Book Group 9 on 14th October 2021 featured three of Scotland’s most distinguished early years academics: Professor Aline-Wendy Dunlop, Dr Marion Burns and Dr Lynn McNair, speaking about their chapter (Chapter 11) on raising the status of the early years workforce. Watch it here.
Book Group 8 was held on the 29th September 2021, with Sarah Hutcheon, Kate Johnston and Sue Palmer discussing the how and why of turning CfE’s early level into a kindergarten stage. Here’s the link.
Book Group 7 (18-5-21) on the subject of ‘Inclusion, Equality and Diversity’ (with Dr Elizabeth Henderson and Shaddai Tembo) is a fabulous provocation for Scotland’s EY community. Please watch and discuss with colleagues! Here’s the link.
Book Group 6 on ‘Play, Parenting and Resilience’ featured our publisher, Carol Craig, and Professor of Child Psychology, Helen Dodd. A fascinating discussion which aired on Tuesday 4th May and can be watched on this link
Book Group 5 on ‘Parent Power’ was held on 20th April 2021 and brought us back, as so often seems to be the case, to the conflict between the need for trust in education and the prevailing culture of control. Don’t miss it on this link!
Book Group 4 on Tuesday 6th April 2021 picked up amazingly from the previous sessions. It looks at early years from a public health perspective, with special attention to the years before age five. It featured John Frank, Professor of Public Health at Edinburgh University, and Alan Sinclair, former CEO of the Wise Group and author of ‘Right From the Start’ will discuss ‘Child development before age five… and how Scotland can support it.’ Highly recommended on this link.
Book Group 3 took place on Tuesday 30th March 2021 and you can view the recording here. Marguerite Hunter-Blair, CEO of Play Scotland, and Lisa McCabe, who led the team that established play-pedagogy across Early Level in Falkirk, discussed ‘Play IS the Way: why and how’. It results in a ‘pure genius’ idea to take ‘Play is the Way’ forward…
Book Group 2 was held on 9th March 2021, when Dr Pam Jarvis, Sue Palmer and Dr Helen Williams (standing in for Juliet Robertson) looked at ‘the myth of early acceleration’. The recording is available here.
Incidentally, at the same time as Book Group 2 was on air, the Scottish Parliament was discussing Upstart and you can see that recording here. It seems that sending all our MSPs a copy of Play is the Way might be paying off…
Book Group 1 (the first meeting of Upstart’s Play is the Way Book Group) was on the 23rd February 2021, when Suzanne Zeedyk and Cathy McCulloch discussed Scottish identity and children’s rights. One attendee said this was the most informative and inspiring webinar she’d been at throughout lockdown. Here’s the link to the recording so you can see if you agree! Book Group 1 recording
