Grant Recipients
Dr. Shannon Bredin, Associate Professor, KIN and Director of the UBC Centre for Early Childhood Education and Research (CECR)
Dr. Laurie Ford, Associate Professor, ECPS and Director, UBC Early Childhood Education program
Dr. Darren Warburton, Professor, KIN
This project is based on the tenet that educational settings, especially in the early years, should focus on the strengths of the child. A strengths-based approach is capacity-building and supports greater accessibility, inclusivity, diversity, and equity of children and families within education. By learning to identify and honour the ‘individual strengths, aspirations, and capacities’ of the child, strategies can be developed and implemented to better support learning and wholistic development across educational settings. This approach is a paradigm shift from the more traditional, deficits-based approach observed in western education systems and is important foundational, pedagogical, and philosophical knowledge for anyone with an interest in children and their development in the early years.
Specifically, this project will develop (through the process of co-creation) an evidence-based, self-paced online learning module (of 1.5 to 2 hours) that introduces strength-based approaches for early childhood development. The module will be freely available and publicly accessible. The module will be composed of interactive learning resources that utilises a variety of digital technologies for content delivery. Case studies will also be included and based on real world examples presented in a storytelling approach in three areas of early childhood education (Indigenous Education, Immigrant/Refugee Education, and Special Needs Education). Content will have application to program and curriculum delivery in a practical setting, as well as to research and policy. This module will provide distance learning opportunities for a variety of end-users including learners, practitioners, policy-makers, and community members at UBC and beyond, especially end-users living in remote and rural communities.
