Going to EECERA

(My personal photo, please don't share it)

Recently, we attended to the 29th EECERA annual conference in Tessaloniki in Greece. EECERA – European Early Childhood Education Research Association – holds an annual conference each year in a different country. “It is the largest world-conference in research in the early years. It is home for so many interesting people who have been researching, writing, advocating in the sector, not just in Europe, as it has expanded to all the other continents” (EECERA, 2019).

From that, you can have an idea of how exciting is to be attending to the EECERA conference! I first attended to it when Dublin hosted in 2016. I was starting my PhD journey and had a poster accepted that time. WOW, that was my first time moving around so many people from all over the world interested in research in the Early Years – and the chance to meet face-to-face people that I have been reading their work.

After that, I attended to the 2017 conference in Bologna, Italy, and as it was my second time, I was a bit more confident moving around the crowd, attending to relevant symposiums, networking and enjoying the fabulous gala dinner – Oh, Yes! Each host country puts quite some effort to make the conference memorable. In Dublin, at the gala dinner, we all ended up dancing Irish Music at the Mansion House. Bologna brought up the glamour of its historical and beautiful city, centenary university and museums. I presented a paper in Bologna and as I was pregnant, took regular breaks to enjoy it fully, including the walks between the venues.

That time we were offered to visit early years settings before the programme kicked off. I was so very pleased that we visited the well-known Loris Malaguzzi International Centre and a few settings that follow the Reggio Approach. What an experience! It was for sure an eye-opening in my practice, research and teaching. 

I missed Budapest edition as I was in maternity leave. EECERA can be an expensive conference for a PhD budget, so this year, being a breastfeeding mother and have decided to have my family with me, I was determined to take the maximum I could from these great 4 days conference.

My paper was accepted in the Family Support and Integrated Services symposium which I had the chance to chair. And I also challenged myself to do a PEDagogical talk about something I am passionate about: the early years golden age, the support some children may need and the relevance of the early childhood teachers working with these children. You can access the full programme and all abstracts here: https://www.eecera2019.org/programme/2019. (and check the next post which I have written my PED TALK).

The Greek put their effort to make the best impression at the opening ceremony: outdoors, stunning weather, beautiful venue, delicious Greek food and wine and typical music and dancing at the Museum of War. At the first day, we were given a message from the dear president prof. Chris Pascoal, who couldn’t attend for very personal reasons. The message was strategic and helped me to navigate easier around 900 delegates from every continent in the world.

Here is the piece I am sharing with you: In the UK and some other countries, people are encouraged to have 5 portions a day of fruit and vegetables, right? Prof. Chris encouraged all the participants to talk to at least 5 different people from outside your circle, to expand your networking and experience during the days at EECERA. 

In the first day, it was only the morning break and had reached the target! This is to say how fascinating is to be in EECERA. There are a large variety of topics and so many interesting people researching and working around these themes. Another really nice thing that happened is that Rita Melia (Tusla) – who is a key person in the early years in Ireland – organized a meeting for all the Irish delegates, so we could actually identify who is researching what in Ireland. I thought was a great idea and I may copy the idea for the Brazilians next time.

Apart from engaging face-to-face with people, it was also beneficial to engage with the conference on social media. You can check out on Twitter #eecera2019.

Well, they were great 4 days. It was definitely worth have made the investment to make it to EECERA and I am very grateful to the NUI Galway Child and Youth structured PhD and the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre for the partial funding.

To anyone thinking to attend to the Croatia edition next year I have a last tip. Read the programme carefully before the conference. They always release it online previously. Then, you can filter it and starting to decide what are going to see. It can be overwhelming for first timers circulating around such a big crowed, but the friendly atmosphere definitely helps!