TTS Talking Early Years

Shaddai Tembo and Laura Henry-Allain MBE return for the final episode of this series of the TTS Talking Early Years podcast, to discuss the importance of recognising the uniqueness and diversity of every family.  Laura emphasises that it's crucial to understand the family dynamics of every child in an early years setting to ensure that you can represent and support a child's self-identity. Communication plays a key part in this; listening, learning, and ensuring that every family is acknowledged irrespective of how diverse they may be.   📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.    Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.   (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)   Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited. 

Shaddai Tembo is once again joined by Laura Henry-Allain MBE, an award-winning international storyteller, educationalist, producer, and consultant. In this episode, Laura and Shaddai explore why representation in resources is important throughout your continuous provision.  This episode highlights that settings should accurately reflect our culturally diverse society so that all children learn about the society in which they live; to foster respect for other cultures and to ensure that children from minority ethnic groups can relate to their environment.  Laura goes on to explain that education is a key tool for ensuring that racist attitudes do not progress into the children of the next generation. Children are not born with discriminatory attitudes, they’re a learned behaviour.  📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.    Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.   (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)   Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited. 

Shaddai Tembo is joined once again by Laura Henry-Allain MBE, an award-winning international storyteller, educationalist, producer, and consultant. In this episode, Laura and Shaddai explore how educators can promote anti-racism in their settings.  Laura explains the importance of including the whole team, parents, and wider community to embed anti-racism across all areas of your early years setting and practice. Anti-racism should be considered throughout all areas of your setting, environment, and interactions.  Laura also shares that resources and books could contain imagery and terminology that is discriminatory; therefore, reviewing these and their appropriateness is vital in adopting an anti-racist ethos and practice.  📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.    Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.   (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)   Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited. 

Shaddai Tembo is joined by Laura Henry-Allain MBE, an award-winning international storyteller, educationalist, producer, and consultant. Laura will cover the topic of understanding and celebrating our differences.  In this episode, Laura discusses inclusive practices, emphasising the importance of continued training on matters of diversity for every setting. She sheds light on the negative impact of phrases such as 'I don't see colour' and how this unintentionally dismisses the experiences of others.  Laura also offers her advice for speaking out on matters of inclusivity and diversity in settings.   📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.    Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.   (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)   Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited. 

Shaddai Tembo is joined by Kerry Murphy, for the final episode of their discussion around neurodiversity and additional support needs. Throughout this episode, we explore practical tips to celebrate each other’s differences.  In order to encourage a positive sense of self, Kerry explains the importance of speaking to the child to help them understand their strengths, differences, and where they might need help. She also stresses the importance of offering tools to communicate their needs.  📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.     Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.  (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)  Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited. 

In this episode, Shaddai Tembo is joined by Kerry Murphy, an Early Years lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London and consultant, to discuss new perspectives on child development.  Kerry introduces the idea of a ‘Celebratory Framework’ as a method of challenging the deficit lens that was discussed in the last episode. She expands on how settings can adopt a more holistic approach when reviewing individual children’s development.  📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.     Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.  (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)  Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited. 

Throughout this episode, Shaddai Tembo is joined by Kerry Murphy, an Early Years lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London and consultant, to discuss the meaning of ableism and how practitioners can address it.  Kerry offers examples of how practitioners could unknowingly be perpetuating ableism and encouraging masking. Expectations around how children should pay attention, play and socialise lead to children being put into intervention to teach them to act more neurotypical.   📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.     Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.  (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)  Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited. 

In this episode, Shaddai Tembo is joined by Kerry Murphy, an Early Years lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London and consultant, to discuss why adopting a neurodiverse approach is crucial in the early years.  Historically, diversity or neurodiverse people have typically been viewed through a deficit lens. Kerry explains that in today’s society, we are getting better at understanding the needs of neurodiverse people but children are still exposed to a deficit experience through intervention strategies with an aim of making children ‘less neurodivergent’.  She adds the importance of seeing neurodivergence as part of development and meeting children where they are.  📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.     Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.  (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)  Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited. 

To round up the 4th and final episode with Joss Cambridge-Simmons, Shaddai asks Joss to share his thoughts on how action settings can be put in place to promote a diverse and equal workforce.   A more gender-balanced workforce will provide children with the widest range of experiences, skills, and teaching styles that will benefit their learning and development.    Joss and Shaddai discuss the role of government, legislation, and films to change the attitudes towards men working in the early years and help create to create a better gender balance.  📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.     Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.  (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)  Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited. 

In this episode, Shaddai Tembo is joined again by Joss Cambridge-Simmons, the UK’s leading ‘super manny’ and founder of ‘Jossy Care’, to look at self-reflection and other skills needed to work with children in the Early Years.  Joss discusses the skills and qualities that make a great early years practitioner, including passion, emotional intelligence, and love. He explains the importance of self-care and examining your own feelings and attitudes to avoid successive generations of children experiencing bias and inequality. 📌 To shop for resources relevant to this podcast conversation, click here.     Listened and loved it? Sign-up here for exclusive follow-up content and be the first to hear about new episodes.  (The views expressed throughout this podcast are the speakers' own, and TTS does not take responsibility for the views and guidance highlighted as part of this recording.)  Please note: When referencing the speakers views, theory and work for development of your own materials, please ensure academic reference of the speaker is cited.