Thursday 28 August, 2008

 

Helen Inglis talks with Joy Lubawy about her long involvement with the early childhood profession

You began your working life as a Registered Nurse. What was your motivation to re-train as an EC teacher?
I was a soldier's wife at the time, living at Kapooka near Wagga Wagga, my children were young, shift work no longer appealed. I was intellectually bored and saw an advertisement in the paper shortly after my twenty fifth birthday for a new course at the then Riverina College of Advanced Education. This seemed like a turning point somehow as I had always wanted to be a teacher.

I enrolled part-time in a Diploma of Teaching, so I could manage the family and a husband who worked odd hours! By the end of that first year, both Stephen [my husband] and I saw the benefits of higher education so Stephen took advantage of the end of his 12 year term with the Army [and a study grant] and applied to join me in studying for the next three years. I had originally enrolled in the Infant's Education program, but after a Prac in a school, I moved to the Preschool strand, it seemed to sit with me more comfortably.

Tell me about some of the events, people and readings that set you on the journey to develop your philosophy of the emergent curriculum.
Dr. Yvonne Winer, first and foremost! She constantly talked about creativity and imagination. It finally stuck in my mind and is what is behind everything I do, say and think these days. Yvonne had talked about being flexible and following the children, presenting open-ended environments to encourage creativity and I had discovered how easily we underestimate what a young child is capable of and what they know.

I was also inspired by a paper by Millie Almy about Spontaneous Play and meeting Dr Bob Williams, with whom I was to write ‘Preschool Math”, and talking with him about his passion for following children's interests and wonderings. I wanted to be a facilitator of learning, not to hand out worksheets to keep children busy and pretend they were learning! The fire was ignited somewhere in those years, supported by further study for my Bachelor of Education, [by then it was Charles Sturt University] fanned by other writers and researchers and soon the tiny fire became a burning passion that is still with me today.

I met with and learned from Dr Julia Atkin and she introduced me to the ideas of Howard Gardner [Multiple Intelligences] and eventually this led me to the ideas and provocations from Reggio Emilia. These latter events served to strengthen my resolve.

What was the catalyst for you to set up the Braggers e-mail network and then Joy and Pete Consulting in service sessions around Australia?
I felt concern for so many EC staff who work in isolation. I had a good network around me, but what about staff that were mostly on their own? When could they share their ideas or ask their question? The Braggers Hotline has been such a labour of love; I try to be there for the Braggers every day, to pass on news, ideas, worries and creativity. I get something out of this too you know. I get to talk with people at the front line, to stay in touch with trends.

After co-writing “Building Walls of Wombats” I began to be invited to speak at conferences or to do full-day presentations across the country. This began with an invitation to present a keynote address and workshops on Maths and Science in Weipa for the very first Far North Qld. conference in 1997. Eventually I retired from teaching and with the assistance of my partner Peter, we decided that together we had the time, the energy, the ability, the enthusiasm to travel to rural and remote areas as well as the cities and so we began to do what we are doing now. What a wonderful time it has been for us, so rewarding, exciting and I get time to dream, to imagine, to write!

Where do you see your self in five years time?
I hope in five years I will have published a few more books, one for Pademelon Press, perhaps one for Gryphon House [Dr Bob is nagging me about that] and a couple more that we will publish ourselves. I would love to have written and have published a children's book, and I have at least another CD to make. I hope to be still travelling, talking, encouraging, researching, thinking about and answering questions.

Where do you see Early Childhood services in ten years time?
I see us in the midst of a revolution where keeping children busy is replaced by an emphasis on children's learning. I pray for this revolution to continue.

We have moved so far in what we expect, how we do it and what we are thinking over the past 10 years or so [I hope so anyway]. I do see more being asked of us and I am afraid that the training is not keeping up and that the system is becoming diluted by people who have too little and insufficient tertiary training.

It is a huge responsibility to take care of a child for five years in the place of the family and in a group situation. The youngest citizens [not our future citizens, they are this already] have such potential and to see this realised we need expertise and imagination.

I am concerned about the loss of play! There are so many pressures from the push-down curriculum happening. Parents worry about their child not being able to write their name at four but appear unconcerned about their child being unable to investigate and think imaginatively and entertain themselves or play with other children.

I worry that early childhood education will be tacked onto and overwhelmed by the rest of the education system. We are going to have to be so strong, to stand together, to advocate for young children and their right to play, learn and discover.

Let's be the clever country and instil a love of learning, wondering and exploring, you can't get this colouring in between the lines!!

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