Laura Coulman | Faculty & staff bios

Name	Laura Coulman
School	School of Community Services
Program	Bachelor of Early Learning Program Development, and, Early Childhood Education
Academic and Professional Designations	PhD, Education (Early Childhood Education, Curriculum), Western University Registered Early Childhood Educator, Ontario College of Early Childhood Educators PhD Candidacy, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Applied Psychology and Human Development, Developmental Psychology and Education, inaugural Early Learning Cohort Master of Science, Child Studies, University of Guelph, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition Bachelor of Arts, Early Childhood Education, Toronto Metropolitan University Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy, McMaster University
Title	Professor, Faculty
Courses taught	Child, Family, and Society Field Placement VIII Health and Wellness in Early Learning Human Growth and Development, The Early Years & The Later Years Population and Developmental Health
Areas of expertise & interest	Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Research, Policy, Planning, and System Design Disability Theory Critical Discourse Analysis Political Philosophy, Thomas Hobbes's Social Contract Theory Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in ECEC Early Childhood Educator Wages, Working Conditions & Program Quality Early Years Pedagogies Reconceptualizing ECEC Humanism, Posthumanism, Dis/humanism & ECEC
Industry experience, professional currency activities	2023-2025 Co-Investigator, Growing Together: Inviting Indigenous ways of knowing and being into the early years 2018-2023 Assistant Editor, AECEO eceLINK Peer Reviewed Collection, peer reviewed scholarly papers related to early learning and child care in Canada (2021-2023) Publication Co-Chair, AECEO eceLINK Peer Reviewed Collection (2017-2021) Interim President (2018), Secretary (2018-2021), Treasurer (2016), Association of Early Childhood Educators, Ontario (AECEO) Board of Directors Member, Interdisciplinary Centre for Research in Curriculum as Social Practice, Western University (2018-2023) Research Assistant, Provincial Centre of Excellence for the Early Years & Secretariat for the Francophone, Provincial, and Indigenous Early Years Centres of Excellence, Western University (2019) 2005-2018 Child Care Policy and Research Analyst, County of Wellington (2005-2018) Research Partner, Inclusive Early Childhood Service System (IECSS), Toronto Metropolitan University (2013-2017) Writer and Data Analyst, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Coalition for Report Cards on the Well-Being of Children (2007-2017) Member, Ontario Provincial Child Care Training and Support Program Advisory Committee, Geneva Centre for Autism (2007-2008) Chair, Guelph and Wellington Quality Child Care Initiative Steering Committee (2006-2007) Research, Scholarly, and Policy Work to 2005 Research and Project Manager, QC Wellington: A Community-Wide Approach for Improving and Sustaining High Quality Child Care in Wellington County, Centre for Families, Work & Well-Being, University of Guelph (2003-2005) Developer of Play-FULL participation, the early childhood education and care inclusion model for children experiencing disability in Guelph and Wellington County (2002-2003) Family Project Advisor, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Special Needs Project (1999-2005) Research Consultant, Onward Willow Better Beginnings Better Futures (2005) Sessional Professor, Administration of Programs for Children and Youth, University of Guelph, Child Studies (2005) Planner and Principal Writer, Ontario Early Years Plan, Wellington Dufferin Guelph Ontario Early Years Planning Committee (2001-2002) Research and Evaluation Project Coordinator, Wellington Children’s Services Council, Making Services Work for People (1999-2001) Sessional Professor, Curriculum Issues for Child Care Administrators, University of Guelph, Open Learning (1997) Project Coordinator and Program Evaluator, Lambton County Child Care Planning Group, Special Needs Task Force (1994)
Major research projects, scholarly activities, and/or publications	Present to 2025 Co-Investigator, Growing Together: Inviting Indigenous ways of knowing and being into the early years—A Conestoga College, 3-year funded project by the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation, to bring together early childhood education and Indigenous knowledge in the belief that true, meaningful learning for young children is rooted in play and occurs soundly in natural physical environments. 2024 How underdeveloped Policy and Planning for Inclusive ECE produces “Disability”—Scholarly Presentation, Early Childhood Pedagogy Network Presentation Series, Dialogues with Guests in collaboration with Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia. Invited Guest Speaker—Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, University of California, Berkeley 2023 Disabling Consent: Discourses of Disability and Inclusion in Ontario's Early Childhood Education and Care in 1994—PhD Thesis, Western University Our Recommendations for Bill C-35, An Act Respecting Early Learning and Child Care in Canada (Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act)—Brief to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Co-author with Dr. Petr Varmuza Pedagogy in the Early Years ECE71015—New course design, first-year introduction course to the foundations of curriculum, pedagogy, and learning in the early years for BELPD 2017 Our Recommendations for the Renewed Framework for Early Years and Child Care in Ontario—Submission to Province of Ontario, Co-author with Petr Varmuza 2016 Our Recommendations to Ontario for Funding and Quality in Child Care Modernization—Submission to Province of Ontario, Co-author with Petr Varmuza 2015 Low Early Childhood Educator Wages: The Price of Caring? —AECEO Wages Panel Presentation, hosted by Conestoga College, Early Years Professional Resource Centre 2014 Early Childhood Education and Care and Education in Ontario: Strong and Equal? - a critical review of developmental psychology as the foundation for early childhood education and care—Comprehensive Exam Paper, Applied Psychology and Human Development, Developmental Psychology and Human Development, OISE UT 2013 Recommendations for the future administration of the EDI (Early Development Instrument) in Ontario—Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development Policy Paper, University of Toronto, Co-author with Petr Varmuza 2012 The economic value of child care—County of Wellington, Child Care Services. A discussion paper to provoke interest in the need for a broad range of services for supporting children’s healthy development and family well-being that includes licensed child care. 2011 The impact of full day kindergarten on rural child care—Policy Monitor #5, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, University of Toronto 1999 Knowledge, Attitudes and Experiences of Resource Teachers and Resource Consultants in Inclusive Child Care in Ontario—Thesis, MSc Child Studies, University of Guelph
Additional information	Prone to hyperbole, committed to evidence, and—mostly—aware that life is best lived with a chuckle or two; Laura finds interest in the small things and knows that is precisely how the big things get changed. She is an unapologetic enthusiast for early childhood education and care, and promises that, one day, Canada will be a proud place of public, practical, high performing ECEC provisions for all (little) people.