Maria Cole

She believe in lifelong learning and one way to do this is to actively keep abreast of new information and share it with others. She enjoy working with people and believe in collaboratively learning from one another. Her philosophy in teaching is adult-centred learning where individuals gain a sense of autonomy and mutual respect within the learner-teacher relationship. She believe that Her passion for this field, Her experience, and her belief that learning involves active participation, has led her to this career in teaching.

She is a graduate of the Early Childhood Education program and the Resource Teacher Certificate program at Confederation College. She have worked in the field of Early Childhood Education and Special Education for 29 years prior to joining the Confederation College faculty. She also received a Bachelor of Education degree from Lakehead University

Her experiences include working directly with children of various age groups as an educator, head educator and resource teacher. She have also worked in leadership roles including developing and coordinating the special needs service delivery in the Thunder Bay District, have actively participated in local and provincial boards (Association of Early Childhood Educators and the Early Childhood Resource Teacher Network of Ontario) and authored a recommended practice tool for the delivery of inclusive services in early childhood education programs.

Most recently, She spent two years working in a full-day kindergarten program.