Valentina Caputo has over 10 years of experience across the globe in early education. She has worked in education systems in Australia, China, Italy, and is currently based in Myanmar. Valentina is deeply passionate about nature pedagogy and project-based learning, with a strong belief in children's agency and their role as citizens in their own learning journeys. Reflective questions on the topic of privilege in play to consider as you listen to Valentina's stories: Is play itself a privilege? What are the entanglements and dichotomies between freedom and boundaries in the context of privileged play? What are the elements that define privileged play, and are they relevant in all contexts? Does privileged play equate to freedom in play? Are these concepts fluid and interchangeable? And importantly, how do we ensure all children have access to the privileges of play?   Guest speaker : Valentina Caputo  https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-caputo-92601a125/ Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)   

Ren Wenas has a background in Psychology and has worked in the early childhood sector for over 10 years. His roles have included being a therapist for Autistic children, an Early Intervention Coordinator with the NDIS, and a speaker at conferences in Indonesia, where he continues to advocate for inclusive and accessible education in his home country. Ren has a deep understanding of inclusion and diversity, and he’s incredibly passionate about equitable education for young people. He shared stories from his own professional journey—stories that reflect how his identity as an educator continues to evolves in ways they’ve shifted over time, and how he remains open to change as part of his daily work. Reflective questions on perfectionism that you can consider as you listen to Ren's stories:  What expectations am I holding onto? What would it feel like to let go of the need for things to be “perfect”? How might embracing imperfection open up new possibilities in my teaching? And what would you say to a friend who might feel frustrated at themselves—could you say that to you?   Guest speaker : Ren Wenas @renwenas https://www.linkedin.com/in/renwenas/ Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 

Dr. Rachel Foster has been in the early years sector for more than 20 years and is now a service coordinator and a sessional academic. She started her teaching journey in New Zealand and progressed into leadership positions after a few years of teaching. Rachel shared her doctoral thesis research on professional learning needs of recently appointed leaders in EC in NZ and found that  early leaders seek for specific knowledge needs that support their current challenges and sought for social connections as they navigate the challenges of their newly appointed roles.  We also spoke about what leadership means to Rachel and why it is important to question in inner dialogue of discomfort.    In this episode, I invite you to ponder on: What do you need to effectively perform your roles and responsibilities in the leadership that you have undertaken?  What do you want in the skills of building towards your leadership capabilities? What does it look like in action – for you to work towards to and for your support network or organisation to provide as you built towards your leadership capabilities? Resource: Foster, R.. (2023). Recently Appointed Leaders in Early Childhood Education in Aotearoa New Zealand : The Quest for Useful Knowledge and Social Connection [Prof Doc Thesis]. Australian Catholic University Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education Faculty of Education and Arts https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/researcher/8yz24/rachel-foster   Guest speaker : Dr. Rachel Foster  Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)   

Jenna Close has been in the sector for more than 20 years. She has started her teaching journey teaching in Primary and Secondary sector and very quickly realised her passion for Early Education.   She speaks so thoughtfully about her joy in her current role as a coach and mentor, and how much she values the growth journey that comes with it. We also touched on leadership, reciprocal learning, and the significance of building strong relationships and connections. In this episode, I invite you to ponder on: What does critical reflection actually mean to you? What does this look like in practice for you? How often do you engage in deep, honest reflection? Do you document or keep track of your reflections? Do you share them with others? Do you notice how your body responds during reflection? And, how often do you revisit and celebrate the journey of reflection? Resources: radical.sw. (2020, September 2). Emotional Regulation [Instagram photo]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/radical.sw/p/CEsHV77j4pB/ Dabell, J. (2018, August 12). Models of reflection. John Dabell. https://johndabell.com/2018/08/12/models-of-reflection-2/ Smyth, J. (1991). Critical reflection on classroom practice [Figure 3]. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Critical-reflection-on-classroom-practice-Smyth-1991_fig3_270762112   Guest speaker : Jenna Close @aroha.and.ako https://www.instagram.com/aroha.and.ako/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenna-close-57666874/     Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)     

Barbi Clendining has been in the education sector for more than 20 years as a teacher and a leader in Outside of School Hours Care (OSHC). Now, she is a co-founder of Firefly HR, a recruitment agency in NSW and a podcast co-host OSHC After the Bell. Barbi shared authentically of her journey of leadership and finding the right leadership that resonates with her. She said "I felt that I was doing it all wrong”- as her understanding of leadership is pre-contextualised from her own personal experiences and the understanding that leadership needs to be authoritative. She described her leadership style as affiliative or servant leadership which is a leader who prioritize the growth and wellbeing of others. We spoke about how this leadership style and her characteristic traits as an ADHD-er influence in her decision making and how she leads her team. She shared the challenges and the rewarding complexities of the entanglements of the traits of understanding her leadership style and her journey of getting a diagnosis of ADHD.   Guest speaker : Barbi ClendiningFirefly HR: https://fireflyhr.com.au/ OSHC After The Bell Podcast: https://oshcafterthebell.libsyn.com/    Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)   

Vicky Heng has been teaching for 10 years and has a Bachelor in Early Childhood Education from University of Queensland where she undertook the course in Malaysia and is now currently teaching in an international school as an Early Years Bilingual Teacher and Learning Innovation Coach in Kuala Lumpur.  She spoke about the challenges navigating the knowledge and understanding of the Australian lens of Early Childhood Education and applying them in the Malaysian education system. We spoke about play based curriculum and how she has integrated the importance of play in a context where the education is primarily focus on academic achievements. She shares her passion for the use of ICT in the classrooms and how it is a tool for communication, learning, documentation and reflections for both children and educators.    Resources:  Bird, J. (2020). Technologies and pretend play. Every Child, 26(1), 16-17. https://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/EC2001-Technologies-and-pretend-play.pdf Early Childhood Australia. (2018). Statement and Young Children and Digital Technologies https://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Digital-policy-statement.pdf   Guest speaker : Vicky Heng https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicky-heng-b9613614b/   Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 

Nicola Hoad was a primary teacher for 10 years and is now an owner of Play in the Past which centers around providing playful explorations with historical resources into classrooms for a hands on rich exposure to children’s learning. Nicola has shared with us deliberate and intentional languages that she uses when she’s teaching and how this exposure would extend children’s contextual and understandings of the learnings they are experiencing with. Today's episode, I invite you to reflect on:  - What is play? And how often do we engage in play? - Have you unpacked the concept of play with your team or yourself? - What space and time do you allow free explorative play? What does that look like? - How are children engaging in play and how do we allow children and educators to experience and reflect upon the human and non human entanglements in those interactions?   Resources:  UNICEF (June, 2024) First Ever International Day of Play https://unicef.org/stories/first-ever-international-day-of-play "Children’s immersion in their play illustrates how play enables them to simply enjoy being" (EYLF v2, 2022, p21). United Nations (2024) International Day of Play. https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-of-play   Guest speaker : Nicola Hoad @playinthepast https://www.instagram.com/playinthepast/ Play in the Past https://www.playinthepast.com/   Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)    *Disclaimer* Please note that I have missed spelt and pronounced Nicola's last name as Noad when it is Hoad. Apologies for the initial lack of research and clarification on my end and I am unable to make the changes in the recording. Names are an integral part of our identity and should be clearly pronounced, spelled and identified. 

Belle Spillman has been in the early childhood sector for more than 20 years. She had a great career as a HR manager and her journey began when she struggled to find quality early learning services for her own children. This experience inspired her to study early childhood education and to provide high-quality early education for young people. Now she is a leader, mentor and has a consultancy business called Our Business Mentors. Belle radiates as a leader who is passionate about people – children, families and educators. She emphasized the importance of knowing the people we work with and offering curiosity rather than judgment. She also spoke about self-investment as something crucial in self-growth and leadership – it is the active and intentional work that you put in yourself in being the best version of yourself. Belle talks about knowing consciously the different hats that we wear and being present and embody the hat that fits the role and the situation.   Guest speaker : Belle Spillman @ourbusinessmentors https://www.instagram.com/ourbusinessmentors/ Our Business Mentors https://ourbusinessmentors.com.au/    Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 

Donna Sheppard has been in the education sector for 30 years. She began her career as a high school music teacher, studied for her bachelor’s degree while raising children, and is now the co-owner of a consultancy business called Back on Track Early Childhood Professionals. Donna shared her journey, including the challenges she faced as a new teacher in the early childhood sector and her battle with breast cancer. She continued teaching during her treatment and being cancer-free fueled her passion and motivation to advocate for the sector, leading her to start Back on Track. Throughout the recording, Donna spoke passionately about the importance of advocacy in supporting families and educating others on our expertise in early education. She emphasized that parents are experts on their children, while educators are experts in child development, and both perspectives serve the best interests of the children. Guest speaker : Donna Sheppard @backontrackconsultancy https://www.instagram.com/backontrackconsultancy/ Back on Track Consultancy (https://www.backontrackconsultancy.com)   Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 

Mariela Silvera has been in the early years sector for over 25 years and is now a certified mindfulness instructor and a certified Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) practitioner. In our conversation, she shared her honest experience of burnout and her struggles with mental health and well-being. She began her journey by self-learning meditation from YouTube videos and incorporating it into her daily routine. Mariela spoke passionately about the importance of integrating well-being into early childhood curriculums as a foundational life skill for young people. Throughout the recording, she provided many practical examples of how we can introduce mindfulness to young children and shared EFT techniques that she uses with them.    Video of Tappy Bear and EFT tapping technique.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YP2-ltqBqc   Guest speaker : Mariela Silvera @teacherandwellbeingcoach (https://www.instagram.com/teacherandwellbeingcoach) (https://www.youtube.com/@mindfuljourneycoaching)   Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 

Samantha Barrish has been in the sector for 30 years and is currently an early childhood teacher in NSW. Her focus this year is to say ‘yes’ to all opportunities of new challenges. We spoke about many things- her passion for the importance of relationships with families and risky play and her experience with sitting in the discomfort. She said it has been years and is still in the space of discomfort and spoke about how this honest reflection with herself translate to her own life and her teaching practices.   Guest speaker : Samantha Barrish @_the.unplugged.educator_ (https://www.instagram.com/_the.unplugged.educator_/)   Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)   

Anne Gordan has been in the education sector for more than 30 years. She started as a high school science teacher and is now a lecturer and consultant in the early childhood space. Anne has shared with us her love and passion for STEM and how she has integrated it into her practices even as a mum and grandma to a relational, contextualised play based inquiry. Her fascination on children’s theory really shapes her pedagogy and the questions that she presented to children that opens up to the idea of imagination and wondering and have shared with us the language and words that she uses in highlighting the connections with the concepts and the 'doing' in her many examples.    Guest speaker : Anne Gordon  (https://www.facebook.com/yellowhateducation/)   Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)   

Rachel Smith is a Family Day Care educator based in a small town of 25 houses in Konorgong, NSW. She has been awarded Educator of the Year in 2020 and 2023 by Family Day Care Australia and recently been nominated for Women Changing the World Award. She is a perfect example of rising from adversity. Being through with personal and professional challenges she has an inspiring ability to self-reflect and motivate herself and others. She shared her recent blog post in Out of the Box blog page by 'baring it all' with the challenges she faced and that post have reached, inspired and connected educators nationwide who are in similar positions.   In this episode prologue, I've shared some reflections around finding your identity before finding your 'tribe':  Who are you as a teacher/educator/leader? What are your values and where does it sit in your practice? What are your passion and interest or what gets you very excited?     Guest speaker : Rachel Smith @rachelshomechildcarefdc (https://mailrhcc.wixsite.com/rachel-s-home-child)    Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)     

Leanne Kapetanovski has worked in the sector for 33 years. She has worn many hats and taken on many leadership role from being a centre Director and a Preschool Field Officer.  We spoke in depth about change and how Leanne shares how she navigates when changes happens and was honest that she didn't like change and reflected on the discomfort. She shared some thought processes that she considers when is reflecting of the change and priority she place for the children and families as she considers on the impact of change that it can bring.   Guest speaker : Leanne Kapetanovski   Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/) 

Carrie Rose has been in the sector for 35 years and is a founder of The Rose Way consultancy. Carrie spoke about her challenges in her early days as a teacher and with working with people with different dispositions and pedagogical practices. She shared her reflection of her own traits and how it influences her relationship with people, her leadership style and the drive to the continual motivation after 35 years in the sector. And shared her latest passion and advocacy work on the access to quality of education for all children in Australia.    Reflections to ponder for this episode:  What does quality of early education look like to you? What are you seeing in practice at the moment? And do both (your vision and realities) are aligned? What are you doing in your everyday practice that reflects on your vision of quality early education? How can you as an early childhood professional close that gap to the quality ratings that we see at the moment?  Where/ how can you access information and expand your knowledge or practices on early education?     Resources mentioned in this episode:  Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority. (2023, November). National Quality Framework (NQF) Snapshot Q3 2023 [PDF]. Retrieved from https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-11/NQF%20Snapshot%20Q3%202023_0.pdf   Oncken Jr., W., & Wass, D. L. (1999). Management time: Who's got the monkey? Harvard Business Review, 77(11), [PDF]. Retrieved fromhttps://evolutionpartners.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Management-Time_-Whos-Got-the-Monkey.pdf     Guest speaker : Carrie Rose (https://therosewayplanning.com/)    Host: Dee Suvanmani  @teachingjourneypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/teachingjourneypodcast/)     

