The Department of Early Childhood Education at the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) successfully held its 9th annual Conference for Research in Early Childhood Education on June 10, 2023, at the Tai Po Campus. The theme for this year's conference was "Embracing Opportunities and Innovations in Early Childhood Education". This year's conference attracted over 200 attendees from local, Greater Bay Area, and international regions.
Prof. Kerry Lee, Head of the Department commenced the conference with an opening speech, highlighting the importance of staying innovative in the ever-changing education landscape.
Keynote speaker Prof. Nicola Yelland of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne delivered a speech on “Transformative Curriculum and Pedagogies in Early Childhood”, emphasizing the need to shift from a deficit model of children's development to viewing young children as capable citizens of the present. Professor Yelland presented case studies that illustrated how curriculum and pedagogies were transformed based on this perspective.
Dr. Yang Weipeng, Assistant Professor in the Department, gave a talk on "Robot Programming as a STEAM Approach to Promoting Young Children's Computational Thinking." Ms. Iris Leung, lecturer in the Department and the project coordinator for the new ECE job search website - ECE Spark, introduced the under-development platform.
During the lunch hour, a poster session showcased 13 booths, and the afternoon featured 19 parallel seminars and workshops on various topics. Prof. Li Hui Philip, Dean and Chair Professor at the Shanghai Institute of Early Childhood Education, Shanghai Normal University (China), and Honorary Professor at Macquarie School of Education, Macquarie University (Australia), presented one more keynote speech on "Young Children's Digital Wellbeing in a Post-pandemic World: Neuroimaging Evidence and Implications for Early Childhood Education." The day concluded with a closing ceremony.
As we forge ahead in the pursuit of excellence in early childhood education, events like the annual Conference for Research in Early Childhood Education remain essential for fostering collaboration and inspiring innovation among stakeholders. By working together, we can continue to drive positive change and improve the quality of education for our youngest learners.
