People of Georgian: Children ‘the most important natural resource,’ says professor

What’s your story?

To celebrate Women’s History Month in October, we’re profiling one of our many inspiring teachers. Deb Bumstead is a full-time instructor and program coordinator based at Georgian College’s Owen Sound Campus. She shares her career journey from her days of growing up around foster children, to teaching the next generation of early childhood educators.

People of Georgian: Meet Deb Bumstead

I’m the oldest of three girls, and one of my aunts was a foster parent.

Whenever we would visit, there would always be babies of different ages – toddlers, preschoolers – and I was always drawn to a caregiving role. Certainly, being the oldest sibling was part of that, too.

So, it just fell into place that I wanted to do something with children as a career.

A person with short white hair and black sweater takes a selfie in front of a paper backdrop covered in kids' paintings. — *Deb is a full-time instructor and program coordinator at Georgian College.*

I had the opportunity to start a childcare in the high school in one of our local communities, and I worked with non-profit boards, and then I was a resource teacher, which, at the time, involved visiting children and families in their homes and early learning settings.

Every day was different, and I got to directly support children and their families.

Career path leads to Georgian’s Owen Sound Campus

All of that naturally leant itself to my own professional development idea of becoming a faculty member at Georgian.

Growing up on a farm, my joy of being outside every day was fulfilled in my early career. Now, if I was starting all over again, I would pursue forest school practitioner education because I believe there is great developmental benefit to playing and learning in outdoor spaces.

It’s exciting that our curriculum now has an outdoor pedagogy course – another plus about being at Sydenham Campus next door to the Owen Sound Campus.

We have a big, wide-open space outside that we can use, and we’ve purchased materials to allow the students to go out and have a little knapsack full of materials they would use with children to explore nature. That’s been a really refreshing addition to our program.

Two people stand together for a photo and smile. — *Deb, left, with Sharon Hampson of famed Canadian children’s music group Sharon, Lois & Bram.*

This field is full of lifelong learning, and I’ve had a very joyful career.

‘There is no magic wand’

When I started my career, society and families looked much different than they do today. I think it requires a very compassionate person to navigate those waters, if you will.

There is no magic wand; every child and their unique personality and situation is different. Critical thinking skills are really important because we’re thinking on our feet all the time and problem solving in the moment.

Three people wearing red, green and white and Christmas accessories hold small signs reading "Nice" and "Naughty." — *Deb, right, embraces some holiday spirit.*

Anyone working with children should also remember the importance of the four foundations – supporting children’s well-being, engagement, expression and sense of belonging.

Children are the most important natural resource that we have. We’re building brains every day.

Deb Bumstead (she/her) is a full-time instructor and program coordinator in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) program at Georgian’s Owen Sound Campus. She is also the program coordinator for the ECE program at the Orangeville Campus and the Child Development Practitioner Apprenticeship and Educational Assistant Apprenticeship programs at the Owen Sound Campus. As well, Deb is a Georgian alumna of the former Early Childhood Education – Resource Teacher certificate (class of 1999).

Deb would also like to give a shout-out to her wonderful colleagues and friends at the Orillia, Orangeville and Owen Sound campuses, as well as the inspiring team at Georgian’s Centre for Teaching and Learning.

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