Resilience and adversity to be explored by panel of international experts in UOW webinar

Freya Lucas

Sep 09, 2020

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The team behind Early Start at the University of Wollongong (UOW) will host a webinar later this month, which will present a panel of early childhood experts who will deliver a session focusing on two pertinent themes of 2020 – resilience and adversity – and how early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals and parents can help children to adjust when times get tough.

Keynote speakers Jane Bertrand and Tove Mogstad Slinde will join experts from UOW on the topic of “Early Childhood Education and Care in a Shifting Landscape”, exploring the importance of quality early childhood education in health, wealth, wellbeing and the development of children, families and communities, and how educators can create safe and supportive environments.

The free webinar will examine the impact of adversity and the role early childhood education can and should play in a nation’s response to these challenges, with Senior Professor Tony Okely, Director of Research at Early Start, outlining that 2020 has been “an incredibly tough year” for children throughout Australia.

“From bushfires to floods and now COVID-19, this year has disrupted almost every aspect of children’s lives. It has impacted their schooling, their ability to see their friends and family, and participate in extracurricular activities,” Professor Okely said.

“This may impact the benefits that children derive from taking part in preschool and kindergarten. Early childhood education and care is vital for children, for helping them to overcome adversity and build resilience, and for helping the nation as a whole to rebuild from this difficult year.”

Both keynote speakers were to have appeared at the third Early Start Conference, which was due to take place in July 2020, and which has been rescheduled for 2021 due to COVID-19.

Ms Bertrand is the Program Director at the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation in Canada, and is an international expert in early childhood education, while Tove Mogstad Slinde is a Senior Adviser in the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research in the Department of Early Childhood Education and Care.

Their presentations will be followed by a Q+A with UOW Early Start experts, and the webinar has been registered by the NSW Education Standards Authority for professional development.

For more information, or to register, please see here.

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