams, Charmaine Williams.

As special thanks goes to our partner in Jamaica, Mr. Mark McFarlane who was unable to come with the group this time.  We missed seeing you my friend.  Thank you for your ongoing help with our projects on your end. Our partners here missed getting to meet with and thank you in person.  

Where Have All the Good RECEs Gone?  

Where have all the good RECEs gone? Why is it so difficult to hire and keep great RECEs? Good RECE supply staff are as rare as RECEs on the Sunshine List.

While our wonderful Community Colleges turn out many cohorts of Early Childhood Educators, I still hear child care operators in the GTA lamenting the dearth of professional, skilled people to care for and educate our children whose brains are at their maximum point of potential.

The following are some challenges to the system as I see it:

Who is studying ECE?

People who see ECE as a stepping stone to being a "real teacher"

People whose families think it will be an easy course. Any idiot can work with children. This point naturally stems from a widespread lack of respect for infants, toddlers, and young children as people. "Hey honey, don't know what to do after high school, got fired from your part time job? You were good at baby-sitting your cousin, take ECE!"

And some people who have a strong understanding of and respect for children.

Some people who wish for better environments and outcomes for children and love to be with them, all day long.

Where do the RECEs go?

The School Boards - in droves. The cream of the crop have left working in child care centres, home child care, family resource programs, community agencies, etc. to follow a proper pay cheque, benefits, comfortable working conditions, and maybe, just maybe, higher status and more respect.

There are myriad privately owned child care centres in the GTA of varying degrees of quality. Many pay about 13 or 14 dollars per hour. The staff may not get paid sick time, holidays, professional development, or even a staff room in which to have a coffee. You can pay an assistant even less so there are many RECEs working in large teams of untrained staff. This leads to a breakdown in best practice. Where am I getting this? Hearing stories from assistants and student teachers, and seeing it first hand sometimes. On a visit last year, I overheard an untrained staff scream at two year olds how disgusting they were, that the mess they made was disgusting and on and on until I stopped her. I called Children's Aid. This is not an environment in which a good RECE will stay long.

RECEs often go on to work in other fields where pay and working conditions are better.

RECEs often go back to university to learn more. After spending all that money, most will not choose to work in child care.

What can we do?

My dad always says, "You pay peanuts, you get monkeys." I hear the Ontario government wants to help supplement Early Childhood Educators' salaries by a dollar per hour next year. I hope it's done equitably and with lots of check and balances to ensure integrity of the operators of child care centres.

Beyond remuneration matters, will the Ontario Government's Modernization of Child Care lead to more stringent quality assessment? Better teacher/child ratios? Less ridiculous health and safety rules? Better working conditions for all early learning practitioners? Will the impact of the College of Early Childhood Educators' hard work,(www.college-ece.ca) Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics help lift practices across the province? Will the ongoing efforts of other professional bodies such as the AECEO (www.aeceo.ca) and the Family Supports Institute of Ontario (www.fsio.ca) help improve attitudes and education? Will strong improvements to policy by our Ministry of Education boost everyone up? Hope so! Then maybe we can find Good RECEs everywhere, especially interacting with our children; our future.

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” 
― Margaret Mead

Early Learning in Uganda and Rwanda Day One and Two

Robyn, Nancy, Terry, Jo, Josephine

Play-based early learning and care is in the infancy stages in Uganda and Rwanda.  The old British colonial model of three children to a desk, sitting and memorizing facts and figures from a chalk board is beginning to evolve.  I was lucky enough to be invited by the Directors of Happy Hearts International School in Kampala, Generose Muhaya and Josephine Umuhoza Muhaya to help them with their dream for a school where children learn with happy hearts.  The experience taught me so much in so many ways.  There were many facets of the trip for me; the people and culture of East Africa, the early learning and care system and facilitating change, the day-to-day reality of life in a developing country,the glorious tea and coffee, the good work of Teen Challenge in Kampala, and the beauty, scars, and resilience of Rwanda.

Happy Hearts International School Ntinda, Uganda

Josephine is a new friend and a dear friend and I was excited to accompany her from Canada to Uganda to see her mother and family, and the nascent Happy Hearts, meet Generose and the staff.

From there the team grew to include my colleagues Nancy Mosey, the Executive Director of a thriving not-for-profit child care organization based in York Region, Dr. Jo Blay with a strong background in research and education, as well as a dear friend and colleague, Robyn Matthew. Robyn brought her art facilitation combined with a social service skills and background working with in the area of grief.  We were accompanied also by Bill Ord from the U.K. who has much experience working with youth and in engineering. 

