When Maisie Starkey submitted her application for the 2022 cohort of the Beedie Luminaries SHINE Program, her maturity and eloquence shone through in her Future Focus video.
In the allotted one minute students are given to share their aspirations, Maisie quickly expressed her passion for working with young children and creating positive environments for them to grow and flourish. She reflected on personal anecdotes, such as being the youngest in her family, her mother working while attending university, and the wonderful memories she made in preschool and afterschool care.
For Maisie, it has always been about giving back to children just like her.
Now, in 2024, Maisie is a graduate of the Early Learning and Care (ECE) Diploma program at Camosun and a Beedie Luminaries alumna. In this article, Maisie discusses her academic journey and shares insights with students considering ECE as a pathway for themselves.
1. Hey Maisie. Let’s start with an introduction… Tell us a bit about yourself and your academic journey so far.
Hi! I’m Maisie. I have grown up and had the privilege to live on the territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples all my life. My presence as a settler on these lands is a direct result of my ancestors’ different journeys of colonization and immigration across Turtle Island. The act of a Land Acknowledgement does not exonerate me from present day acts of colonialism, and I strive to learn more both in my professional and personal life. The sea, sky, rivers, and mountains balanced with just enough city keep me tied to what is now known as Victoria despite the rising costs of living. I especially love the ocean and swimming when the weather gets hot. A homebody at heart, reading, watching movies, and trying various crafts are my favourite ways to pass the time. And I am an avid collector of anything cute!
I am a recent graduate of Camosun College where I earned the Early Learning and Care (ECE) Diploma. In an effort to maximize and further broaden my reach as a future ECE professional, I made the decision to specialize in Inclusive Care and earn a “Special Needs Educator” certificate. This specialization, which also requires the completion of a practicum placement, gives ECE professionals a broader range of skills that they can use in a variety of ECE settings, such as home, school, work, and applicable community settings (Camosun). Before I continue, I would like to take the liberty to make mention of the discourse against the term “Special Needs”, and my belief in changing the title of this specialization to something more inclusive.
At the end of the day, my goal is to consistently create and maintain the best possible learning environments for young children of all abilities. All in all, it feels very surreal to be 20 and done school for the foreseeable future. After doing something for 15 years, suddenly having the learning up to me is daunting, but also exciting as I now have more free time and choice.
I decided on this program with the help of my High School career class teacher. At first, I was interested in baking and possibly getting my Red Seal, but was intimidated by the descriptions of working in a “hot, fast paced environment.” Ironic in retrospect.
As I was already a gymnastics coach, my teacher introduced me to childcare related career paths. University of Victoria’s (UVIC) very popular Child and Youth Care Degree was interesting to me, but I decided on Camosun College for multiple reasons:
- Camosun College has much lower instructor to student ratios, around 30:1, so classes operate more similarly to High School and allow for more one-on-one support.
- Camosun is less expensive.
- As the program is two years, I could choose to pursue further education and transfer my credits to UVIC’s Child and Youth Care program, or I can explore entirely different career passions.
2. What did you know about the ECE program before you started it?
Before starting the Early Learning and Care program at Camosun College, I assumed it would teach practical, daily child-minding tasks, similar to babysitter programs. I now know that the program is a reflective journey meant to challenge and question our image of the child, educator, and ourselves. It delves into the tumultuous history of education across what is now known as Canada, touching on colonization and current colonial ideas present in early childhood theories, ideologies, and daily life. Instead of teaching what to do, the program introduces key theories which have shaped how society views children and childcare, such as Jean Piaget’s stages of development.
Personally, my first year was extremely challenging.
One reason being I was confronted with biases I hold which had become dominant discourse. As one of my instructors explains, it’s hard to see when you’re swimming in it. Recognizing the very euro-dominant, colonial child-minding and rearing beliefs I carry and exploring ways to continually unlearn harmful rhetoric is something that was started at Camosun and is now my responsibility to maintain. In general, you get what you put into the program, and the depth of learning is pretty equivalent to the amount of effort and dedication placed on class participation and readings.
As I am unfamiliar with the details of different institutions’ early childhood and child and youth care degrees, I can only say that I believe a diploma, or equivalent ECE education, should be required when working within early childhood centres. Experience is invaluable within this field; however, I now believe that the intense reflection and introspection afforded by these programs is also needed to begin creating our own image of an educator, separate from that of dominant ideas and theories we may have grown up in. Although one could obtain their early childhood educator assistant certificate within a matter of weeks through online courses, I believe that in-person learning offers individuals the opportunity to really immerse themselves in the program and subsequently learn and change to a greater depth along the way.
3. Amazing. Can you tell us a little bit more about your experience in practicum? What did it really teach you that you didn’t get from inside the classroom?
During the program, I completed three separate practicums where I would spend 3-4 months in one early childhood centre. With each practicum, my hours, involvement, and responsibilities were gradually raised along with the accompanying course workload. Somedays, I would have practicum from 8am with classes after ending at 8pm; and as the program is only two years, everyday of the week is filled with practicum, classes and school assignments. My last practicum for my Inclusive Care specialization reflected topics more specifically surrounding inclusion and balancing individual and group needs. Navigating both student responsibilities and those associated with caring for young children was challenging, overwhelming at times, but the hands-on experience with my instructors’ encouragement and feedback were integral in building both my skills and confidence in on-the-floor early childhood education.
4. What should others know about ECE?
I believe ECE is crucial if one plans on working with young children. Some examples include out-of-school care, camps, elementary schools, nannying, etc. A great thing about the program is that it can branch into many different post-secondary accreditations and overall fields such as counselling, social work, ministry jobs, supported child development, speech pathology, and occupational therapy.
ECE is changing rapidly. The government’s wage enhancement initiative and promised wage grid for reliable growth analysis within the profession, coupled with more widespread interest in intentionality and situating oneself within childcare, are slowly creating change which families, children, and childcare professionals have been advocating for for decades. Organizations such as the Early Childhood Educators of BC (ECEBC), Early Childhood Pedagogy Network, and BC Aboriginal Child Care Society continually bring the field’s importance and major barriers to best practice to the attention of both the government and general public.
Recently showcased at the ECEBC 2024 conference, I had the opportunity to have my voice represented in an advocacy visual essay “Wonder/Full Complexity: Education of Educators.” The project’s goals were to “showcase diversity, complexity, and the richness of the ongoing work of education of early childhood educators across BC,” including current projects, hopes, and focuses for early childhood education and care.
It can be viewed for free on the ECEBC Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/952425238.
5. Thank you for sharing so much about your experience. Now, what’s next for you?
I still feel very young, and do not want to settle into a permanent job position just yet. I want to explore different jobs and enjoy breaking up the monotony of work with various roles. Therefore, I decided to continue coaching gymnastics and work as an on-call preschool and daycare substitute. Excitingly, I am already connected with three main childcare centres.
Another main reason I decided on becoming a substitute, even turning down some very tempting full-time job offers, is because I want to find a centre that resonates with my philosophies and brings my practice up. In the field of ECE, burnout is very common, and many new educators have to compromise their values for employment, thereby continuing the cycles of education and childcare seen for decades. As a result, where I choose to work will be a large choice of who I want to be and what change I want to make.
Want to learn more about Luminaries like Maisie? Click here!
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