We come together, summoning our courage and boldness, because we believe that, collectively, we can transform early education and create a different future for children, educators, and families.
– Original Call to Action of the Reimagining Our Work Initiative, 2020

The Reimagining Our Work Initiative took shape as an Exchange community toward the end of 2019, and, along of the rest of the world, has grown and changed in unexpected ways since that time. Today, this community of leaders and thinkers remains steadfastly committed to its original charter, while also seeking new voices, perspectives, and leadership for continued evolution and justice in early care and education.

The original Reimagining Our Work Charter names these principles:

PRINCIPLE 1: Embrace our humanity

Because we believe the purpose of education is to become more fully human, we, as local and global citizens, commit to nourishing children’s resilience, generosity, playfulness and imagination, supporting them to care for the earth and for each other.

We believe that in order to support children, we, too, must strengthen our own human capacities for empathy, curiosity, generosity, imagination, and purposeful action.

We believe this commitment requires investment in systems that promote joy in young children. Systems in which adults join with children in lively exploration, without constant prompting for outcomes. To do this, we believe people working with young children must cast off the pressures of external forces that have shaped our profession for too long.

PRINCIPLE 2: Invite diverse voices and ways of thinking

Because we believe that diverse perspectives in early childhood education matter, we commit to listen to others with humility and openness, and to bring our authentic selves to
the conversation without judgement of others. We stretch our thinking through practices that foster a mindset of curiosity and inclusion. We seek multiple languages and diverse cultural perspectives to shape the conversation.

We believe that children, families, and educators learn and experience the world in many ways, and we celebrate these diverse ways of knowing and wondering. This includes a strong com- mitment to honoring how they express themselves in languages both spoken and unspoken.

We believe in a restorative approach, and therefore seek to develop spaces that are reflective, thoughtful, and inclusive of others.

PRINCIPLE 3: Center our work on social justice

Because we believe that fair, equitable, and culturally diverse learning experiences are an essential birthright of young children, we commit to cultivate practices that align with and honor children and families, both culturally and linguistically. It is a priority that educators share children’s and families’ racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic identities.

Our commitment to social justice calls us to shape our discussions, our studies, and our decision-making with a robust range of cultural perspectives, languages, and abilities. Anchoring all our work is the commitment that the people who teach and care for children must oppose racism and actively build anti-racist efforts into their teaching practices.

Holistically, these actions prepare children to be global citizens: people who respect others and who care for the earth and for each other.

PRINCIPLE 4: Believe in educators

Because we believe that early childhood educators are vital to transformative early learning, we stand with early educators and their right to conditions that honor their capacity for deep thinking and their cultural ways of knowing. We call for teacher preparation programs to actively support educators and their work with diverse children, families and colleagues.

We support initiatives that establish equitable reward systems, value early educators’ contributions to society, and elevate an inspired development of the profession.

We look to the future for our children and their families as we seek to equip early childhood educators and those who support them with a new framework for making courageous decisions in an uncertain world.

These principles guide us as we work towards transformation, not remediation or repair. We commit to move beyond a “fix-it” mentality, and to act boldly to reimagine our work. ¡El momento ha llegado!

For even more inspiration, enjoy a word from Margie Carter and Ann Pelo. To learn more about how the ROW story collection came into being, click here.

We at Exchange look forward to broadening the ROW community and conversation. If this speaks to you, please join us on Thursday, August 29 at 4pm PST/6pm CST/7pm EST.