From: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Date published: 1/31/2025 11:00:00 AM | Date modified: 1/31/2025 11:00:00 AM
Attendees at an outdoor photo exhibit showcasing the experiences of newcomer families with young children.
Photo: Early Childhood Collaborative Research Centre
The conditions in the places where children live, learn and play can have significant impacts on their immediate and long-term well-being and development. But not all families have access to the same resources or experience those environments in the same ways. That’s why Jessie-Lee McIsaac, Canada Research Chair in Early Childhood: Diversity and Transitions at Mount Saint Vincent University, is focused on identifying meaningful policies and community-based solutions to enhance those environments and deliver the best outcomes for all children.
“Our communities hold a lot of knowledge about culturally responsive and safe environments,” says McIsaac. “My work seeks to leverage that knowledge to create learning environments that will nurture and support children’s well-being.”
Increased recognition of how important the early childhood years are to long-term development has led to greater focus on early childhood learning environments. As a result, government policies have targeted schools and child-care programs, as well as family resource centres, homes and other settings. McIsaac’s work seeks to maximize the effectiveness of these policies, often by working directly with the communities most affected.
“My research questions don’t come from me,” she says. “They come from local initiatives and the questions or concerns being raised by the community. Then that research informs other research and drives the cycle forward.”
That was the case with a recent project looking at the experiences of African Nova Scotian and Black early childhood educators. Following the graduation of the first cohort of Nova Scotia Community College’s Africentric Early Childhood Education diploma program, an instructor wondered how the program’s teachings would be received within a typically Eurocentric education system. To find out, McIsaac’s team worked with 12 program graduates on a photovoice project to explore their experiences as they started to implement what they had learned.
The results, presented at an event in November 2024, highlighted a broad range of experiences, but participants also identified several common themes. They reported that fostering their own well-being and affirming their own Black identities was foundational for creating safe environments for children to explore their identities. Also, selecting culturally representative resources proved critical to ensuring all children felt seen and valued. The graduates also identified self-expression and connection—especially to nature and the outdoors—as vital to helping children explore and strengthen their cultural ties.
Another common theme was support. While some participants reported feeling supported by colleagues, others encountered barriers, with some administrators hesitant to embrace Africentric learning approaches.
“This underscored that it’s not enough to only focus on diversifying the workforce,” says McIsaac. “That’s important, and we have to go beyond tokenization and days of recognition. Those within the dominant culture need to make space every day to appreciate and celebrate the diversity of educators, families and children.”
A play invitation displayed at an event highlighting Africentric early childhood education.
Another of McIsaac’s projects focuses on well-being through the lens of food and children’s relationships to it. The CELEBRATE Feeding project, a partnership between Mount Saint Vincent University and the University of Prince Edward Island, provides coaching and resources to early childhood educators to foster more responsive approaches to feeding. These approaches give children more control over their own food choices helping them better understand the signs of when they are hungry and full. Responsive feeding also encourages caregivers to respond accordingly, instead of making children eat set quantities at set times.
“By looking at conversations around mealtimes and reducing the amount of pressure from adults on what they think children need to eat, we’re helping those children get more in tune with their own bodies’ needs and develop healthier relationships with food,” says McIsaac. “Ultimately, that supports their learning and development.”
McIsaac is currently in her second term as Canada Research Chair. During it, she plans to focus on turning research into action. That includes sharing the knowledge and experience learned from families and communities (particularly those who experience marginalization) and working with those communities to co-design solutions to support child well-being in areas such as mental health and nutrition. It also involves evaluating how new policies have been implemented so adjustments can be made that will maximize those policies’ impacts for children and their families.
Looking ahead, McIsaac wants to establish an Atlantic equity network of researchers, early childhood educators, policy and community leaders, child-care programs, and others to share best practices and resources to create change—and avoid duplicating work. She also aims to expand successful early childhood learning initiatives on a broader scale, both nationally and beyond Canadian borders.
“My goal has always been to make it easier for children to be healthy,” she says. “It’s about looking at physical and social learning environments, and the people involved in them, and how they come together to create opportunities for children to be well.”
Visit the Early Childhood Collaborative Research Centre website to learn more about McIsaac’s work, or follow the Centre on Facebook and Instagram.
