Join early childhood centre directors Kim Ainsworth, Sara Sutherland, and Karen Vaughan in conversation with ECPN Co-Director Kathleen Kummenas they share their experiences as administrators working to create conditions for children, educators, and families to live and learn well together (BC ELF). Using examples for their own practice and reflecting on their centres’ pedagogical commitments, these directors will unpack their learning and processes to continually work and rework centre practices and policies that respond to the complexities, joys and challenges of ECE in the 21st century.

Location: Zoom
Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Please register in advance for this webinar: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gtJZwWjIQTiD8-GglFFLag#/registration 

Presenter Bios: 

Kim Ainsworth is Director of University of Victoria Child Care located on the traditional territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees, Xwsepsum/Esquimalt) and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples.  She is grateful to work with an inspiring team of educators whose pedagogy is grounded in Common Worlding and the BC Early Learning Framework (BC Government, 2019). Working alongside children and families, the team explores what it means to live well together with others while responding ethically to inheritances that include settler colonialism, human-induced climate change and environmental precarity. 

Sara Sutherland is the Director of the Capilano University Children’s Centre, and the new Fulmer Family Children’s Centre, located on the traditional territories of the LíỈwat, xʷməθkʷəỷəm (Musqueam), shíshálh (Sechelt), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and SəỈílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Sara, in her work as the director, is inspired by the challenges of pedagogical leadership and what this form of leadership might open up in terms of possibilities for the collective life of a childcare centre. She feels privileged to work alongside a pedagogist and an atelierista and is passionate about dismantling the barriers between managerial and pedagogical practices. 

Karen Vaughan is the Director of UBC Child Care (UBCCC), located on the unceded, ancestral homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. Karen’s work is guided by a deep respect for place-based education and a commitment to creating responsive, inclusive early childhood settings. Under Karen’s leadership, UBCCC’s pedagogical commitments engage thoughtfully with social, cultural, and political issues—including social justice, eco-justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and human rights. 

ECPN Conversation Directors