The Conference of Research in Early Childhood Education 2022 by the Department of Early Childhood Education was held on 23 August 2022. The theme was “Coping with Childhood Trauma / Challenges during COVID-19”. The conference was conducted online and it attracted more than 150 participants in the ECE field, including teachers, principals, parents, and professionals.
The conference began with a warm welcoming speech by Prof. Kerry Lee, the head of the Department of Early Childhood Education. He expressed concerns for the physical and mental health and development of children experiencing traumatic stress in this pandemic era.
The speech was followed by two presentations, the keynote speech “Children Touched by Trauma: Behaviour and Learning” by Dr. Kay Ayre at the School of Education at Edith Cowan University, Australia and the seminar “Family Challenging Times: Can Schools and Kindergartens Make a Different?” by Prof. Sue Saltmarsh at the Early Childhood Education Department of the Education University of Hong Kong.
Attendees were invited to comment and ask questions throughout the presentations. The speakers interacted with the participants and addressed the questions collected.
Among 65 feedbacks gathered from the post-session survey, we received many high ratings for the conference, especially for the usefulness of the sessions and event arrangements. In response to the question of which part of the conference impressed them most, some participants said:
“I was impressed with the detailed presentations and insightful discussions of each discussant.”
“Trauma could be harmful in term of mentally and physically in early years, especially during COVID. The conference is a good reminder for all educators and parents.”
“The quality of the knowledge shared. "
Lastly, special thanks goes to Dr Ayre and Prof. Saltmarsh for making this effort to share their research findings to raise the awareness for the wellbeing of traumatized young children. We would also like to thank all colleagues involved in this conference, their efforts made it possible and were crucial to its success.
You can watch the recorded conference here: https://youtu.be/77LQ0dkvTWo
