Where Are Your Feet Planted? Recalibrating Our Pedagogy Through an ECEC Lens
This blog has been brewing for some time — lingering in the background as life, deadlines, and the ever-growing to-do list marched on. But recent experiences have brought its urgency to the surface.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself in a variety of meetings, training sessions, and professional events that, while fascinating, left me quietly questioning something much deeper:
Where do my principles truly lie? What anchors my pedagogy?
You see, I wear many hats — and I wear them with pride. I am a teacher, author, educator, visiting lecturer, trainer, consultant, advisor, and researcher. I thrive on the diversity and dynamism these roles offer. Yet, the arenas in which I operate are strikingly different, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that each one carries its own priorities, language, and assumptions about what ‘good’ education looks like.
Let me share the five main domains I work across:
Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)
Primary Education
Sport and Physical Education
Health
The Arts
At face value, these may seem like distinct fields — but when you peel back the layers, there is so much each can learn from the other. However, one domain, for me, continues to shine through as the most foundational, the most child-centred, and the most transformational:
Early Childhood Education and Care.
Why ECEC Principles Matter More Than Ever
ECEC is more than a phase of learning — it is a philosophy, a way of being with children, a mindset. The principles that underpin high-quality early years education are not just relevant for nurseries or preschools; they are universally powerful, and I believe they have the potential to recalibrate practice across all educational and developmental domains.
Here are the principles I hold closest, and which shape my approach in every arena I work in:
The Child at the Centre
Children are not passive recipients of knowledge — they are active, curious, competent learners. Every aspect of education should begin with the child: their interests, their voice, and their lived experiences.
Holistic Development (or as I like to call it, WHOLEistic!)
No aspect of a child’s development exists in isolation. Social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development are deeply interconnected and must be nurtured together.
Learning Through Play
Play is the most natural, meaningful form of learning for young children — and it offers insights, growth, and joy that worksheets never could. Through play, children explore, problem-solve, communicate, and make sense of their world.
Responsive Relationships
Warm, respectful, and trusting relationships are the bedrock of all learning. Without emotional safety and connection, learning cannot thrive.
Inclusive and Equitable Practice
Every child deserves to belong. Our practice must embrace diversity, confront bias, and be flexible enough to meet each child’s unique needs.
Enabling Environments
Children need environments — physical, social, and emotional — that invite exploration, support independence, and inspire curiosity.
Family and Community Partnerships
Children do not exist in isolation from their families and communities. Educators must build authentic partnerships that honour each child’s identity and cultural context.
Reflective Practice
Effective practitioners are constantly questioning, noticing, adapting. Reflection is not a luxury — it’s a necessity.
Intentional Teaching
Being child-led doesn’t mean being passive. Skilled practitioners observe closely and scaffold thoughtfully, extending children’s thinking through purposeful interaction.
High-Quality Professional Practice
Excellence in ECEC is underpinned by ongoing professional development, critical reflection, collaboration, and ethical integrity.
What Does This Mean for You?
As you read these principles, I wonder:
Do they feel familiar? Do they resonate with your own pedagogy?
Whether you’re a PE teacher, a drama facilitator, a health practitioner, or a primary classroom educator — these are not just ‘early years’ principles. These are human-centred principles. They speak to how we support growth, foster resilience, and ignite lifelong learning.
And yet…
It’s easy to lose sight of them.
We work in systems that prioritise outcomes over process, data over relationships, and structure over curiosity. But perhaps now is the time to pause and ask:
Where are your feet planted?
Where do your values come from?
What assumptions have you internalised — perhaps without question?
Have your principles evolved intentionally, or simply through exposure?
Reclaiming Reflexivity in Practice
We all build our pedagogy through a combination of training, experience, and instinct. But our perceptions — like our memories — are not always reliable. They are shaped by the contexts we inhabit, the dominant narratives we hear, and the pressures we face.
This is where reflexivity becomes vital.
“Using the model of reflexivity enables us to question our own biases, surface our assumptions, and challenge the taken-for-granted.” (Battelley, 2021)
Battelley, 2021 – The Reflexivity Model
It is through this ongoing, often uncomfortable, but ultimately liberating process that we grow — not just as educators, but as people.
So, I leave you with this question:
Could your arena benefit from recalibrating your principles through an ECEC lens?
Let’s start the conversation — not about changing everything, but about reconnecting with what truly matters. Because when our feet are firmly planted in values that centre the child, the rest has a way of falling into place.