I recently published an article in Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood called ‘The everyday advocacy work of the baby room leader’. If you don’t have access to the article or the time to read it, here’s a quick summary of the main points.
In a nutshell, the article argues that baby room leaders play a fundamental role in shaping the future of early years education by advocating for babies and high quality practice in the baby room.
Through interviews and workshops with baby room leaders, there seemed to be four key ways that baby room leaders advocate for babies and what goes on in the baby room:
- Baby room leaders understand the impact of baby room practice and try to make sure that others also see what a difference it makes. This is about getting to grips with the difference that experiences between the ages of 0-2 years make for individuals and their families, and then being able to explain this to others. It means speaking up to correct anyone that thinks that what happens in the baby room is ‘just care’, or ‘easy’ or all about wiping noses and bottoms. We know that the baby room makes a fundamental difference to outcomes for children and baby room leaders are used to explaining this to others.
- Baby room leaders share their passion for working with babies. The baby room leaders I interviewed loved their work and felt that it was more than a job – it was a vocation. They were in it for the special experience of being with babies and wanted more to see how much working in the baby room could offer.
- Baby room leaders see clearly that there is a gap when it comes to professional learning for those who work in the baby room. They are clear that what is currently on offer in early years professional learning isn’t targeted enough to those who work with the very youngest children. They are always on the lookout for opportunities to be involved in changing that (like the baby room leaders who were part of founding this website).
- Baby room leaders challenge the stereotypes about who works in the baby room. They don’t just accept that working in the baby room is only for women who are desperate to be mums (or are already mums). They recognise that if we open up professional learning and entry-level training into the baby room, we’ll see a much wider range of people getting involved. This is beneficial for everyone – for staff, for parents and of course for the babies themselves who are always picking up on social clues about who does the care in our society.
Which of these advocacy behaviours do you recognise in yourself? Does the list bring up possibilities for what you might do in the future? Are there types of advocacy that you do that aren’t included in this list?
Reference:
Sakr, M. (2023). The everyday advocacy work of the baby room leader. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. Published online first: The everyday advocacy work of the baby room leader – Mona Sakr, 2023 (sagepub.com)