Pedagogy of Care Conference

Dr. Beverlie Dietze 

The Pedagogy of Care: Nurturing Relationships at the Heart of Early Childhood Education (Keynote)

Dr. Beverlie Dietze is a national leader in early childhood education, known for her expertise in outdoor pedagogy. She is the former Director of Learning and Teaching at Okanagan College in Kelowna, BC.  She has authored several influential textbooks, including Foundations of Early Childhood Education and Outdoor and NatureBased Play in Early Childhood Education. Her newest book is entitled Early Childhood Pedagogy: Nurturing Thinking, Inquiry, and Wonderment.

With many years of experience as an educator, researcher, and consultant, Beverlie’s work bridges theory and practice to inspire quality early learning experiences. During the pandemic, she launched Play Outdoors Magazine—a Canadian publication focused on outdoor pedagogy.

A frequent speaker and thought leader, Beverlie is passionate about helping educators, families, and communities rediscover the value of outdoor play as essential to children’s growth and development.

Cara Caudle and Ally Brickenden

Mountains & Molehills (Breakout)

Cara Caudle and Ally Brickenden bring a combined 25+ years of experience in early childhood education, united by a shared passion for nurturing both children and the adults who support them. Cara is a RECE and leader in nature-based programs and adult learning, while Ally is a creative RECE known for her knowledge and skill in the arts.

Together, they merge pedagogical insight with artistic exploration to create reflective, hands-on experiences that support early learning professionals in reconnecting with their creativity, values, and purpose. Their work centres on the belief that when educators feel inspired and connected, children thrive.

Cathy Turalinski

Understanding behavior through the Eyes of a Toddler (Breakout)

With a BA in Early Childhood Education and over 40 years in the ECE field, Cathy has worked as an educator with all age groups, instructor at 4 different community colleges, a parent and home day care provider, supervisor, manager and ED and currently an Author of her new book Child Care Through the Eyes of an 18 month old- Selfdirected workbook for toddler educators. and Founder of Child Care Solutions. She has completed a number of toddler training workshops to accompany this book for hundreds of toddler educators. She brings up to date brain research into “What does that look like in the classroom” to reduce stress for both educators and children. She believes Quality care is based on research related to How does learning happen which she translates into practical tools & knowledge for educators in distinct roles.

Faith Hale

Reconciliation with Purpose-:  A Pathway to Creating a Circle of Care (Breakout)

Faith Hale is the Executive Director and cofounder of Ska:na Family Learning Centre (SFLC), one of Ontario’s first Indigenous organizations focused on Child Care and Early Years programming. Faith was instrumental in researching, developing, and implementing an urban Indigenous culturally relevant early years framework.  Faith holds a Master of Education, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Wayne State University, a Bachelor of Education from Brock University, and an Early Childhood Education Diploma from St. Clair College. As a Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE), she has served on the College of Early Childhood Educators advisory committee, presented at various conferences, and led research projects in education and community development at local and provincial levels

Sophia Peltier

Reconciliation with Purpose-: A Pathway to Creating a Circle of Care (Breakout)

Sophia Peltier is Canadian with Serbian, Scottish, Irish, and German ancestry, born and raised in Windsor, Ontario. Her husband Mark and three children are Anishinaabe, Wikwemikoong Unceded First Nation, Deer Clan.

Founding Treasurer, Past President, and current Corporate Services Director of Ska:na Family Learning Centre (SFLC), the first urban Indigenous non-profit, charity operating Child Care and Indigenous EarlyON programs in multiple municipalities in SW Ontario. Board member of Friendship Centres, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Empower Youth and United Way Windsor-Essex.

Sophia and Faith formed Women’s Equity Business (WEB) as a response to the calls to action around MMIWG in 2019 and have worked tirelessly to support women and families in business and entrepreneurial endeavours through mentoring, coaching, workshops, and employment.

Heather Jackson

How do we listen to children as they make meaning and build understanding of the world around them? (Breakout)

Heather is an Early Childhood Educator with over 40 years of experience in our field. She has been researching and working in the Reggio inspired approach for 15  years within The Sunflower School in Orangeville Ontario. The Sunflower School cares and educates over 200 children and she mentors and works with over 40 educators.  Heather has travelled to Reggio Emilia in Italy to attend two of the study tours and attends many of the North American Reggio conferences in Canada and the US. As the Research Director, she works with her educators on a yearly intention plan for programming, new team members shadow her work in the classrooms and attends weekly design/planning meetings. Heather is also a published author with Redleaf Press. Her book is called Actions of Play which highlights many stories from The Sunflower School classrooms.

Vanessa Fraser

Pedagogical Documentation: Transforming Observations into Meaningful Stories (Keynote)

Pedagogical documentation is more than a record of learning — it’s a practice of reflection, collaboration, and meaning-making. As both a relational and professional tool, it connects us more deeply with children’s thinking and our own as educators, fosters collaboration, and sparks possibilities for next steps in shared learning.

Grounded in the principles of How Does Learning Happen?, we’ll reflect on documentation’s role in nurturing belonging, well-being, engagement, and expression.

Together, we’ll explore and experiment with documentation as a form of stewardship and a way of making our learning visible. Participants will leave the session with co-created documentation panels designed not only to honour and celebrate our collective professional learning, but also to communicate and showcase the value of our work to families, colleagues, and the broader community.

Autumn Smith

Emcee

Autumn is a director, curator, educator and innovator. She is the current Artistic and Executive Director of TimberBeast Productions, a company dedicated to creating and sharing immersive live performance focused on the unique stories of the Muskoka area.  Autumn holds an MFA from York University in Theatre Direction with an Emphasis on Teaching and is a conservatory trained actor (Oxford School of Drama/UK). Ms. Smith is a Professor of Theatre at U of T, AMPD (York University), Memorial University (NFLD) and Centennial College. She also serves as the Drama Dept External Examiner for the Sharjah Academy of Performing Arts in the UAE. As a director and educator Ms. Smith led the Dora Award winning company MacKenzieRo: The Irish Repertory Theatre Company of Canada for over a 9 year period in addition to working with companies such as: The Shaw Festival, The Tarragon Theatre, George Brown Theatre School,  Theatre Passe Muraille, Stratford Festival, 4th Line Theatre and Canadian Stage.