Kindness Is the Work: A Conversation with Salas Balde for the Next Generation of Early Years Educators

Every now and then, someone walks into your professional world and reminds you why you care so deeply about Early Years, community, childhood development, and humanity itself. For me, one of those people is Salas. He was last on Talking Early Years in December 2023, and even then, he was a burst of optimism and purpose. Since then, he has done so much more that I felt it was time to bring him back and let him tell the next chapter of his story.

Listen now!

Is giving a young child unrestricted access to digital technology like handing them a vape?

In my latest podcast, I sat down with digital safety expert Katy Potts to confront what many of us are reluctant to say out loud. There is no app to replace your lap.

Listen to the podcast. This matters more than we think!

Social justice can sound lofty. Abstract. Something discussed in policy papers or parliamentary chambers. But the truth is, the seeds of fairness, compassion, sustainability and community are planted much earlier than that. They’re sown in the nursery, long before children learn the language of politics. And if we don’t plant them early, we risk raising a generation who see inequality as inevitable rather than something they can change.

That was the heart of my conversation with Susan Santone, author of Reframing the Curriculum and one of the thinkers who most shaped my own PhD journey.