CYC Education Day: Reflections
on experiences
Matty Hillman

I

find there is something auspicious about the first day of a new month and this May
certainly held up to that expectation. Child and Youth Care (CYC) Education Day was a
one-day preconference event that took place on May 1st, 2018, one day prior to the
National Child and Youth Care conference in Richmond, British Columbia. A collection of
students, educators, and community partners met for a full day of exploration and inquiry
into the CYC post-secondary classroom and curriculum. It has now been a month since
CYC Education Day and I still find myself deeply appreciative of what was a truly formative
experience.
The stated aim of the day was to foster connection and creativity between CYC
learners and CYC educators, and began with something called 10 x 10 x 10: a fastedpaced collection of 10 presentations, each 10 minutes long, utilizing around 10
presentation slides. In a fashion true to CYC flexibility (and CYC math), the 10
presentations turned into 13. These 13 presentations and the follow-up World Café
discussions were captivating and renewed a sense of youthfulness and inspiration to CYC
education. It’s hard to pick a favorite presentation but I was impressed with Humber
students Reshma Shiwcharran and Brittany Herbold’s dynamic, informative and
humorous critique of their home college’s diploma program. Through speaking from their
own experiences, the students posed the astute question: should former youth-in-care be
required to take a class that explores the experiences of youth-in-care? For my
contribution, I explored the possibility of including art-based practices in the CYC
classroom to support student learning and provide space for demonstrating other ways of
knowing. Utilizing sequential photographs of a “CYC graffiti-style mural” I had executed at
an earlier date, I illustrated my recent learnings as a nascent CYC educator. An image of
the final painting can be found at the conclusion of this article.

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I’ve been taking some time to reflect on the various ideas presented in the 10 X 10 X
10s through observing Melissa Kendzierski’s amazing graphic recordings of the day. A
theme has begun to stand out strongly for me when viewing these beautifully illustrated
ideas: I see experiences being at the heart of what some of us currently do and hope to
do with CYC education.
Arts-based pedagogy is ultimately about having a creative experience in the
classroom. Taking a sled across the frozen ocean with your instructor and classmates is
an incredible experience outside of the classroom. The use of online education platforms
including new teaching and learning tools is about sculpting a specific experience in the
virtual world. Creating trauma-informed education is certainly about crafting the learning
experience to fit the needs of the individual. In short: it’s all about having experiences!
This idea of learning through experiences fits well with the direction higher education
is taking. Students, administrators and other faculty often tell me that this is what today’s
students are looking for in their post secondary program – experiences. Experiences are
about being in the moment. They are about trying something new with little or no
expectations about what this experience ultimately means or what it may lead to. They
are about the process more than the product – and there are so many experiences to
have, so many options these days, that the experiences being offered better be unique
and dynamic.
Long gone are the days of treating students as empty vessels dutifully waiting to be
filled with knowledge. I feel that it is not overstating to repeat this reality: long gone are
the days of education as strictly knowledge acquisition.
The idea of an education model based on experiences fits well with Gharabaghi’s
(2018) suggestion to decentralize learning to occur across a variety of milieus while
drawing on diverse wisdom and perspectives. A learning experience is certainly richer
when it includes voices beyond those of designated teachers and takes place in locations
more exotic than a fluorescent-lit room of rowed tables. Students seeking post-secondary
programs that can deliver flexible and unique experiences also aligns with White’s (2015)
reflections on CYC in our modern world of super complexity. In these times of
contestation, competing frameworks and uncertainty, how could any student commit to a
concrete program based solely on knowledge that will likely change before the ink on the
learning resource is dry?
Learning happens through experiences. We as CYC practitioners know this
intrinsically. We often sculpt our relationship-based interventions as therapeutic

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experiences. As CYC educators, we have been using experiences to teach practice skills
for years now; practicums are primarily experiential based learning opportunities. It
makes sense on so many levels that students are seeking experiences and should be
provided with them to learn from. So, let’s continue to hold this idea of learning occurring
through experiences that are co-created and shared between students, educators,
community members and young people alike. Out with the old, and in with the
experiences.

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References
Gharabaghi, K. (2018). School’s Out. Forever! Retrieved May 8, 2018 from: http://www.cycnet.org/cyc-online/feb2018.pdf
White, J. (2015). An ethos for the times: Difference, imagination, and the unknown future in child
and youth care. International Journal of Child, Youth & Family Studies, 6(4), 498.

Matty Hillman

is a Child and Youth Care instructor in the Human Services program at Selkirk College
located in the beautiful Kootenay region of British Columbia; the traditional territory of the
Sinixt people. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Child and Youth Care from the
University of Victoria. His research interests include, sexual violence prevention and
response on post-secondary campuses, healthy masculinities and critical youth
mentorship. As a muralist, he is especially interested in the intersection of youth work and
public art – exploring the opportunity these complimentary practices create for
empowerment, community building and social justice advancements.

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