Sarah Louise is an exceptional leader and advocator for the Early Years Sector and have many years of experiences within the sector with multiple roles and leadership hats. She is now a consultant and founder of Learning to Lead in Early Childhood. Sarah Louise talks about Kind Leadership vs Nice Leadership and discussed what burnout can look like. She spoke passionately about her Social Justice advocacy work and shared with us behind her 'why' on continuing the work that she does within the Early Childhood Sector.    Resources:  Rogers, M. (2023, April 18). Early educators around the world feel burned out and devalued: Here is how we can help. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/early-educators-around-the-world-feel-burnt-out-and-devalued-heres-how-we-can-help-202513 Ng, J., Rogers, M., & McNamara, C. (2023). Early childhood educator’s burnout: A systematic review of the determinants and effectiveness of interventions. Issues in Educational Research, 33(1), 173. https://www.iier.org.au/iier33/ng.pdf   Guest: Sarah Louise Gandolfo (https://slmconti.wixsite.com/learningtoleadinec)   Host: Dee Suvanmani  Instagram: @teachingjourneypodcast  

Anson Li has been working within the Education sector for more than 10 years. He has a unique teaching background teaching in Secondary Education before transitioning into the early childhood sector. In this episode, we spoke about his journey and how he is constantly evolving as a teacher and as an individual. Throughout the recording, Anson demonstrated how deeply comfortable he is in being honest, open and reflective on his own self.  In the introduction, I spoke about Johari Window Model and looked at how Anson kept his window open for himself and to us as he reflected on his own experiences.   Resources:  The Johari Window Model: https://www.mindtools.com/au7v71d/the-johari-window   Guest: Anson Li (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anson-li-52820142/)  Host: Dee Suvanmani  Instagram: @teachingjourneypodcast    

Darren Halim who have worked in the EC sector for 5 years. He has share with us his personal experiences as a male educator, shedding light on the profound influence that small gestures, nuances in tone, and word choices shapes our approach to inclusivity and equity within the sector. We reflected on how well we do as teachers in fostering an inclusive environment for children and engage in numerous conversations around gender inclusivity, there remains a missed or limited opportunity to extend this reflective thinking to our colleagues, families, and broader communities.    Resources:  National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2019). Equity Definitions. NAEYC. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/equity/definitions Henderson, B. (2016) Gender Identity and Expression in the Early Childhood Classroom: Influences on Development Within Sociocultural Contexts. Young Children, 71(3) https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/jul2016/gender-identity   Red Ruby Scarlet. (2023). The Anti-Bias Approach in Early Childhood. Multiverse Publishers. https://multiverse.com.au/product/the-anti-bias-approach-in-early-childhood/   Guest: Darren Halim Host: Dee Suvanmani Instagram: @teachingjourneypodcast

Shelli Giosis has been working in the EC sector for 30 years and stills carries the light of passion, enthusiasm and love for EC. She talks about all things that inspires her and how even after 30 years she still lots of learn. She invites us to join on to the 'train' of excitement. Start talking about what you are doing to others. Listen to yourself and get excited about the things that you are doing. Because when you are excited, the children gets excited and the energy translates to the team, families and the whole community of learning.   Guest: Shelli Giosis Host: Dee Suvanmani Instagram: @teachingjourneypodcast

Joanne Tan has been working in the EC sector for 3 years and is from Indonesia. She spoke about the concept of sense of belonging and the complexities as migrants to find a space of belonging in a new country and in a new work environment. Joanne talks about how she feels to ‘fit in’ and often feeling intimidated by her colleagues who were all white Anglo-saxon Australian. She spoke about her journey of keeping her values and cultural identity close to her as she navigates herself into her teaching journey.   Guest: Joanne Tan Host: Dee Suvanmani Instagram: @teachingjourneypodcast