The Early Years Podcast

An educator who shows up every single day, regulated, prepared, fully present and still goes home carrying more than they came in with isn't failing at self-care. They're working in conditions that were never designed with their sustainability in mind. For every 10 educators who enter early years, only 4 are still in the sector five years later. We call it a retention problem. But what if...

An educator who's already exhausted being told to "find their why" isn't being asked to grow. They're being handed one more thing to carry with no instructions on how to carry it. For every 10 educators trained in the early years, only 4 remain in the sector five years later. That's not a recruitment problem. It's not even a retention problem. It's a meaning problem. In Episode 5 of The Early Year...

A child who can't sit still isn't being difficult. A child who melts down at transitions isn't being dramatic. A child who forgets your instructions 30 seconds later isn't being careless. They're showing you exactly where their brain is in its development. And if we don't know what we're looking at, we respond to the behaviour instead of the need, every single time. In Episode 4 of The Early Years...

"Wow, that's so beautiful." It comes from such a good place — but it might be the most limiting thing we say to a child about their art. In Episode 3 of The Early Years Podcast, host Dana Al Qinneh (Head of Pedagogy Innovation at Parent App and The Early Years Academy) sits down with Tamara Jayyusi — early childhood educator, trained artist, and Montessori guide at Innisfil Montessori Academy in O...

The environment is never neutral. Before a child speaks a word in your classroom, the room is already telling their nervous system whether they're safe or whether they're not. In Episode 2 of The Early Years Academy Podcast, host Dana Al Qinneh sits down with Dr. Kathryn Murray creator of the Brain Set Environments Formula and founder of Future Strong Education to unpack how classroom desi...

Every morning, a parent hands over the person they love most in the world, and walks away. What we do with that act of faith determines everything. In Episode 1 of The Early Years Podcast, host Dana Al Qinneh (Head of Pedagogy at Parent App, former centre principal, master trainer in trauma-informed practice, and mother of three) sits down with Pamela Greene, owner of Amanda Montessori, parent-inf...