My Professional Journey and Core Commitment

Early Childhood Education plays a crucial role in life, particularly for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and even kindergartners. Each educator has their own personal philosophy on education that reflects how they succeed in the profession or how they teach in the sector. The foundation of society lies in the courageous citizens that we all nurture in Early Childhood. 

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My journey as a student in the Early Childhood Leadership program at Fanshawe, as an aspiring educator, is rooted in two passions: the positive, early years experience of my own youth and an abiding commitment to community support. I vividly recall how my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Valeri, and both my Kindergarten Learning Program (KLP) teachers, Ms. Salgo and Ms. O’Reagan, created spaces that encouraged me and my peers to step out of our comfort zones and embrace and express ourselves creatively. Most recently, I had the opportunity to experience what it’s like being in the early years sector as a placement student in a toddler room during my second semester of my first year, in the toddler room at the Wonder Years Child Care centre in Norwich, which provided numerous chances to connect with parents, their children, and the other educators in the room, which is a part of their mission and vision to provide a safe, playful, inviting and reflective environment for children, families and educators. (Wonder Years Child Care, n.d). During that placement, I have learned how to connect with parents, their children and the other educators in the centre. Additionally, I’ve attended a Strive Event for my Professional Learning Reflection called the ‘Finding the Connection Between Pedagogy and Curriculum, which also helped me to understand how to shape curriculum (Sparkes, personal communication, 2025). Early exposures to environments that championed bravery and imagination revealed the profound impact that educators have on a child’s sense of self-efficacy.

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This personal history of my early years and my previous placement at Wonder Years Child Care, combined with years of volunteering and supporting the community, crystallized my professional calling. The aspect that truly drew me into the field of the early years sector is the opportunity to teach and shape future generations, ensuring every child, regardless of their cultural background and characteristics receives the support necessary to realize their full potential, as research done by Kelty & Wabayashi (2020), visits by school staff can strengthen relationships, with children during early childhood years and can support families (p. 2), reinforcing the foundational truth that holistic growth is achieved through connected support systems that extend beyond the classroom walls.

The Philosophical Foundation: Image of the Child and Societal Purpose

The foundation of a successful society begins with the child, who is an individual that isn’t molded but supported and who embodies the three qualities that every educator must recognize; Curious, Competent, and Capable. The child’s essential role in education is to drive their own growth, learning and skill development. My leadership philosophy views Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) as the fundamental infrastructure required to fulfill this potential, recognizing that it is not merely a service but as an essential public good that drives social and economic development in society. I believe the primary purpose of Early Childhood Education (ECE) is to support the child’s holistic development, address the crucial role of supporting families, and promote fairness, thus serving as a powerful public investment. To realize this purpose, the ECEC system must function as an essential economic driver and be understood as the most vital stage of human capital development, maximizing the benefits in development. To achieve true equity, the system must act as a powerful force for social justice, working actively to mitigate disadvantages and foster cultural competence, anti-bias education and indigenous reconciliation. 

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The ideal vision requires commitment to a system characterized by Universal Access and Affordability and sustained by a child-focused, high-quality professionalization, ensuring that every child receives the ethical and structural support that is necessary to thrive. As research done by McLean et al. (2023),  there are some regions that are trying to work towards universal access through “development and provision of programs for children the year before school entry” (p. 1268). Through their research, they have come to a conclusion that there were policies that govern programs that are linked to three themes of people, place and practice, which have helped with the development of early learning programs (p. 1275). This evidence validates that achieving universal access and true equity requires intentional leadership on securing qualified personnel, designing responsive environments and committing to a culturally-informed pedagogy, thereby creating a system that genuinely supports the competence of every child.

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The Role of the Educator: Pedagogical Responsibilities and Practice

My philosophy defines the role of the educator as one that moves to encompass a holistic co-creator of knowledge. The primary responsibility of an early childhood educator is to support the learning and development of each child with respect, love, understanding and creativity, which in turn is a fundamental act of pedagogical care that is inseparable from the professional duties. I believe that a child’s needs, whether physical, mental, cognitive, or spiritual, must be supported first, as learning and growth cannot occur without a secure base. This perspective aligns closely with Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs framework, which provides concrete evidence of the importance of basic safety, belonging, and physiological well-being. These fundamental needs must be met before a child can access the higher-level needs of self-esteem and self-actualization. A study conducted by Nash et al. (2021) utilized Maslow’s framework to examine the unmet emotional and spiritual needs of siblings in high-stress family environments, reinforcing that early childhood educators have a direct responsibility to observe and intervene to strengthen every child’s sense of belonging and self-worth, as they claim that “greater awareness of the spiritual and emotional needs of siblings can lead to appropriate interventions being designed and implemented”. Furthermore, my philosophy connects to Indigenous Ways of Knowing, which emphasizes that learning is always relational and rooted in the holistic well-being of the individual within their community. 

According to Robertson (2019), indigenous ways of knowing are defined as children’s well-being is a holistic experience that is supported through the health and development of all aspects of self. This includes the balanced development of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions of the self (p. 8). The warmth and individualized attention expressed through care provide the secure base necessary for children to step out of their comfort zone and embrace the creative challenges of their learning environment, thereby fostering the self-efficacy and agency required to see themselves as active, capable contributors to the learning community.
 

Curriculum, Environment, and Family Partnership.
Inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach of Loris Malaguzzi and the principles of Friedrich Fröbel, they dictate that the curriculum should not be based on teaching but rather support children’s learning as co-constructors of knowledge. As researched by Manning (2005) in his article ‘Rediscovering Froebel: A Call to Re-examine his Life & Gifts’, he described that Froebel’s gifts that were used in early childhood education (ECE) with a structured curriculum was new (p. 373). This is realized by utilizing the environment as the “third teacher, which is intentionally designed to sustain engagement and provoke wonder and inquiry, which echoes the focus on process and documentation emphasized by Leggett (2024), who claims that in Australia, educators have different approaches in documenting the children’s learning compared to Italian educators (p. 75). Curriculum content should be relevant and integrated, for example, implementing a curriculum that supports well-being as examined by Stapp et al. (2021) in their study on nutrition-integrated programs, as it is a crucial part of exploring the whole child, as it builds a conceptual framework that provides teachers with opportunities for students to maximize the interconnectedness of academics and nutrition (p. 3101). Crucially, successful pedagogy requires treating the family as an equal partner. My practice centers on viewing the family as the people whom the child trusts and who are most invested in their development. 

Therefore, building a reciprocal parent-teacher relationship is paramount, ensuring an ongoing two-way communication and involvement. While research by Murray et al. (2015) states that informal talks between parents and educators decrease significantly as the children move from prior-to-school to school settings (p.1047). My leadership is committed to actively sustaining higher levels of partnership and recognizing that families hold the essential knowledge that is required to co-construct the child’s most meaningful learning experiences. This commitment is guided in practice by frameworks, such as the “Notice, Reflect, Respond” model which shapes the discussions on the importance of routines (Sparkes, personal communication, Strive, 2025). This ensures that the child’s home life and cultural assets are brought into the environment, therefore promoting continuity of care and strengthening the child's sense of belonging within a seamless web of support, affirming the central principle of relational learning, that the child is understood and supported by their family and community systems.

Conclusion: Commitment to Ethical Leadership and Advocacy
My philosophy as an aspiring educator, rooted in the foundational experience of being encouraged to be brave and creative from my kindergarten years, culminates in a commitment to advocacy and ethical leadership. The core vision of seeing the child as the three ‘C’s: Curious, Competent and Capable, whose right to holistic development must be guaranteed by a social infrastructure. By adopting a relational pedagogy informed by Indigenous Ways of Knowing and the structural necessity highlighted by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, educators are equipped to provide the essential secure base necessary for all learning and growth of the children in their care. With the intentional, reflective practice that was demonstrated such as the one shared during a Strive Community of Practice event with Lindsay Sparkes on ‘Finding the Connection Between Pedagogy and Curriculum (personal communication, 2025), the framework employs reflective questions that use the three topics: notice, reflect and respond, that shapes everything from curriculum choices to the necessity of routines. Ultimately, realizing the potential of the Early Childhood Education and Care sector as an essential public good that champions Universal Access, anti-bias practice, and sustained Family Partnership in curriculum design is a great challenge for leaders and aspiring leaders in the sector. As I move forward as an aspiring educator and a current student in the Early Childhood Leadership program at Fanshawe, my goal and ideal Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system is to lead and establish environments where every policy, curriculum choice, and act of care affirms the child’s agency and contributes directly to creating a more equitable society for all and future generations, as the investment in early childhood and in the early childhood education and care system is the most vital stage of human capital development which offers the highest rate of return for a prosperous and just society.