Áurea is a Ph.D. candidate in UBC’s Cross-Faculty Inquiry Program within the Faculty of Education. She has a background in early childhood education and years of experience working with rural and urban Indigenous communities across Mexico. Áurea’s master’s research explored the potentialities of the Montessori method for fostering children’s resilience. Working with children and families who relocated to México City as they fled rural poverty, Áurea experienced first-hand the ongoing challenges that frontline workers face when supporting these continuously displaced communities. Since then, advocating for and supporting early years professionals’ well-being, while surfacing their resources and lived experiences, has been the guiding principle of her work. Using an action research approach, Áurea collaborates with other early childhood educators to enhance their practice and pedagogical leadership. Her doctoral research explores how trauma-informed systems of care can support ECEs’ practice and the co-construction of responsive and ethical ways to address and transcend early childhood trauma.
Áurea has an MA in Educational Development from Mexico’s National University of Pedagogy, a BA in Preschool Education, a BA in International Relations and is an AMI Montessori early childhood educator.
Co-supervisors: Dr. Margot Filipenko (LLED) and Dr. Claudia Ruitenberg (EDST)
Committee: Dr. Adele Diamond and Dr. Cynthia Nicol
