The Holding Space program has a long history. It began in early 2019 as the Reclaiming Being Three: Reflecting, Learning, and Imagining collaborative professional learning group that was facilitated by Dr Sheena Elwick, a Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Albury/Wodonga, and Cathy Northam, a Preschool Director also in Albury/Wodonga. The group was open to all teachers and educators of three-year-old children and comprised over 60 members from a range of early childhood education (ECE) services in Albury/Wodonga, including family day care, long day care, and community preschool. The group met regularly with the aim of working together to explore how best to support and honour three-year-old children attending local services. The group’s 2019 activities culminated in a 1-day workshop at CSU exploring Digital assessment: pitfalls and possibilities.
Then COVID arrived and meetings and events paused!
Meetings resumed in mid-2021 and the group was renamed ‘The Early Years Collaborative Network’ to reflect a broader focus on children of all ages in ECE settings. Sheena and Cathy received a lot of requests from people outside of the Albury/Wodonga area wanting to join the group via online meeting platforms. It was during this time that some members of the group were also members of the consortium engaged in the Approved Learning Framework Updates, and those updates became the focus of group discussions. One topic that generated a lot of interest in early 2023 was the introduction of trauma-informed practice into the Early Years Learning Framework and group members were keen to explore how they might support one another with implementing this update in practice.
In late 2023, Helen Fitzgerald joined the group after spending 15 years living and working in remote Aboriginal Communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Helen also had previous experience running events during Children’s Week in Albury/Wodonga. When Cathy retired, Helen stepped in to support Sheena and the Holding Space program arrived!
Listening and responding to requests from service providers, teachers and educators has always been central to the professional learning opportunities offered in the Reclaiming Being Three group; the Early Years Collaborative Network; and now in the Holding Space program. We are inspired by Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann and her gift of Dadirri.
In the words of Professor Judy Atkinson, through sharing the gift of Dadirri, Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann has put out a call: “let’s listen at that deep level of who we are, what we have been, what we are now, and what we can become”.
In the following video, each member of the Holding Space team shares what the phrase ‘Holding Space’ means to them: