EECERA 2024 took place in Brighton, UK, from the 4th-6th September, with special interest group meetings and registration taking place from the 3rd.

This was my third year of attending and presenting at EECERA, and this year I was chairing a symposium set and presenting on my research findings. 

I am a member of the Gender Balance SIG (special interest group) and they hold a conference day the day before the EECERA conference starts. This enables people who have an interest in gender in early childhood to have the opportunity to discuss our research interests and to network and make connections.

During the conference day this year, we participated in workshops around gender equality in ECEC: from policy to practice, researchers views on the impact of their gender on research (positionality) and the use of participatory research methods to include children's perspectives in gender research,

The day was really interesting and engaging. From the first workshop, it was interesting to note that of the countries represented on the day, only Spain has any government policy that specifically looks at the gender balance within the ECEC workforce.

At the end of the conference day, we agreed on a slight change of name for the SIG to represent how the focus has broadened since the group was originally set up.

Then it was time for the official conference welcome event. We were welcomed to the city by the Mayor of Brighton and to the conference by Chris Pascal, and then it was time for drinks and canapes whilst meeting new people and catching up with others.

The first full day of the conference. 

The day started with two keynote speakers and the poster displays.

The keynote speeches are always linked to the theme of the conference. This year the conference theme is sustainable development and links to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The first keynote was from Professor John Siraj-Blatchford and he spoke about - From global ESD policy to practice: Research progress and paradigms. The second keynote was from Professor Ingred Pramling Samuelsson, and she spoke about -  From global ESD policy to practice: The contribution of play responsive pedagogy.

The poster sessions are always busy, but it is so interesting to see the range of research that is taking place around the work and having a change to speak to a lot of researchers. This year, one of my colleagues was involved in the development of one of the posters, so I made a point of finding her poster and sending her a photo as she was unable to attend.

After a really lovely lunch in the Corn Exchange within the Brighton Dome, it was time for the symposiums to start!

There were three symposium sets during the afternoon. The hardest part of any conference is identifying the symposiums that you want to attend. During the afternoon, I attended symposiums about:

The presentations that were part of these symposiums gave me a lot to think about. In particular the presentations within the symposium which focused on children's perspectives, not only included some key points to think about regarding the children's views, but also some ideas for methods that I could use in future research.

Another long and interesting day, full of syposiums on a range of topics which ranged from educator agency, to gender and finally to responding to professional challenges.

I had been allocated the role of symposium chair for Symposium Set E9 - Gender and Gender Stereotypes in Early Childhood Education and was one of the presenters. This was a really interesting symposium with all three presentations being drawn from aspects of PhD research. One presentation looked at the use of Play Worlds to challenge gender stereotypes with children in Indonesia, one that looked at how early childhood settings in urban areas of China reinforce gender norms, and mine on some of the methods that preschool children use. The symposium went really well and I was happy how I had chaired the session, ensuring that we kept to time and the audience had time to ask questions.

At the end of the day I went to a session that focused on writing and peer reviewing for EECERA. I took a lot of notes and a lot of information away from this session. Whilst I cannot peer review for them yet as I have not published any papers, I know what they are looking for in a paper and how to increase the chances that a paper will be accepted for submission

The final day is always a bit sad, after a busy few days learning, listening and connecting with others, the conference is wrapping up.

The morning consisted of three keynote speakers:

All three of the keynote speakers were passionate and interesting to listen to, sharing their views on the role that early childhood education has in supporting the sustainability pillars and the UN's SDGs.

Finally it was time for the most eagerly awaited session of the last day - the closing ceremony and launch of EECERA 2025. 

Conference attendance is not cheap, there is the cost of the ticket, accommodation, transport, food, etc., so is it worth it?

My short answer is YES - I have now attended EECERA three years in a row and have presented my research in both poster sessions and in the symposiums. I have also made connections with early childhood researchers from around the world and opportunities for publications and other work have become available.

Brighton was a lovely location for EECERA 2024. We were based in the Brighton Dome and Brighton University buildings, which were all within a short walk of each other. The only downside was the weather on Thursday and Friday when we had heavy rain. But the weather didn't put a dampener on any of the activities or the general hum of the conference.

All that is left to say about EECERA 2024 is, thank you for the opportunities and I'll see you next year in Slovakia for EECERA 2025!