EECERA came into being when Tony Bertram and Chris Pascal, UK early years researchers, started looking for research on the issues facing young children and families, and is organised in conjunction with the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC), a charity based in Birmingham. The theme for this conference was ‘Developing Sustainable Early Childhood Education Systems: comparisons, contexts and the cognoscenti’! Right up my street once I’d looked up what cognoscenti meant (‘people who are especially well informed about a particular subject’)
The first EECERA conference I attended was in Glasgow, in 2022, when I just went to observe, fortunately being able to stay with my brother nearby. The 2023 conference was in Portugal, where I put up a poster about my early research, and was part funded to attend by the University of Portsmouth as part of my doctoral research.
I also combined that conference trip with a scuba diving holiday and birthday celebration with my daughter! Combining conferences with a bit of exploration has become a pleasurable habit, helping to make the very most of the trip against the travel cost and carbon impact.
I had applied to present a paper in Brighton, and was delighted to have been approved. I also applied for an early bird discounted ‘doctoral research’ ticket for the conference, saving at least £100. I just had to evidence I was still on the course at University. A colleague at Tops Day Nurseries had travelled up from Plymouth on the trains to talk about her Doctorate in Education, and we checked into our Airbnb apartment about a mile away from the Dome along the beach.
I also deposited the keynote speaker to his luxurious hotel, having given him a lift in my electric car! Our apartment was a lovely oasis of peace with a seaview, and more economical than the central Brighton hotels where parking is also expensive, but I did clock up thousands of steps, the busiest being over 30,000 courtesy of the double trip going back for the evening dinner and presenting on the third floor with a broken lift!
The conference opened for registration on Tuesday 3 September, when we collected our badges and bags and updated our conference ‘Ex Ordo’ app. for any changes to the programme. We erected a small stand to share information about OMEP and GECCO, with a few booklets and books to sell as well as some free information on earlier potty training.
I attended the Special Interest Group (SIG) on sustainability in the early years, that being my particular focus area. The SIG had delegates from 18 countries, and I was able to put a face to some of the most influential writers in the field, and even speak with some!
The formal welcome to the conference, by one of the Conference founders, Chris Pascal, who had attended all 32! This was followed by Dr John Siraj-Blatchford’s key note session, ‘From Global ESD Policy to Practice: Research progress and paradigms’, highlighting that education is the key enabler of the other sustainable development goals and encouraging all in early years to present ourselves as trustworthy ‘honest brokers’ in a world of green-washing,misinformation and conspiracy theories being peddled through social media and the press.
Another important point he made was that sustainability is trans-disciplinary, which I felt welcomed the many in attendance who could share different perspectives, which could enrich and benefit all. He illustrated this with the blind and the elephant story.
An inspiring start to the conference. Further keynotes were delivered by renowned Professor Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson, Professor Dr Tulin Guler Fildiz, and also Dr. Richard Horton, Editor in Chief of the Lancet. The latter directed our attention to act on the impact of war and displacement on children, and a heads-up to look to Africa where poverty is unabated and the birth rate on the rise.
Several presenters commented about the privilege of following in the steps of international greats such as David Bowie, ABBA, Pink Floyd, Anna Pavlova, Jimi Hendrix and Samuel Coleridge Taylor. Did you know that the UK jury awarded nil points to ABBA at the Eurovision Song Contest?! Brighton’s wonderful Mayor, Mohammed Asaduzzaman, commented that ABBA had been offered a free week’s holiday in Brighton as an apology!
We had a hectic further three days as we flitted from seminar to seminar, listening to groups of academics presenting their papers, discussing posters with their creators, manning the stand, and networking! Some presenters were presenting for the first time, others had been lecturers and professors for decades and were sharing their latest research. In all cases the respect and support for each other was palpable, which was encouraging when I knew I was on towards the end of the conference!
In the evenings we explored Brighton, delighted by its quirky lanes, and the long seafront. We saw women enjoying a dance class in the park, buskers singing and playing guitars, and the widest range of dress and fashion you could imagine. We ate exotic foods with new friends in local cafes, and several hundred were also fortunate to eat and dance in the grand surroundings of the Corn Exchange at the Brighton Dome at the Thursday night ‘posh’ conference dinner.
Also at this conference were a number of researchers from the PVI sector in the UK, including Bright Horizons, LEAF and Acorn Early Education as well as us two from Tops Day Nurseries. All were passionate about sustainability in the Early Years, which bodes well for the future, especially if we can persuade the government and Education Department to include embedded sustainability in the new English framework!
The 2025 Conference will be on the theme of Early Education for All – Celebrating Diversity and Seeking Inclusion, and will be hosted by Comenius University, Bratislava, from 25,-28 of August. The call for papers will open in November. …