We arrived into the small Entebbe airport late at night.  The warm equatorial air was a joy after leaving a severe Canadian winter.  We were put up at a hotel not far from the airport, due to the kindness of friends of Josephine.  I went to bed with a mosquito net around my bed, having a little Meryl Streep moment. (Out of Africa). 

I woke up and looked out my window and say greens and reds of Uganda – and monkeys who lived in the hotel grounds!  Jackfruit, mangoes, and avocadoes hung from the trees.  All the staff were friendly.

We relaxed until it was time to go to lunch and the Entebbe Zoo – which is more of a place for animals which have been rescued from poachers or other bad situations.   For lunch I had my first Ugandan beer – it is a major industry there.  Yum.  And fish, cassava, a peanut dish, beans and rice, and chicken. 

Then it was off to the zoo, which is on the shore of Lake Victoria.  We could hear the waves and smell the water.  

Generose comes to greet us at the Entebbe Airport

Thinking about Bare Feet When It's Sixteen Below

Walking on a sandy beach is one of my most favourite things in the world to do.  I spent many hours of my early childhood on Kew Beach in Toronto, and my summer holidays on a sandy beach in northern Michigan, perhaps that’s why.  Or perhaps it is because walking barefoot and exposing our many little bones, (26 in each foot!), 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments to the delightful uneven surface and temperatures of a shifting, soft beach is like an expensive massage.   Walking on cool hard-packed sand washed smooth by waves allows us to see our temporary footprints and the patterns we leave.  The myriad nerve endings in our feet (more  than anywhere else in our bodies) send messages to our brains about how to proceed through the world as we go about our day. 

Can you tell I recently went to a wonderful workshop on feet?  http://www.alignmentrescue.com/ It has affirmed my belief that we who work with young children need to take the health of children’s feet more seriously.  Here comes the negative musing.

In many child care settings, and even in some people’s homes, babies and young children spend all of their waking hours in shoes.  Their little flat feet are still developing and likely do that best being bare for much of the day.  I always marvel that the fastest runners in the world come from places where the children spend much of their time barefoot.  In Kingston, Jamaica, birthplace of lightning fast, Usain Bolt, the children’s feet and gross motor skills amaze those of us from the coddled north.  Shoes are unfortunately sometimes a luxury worn for school or church. The children run, skip, kick a soccer ball, unwincing over rough ground, with strong, tough feet.  Funny that babies often go through a stage where they take great delight in peeling off their own socks and mastering removing their shoes, and sometimes those of anyone else within reach.   They know it’s good for us! 

Bare feet in Riverton City, Jamaica

Some early learning settings never let the children have their shoes off, not even for sleeping.  They use the excuse, “What if there’s a fire?” What if there is a fire?  One person scoops of the basket of shoes,  tarp, and blanket as part of the evacuation drill.  Worst case scenario, the children’s feet get cold for a short time.  I worked in a child care in a centre in a high school.  If students were going to pull the fire alarm as a prank, or in protest of the principle’s new policy (which they five times one day) it was usually on their lunch break which was our sleep time.  So I know how easy it is let children sleep (when the growth hormone is released) without shoes, and have faced the consequences many times about evacuation in all types of weather. 

I also hear people say, “It’s for health and safety reasons.”  Really.  Before rest time, children go to washroom in their shoes, then run around on their little cots before laying their little faces on those contaminated cots. So health and safety?   In other countries, such as Japan, the children, even the toddlers change from their own shoes to special sandals to wear in the washroom. That is for health reasons. 

Preschool washroom slippers in Ikoma City, Japan

In practice as an ECE in child care I instigated barefoot days.  We’d make sure our small playground was safe from any sharp objects, leave all the trikes and wagons in the shed, and let the children play barefoot.  They were happy to do so.  It’s a healthy, human thing to do.  But I have never seen anyone else do this with the children.  What are we afraid of?  A splinter?  A bruise?  A stubbed toe?  Or the wrath of a helicopter parent . . . 

I am waiting for summer to feel the cool grass, grainy sand, sun-warmed granite, and the beloved earth under my feet.  

Molly in a river: Photo Dave Cooney

Bare foot traction.  Photo: E. Harrison

Khalil Gibran — 'And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair'