They also shared experiences from South Africa regarding the new policy on the minimum requirements for the teacher qualification for Birth to Four as well as the current Foundation Phase BEd programme with Department of Elementary Education. Both PhD and Masters students attended our talks and they were fascinated that South Africa has finally become serious about investing in the Early Years Education. 

The rest of the week consisted of tours to the Child Study Centre at the University of Alberta, the Zoo School and the multicultural school in Edmonton.  We also visited the Edmonton Pre-School or Kindergartens as well as the St Clare School and the Mac Ewan University Early Learning and Child Care Lab School.    

Canada is among the countries in which early childhood educators working with children below kindergarten age, are not required to be certified teachers.  The education qualification of educators working in non-school settings, generally child care – vary from 1 year certificates to 2 year diplomas.  Their policy framework, just like ours, ascribes various roles to educators, including observer, documenter, listener, researcher, and creator of stimulating environment, co-constructor of knowledge, negotiator, and supporter of children’s participation in decision making of small-group learning, supporter of social relationships, partner with families and supporter of diversity.   

Our visit strengthened the collaboration between the two universities and also highlighted the challenges in identifying the important tensions between the dominant ECE discourse and immigrant/refugee cultural knowledges and child rearing practices they bring to the Early Childhood Teacher Education.