ONLINE: EC Network for Remote/Regional Schools - Learning Through Child-initiated Play

Deb Martin is an Early Childhood Consultant with AISWA who has been working in Early Childhood classrooms since 2006. Her area of expertise and school support is in the area of high quality play based pedagogies, guiding young children's behaviours, Early Childhood literacy and the On-entry assessment. Her work also includes supporting leaders and in particular, their educators, in pedagogical change and embedding evidence based appropriate pedagogies including play-based and inquiry pedagogies and Reggio Emilia inspired practice. Other areas Deb presents in include; helping educators gain a deep understanding about the ever changing neuroscience and recent research related to young children and how this can be translated into high quality classroom practice, looking at the high quality interactions between children and their educators including sustained shared thinking. Due to Deb’s recent experience in the classroom, her practical experiences and rich stories help educators see the possibilities of high quality practice, including a guidance approach to managing behaviour and supporting self-regulation.

Rebecca Duncan has been working in education since 1998. Along with teaching experience in each year level across Kindergarten to Year 4, her roles have included Coordinator of the Learning Development Centre at Christ Church Grammar Preparatory School as well as leadership in the integration of learning technologies, including at All Saints' College. In 2004, Rebecca was the recipient of a National Excellence in Teaching Award (NEiTA) for Western Australia. 

Rebecca has been with AISWA since late 2010, when she was contracted to write a resource to support educators in their implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). This project culminated in the publication of the acclaimed book, 'Early Years Learning Framework: In Action'. Ongoing employment as a consultant for AISWA followed, initially in the Curriculum, Literacy, and most recently, Early Childhood, teams. She has led numerous projects at AISWA, including initiatives to connect the Australian Curriculum and EYLF, one of which led to AISWA’s publication of 'Playing with the Australian Curriculum' (2013). Her teacher resource, 'Journeys of Inquiry', was published in 2018, highlighting case studies of inquiry in early childhood. This has now been accompanied by a second volume of inspiring stories of inquiry pedagogies in 'Further Journeys of Inquiry', which was published by AISWA in 2020. In 2021, Rebecca authored the text, 'Playful STEM: Using Blocks in Kindergarten to Year 2', followed by being the lead representative and editor for AISWA on the cross-sectoral publication, 'The National Quality Standard in Action: Western Australian schools', due for publication in late 2024. Inquiry pedagogies, literacy and numeracy, learning through play, integrative approaches, responsiveness to children, learning technologies, and the Early Years Learning Framework represent a few of Rebecca’s areas of specialty. She continues to stay deeply connected to classroom practice through mentoring, coaching and working alongside educators across the primary years of schooling.