We had the pleasure of interviewing Vera Antunes. With 22 years’ experience in education in Europe and Middle East, she is a true passionate for education and excited about how emerging technologies are creating a new era for teaching and learning.
With her innovative approach in Ora – Nursery Of The Future, she seeks to ignite a love for creating the future in the early years landscape. She firmly believes that introducing new and exciting technologies in the classroom can inspire children to become the next generation of inventors and problem solvers.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I have always loved school as a student and becoming a teacher became a dream very early. I began my journey in Portugal, where I graduated as a Primary Teacher, specializing in English as an Additional Language.
Throughout my career, I had the opportunity to work with students of all age groups and gained expertise in different curriculums in Portugal, UK and the UAE. However, it was during the past 9 years in Dubai, where I found a true passion for early years education and have been in the same group of nurseries since I first joined.
After stepping into management, and inspired by Dubai’s vision for the future, I recognized the need for change and the potential for emerging technologies in an early years setting. I took a keen interest in exploring new technologies and implementing them into the early years curriculum to push the boundaries of traditional approaches and inspire young minds to become true creators. I am a technology enthusiast, optimistic about the future and try to keep up with all recent innovations in all sectors. Sharing that with our little ones is very rewarding as we are witnessing the future in the making. So being part of Ora’s journey and developing our approach based on the most recent events has been a stimulating challenge.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Ora, located in the heart of the most futuristic hub in the world, aims to involve young children in conversations about the rapidly changing world and prepare them for what is already happening globally and locally. Our Sheik Zayed Early Learning Framework targets high human values and develops them into knowledge and effective skills, calling for young children to be a resource for innovation and creativity. Ora’s approach is based on four pillars of Leadership, Happiness and Positivity, Advanced Sciences, Coding, and Robotics, representing a disruptive approach to early years education in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution. These pillars foster essential skills and abilities for navigating the increasingly digitized and automated world, such as digital literacy, computational thinking, scientific exploration, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving. By integrating these pillars into early years education, Ora aims to prepare children for the challenges and opportunities of the future, fostering a love for learning and innovation and equipping them to thrive in the increasingly technology-driven world.
Ora is the perfect learning environment for that, a future thinking nursery that is encouraged by our partners, Dubai Future Foundation and Prime Minister’s Office to promote groundbreaking approaches to enhance learning experiences and develop new methodologies having the future generations in mind.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
At the start of one’s career, the tendency is to want to control everything to gain respect and be taken seriously and I definitely was very much by the book – now, I laugh when I think of me then. However, in the field of education, particularly with young children, I have learned that the more you incorporate fun into your teaching, the more respect you earn. It took me a lot of trial and error to understand this, but once I did, it was a turning point in my career as a teacher. Teaching through play and fun should be taken seriously, as it is the most effective way to engage with children and optimize their learning experiences. Play creates a roadmap into the world of children, and only when this is promoted effectively, you have the ability to maximize learning opportunities through these fun experiences.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
Being in the education field for more than 20 years, I can say that I had many mentors who inspired me in different moments of my career from whom I learned a lot. They came from all corners of the education community, from professors, parents, colleagues and staff – the real mentors are the ones who walk the path with you. I got important insights but I treasure three pieces of advice that I follow to this day: 1- There are no teachers – we are all learning at the same time and if you are a forward thinking practitioner you know that everything keeps changing, so you are in a constant discovery process; 2- Plan to unplan – it allowed me to be flexible and be able to adapt constantly without fear failure; 3- Listen to the children – pay attention to what they say and do. Following children’s lead is understanding that the child is the curriculum unfolding itself every day.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
From a teaching point of view, disruption can be only positive, especially when it comes to education. Now we have a before and after Covid-19 that in fact changed the landscape in all areas of society. The education sector has proven to be flexible enough to adjust almost immediately, so it had positive effects in the long term as some things had to be shaken to flourish, like on-line education opportunities, for example.
In education you must be always observing the community to better understand your students and families’ profiles to inform your teaching choices. All aspects of public and private life are in constant transformation, so education must keep up the pace to keep relevant.
