All educators know the struggles involved when little people have big emotions — conflict, aggression, tears and tantrums are hard to handle. Emotion Coaching is an easy-to-learn tool educators can use to help children when they’re struggling with hard feelings and behaviours. In addition to helping children recover more quickly when they’re upset, Emotion Coaching helps educators to help children develop strong self-regulation and problem-solving skills. This session is packed full of helpful tips, videos and emotion coaching examples that you can use in your day to day role.

This workshop will share a values-based approach to leadership. With more than 25 years of leadership experience in early childhood education in New Zealand, Toni will share her wit, wisdom, and lessons learned from leading teams. Values such as grace, courage and excellence will be discussed, with concrete examples of these values in action when leading teams in ECE.

Educators will be inspired and informed on how to support children through more self-directed, outdoor play. Lukas will focus on play, risk, failure, resilience and the child’s physiology during play. He will share the value of creating environments over resources, plus a whole lot more..

Are there certain aspects of children’s play that elicit strong feelings from educators? Do you sometimes feel conflicted about what should be ‘banned’ or ‘allowed’ in children’s play themes? This session will unpack Play Theory as an important lens in which to view children’s engagement with the ‘unreal’ world. Understanding Play Theory will enable educators to interpret the ‘language of play’ and better support this fundamental right.