Leading with Our Hearts: Integrating Empathy in Early Childhood Education with Therese Burke

Leading with the Heart is a narrative that captures the various “hearts” I wear on my sleeve. It poses a thought-provoking question: how can we all wear our hearts on our sleeves more to benefit our sector, cultures, and children? This story intertwines my 30 years of experience in early education, my accumulated wisdom, and my social work degree. It’s a deeply personal tale of courage and healing, highlighting the impacts of trauma, growing up as an impulsive child, and surviving systems that sometimes lack the flexibility to appreciate the beauty that diversity brings. I hope my story can help us cultivate greater empathy and revolutionize our classrooms to better support diversity. It encourages us to embrace our differences through tough conversations, redesigning the classroom environment, and bravely using the social work heart to advocate for children and reflect on ourselves. By drawing on social work and sociology theories, I aspire to inspire you to understand diversity and how its impacts can affect our little ones and their families. We often don’t know what children are experiencing in their lives or within their family contexts. These questions are crucial in helping children feel safe to be themselves while they learn to become their best selves. This webinar will discuss mental health experiences. If you need to speak to someone, I will provide some contact numbers within the presentation if any support is needed.

Teaching Standards: Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 1 NQS Quality Areas: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Age range taught: Birth to School age