Particularly in Early Years, the disruption starts with the adults, from parents to teachers and care givers. Taking the best of what more traditional approaches have to offer, but at the same time embracing change instead of running away from it is the key. The upskilling of teachers and assistants is especially important now, so we can also support parents navigate this massive generation gap. This is the challenge now, to build bridges in such an era where is very easy to get lost with the ever-evolving technological world. But if we want to be part of the process, we need to jump on the train from the start.
Disruption can be negative when it clearly doesn’t impact positively children’s achievements and it doesn’t bring significant benefits to their development, so we need to make sure we are exposing them to age-appropriate activities and consider the advantages and disadvantages, so we work with constant feedback. For example, introducing Coding to children under the age of 5 has proven to be a great support in language acquisition and in the development of story telling skills.
I firmly believe that choosing the path of disruption in education is to choose the one of development and innovation. Not doing so can represent a significant delay years down the line and all it can be done then is try to catch up.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
I can share a few more things I have learned and of course it has a lot to do with discovery and experimentation. I call it the 3 Rs. Research – Resilience – Response.
Developing new teaching methods requires a lot of research and identifying potential learning opportunities for different age groups. There is no literature on how to disrupt the status quo of early years, so the first step is to keep researching, partner with like minded colleagues, institutions that are in a similar pursuit.
The process continues into a stage where resilience comes into play, as it is very easy to think of giving up or to slow down. But the determination of participating in the conversation, to include Early Years in the current technological advancement world, (or whatever your goals are) must motivate you enough to keep going. And of course, don’t stop until you get a response. It doesn’t matter if negative of positive but take all feedback onboard and keep building from there.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Ora is a one of a kind Early Years Centre and we have taken steps to support others internationally and started teachers internships. We are partnering with universities and institutions to develop our research further and developing our unique approach, ZELF – Sheik Zayed Early Leaning Framework, having in mind of course Dubai’s vision for the future and pioneering in the field of Early Years. This is just the beginning.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Things are definitely changing but there is a lot of mileage to cover still. Thankfully, Dubai has a very strong agenda that aims to empower women and open doors that were once closed.
Gender bias is still very strong, sometimes when a woman is really forward thinking and creative, she can be labeled as unrealistic or a dreamer when in fact she is presenting innovative ideas, one after the other. Perhaps, the same ideas presented by a man may be perceived as differentiated strategies, which is not really fair. I have found myself in that position many times and it can be a frustrating place to be at. I try to surround myself with likeminded people, who have the same in-depth knowledge of the industry and the same passion for innovation. Acknowledging talent is extremely important in all fields, regardless of being a woman or a man.
But I can see changes in the younger generations. It all begins with education and developing a new mindset, where girls are brought to the table and encouraged to have a voice since a young age.
Lack of quality childcare can be hard on working mothers, in Ora for example 97% of the mothers are back to full work after maternity leave and in very demanding private and governmental positions. Having their children close by definitely is key to keep them at ease while focusing on building their careers in the fields of innovation, science and tech. So balancing work with family responsibilities is still a challenge for many women of all nationalities.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
My never-ending research includes all of those and I am particularly fan of The Teach Middle East Podcast where I can relate to so many stories and learn from others as well in all areas of my role in the UAE context. At the moment I am reading “The Design Thinking Classroom”, by David Jakes to understand more about the concept and how it can enhance our young children’s learning.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Definitely it would be using current and emerging technologies to share best educational practices around the world, especially with countries in development where resources are scarce and teacher training is outdated. We are in a privileged position and do have the means to make it happen, so we are really looking for partners who would like to join us in this ambitious mission.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Future generations will be living in a world that is very different from that to which we are accustomed. It is essential that we prepare ourselves and our children for that new world.” – Sheik Zayed
I do strongly believe in this and make it a mission to share that mindset with friends, family, and colleagues. We can only prepare through educating ourselves and by joining children in their journey. The future is here and it is happening every day.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can follow our IG @ora.nursery and visit our website at www.ora.ae
