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Early childhood education and child care at the 2013 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences

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various
Publication Date: 
29 May 2013
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Congress 2013 will take place June 1-8, 2013 at the University of Victoria (see link above for more info).

Presentations from the ECEC sector:

An identity crisis?: A critical discourse analysis of the Child Care Association of Canada's public messaging in 2005 and 2008

Brooke Richardson, Ph.D. Candidate, Social Policy Ryerson University and Rachel Langford, Ryerson University

Faring poorly on both national and international measures (OECD, 2006; UNICEF, 2008), childcare in Canada is often described as in "crisis". Academics have concurrently observed a shifting citizenship regime in Canada where women's issues have taken a back seat to (vulnerable) children's issues (Dobrowsky & Jenson, 2004). Notable in this shift has been childcare's reframing from a present-day women's rights issue to a futuristic, children's "worker-in-becoming" issue (Lister, 2003, p.462). According to Jenson (2009), such an approach has essentially "written gender out" (p.25) of the political agenda. This study addresses how national childcare movement actors, who are overwhelmingly women, have discursively constructed their collective identity during two contrasting political climates: 2005 and 2008. A New Social Movement approach to social movements guides this analysis given its emphasis on the central role of collective identity in a movements' ability to sustain itself and affect meaningful change (della Porta and Diani, 2006).

Data is comprised of publicly available media releases and open letters produced by the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC) in 2005 and 2008. Guided by both Koller's (2012) approach to analyzing collective identity through a critical discourse analysis (CDA) and Fairclough's (2003) overarching framework for CDA, the discursive resources used are identified and explored in relation to the construction of the collective identity of movement actors. This analysis further adopts a feminist lens, given the historical role of childcare as a central tenant of the women's movement.

Wednesday June 5, 2013 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-162

Has the fight gone from Canada's childcare movement?: An examination of advocates' perspectives

Rachel Langford, Ryerson University; Patrizia Albanese, Ryerson University; Susan Prentice, university of Manitoba; Brooke Richardson, Ryerson University and Lyndsay Macdonald, Ryerson University.

Description: Canada has had a sustained child care movement since World
War II. In 2013 Canada still significantly lags behind other countries
in the provision of a comprehensive, cohesive, accessible and
high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) system. The child
care movement networks have expanded and narrowed as governments
reaffirmed and wavered in their commitment to child care policy.
Consistent in the networks have been three types of SMOs: grassroots
advocacy organizations, ECEC workforce sector associations and unions.
These SMOs have brought different approaches and priorities in their
childcare advocacy efforts. Building on a content analysis of Canadian
child care advocacy messaging in 2008, this paper/presentation describes
findings from interviews with child care movement advocates and allies
working and mobilizing from 2001 to 2010 at the federal level and in
three provinces: Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta. Interview data suggests
shifting points of contention and solidarity between child care SMOs and
with governments as neo-liberalism and the new social investment state
overlap and interact. The paper will explore in what ways these findings
might illustrate a broader conceptualization of a social movement that
is beyond a contentious politics approach.

Thursday June 6, 2013 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-062Association of

Canadian Deans of Education launch of the Accord on Early Learning and Early Childhood Education, Sunday June 2, 2013

Featuring:

Big Thinking Lecture - Getting it right from the start, The Hon. Margaret Norrie McCain
10 am, MacLaurin Building, Philip T. Young Auditorium (Room B125)

Followed by a panel discussion focusing on public perspectives on early learning
3pm, MacLaurin Building, Philip T. Young Auditiorium (Room B125)

Panel members:

Kathleen Flanagan (International ECEC policy consultant)
Myer Horowitz, O.C. (Victoria)
Patsy Mckinney (Under One Sky Aboriginal Head Start)
Alan Pence (Victoria)
Joanne Schroeder (UBC)

See flyer online

CAREC post conference: What is ECE for? Rethinking the Canadian dialogue
University of Victoria, BC
June 6th, 2013 (all day)
Room: MacLaurin Building A169
Break Out Rooms: B016; B037

Description:

The field of Early Childhood Education is always shifting and considering new interpretations of the world. Taken-for-granted narratives related to policy, research, and practice requires constant critique, critical reflections and conversations so that counter-narratives and counterviews can also be considered. It is through this process of listening and provocation that early childhood education policy, research, and practice can be imagined, re-imagined, and imagined again

See attached flyer for more information

Region: