Rattler + Broadside Issue 128 - November 2019

Rattler + Broadside

COMMUNITY EARLY LEARNING AUSTRALIA JOURNAL

UPSKILLING

ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019

How early educators can help stop racism - The calming power of mindfulness for children The benefits of upskilling - Why good conversations count - Preschools under pressure and much more

FROM YOUR CEO We have Amplified our members’ views on a wide range of issues impacting all service types including: Federal and NSW elections, Ministerial Roundtables, National ACECQA Review, NSW OOSH Project Strategy Sector Consultation, NSW ECE Advisory Group, NSW sector consultation on the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education Review, and Reserve Bank Early Education Consultation.

In partnership with MCSA we will continue to advocate for mobile services across NSW as they move into assessment and rating and funding challenges. We are looking forward to holding Mobile Meet in March 2020, where the focus will be on assessment and rating, communication, wellbeing, and quality practices in a mobile context.

Michele Carnegie, Lesley Loble and Forbes Preschool Director Amy Shine

A

s 2019 draws to a close, I’m thrilled to bring you our final digital edition of Rattler magazine for the year. With insightful articles covering topics such as stamping out racism, the rewards of upskilling, mindfulness, and the importance of quality conversations with children, your entire team will find something to inspire them as they take a pause before heading into the busy festive season. I would also like to remind you that a printed compendium will be delivered to you in December, bringing together the best Rattler and Amplify articles from this year.

The CELA office is alive with the constant hum of advocacy, collaboration and support for early and middle education.

We head towards the end of 2019 excited by what has been achieved this year, and enthusiastic for what lies ahead.

During this year our membership base has grown along with our resource bank, which now has over 90 sector leading resources. Our unique professional development program continues to be one of the key ways that we support educators to deliver quality early learning and care.

Over 4,500 educators have been part of our learning and development, consultancy and mentoring programs across NSW, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria this year. In NSW alone, our team has delivered PD in 31 regional and remote towns and 183 suburbs across Sydney. In addition to this, we regularly engage with members through video conference and webinar across Australia.

Recently, we have welcomed the opportunity to deliver Assessment & Rating – Prepare, Collaborate, Communicate training on behalf of the NSW Department of Education.

This has presented an opportunity to share a professional learning experience that builds understanding and confidence in this vital area. Feedback has been exceptional and it gives us great satisfaction to be able to provide such effective support for early education services across NSW.

Last month I travelled with Leslie Loble, Deputy Secretary of the NSW Department of Education to the Central West of NSW. We visited Forbes Preschool and Condobolin Preschool Kindergarten to discuss matters impacting early education in regional and remote communities. Dust storm withstanding, I was particularly proud of centre directors Melissa Nesbitt and Amy Shine, who continue to demonstrate a strong focus and advocacy for quality early education. They are determined to maintain a sustainable, highly qualified and diverse team which meets the needs of all children and families, and a culture where educational equity thrives.

I especially want to thank all of our members who took the time to respond to our surveys this year. Your knowledge and insights are invaluable and your input shaped our responses to government including: impact of Child Care Subsidy senate submission, Out of School Hours Care commentary, National Quality Framework review and joint submission between CELA, and the MCSA and Early Start UOW National Quality Partnership agreement on universal access to early childhood education review. Your level of response to these surveys ensures that our advocacy directly reflects the real issues in early education and carries weight with policy makers.

You may soon receive an email requesting your input for our current research project, which seeks to gather the characteristics of services who successfully engage vulnerable communities through early education. We are particularly interested in how team culture, diverse skills and targeted professional development create environments where early education is a social equaliser which results in improved outcomes for children.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that our highly experienced sector specialists are only a phone call or email away. We look forward to continuing to advocate for quality early education across Australia in 2020 and thank you for your commitment and contribution to CELA. We wish you a safe and happy end to 2019 and look forward to supporting you in 2020.

Michele Carnegie Chief Executive Officer Community Early Learning Australia

PUBLISHER Community Early Learning Australia EDITORIAL TEAM Michele Carnegie, Wendy Lindgren,

THIS ISSUE RATTLER+BROADSIDE | ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019

Tracey Long, Kerrie Maguire, Louise Black, Nathalie DuPavillon, Lisa Cloumassis Community Early Learning Australia CONTRIBUTORS Tracey Long, Carolin Wenzel, Megan O'Connell, Tamara Cumming, Margaret Paton, Adeline Teoh ADVERTISING AND PRODUCTION Traceylong@cela.org.au CONTRIBUTIONS We welcome your stories. Copyright is held jointly by the publisher and the author.

COPYING Email for permission to republish any part of this magazine. CELA thanks the children and educators who gave their permission to be photographed.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE Become a member at www.cela.org.au/membership-packages or email info@cela.org.au Membership includes an annual subscription to Rattler magazine plus access to invaluable sector resources, discounts on events, training and consultancy plus a monthly webinar and access to our expert advisory team.

Buy a subscription to Rattler at www.cela.org.au/shop/items/rattler DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed in Rattler are

WHAT’S ON

2

Early education sector conferences and events.

MEET THE MEMBER KAREN ROBERTS

4

Children's Services Manager for Canterbury Bankstown Karen Roberts was recently honoured for her role in providing accessible early childhood education for children seeking asylum.

STOPPING RACISM BEFORE IT BEGINS

6

Adeline Teoh shares how early educators can help to stamp out racism through cultural appreciation and inclusion.

THE CALMING POWER OF MINDFULNESS

10

How mindfulness and yoga can benefit babies and children in EEC, plus tips on how to get started.

BROADSIDE - UPSKILLING IN EARLY EDUCATION

14

SECTOR RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

Directors from a range of services share how they provide opportunities for their staff to engage in professional development, and educators tell us about the personal drivers and rewards they get from ongoing learning.

26

CELA’s Research and Policy Advisor Megan O’Connell shares an overview of the latest research from Australia and beyond.

PROFESSOR FLEER’S CONCEPTUAL PLAYWORLDS 28 How can you teach young children about STEM concepts within a play based setting? Professor Marilyn Fleer invites you to experiment.

30

Adeline Teoh explores new research that puts a spotlight on the value of good conversations with young children.

PRESCHOOLS UNDER PRESSURE 16

22

Could a Danish pedagogy model help Australian educators to manage emotional burnout? Dr Tamara Cumming reflects on the concept of care in Australian early education after a visit to Denmark.

MORE THAN WORDS

CELA looks at the key points from the Future Tracks report on upskilling in early childhood education.

THE REWARDS OF UPSKILLING

THE CONCEPT OF CARE REFLECTIONS ON A STUDY TRIP TO DENMARK

34

Rattler investigates preschools under pressure in NSW and Victoria, and how local communities are standing up for their preschools and have been victorious.

those of the authors and not necessarily those of CELA. CONTACT CELA 1800 157 818 info@cela.org.au www.cela.org.au Building 21, 142 Addison Road Marrickville NSW 2204 @communityearlylearningaustralia @CELAust

@communityearlylearning

ABN 81 174 903 921 ©2019 Community Early Learning Australia

- BREAKING NEWS NCOSS RELEASE NEW REPORT ON POVERTY IN NSW NCOSS (NSW Council of Social Service) has just released its 'Mapping Economic Disadvantage in NSW' report.

“With almost 1 in 6 children living in poverty, this incredibly important research highlights the need to not only listen to the needs of our communities, but to act on them.” ⊲⊲ You can view the report here: https://bit.ly/2BAfrZ4 ⊲⊲ You can also view the interactive maps at maps.ncoss.org.au

RATTLER ISSUE 127 | JULY 2019 | 1

WHAT'S ON EARLY EDUCATION

2019 CONSCIOUS CONVERSATIONS ARE KEY MASTERCLASS WITH SARAH MOORE

15 NOVEMBER | MARRICKVILLE, NSW This transformational masterclass unlocks the secrets to effective communication and gives you practical tools to tackle challenging conversations confidently!

LEADING FROM BEHIND LEADERSHIP PROGRAM WITH SARAH MOORE

17 FEB AND 18 MAY 2020 | ONLINE A 14-week online leadership program to help you dig deep into your leadership style and create a long-lasting impact that brings about positive change.

FIND OUT MORE: earlyeducationleadership.com/interactive-online-programs

FIND OUT MORE: cela.org.au/masterclasses

A DAY ON THE QIP WITH JENNIFER RIBAROVSKI

NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER ADELAIDE, SYDNEY, MELBOURNE, CANBERRA, PERTH Your Quality Improvement Plan is your strongest opportunity to demonstrate your exceeding practice. Jennifer Ribarovski will provide you with all the tools that you need to build a QIP that you can be proud of, and one that works for you!

FIND OUT MORE: jreducation.com.au/our-conferences

2020 MUNCH & MOVE HEALTHY EATING AND ACTIVE PLAY CONFERENCES

UNTIL MAY 2020 | VARIOUS ACROSS NSW This series of FREE conferences will be held in 15 locations across NSW. Places are open to early childhood education and care services in NSW, already trained in the Munch & Move program. Registration is open to one service leader per service.

FIND OUT MORE: earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/events/ munch-move-healthy-eating-active-play-conferences-2019-20

CELA LEADERSHIP RETREAT 19-21 MAY 2020

The CELA Leadership Retreat brings together a selection of sector experts to facilitate the change and renewal you need to effectively run your service.

This three day gathering will provide you with practical skills and strategies to elevate your own practice and that of your team.

THE NATIONAL EARLY YEARS SUMMIT

11-12 MARCH 2020 | MELBOURNE Join leading thinkers and change-makers at the National Early Years Summit which will look ahead and ask: What should a blueprint for children’s wellbeing look like?

FIND OUT MORE: www.cela.org.au/leadership-retreat or phone 1800 157 818

FIND OUT MORE: www.aracy.org.au/events/event/nationalearly-years-summit-2020

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 2

EARLY BIR D ON NOW!

WHAT'S ON COMMUNITY

NATIONAL RECYCLING WEEK 11-17 NOVEMBER

WORLD CHILDREN’S DAY

Founded by Planet Ark, National Recycling Week aims to promote recycling initiatives and give people the tools to minimise waste. Local councils, businesses and community groups are encouraged to join in throughout the week.

20 NOVEMBER Universal Children's Day is observed as a day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children.

FIND OUT MORE: un.org/en/events/childrenday

FIND OUT MORE: recyclingnearyou.com.au/nationalrecyclingweek

⊲⊲ UNICEF calls on world leaders to acknowledge the rights of children #GoBlue and sign the petition: www.unicef.org/world-childrens-day

WORLD KINDNESS DAY

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

The purpose of World Kindness Day is to look beyond ourselves, beyond our culture, our race, our religion; and realise we are citizens of the world. The Australian kindness movement’s goal is to generate a greater sense of friendliness in the community through the medium of simple acts of kindness. What can your service do to promote kindness in your community?

The International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) aims to increase public awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability and celebrate their achievements and contributions.

13 NOVEMBER

3 DECEMBER

FIND OUT MORE: idpwd.com.au

CHINESE NEW YEAR 25 JANUARY 2020

Chinese New Year celebrations, also known as lunar new year, last 15 days. During celebrations people clean their houses to drive away the bad luck of the previous year. 2020 is the year of the rat.

FIND OUT MORE: kindness.com.au/world-kindness-day.html

WORLD MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY 21 FEBRUARY 2020

International Mother Language Day is a day of multilingualism and multiculturalism.

It is a chance to promote the preservation and protection of all languages.

FIND OUT MORE: un.org/en/events/motherlanguageday

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 3

MEET THE MEMBER

Karen Roberts – Canterbury Bankstown City Council Children’s Services Manager

BY MARGARET PATON Karen Roberts is an early childhood professional with a career spanning 43 years. She holds a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) and Master of Early Childhood (Special Education) and has worked as a teacher, director, special educator, TAFE teacher, trainer, and guest university lecturer and tutor. She is currently a Children’s Services Manager for local government. Her interest and expertise areas include children’s rights, child protection, positive behaviour guidance and inclusion, as well as communication, relationships and team building.

M

ost recently, Roberts has been honoured by the local community for her role in providing accessible early childhood education for children seeking asylum in Canterbury Bankstown.

In 2017, Karen Roberts heard a member of the Asylum Seeker Centre speak at a children’s services network meeting.

The member said that asylum seekers do not receive any government subsidies such as childcare rebates, and since many of them have limited finances to start with, they are unable to afford early childhood education for their children.

Roberts realised that her council may have a solution.

“We had been discussing the oversupply of centres in some of our suburbs impacting on enrolments,” says Roberts.

“I had been thinking about what a waste it was - that educators are employed to meet ratios, the numbers aren’t there, and centres are therefore overstaffed. I realised that adding an extra child a day to overstaffed centres would cost next to nothing, so I suggested that we could either give a place for free or a very minimal fee to a family who has survived hardship and even torture and come to a country where they have rights.”

Early in 2018, Sydney Alliance (a coalition galvanizing organisations to act for the ‘common good’) got in touch with Roberts to discuss ways to make the opportunity a reality.

“Our council is already very welcoming to refugees. It made complete sense to find a way to help” she says of the yearlong pilot, which she runs with the Asylum Seekers’ Centre, Sydney Alliance and Uniting through its Integral Links to Early Learning program.

Currently, nine children use the program – each attend one of the council’s long day care centres for two to three days or occasional care centre for one day a week. At the start, Roberts assessed the childrens’ skills and knowledge and will follow up with another assessment at the end of this year. So far, feedback from her staff and the Sydney Alliance has been positive.

“The children are developing well. A couple of them were very timid, but they’ve settled in. Some parents have enrolled in study,” says Roberts By all reports, Roberts’ enthusiasm, empathy and her leadership have been integral to the success of this program.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 4

future and provide them with the opportunity to learn and grow in the same way Australian-born children can.”

Roberts has managed this innovative program as part of her regular workload at the council where she’s worked as manager since 2003.

Roberts also manages four nationally accredited long day care centres for children up to age six, plus a family day care service, an outside school hours care program, occasional care and early childhood intervention services. That makes her responsible for 66 permanent and six casual staff and a total of 1,060 children across the services.

Karen Roberts speaks at an event celebrating Early Childhood Education for Children Seeking Asylum in Canterbury Bankstown Photo credit: Danish Ravi

“Karen understands deeply the importance of ECEC for all children, and for children seeking asylum in particular,” says Chantelle Ogilvie-Ellis, Sydney Alliance. “She was willing to do the research and planning that could make our dream for ECEC access a reality for these families. Karen put together the report and proposal that the City of Canterbury Bankstown then adopted for the pilot program.”

Lakemba, in Roberts’ council area, has the highest number of asylum-seeking families in NSW – 78.

Mayor Khal Asfour says: “As a parent myself, I know how hard you can be on yourself, to want to provide the very best for your child – including a good education. By investing in the children [of asylum-seeking families], we help set them up for a better

“My tips to manage staff are: to identify their strengths, so you can work with them and encourage them; be positive in your communication and guidance, and use emotional intelligence. Nobody knows everything, so collaboration is important,” she says.

Three services have just completed Assessment & Rating with two services achieving an overall rating of Exceeding and one Meeting.

Roberts says that one of the keys to achieving good ratings was consolidating relationships in the community, making them pervasive rather than tokenistic. Those relationships include the long term partnership with a local nursing home which involves regular visits, morning tea and reading sessions.

Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour speaks at an event celebrating Early Childhood Education for Children Seeking Asylum Photo credit: Danish Ravi

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 5

Roberts is proud of the amazing natural environments her services have - despite being located in highly populated areas, she says that they are situated on great blocks of land with beautiful gardens. She says they are, "great places of wonder for risk taking and exploration."

The overarching philosophy of her services is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and EYLF principles of belonging, being and becoming.

“Each service takes that and makes it their own.

We also have a very strong belief in child-centred and strength-based practice as well as inclusivity and family participation,” says Roberts.

WHY EARLY EDUCATION IS SO IMPORTANT TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SEEKING ASYLUM According to Chantelle Ogilvie-Ellis of Sydney Alliance, the joint initiative with Canterbury Bankstown Council has had a profound impact on the families involved.

“We know that access to ECEC makes a significant difference to children's educational, health and social outcomes later in life. Children seeking asylum already experience enormous disadvantage due to their uncertain visa status, little income support, and their families' experience of trauma due to their persecution overseas.

“Exclusion from ECEC compounds this disadvantage, while access to ECEC prepares them to succeed at school.

It also enables their families to become work ready and support themselves, as well as connecting the families to the broader community and a network of social supports.”

By enabling these families to flourish, Ogilvie-Ellis says that the initiative also benefits the broader community, which gains when families fully participate socially and economically.

“Furthermore, we think this initiative is deeply meaningful for our local Australian communities. It is a way that we can say to people seeking asylum and their children that we welcome them and want them to thrive here.”

Stories of the positive impact of the project have included: ⊲⊲ Children whose grasp of English has increased dramatically since starting in care ⊲⊲ Children who are making friends in Australia for the first time and developing social skills ⊲⊲ One child who was essentially non-verbal before starting in care, and now communicates with others around him ⊲⊲ Parents who have been able to enrol in English and vocational courses at TAFE as a result of having access to ECEC, and are now better prepared to seek work once their children start in school next year.

SO, HOW DOES THAT LOOK AT HER CENTRES? At Punchbowl Children’s Centre, director Karen Whitehorn details the many ways the service connects with families of diversity, like celebrating family traditions such as Eid and Chinese New Year.

“A lot of Bangladeshi families have joined us, and we successfully applied for a NSW government grant to have a support worker with us for eight weeks late last year,” says Whitehorn. “The support worker was able to meet and talk to those families about our service and expectations, and provide our educators with feedback to improve relationships and provide a more meaningful program.

“We had a parent evening with the educators and learnt quite a bit about their culture and how best to settle their children.

We were able to talk about the importance of children arriving early so they didn’t miss a lot of the education program.”

As for transition-to-school programs, the director of Earlwood Children’s Centre, Anna Arambatzis, says they network with local schools and run evening Q&A sessions annually with families who can quiz key educators from the local primary school. Preschoolers also attend the school’s Harmony Day events, their regular morning tea and even bring money to buy food from the school canteen – something they might experience when they move on to ‘big school’.

Meanwhile, Roberts says she’s become more passionate about children’s rights over the years.

“I want every child to be safe, healthy, develop well and learn. I believe in the value of quality early learning and intervention, that’s why I do it.” 

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 6

Leadership Retreat BYRON BAY 19 - 21 MAY 2020 Inspire - Engage - Ignite

EARLY BIR D ON NOW!

Connecting early education leaders for professional growth, networking and revitalisation

The challenges of leading people, policy and practice can often be overwhelming, particularly when there’s little time for professional reflection or physical renewal.

The CELA Leadership Retreat brings together a selection of sector experts to facilitate the change and renewal you need to effectively run your service. This three day gathering will provide you with practical skills and strategies to elevate your own practice and that of your team.

Being a leader is tough, challenging, lonely and unpredictable.

Knowing you can share this with others without judgement is important.

- June 2019

Only 20 spaces available, book soon to avoid missing out!

Find out more: www.cela.org.au/leadership-retreat Any questions? Please call 1800 157 818 or email: info@cela.org.au

STOPPING RACISM

before it begins

How early educators can help to stamp out racism through cultural appreciation and inclusion

BY ADELINE TEOH In an era where diversity and inclusion are on the education curriculum, why is it that racism is still so prevalent in schools? Adeline Teoh provides a snapshot of post-multicultural Australia and how educators can prevent the onset of racist attitudes.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 8

A

survey of more than 4,600 primary and secondary school students in NSW and Victoria has revealed that almost a third of respondents (31%) reported experiences of racial discrimination by peers, more than one in four (27%) by society and over one in 10 (12%) by teachers.

The Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR)1 study, conducted in 2017 and published this year, provided an eye-opening account of multicultural Australia. It not only underlines the prevalence of racism directed toward young people and its effects — the paper also tracked students’ socioemotional development and sleep and found about 23% of participants were at risk of a clinically significant socioemotional difficulty.

WE NEED TO STOP TICKING BOXES WHEN IT COMES TO DIVERSITY For Dr Criss Jones Díaz, senior lecturer in Diversity Studies and Languages Education at Western Sydney University, the results are not surprising. Her research into diversity and difference, alongside WSU’s Professor Kerry Robinson, involved comparing issues over a span of 20 years and she admits education was probably in a better place two decades ago.

“Some of the programs that still continue today, such as multicultural or international days, are very tokenistic and superficial,” says Jones Díaz. These practices tend to present culture as fixed rather than fluid, which can promote a problematic approach to diversity that does not reflect cultural practice as everyday lived experience.

It’s this ‘tick a box’ approach to diversity that promotes the warm and fuzzy feelings around multiculturalism while ignoring the reality of racism. This means racism is never addressed directly, which in turn becomes an inadvertent avoidance model for children.

“Racism exists in our society and children are part of that society. The racism word is hard. We don't want to use it because we have to deal with it,” states Jones Díaz. “Often, if there's an incident of racism at school with young children, educators won’t approach it from it being racist. They’ll approach it from a developmental perspective. Often they’ll just talk to kids about not being nice.”

Her suggestion? Call out racism and give children an understanding of what it is. Only then can educators use racist incidents as a teachable moment and begin to stamp it out.

FROM POLICY TO PRACTICE One highlight of the SOAR report was that 60% of education staff in NSW believed that their education department provided sufficient professional anti-racism education compared to just 32% in Victoria.

A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education says its Anti-Racism Policy was first introduced in 1992. Since then it has introduced a range of professional learning programs in addition to teaching materials to address issues of race and cultural diversity in the classroom.

Moreover, the department provides special training for AntiRacism Contact Officers (ARCOs) in each school. ARCOs are typically experienced teachers nominated to the role by teachers, parents and students who trust them due to their communication and mediation skills and interest in antiracism education. While principals bear the responsibility of implementing policy, ARCOs provide support to principals to

manage and resolve complaints of racism and to promote anti-racism education within schools.

Policy is an incredibly important foundation for practice, says Jones Díaz. Policy has driven professional development in the schools space while lack of policy has stagnated learning for early childhood educators. "In a school, as a teacher, you can say the Department of Education has this policy, we need to review how we adhere to it, but we don't have policy direction in early childhood.

“Where there is policy it might be at the level of the centre.

There are centres that do address issues of racism and multiculturalism, that have excellent programs and develop culturally responsive pedagogies relevant to the families and the children. It's not that nobody's doing anything, it's just that there's no structured approach.”

Leadership is also crucial for setting or implementing policy, she adds. “If the leadership is not there, if [tackling racism] is not considered important by a director or principal of a school, then it is likely not to happen.”

The NSW Department of Education says the most effective approach is one that encompasses the full range of a school’s activities including programs which value cultural diversity, reject racial discrimination and meet the specific needs of students and communities from culturally diverse backgrounds. Early education can follow suit with inclusive practices ranging from diversity in play and teaching materials as well as modelling inclusivity in how they communicate with culturally and linguistically diverse members of the community, starting with parents.

RECIPE FOR AN ANTI-RACISM PROGRAM Ingredients: ⊲⊲ Leadership from centre directors and principals ⊲⊲ Educators who are interested and aware of racism issues ⊲⊲ Diverse community members and stakeholders

Method: 1. Set an anti-racism policy based on input from diverse community members and current best practice.

2. Undertake anti-racism professional development and further learning.

3. Collaborate with diverse community members to establish background and context for your program.

4. Expose children to diversity.

5. Call out racism when it happens and use it as a teachable moment.

6. Provide resources (for example books and other materials) in the classroom as well as the staff room for continuing education.

7. Review, update and repeat.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 9

The Department also agrees that strong leadership practices which support the creation and maintenance of respectful, culturally inclusive and welcoming school environments is required.

LOCAL ISSUES, GLOBAL FOCUS One of the challenges is how to support the 27% of students who experienced racial discrimination by society.

The Department notes that ‘increasingly, students are reporting experiencing or witnessing racism outside school, both online and in the community.’

ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES

Jones Díaz sees this as a consequence of global politics and misleading media representation. The effect is regression. “There's an incredible re-emergence of deficit approaches to cultural difference,” she observes.

⊲⊲ BULLY ZERO www.bullyzero.org.au

She has witnessed culturally different families being treated as problems rather than having educators view difference as an asset to build learning. “I'm not saying there are services that are racist. I'm saying that having a highly diverse community may push educators to think about particular issues. Good educators will see the potential of working with other communities by working in collaboration with them.”

⊲⊲ ETHNIC COMMUNITY SERVICES CO-OPERATIVE www.ecsc.org.au

From an early education standpoint, she advocates for exposure to diversity as young as possible, even if the immediate environment isn’t diverse.

⊲⊲ AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION www.humanrights. gov.au > Education > Early Childhood Education

⊲⊲ NSW DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION education.nsw.gov.au/teachingand-learning/curriculum/ multicultural-education/antiracism-education ⊲⊲ RACISMNOWAY www.racismnoway.com.au ⊲⊲ RETHINKING MULTICULTURALISM/ REASSESSING MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION www.multiculturaleducation.edu.au ⊲⊲ SBS How to face up to racism at school www.sbs.com.au/learn/ faceuptoracism/howto

SOME BOOKS TO GET STARTED (shared by the team at Bankstown Council’s Children’s Services)

⊲⊲ FAITHS AND THEIR FESTIVALS

by Christine Howard and Kay Margetts

“It's not enough to say, we don’t have diverse kids, so we don’t have to do anything about this. We're living in a global world; we're not isolated from each other. It's about understanding that diversity doesn't have to be in the backyard to have an inclusive environment. It’s finding ways of exposing children to the diversity that you know exists but is hidden for whatever reason. That takes commitment and courage.

“We are living in a post-multicultural era, what we now call super-diversity. How to operate in that context requires educators to be observant and critical and responsive, also collaborative. Multiculturalism plays a huge role in reducing racism because a lot of racism is an outcome of ignorance.”

1 The SOAR study was conducted by the Australian National University, together with Western Sydney University, the University of Melbourne, the University of Technology Sydney and Deakin University, in partnership with the NSW Department of Education, the Victorian Department of Education and Training, and the Australian Human Rights Commission. VIEW THE STUDY

⊲⊲ COME EAT WITH US AND COME HOME WITH US from Oxfam ⊲⊲ CHILDREN JUST LIKE US

by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley ⊲⊲ RAMADAN MOON

by Na’ma B Robert & Shirin Adl ⊲⊲ FAIR SKIN BLACK FELLA

by Renee Fogorty

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 10

HOW FORBES PRESCHOOL PROMOTES INCLUSION with a ripple effect to the entire community In our last edition of Rattler, we shared a Meet the Member article focusing on director Amy Shine of Forbes Preschool.

Forbes preschool has a large number of Indigenous families, and puts emphasis on inclusion and cultural appreciation.

They have a structured cultural philosophy program and the staff are involved in regular cultural safety programs, both of which Amy says have had flow on effects to the entire community. Rattler spoke to Amy about the preschool’s approach to inclusion.

RATTLER: Your cultural philosophy is at the heart of your service, please tell us a bit about it and how it developed.

AMY SHINE: In a few words our cultural philosophy is ‘everyone is welcome here, everyone belongs’. This statement is embedded in who we are every single day!

It has been developing over many years and is now something that you feel when you come into our place. It is the interactions and partnerships with our families and community, it is the way we communicate respectfully. It is about walking together, not about us as early educators telling families what they need to do.

RATTLER: What do you think is the best way that early educators could help to reduce racism and encourage embracing different cultures?

AMY SHINE: The relationships we as early educators have with others are seen and heard by the children, it is a feeling that you sense when there are respectful relationships. It is families being welcomed the same as each other regardless of who they are or where they are from. Even the youngest of children can sense the feeling people have when they are with each other and when we all have open and honest relationships they sense this respect of different cultures.

Be it a different race, religious beliefs or the food we serve our children.

RATTLER: If a service director was looking to address issues with racism, or help to stem it before it starts, how could they begin?

AMY SHINE: My advice is to just start! Have zero tolerance of negative attitudes towards racism and cultural differences. Partner with others in your community – be the advocate in your community to show people it is ok to accept everyone.

It’s clear when you meet with me before starting a role at the preschool – whether you’re a new employee, visiting therapist or a prac student - that we accept everyone for who they are. The environment reflects this attitude, from the food we offer to the way no one is judged. 

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 11

s s e n l u f mind

The calming power of How mindfulness and yoga can benefit babies and children in early education setting

BY TRACEY LONG

“When I ask myself why it has become so important to me to practice and to teach mindfulness and meditation, it simply comes down to one thing: I truly want children to live happy lives,” says mobile preschool director and mindfulness practitioner Kym Dixon. “When we are happy we are kinder to ourselves and others, we live in the moment, we experience gratitude and we connect.”

K

YM DIXON has been a teacher for nearly 30 years and a director of a mobile preschool for the last 5 years. She started using mindfulness and meditation with her preschool children after practicing both techniques and seeing the benefits herself.

“Helping children to connect to the moment and to their bodies supports them in recognising how feelings and their physical state are connected,” explains Kym. “It gives them

knowledge, and knowledge is power. They begin to develop awareness and understanding of how they can manage what is happening to them and that they have the power to change that state.”

Mindfulness and yoga for children has been shown to have great health and wellbeing benefits such as a reduction in stress and anxiety, greater focus, better memory and behaviour (Harvard Medical School , 2016).

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 12

Tips

How to use mindf ul calm a stressful ness to si tuation: There is a song

Photo credit Cynthia Levin, Connect Kids Yoga

EXACTLY WHAT IS MINDFULNESS? According to The Oxford Dictionary, mindfulness is:

Tips

Incorporating mindfulness into your setting: ⊲⊲ ⊲⊲ ⊲⊲ ⊲⊲

Limit distractions Use a quiet space Dim the lights Consider using relaxation music ⊲⊲ Use age appropriate timing Erin recommends no longer than 5-10 minutes for children under 2, then 20-30 mins with 3 year olds (including a few different activities such as songs, breathwork, meditation or affirmations and a story with a good story line to open up a discussion).

1. the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.

2. a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

Early educator and mindfulness practitioner Erin Sharwood describes mindfulness as being present, being in the moment and being aware in a way that is non-judgemental.

“That means feeling your emotions, acknowledging them and not judging yourself for what it is you may be feeling,” explains Erin. “You can be fully present by noticing sounds, colours, smells, textures, listening to conversations and being in the moment with the person you’re speaking with.”

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 13

I lov don’t even know th e to do with the children and they at it is a breathing tec is singing I blew a bubble; I blew a bu hnique and that bubble blue. And as it grew, I blew an bble I blew a blue d blew and blew an d blew and blew PO P! As you sing you blo w out making a bu your hands. At th bble grow with e end pretend they have have them pop their bubble or a balloon that may be going to take them off into the sky, get them using imaginations. It is fun, interactive an their d they are getting in big deep breaths.

Erin lives and works in a large town in the Central West of New South Wales.

She first came across mindfulness while she was exploring her own self-development and says that it changed her life. She has become so passionate about its benefits that she has developed her own mindfulness programs for both adults and children.

HOW CAN MINDFULNESS BENEFIT IN EARLY EDUCATION SETTINGS? “Educators play one of the most important roles in a child’s education around health and wellbeing,” says Erin. “We are a major part of these families’ lives in the most crucial learning years of their children’s lives.

We should be looking at the whole child including mind, body and spirit.”

Erin believes that this includes educators offering children support, love and care, as well as teaching them the importance of looking after their health and showing them how to move their bodies and exercise their minds She lists many benefits of mindfulness including helping with focus, the development of self-control and resilience, and boosting confidence.

BLOWING RASPBERRIES – MINDFULNESS FOR BABIES Erin practises mindfulness with even the youngest of children in her care, which could include the simple act of blowing raspberries and encouraging them to mimic her.

“You can start a mindfulness practice with children as young as a few months old,” says Erin. “It’s as simple as sitting with the child and being present.”

She will often sit with her group of 0-2 year olds at the morning tea table and engage them with breathing exercises.

“I just tell them to breathe in…. breathe out…. I accentuate my breathing and they copy me. It’s so cute. Some of them close their eyes. As they get older, they can start short meditations or breath work.”

She has a simple meditation for toddlers which involves sitting cross legged and touching each finger to the thumb as they repeat over and over ‘Peace Begins With Me.’

CREATING CALM STARTS BY UNDERSTANDING THE BRAIN Kym Dixon has begun to develop her own mindfulness program with her 3-6 year old preschoolers, which she starts each day after lunch.

“I begin the school year by introducing children to the three key parts of their brain,” says Kym. “I have a picture of the brain with the neocortex, hippocampus and the amygdala areas

Tips

Ways to practice mindfulness with babies: ⊲⊲ Be fully present with them when you interact ⊲⊲ Look into their eyes ⊲⊲ Sing to them ⊲⊲ Talk to them and tell them to be aware of their senses ⊲⊲ Show them different objects and give them time to really observe and see the items ⊲⊲ Encourage them to touch their surroundings and feel different textures ⊲⊲ Give them an opportunity to explore their taste and smell ⊲⊲ Expose them to different sounds

highlighted. One of my pre-schoolers demonstrated to his family how these parts of the brain work using pegs the same colour as the highlighted brain sections, so I now use pegs to demonstrate how the brain can become connected and disconnected.”

The Hippocampus regulates motivation, emotion, learning, navigation and memory.

The amygdala is essential for decoding emotions and decision making. It activates the ‘fear’ signal that leads to an adrenaline rush, or fight or flight response in our body.

These two brain structures also play an important role in the release of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin influencing the capacity of the neocortex, for regulating thought, emotions, and actions, as well as keeping information readily accessible during active learning (Stress and The Developing Brain, Georgetown University) Neuroscience studies have shown that in individuals who regularly practice yoga and mindfulness the amygdala can actually shrink, allowing us to better manage our threat response (Washington Post, 2015).

Understanding the brain and how it works is vital for educators who want to bring mindfulness and yoga into their early education settings. Neuroscience explains how and why stress can impact on children’s behaviour, while yoga and mindfulness teach the practical strategies to recognise the stressors and soothe the stress response, enabling children to use their upstairs, thinking brain rather than their downstairs, reactive and emotive brain.

After introducing the areas of the brain, Kym teaches the children about

Neocortex

Amygdala Hippocampus

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 14

Tips

How to use mindfulness to calm a stressful situation: ⊲⊲ Try reading the child’s cues or triggers and get to them before it escalates ⊲⊲ Sit them with an educator who they feel safe and secure with ⊲⊲ Use calming tools such as tapping or breathing ⊲⊲ Show the child how to do ‘take 5’ breathing where they trace the outline of their hand breathing in as they go up the side of the finger and out as they trace down (it takes them away from what they were finding challenging and helps them to focus on something else).

‘There may be something that a child who has challenging behaviours resonates with more,’ says Erin Sharwood, mindfullness practitioner. ‘That may just take trial and error and I would suggest using the tool they like the most.’

emotions and connects them to their breath. They discuss the mind, heart and body connection and explore their heartbeat.

“It is a joy to see the wonder on children’s faces as they feel their heartbeat with their hand,” says Kym. They then move on to the five senses and finish the year by looking at gratitude and kindness in more detail.

“One of the biggest impacts for me is working with children with challenging behaviours and supporting them to understand what is happening to their bodies and how to connect mind, heart and body.”

CALMING MINDS AND CONNECTING BODIES WITH YOGA

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

Yoga is another wonderful way for children to become connected to their bodies and calm their minds. Children’s yoga practitioner Cynthia Levin runs programs for children from 3 months old.

“Children who practice our program in their early education environment have their confidence boosted, which in turn cultivates resilience and they begin to selfregulate,” says Cynthia. “Yoga also develops mindfulness and focus which leads to a sense of calm.”

Cynthia explains that children’s yoga classes are very different to adult yoga.

While there are periods of quiet and relaxation where soft music is played and the lights may be turned off, children’s yoga can also be loud, full of energy and creativity.

So, do you have to be a yogi expert to bring yoga into your space? Not according to Cynthia.

“Yoga in its simplest form is breathing correctly,” she says. “An educator can use varying types of breathing techniques to help calm a child. Five-finger breathing is a very effective yoga/breathing tool as its always available to the child and can be done anywhere or anytime and encourages the child to take 5 deep breaths in and long breaths out.”

When asked whether educators should consider incorporating mindfulness or yoga into their programming, Kym Dixon answers with an emphatic YES. “I highly recommend going for it,” says Kym. “Try to develop a basic understanding of yoga, mindfulness and meditation, but don't feel you need to be an expert or a guru.

“This is an area where practicing what you teach will benefit you and the children.

The most important thing to remember is to have fun, explore and experiment. What a wonderful gift to give yourself and the children you educate and care for.” 

THE BEHAVIOUR TOOLKIT FOR EDUCATORS:

Neuroscience & yoga This training session is built on current research into how children's brain development can affect behaviour, and introduces yoga as a practical tool for educators to use in their program.

During this session you will learn how to identify a child's stress related behaviour and develop an understanding of how the brain and body work together to create behavioural responses.

A practical yoga session will follow to enable educators to introduce yoga and mindfulness to children in the early years, creating a powerful foundation for positive behaviour.

FIND OUT MORE www.cela.org.au/training/yoga

Broadside

Upskilling in early education In September Future Tracks, a social enterprise committed to attracting and supporting the next generation of teachers and leaders in early childhood education, released their research report on Upskilling in early childhood education.

RATTLER ISSUE 128

Broadside

NOVEMBER 2019 | 16

T

HE Future Tracks report provides interesting insights into the barriers and opportunities to grow the ECEC workforce.

The report was commissioned to identify the barriers to upskilling faced by educators, in light of the tremendous predicted jobs growth – up to an additional 29,000 early childhood teachers by 2023.

The researchers undertook a literature review, qualitative research with current early childhood educators and a quantitative cost-benefit analysis to formulate their report.

THE RESEARCHERS IDENTIFIED FIVE KEY THEMES:

The panel discussed the five themes, including concerns raised by educators that a role as an ECT is “high-stress and high burden”, a lack of understanding of what the role entails, the high level of job vacancy and the pay differential.

Entering study was raised as a major barrier by educators – both juggling the challenges of personal life, work and study, and a lack of confidence in their capacity to engage in university study with comments made including: Entering study was raised as a major barrier by educators I wonder if I am good enough and I am worried about all the extra work that you have to do and the responsibilities” – educator The panel discussed the importance of supporting staff to upskill by providing motivation, mentoring and study leave.

This was also borne out in the research, with contrasting views between educators who had not been supported to upskill:

1. Mixed perceptions and low awareness about the value and opportunities of an early childhood teacher (ECT) role and qualification 2. The challenge of managing workload and family commitments with study 3. Concerns about the value of university courses, academic supports and application process 4. Limited support and challenging conditions within the workplace 5. Financial burden and risk of upskilling is too high

My manager said to me: “Why would you do that? You don’t need to do that” and those that had:

A panel discussion was held with Joe Connell (Associate Director at Dandolo Partners who lead the research), Simon Kent (Public policy fellow, University of Melbourne) Paul Mondo (President Australian Childcare Alliance) and Julie Madgwick (Head of Early Learning and Education at G8).

I had wonderful role models and mentors over the course of my early childhood career, who always encouraged me to continue to study and upskill” – educator currently upskilling

Cost Benefit Analysis

The cost of studying was also raised as a major issue, with the cost benefit analysis showing the break even point at 6 years if educators studied part time or full time whilst working part time.

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS

CONCLUSION

$220,000

sis

In conclusion the panel discussed a range of ideas to improve the upskilling of early childhood educators, which are Sophie is 42 years old and some runs herofown family While Sophie is ab awithin day care business.

2.5 years, the lost the controlShe of obtained services.a diploma

$170,000

Sophie: Scenario 1

$120,000

in 2010 after the introduction of the National TheseFramework. included: Quality

$70,000

⊲⊲ Identifying whichhereducators are most While she loves running own business, suited tothe becoming childhood she now wants flexibilityearly to work in a teachers kindergarten setting. Sophie decides to go back to university full time.incentives, ⊲⊲ Providing financial

$20,000 $0 $(30,000)

$(130,000) $(180,000) 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Year (after commencing course)

Figure 2: Cost-benefit analysis for upskilling to an ECT role Scenario 1: Full-time student (no work) Scenario 2: Full-time student (part-time work) Scenario 3: Part-time student 13

She will not be bet will still be $40,925 while studying.

including paid placements organising Because of the demands of runningby a small placement swaps with day care. business, she closes her family

$(80,000)

12

doesn’t recoup he she commences st

Scenario 4: Full-time study and work

To better understand the financial risk for an educator Cost-benefit analysis for upskilling to an ECT role. considering upskilling, a cost-benefit analysis was undertaken (Sourced from Future Track, Upskilling in early childhood education Report.) as part of this project. The cost-benefit analysis explored four different upskilling scenarios and potential implications for educators.

Discount rate: A discount rate of 3% is applied to the potential The following assumptions were made: income gains / benefits. The discount rate reflects the timevalue of money and makes it possible to compare or University degree: Educators attaincosts a Bachelor of Early payments (cash flows) over time. In an education model, theRATTLER ISSUE 128 Childhood Education at La Trobe University discount rate puts less weight on benefits far in the future.

Sanjeev: 11 12 Scenario 2

13

other organisations Scenario 1: Full-time student (no work) 2: Full-time (part-time work) ⊲Scenario ⊲ Creating astudent culture of continual Scenario 3: Part-time student learning Scenario 4: study work Sanjeev isFull-time 22 years oldand and currently working ⊲⊲a local Talking about the of being for government runbenefits long day care.

He an ECTaincluding careerout pathways and obtained diploma straight of school and salaries. has been working for two years. He always

Wanting to make t experience, he dec reduce his hours a per week.

wanted to go to university, but wanted to earn Given the current and growing shortfall in some money first.

By studying full tim complete his qual early childhood teachers, services may He has to been mentored by one of the ECTson at how gets a job as an EC wish read the report and reflect his service for the past 12 months and is now after commencing to support current staff to upskill.

Discount rate: Aconfident discount rate ofhas 3%what is applied potential his costs. By study that he it takesto tothe succeed income gains / benefits.

The discount reflects the timeatRead university. earning a higher in more at Futurerate Tracks: 10-year period ear value of money and makes it possible to compare costs or www.futuretracks.org.au/upskilling/ (compared to wha payments (cash flows) over time. In an education model, the upskilling-research as an educator). discount rate puts less weight on benefits far in the future.

The cost benefit analysis shows that the value from switching Mai Lin is a 38-year-old educator currently educator Mai Lin: to an early childhood teacher (from diploma-qualified working for a large long day care provider.

Scenario 3 income) isNOVEMBER highest for2019 those to receive full-time 17 who continue Broadside She loves| working with children and always pay while studying full time (Scenario 4) as they continue wanted to work in an early years setting.

She to Recognition prior learning: are able to shorten receive the sameobtained salary while studying.III through the VET in The cost benefit analysis of shows that the value Educators from switching her Certificate

her excellent pract demand for peopl

On advice from co study part time an

The rewards of

UPSKILLING

BY CAROLIN WENZEL There is urgent demand for educators to increase their level of qualifications to meet professional standards and rapid growth in workforce requirements. In addition, professional development is a necessary (and rewarding) part of a career in early education. However, most early educators and providers are challenged by limited time and budget to support career development.

Carolin Wenzel spoke with directors from a range of services to find out how they provide opportunities for their staff to participate in professional development, and to educators about the personal drivers and rewards they get from ongoing learning.

E

arly Childhood Educators are more qualified than ever before, yet more is needed – both in upskilling to Diploma and/or Degree qualifications, and in undertaking professional development courses. Our sector needs an additional 29,000 degree qualified Early Childhood Teachers[1]. On top of this there may be even greater demand for qualified ECTs as more states support children to attend two years of preschool or kindergarten.

Many educators have upgraded their Certificate III to a Diploma in order to meet the new quality standards, and many are starting degree courses. However, research

commissioned by Future Tracks and The Front Project into the barriers and incentives for educators to upskill to a bachelor qualification found that 84 percent of educators surveyed considered upskilling but reported major barriers.

These barriers included difficulties managing workload and family commitments with study, and finding University fees too expensive (Dandolopartners 2019)[2].

The report recommends three ways service providers can support educators to upskill: provide information and encouragement on courses and career opportunities; provide financial support for their staff to do further study and

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 18

provide guaranteed jobs as ECTs for staff who undertake degree study.

With or without extra formal qualifications, there is an ever growing field of practical knowledge and skills that early childhood educators need to stay up to date with. These include: compulsory updating of vital knowledge, including First Aid and Child Protection certificates; non-compulsory courses in topics ranging from curriculum development to leadership skills and beyond, and additional sessions covering topics of professional interest or personal passion.

EMPLOYER SUPPORT CRUCIAL FOR THOSE PURSUING DIPLOMA AND DEGREE QUALIFICATIONS It was encouraging to discover that some of the service providers we spoke with have found ways to offer significant support to educators who want to increase their qualification to a Diploma or Early Childhood Teaching Degree.

Carla Spitteri, Senior Coordinator (Education & Care) at Cumberland Council in NSW has had all of her professional training funded by the Council, starting with a Certificate III after leaving high school. She subsequently completed further study including the Diploma of Children’s Services and Bachelor of Teaching (0-5yrs), all funded through Council’s professional development program.

“Cumberland Council has an ongoing commitment to the professional development needs of educators, and views professional development as a critical component of recruiting and retaining educators,” says Carla. “Working in a sector that promotes continuous improvement it is critical that organisations provide professional development opportunities for all staff in order to remain up to date with current trends and practices.”

Not-for-profit provider Froebel Australia supports staff to further their qualifications through financial support and study time during work hours, also by accessing funding provided by the NSW Government’s Smart & Skilled traineeship program. For staff who don’t meet the criteria for this stream of support, Froebel have found other ways to support staff members wishing to undertake further study. As part of their commitment to an internal Future Leaders Program, Froebel will start a scholarship which covers the course fees to undertake an Early Childhood Teaching degree for eligible program graduates.

Community mobile preschool service Galloping Gumnuts in the NSW Central West provides study time at work for staff completing their Certificate III and Diploma courses. They have also explored scholarship support for educators to complete their Early Childhood Teacher degree.

While studying for her Diploma between 2016 to 2018, Co-director Jess Gearon made use of work-based study time and resources and was able to do her practical work placement at a Galloping Gumnuts service.

In each of these cases, having the support of their employer was crucial to being able to manage the triple load of work, study and family life.

SHARING TRAINING WITH THE TEAM

CATERING FOR CHILDREN WITH ADDITIONAL NEEDS Dealing with transitions was an issue for educators at South Coogee Out of School Hours Care (SC OOSH), especially for special needs children. Director Zac Thomas organised for himself and many of the educators to do a course specifically on supporting children with special needs.

He found that it made his team more aware of how to understand and cater better for children with special needs.

They were taught techniques to provide warnings so children could prepare for sessions to end. This included setting up a clock with a visual countdown zone so children could see how much time was left, and giving ample warning before the change-over.

They were also given new insights into why a child with autism regularly hid under a table.

Instead of trying to get the child out, an educator joined him, and found out that this was the child’s safe space, to get away from over-stimulation. So that educator created a bigger safe space for that child.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 19

PERSONAL CHOICE IS THE KEY TO PD ENGAGEMENT

is more effective to allow staff to choose a course that suits them, rather than directing them. Linking training topics to a discussion about professional goals in their performance review and their own motivations seemed to work best.

As all early childhood educators, directors and managers know, there is so much more that educators and directors need to stay on top of once their formal training is over.

Supporting the professional development of her staff is a high priority for Galloping Gumnuts Co-Director Carol Drummond:

Professional development in the form of short courses, seminars and conferences is vital and comes in two categories: 1. Compulsory requirements, like first aid certificates and child safety training where educators need to update their certificates regularly 2. Ongoing knowledge and skill development depending on the individual’s preferences and motivation For this second category, directors we spoke with said that it

+

Gaining higher qualifications may increase pay level.

“When I was in the room as a teacher, being sent to PD sent a message to me that the organisation values me and wants to invest in me, to give me fuel to be an educator.”

-

BENEFITS ⊲⊲ PAY

“The early childhood space is constantly evolving. If we expect that our educators are going to continue to work in this field, to feel invigorated and valued, and able to keep up with current research and practice, we need to invest in them. It’s like having a car that’s due for a service – if I say ‘I can’t afford to service it now’, it still runs ok, but then eventually it will stop running so well.

BARRIERS ⊲⊲ COST Need to seek extra funding and budget for staff to have professional development opportunities, or support higher study ⊲⊲ TIME

⊲⊲ PERFORMANCE Required for Teacher Accreditation, greater knowledge and skills resulting in improved performance to meet KPIs.

⊲⊲ CONFIDENCE Access to the right techniques to deal with issues like behaviour and self-regulation can improve educator confidence and the quality of teaching. ⊲⊲ QUALITY Training can mean that services have more effective employees who are better at caring for and educating children, understanding their needs and supporting them.

⊲⊲ STAFF RETENTION Investing in staff has been shown to create higher job satisfaction.

Need to make arrangements to allow educators to take time for professional development.

For educators, finding time for study on top of work and family commitments can be hard. ⊲⊲ INTEREST Educators need to be interested and motivated to undertake the extra study commitment or professional development course. ⊲⊲ LOCATION Educators in non-metro areas often need more time and financial support to cover transport and accommodation Training needs to be offered in more locations or available online as well. ⊲⊲ PLANNING Managers and directors need to plan and support educators to participate in professional development and upskilling their qualifications.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 20

Froebel Australia shows they value staff with generous Professional Development support. Every permanent educator is funded to take a minimum of two personal development units and can do a maximum of six– these can take the form of a short course or workshop, attending a conference or participating in a webinar.

Froebel St Leonards Director Geraldine Bykerk supports all staff to undertake professional development because it generates change and discussion.

Froebel educator Zixian values every training opportunity provided to her and urges colleagues to do likewise.

“Doing extra professional development makes your own life easier,” says Zixian. ‘If you’re struggling, extra support from courses can build confidence.

Some people might think ‘why should I go?’ If you focus on something you really care about, you can make a real difference in early childhood.”

Zixian is receiving support from Froebel to study for a Masters in Special Education at Macquarie University. To help facilitate this, she has access to a computer at work, and is being rostered on shifts compatible with her university schedule.

SHARING TRAINING BENEFITS WITH PARENTS

THE SLEEP NEEDS OF CHILDREN Froebel educator Zixian was motivated to do a course about sleep needs of infants and toddlers by a registered nurse to help explain to parents why children need to nap during the day.

“We have a lot of parents who complain that their children are not sleeping at night, so they want to restrict children’s sleeping time at the service.

“In my degree I learnt that children need deep sleep to develop their brain functions – such as logical thinking and memory. We were taught that it’s wrong to wake the children, especially if they have a hard time waking up.”

“When parents tell us their children wake up during the night, I now have more information to explain that this is normal for children, because their sleep cycle is shorter – they have more chances to wake up during the light sleep phase.

Children need reassurance from their parents to learn to be an independent sleeper.”

As is the practice at the service, Zixian shared her notes on the course with the other educators, but she wanted to go further and communicate what she had learned with the parents, so she shared her notes via StoryPark.

She received positive feedback from parents who “I feel really bad when I wake up the children felt it was useful. Although she still has parents before they are ready to wake on their own. If they who want sleep restrictions, she is motivated don’t have enough sleep, it really impacts on their to keep trying. She sees her job as being behaviour, they have more instances of meltdowns.” about, “building a bridge between families and “The nurse who gave the course stressed the information or resources –to help release stress. importance of the sleep cycle – 45minutes for We are the first point of contact –You just have infants, 60minutes for toddlers and pre-schoolers to keep doing what you’re doing, and hope it will and 90minutes for adults.” affect change one day.”

APPROACHES TO PLANNING PD Directors and managers have a variety of approaches to offering and planning professional development to staff.

Key to professional development planning is to align individual and team goals to the organisation’s Quality Improvement Plan. Several directors told us that they include discussion of professional development needs and requests in regular performance review meetings, so it is formally included in staff development plans.

Cumberland Council sets an individual training plan with each educator annually and engages quality training organisations to deliver training and provide educators with the knowledge to support changes to practice.

“I would like to see all educators from centres, both commercial and not for profit, have access to a Professional Development Program every year. Ideally professional development should be a condition of employment and be funded,” says Catherine Zammit, Council Manager Children, Youth and Families.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 21

Other directors take responsibility for researching professional development opportunities by visiting websites of sector training providers and signing up for newsletters that they receive by email.

At Froebel, director Geraldine Bykerk provides educators with all the information about available courses and helps them to book the right course after they have set their own development goals.

“Half of their PD activities can be in an area that they are particularly interested such as STEM, music, or art, the other half needs to be an area that they agree they need support with, for example documentation, or communication,” says Geraldine. “This makes them accountable. [It means that] they are doing training they are interested in.”

Froebel require educators to share what they have learnt at training sessions with the rest of the team, thereby creating a ripple effect from the training investment for the entire team.

TOP PD TIPS FOR DIRECTORS ⊲⊲ Plan and budget for professional development for each staff member ⊲⊲ Subscribe to training provider email lists, collect calendars and share them with staff ⊲⊲ Make sure the staff member is interested in the topic, that they are the one who has asked to do the course ⊲⊲ Encourage staff who receive training to share it with colleagues and even parents ⊲⊲ Check with trainers if they can send someone out to your site and train multiple staff ⊲⊲ Schedule a staff development day for all staff to train together ⊲⊲ To supplement paid professional development, look for resources you can subscribe to or buy, and ask a staff member to compile interesting information into a presentation (these could include articles from CELA or ECA publications). 

EFFECTIVE PD MEANS FINDING WAYS TO BREAK THROUGH THE BARRIERS There is wide-spread agreement that educators benefit from a professional development plan tailored to their needs and interests, and that supporting educators to increase their qualifications and professional skills and knowledge benefits children and families. However, the directors we spoke with also expressed frustration at a range of barriers that get in the way of providing professional development support.

Barriers include lack of funds to send educators to courses or support them to upgrade their qualifications as well as having enough staff to cover the roster for educators to take time to participate in training. For regional services barriers also include the extra time and money required to travel to courses which are offered mainly in metropolitan areas

REFERENCES [1] From 2020, new NQF standards will require each long day care and preschool service to have at least two degree-qualified ECTs in all services where 60 or more children are in attendance. ACECQA National Quality Framework www.acecqa.gov.au/qualification-requirements/additionalstaffing-requirement-1-january-2020 [2] Upskilling in early childhood education: Opportunities for the current workforce by dandolopartners for Future Tracks and The Front Project, 2019 retrieved from: www.futuretracks.org.au/images/downloads/UpskillReport.pdf

Individual motivation is another factor - as Carol Drummond at Galloping Gumnuts says: “It’s no good just throwing your training budget into compulsory courses – too many will feel like they don’t want to be there. You really need to know your staff, where they’re at in their career, where they feel their strengths are.”

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 22

TRAINING NOW OPEN FOR BOOKINGS! 30 sessions to choose from CELA training equips educators with the knowledge that changes practice and underpins quality early education.

Our 2020 training calendar offers a wide range of engaging topics developed especially with current sector issues and interests in mind. Join our scheduled sessions in Sydney, or we can tailor a session to suit your team and location.

DOWNLOAD TRAINING CALENDAR:

www.cela.org.au/training

EXPERT TRAINING THAT COMES TO YOU CELA offers training in any metropolitan, regional and remote area, any time across Australia. If our training calendar options don't suit you or your team, call our Learning and Development experts on 1800 157 818 to arrange a customised session. No matter where you are located, we can come to you or connect via video conference.

FIND OUT MORE >

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 23

THE CONCEPT OF CARE

A REFLECTION ON A VISIT TO DENMARK

BY DR TAMARA CUMMING Could a Danish pedagogy model help Australian educators to manage emotional burnout? Dr Tamara Cumming (Charles Sturt University) reflects on the concept of care in Australian early education after a visit to Denmark to understand the concept of the 3Ps

I

N May this year I visited Denmark as part of a Charles Sturt University Research Fellowship. It was an interesting time to visit, as secret camera footage taken in a few Copenhagen children’s services had revealed terrible practices. This came on the back of a documentary in which pedagogues had shared concerns about the impacts of inadequate numbers of staff for meeting children’s needs.

Subsequently, families had joined pedagogues in public demonstrations to advocate for improved staffing ratios. Quality care was therefore top of mind for many in the community.

EXPLORING THE 3Ps The main reason for my trip was to meet with lecturers, students and pedagogues (the degree-qualified staff who work with children in Denmark) to

talk about a concept called the 3Ps. The 3Ps are private, personal and professional. The concept is used in Denmark to help pedagogues bring together these three aspects of self in their role in working with young children - to enable them to build strong relationships by allowing children to know them as a person (not just a professional), while also keeping some aspects private.

My interest in the 3Ps was based on findings from the pilot of our Early Childhood Educators’ Wellbeing Project, that many Australian educators were experiencing emotional burnout, and frequently felt they had to be nice no matter what. I wondered whether explicit training in how to understand the professional and private might be helping Danish pedagogues manage emotion in their work. If so, could this way of

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 24

understanding how the personal, private and professional intersect help Australian educators too?

During my trip I met with university lecturers, students and Danish pedagogues. It turned out that things weren’t quite as I imagined, because in Denmark, emotion is not such a dominant part of pedagogy as it often seems in Australia.

In Denmark, showing care is about respectfully demonstrating attention to children’s personal development, and engaging with children to further their journey as a democratic, disciplined part of society. By contrast, care is portrayed in the EYLF as involving an emotionally-based concern for children’s physical and emotional safety, and for creating an environment that nurtures their development and growing sense of identity. There is a contrast then,

between Denmark’s image of the child as an emerging part of democratic society, and our image of the child as an emerging individual.

This difference in focus between ourselves and Denmark is (I think) partly connected to the pre-service training of Danish pedagogues, who study early childhood education as part of an overall degree in social pedagogy rather than teaching. Social pedagogy is a discipline with roots in German educational philosophy, and its focus is 'Bildung' - children’s comprehensive personal development (Brostrom, Jensen & Hansen, 2017, p.

28). Facilitating this comprehensive personal development involves assisting children to develop selfdetermination, co-determination and solidarity – key tenets of democracy.

To me, these ways of supporting the development of the person sounded quite rationalistic, and would presumably require a quite rational approach of pedagogues. However, I was very interested to find that according to the 3Ps model, the ideal pedagogue is not so much based on a rational professional subjectivity, as a reflexive personal subjectivity, that is itself distinct from an unreflexive private self.

So, to put it visually, I had assumed that the combination for an ideal pedagogue would be: PRIVATE

PROFESSIONAL

PERSONAL

Whereas the ‘ideal’ pedagogue looks more like this: PRIVATE

PERSONAL

PROFESSIONAL

In Denmark, showing care is about respectfully demonstrating attention to children’s personal development, and engaging with children to further their journey as a democratic, disciplined part of society

To understand this approach means knowing a little more about each of the 3Ps:

PRIVATE The private perspective draws on an individual’s own life experiences, but without reflection on their success or impact for the self or others, and seen only from the individual’s perspective.

The private is also about an individualistic rather than co-operative approach – so, a pedagogue who believes the way they already do things is enough, and that they can work in isolation. For these reasons, the ‘private’ perspective can mean seeking to reaffirm existing beliefs and therefore only meeting the individual’s own needs for validation of what they already know.

PROFESSIONAL The professional perspective is about formal knowledge gained through education, and using this knowledge to evaluate and analyse the individual’s

The oldest early childhood centre in Copenhagen, Denmark

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 25

actions as a pedagogue. The professional perspective is outwardslooking and oriented to meeting others’ needs by drawing on formal knowledge.

to develop as democratic citizens.

Through the personal however, the pedagogue is also expected to benefit as a person through their engagement in learning with children.

This can include working cooperatively with others, but these others and the individual are always working from the basis of their own unique formal knowledge. For example, working with a professional perspective means keeping a boundary around the individual’s identification as an early childhood specialist, and emphasising their role as an equal member of a transdisciplinary team that pools its expertise.

Dividing out parts of our self as if they aren’t interconnected, or assuming some parts are more rational than others reflects a somewhat static way of understanding how we make and present our self in our work.

PERSONAL

In reality, our subjectivity is far more complex! At the same time though, categorising in a model can help reduce the complexity so we can consider how these parts of self might be integrated in our professional roles.

Drawing attention to these aspects of self can also help us be more conscious of the ways emotion plays out in educators’ practice.

The personal perspective requires an open-minded attitude in which the input of others is critical to creating the best outcome for children. The personal requires self-insight in the form of practice wisdom – so, drawing on knowledge and experiences to creatively engage with children. It also requires a willingness to work collaboratively with others to the extent that assumed hierarchies based on being the ‘adult’ or the ‘child’, on qualifications, or job role are not prioritised over working towards learning and good outcomes. Perhaps most interesting to me is that the personal is understood as a space where the pedagogue – as well as the children – gain from their daily exchanges.

WHAT ABOUT EMOTION?

SIMPLE, BUT A GOOD PLACE TO START

As if to reinforce the embeddedness of the 3Ps value, the public demonstrations about poor quality care can be understood to reflect the ideal personal pedagogue - having the selfinsight to know what they could do with more or better resources, and working together with others (in this case,

The care that a pedagogue exercises then, is a willingness to step into a space of learning that combines their individuality with their knowledge in the service of assisting children

Based on the interviews with pedagogues that I conducted, emotion is still part of this work.

Indeed it is critical to creating the authentic personal space for learning.

However, there seemed to be far less ‘emotional exhaustion’ as we would understand it (that is feeling emotionally overwhelmed, fatigued and even numb). Rather, the stress the Danish pedagogues talked about seemed more related to (for example) perceptions that inadequate staffing was making it impossible to do their best work, than to exhaustion from limitless giving.

families and the public) towards better outcomes for all. Good quality care then, extends far beyond the educator and child. It is about valuing educators’ knowledge, skills and attitudes and by facilitating the conditions that will help them provide quality experiences and outcomes for all.

SO WHAT MIGHT THIS MEAN FOR AUSTRALIAN EDUCATORS? ⊲⊲ Being aware of the complexity of educators’ roles in terms of whether, and how much, different aspects of self are part of practice. ⊲⊲ Thinking about whether the Danish idea of being personal as a means of being a good early childhood professional is helpful in the Australian context ⊲⊲ Revisiting assumptions about the role of emotion and care in early childhood practice: ⊲⊲ What do you mean by emotion and care? ⊲⊲ What do they mean to you? ⊲⊲ How does that differ or is that similar to others in your workplace?

The Early Childhood Pedagogy section of the EYLF (page 11) provides guidance and prompts for this kind of thinking. For example, investigating why educators act in the ways that they do by discussing and debating theories and beliefs, and recognising how they play out in practice – are theories and beliefs enhancing or limiting practice? What are some of the consequences for children and of actions based on these theories and beliefs? How does that all help educators to work fairly and justly for children, families, and, in relation to educators’ themselves? 

In the Early Childhood Educator Well-being Project we are continuing to think about emotion and its role in well-being. If you would like to keep up to date with our work please ‘Like’ us on Facebook by visiting @EarlyChildhoodEducatorWellbeingProjectECEWP

Dr Tamara Cumming (Charles Sturt University) is researching the emotional demands of early childhood work and the politics of their impact on educators’ well-being.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 26

...the stress the Danish pedagogues talked about seemed more related to (for example) perceptions that inadequate staffing was making it impossible to do their best work, than to exhaustion from limitless giving RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 27

EARLY EDUCATION RESEARCH FROM AUSTRALIA AND AROUND THE WORLD INSIGHTS FROM MEGAN O’CONNELL, CELA’S RESEARCH AND POLICY ADVISOR

EARLY EDUCATION BENEFITS EVIDENCE FROM NORWAY Estimating the Consequences of Norway’s National Scale-Up of Early Childhood Education and Care (Beginning in Infancy) for Early Language Skills

is a key factor impacting the differences in education achievement between low and higher socio-economic children.

Eric Dearing, Henrik Daae Zachrisson, Arnstein Mykletun et.al

The study found that children’s early language skills improved, with the greatest improvements for children from low socio-economic backgrounds. The study suggests provision of early education from an earlier age could help to narrow achievement gaps.

This research article examines the impact of the scaling up of early education in Norway from age one. Researchers looked at the consequences of Norway’s universal ECEC scale-up for children’s early language skills. They aimed to determine if universal preschool narrows or widens the gap between lower and higher socio-economic children’s language acquisition. Language was focused on as it

READ MORE https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ full/10.1177/2332858418756598

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 28

THE FRONT PROJECT ECONOMIC ANALYSIS The Front Project’s economic analysis was launched in mid June. It shows that every $1 invested in early childhood education $2 is gained in return in higher tax takes and reduced health and welfare costs.

The report found: ⊲⊲ “For every dollar invested in early childhood education programs, we receive two dollars back: $997M to children themselves, through a lifetime of increased earnings. ⊲⊲ $1,463M to families, due to increased earnings gained by returning to the workforce earlier and boosting hours in the year their child attends early childhood education as well as the impact of a shorter career gap. ⊲⊲ 1,507M to government, over the lifetime of the child, from increased tax revenue and decreased expenditure on health, justice and welfare. ⊲⊲ $319M to business and the economy, from the productivity boost of a more educated workforce.”

The analysis is modelled on 15 hours of preschool, and provides a conservative analysis of the return on investment. The report has been widely shared and discussed across the early childhood and business community.

The report authors suggest that, given the 1:2 return, investment in early childhood education is vital for Australia from both an economic and social cohesion viewpoint. Like CELA, the report authors argue action is needed across four key levers: ⊲⊲ INVESTING IN QUALITY Ensuring every child should has access to a quality early childhood program and that all services meet the National Quality Standards ⊲⊲ C OMMITTING TO ONGOING FUNDING Providing ongoing funding to enable service building, planning and workforce development. ⊲⊲ INCREASING ACCESS Ensuring all children can access early learning, including improving participation rates of children in disadvantaged communities. ⊲⊲ O FFERING TWO YEARS Providing two years of preschool before the commencement of school to better prepare all children for a life of learning.

The full report can be found at: www.thefrontproject.org.au/initiatives/economic-analysis An information sheet for the early childhood sector can be found at: www.thefrontproject.org.au/images/downloads/Costbenefit%20analysis_Sector%20info%20sheet.pdf

NEW RESEARCH ON EARLY AUTISM INTERVENTION New research from Telethon Kids Institute on early intervention to support parents to communicate with their babies who show early signs of autism found that intervening early prior to diagnosis helps children’s language development. Researchers supported an intervention group of parents whose babies were showing early behavioural signs of autism.

Researchers video recorded and provided coaching to parents on how to communicate and interact with babies who may not have responded to parent interaction in the usual manner. This encouraged a more productive communication relationship by skilling parents to read the more subtle communication clues exhibited by babies. They found that whilst both control and intervention babies continued to exhibit early autism behaviours at the end of the trial, the babies in the intervention group understood and spoke more words.

For educators, this study provides insights into the capacity to build language skills in all babies by responding to subtle communication signals.

FIND OUT MORE www.telethonkids.org.au/news--events/news-and-eventsnav/2019/july/video-intervention-early-signs-autism

NEW RESEARCH ON INDIGENOUS EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION An Abecedarian Approach with Aboriginal Families and Their Young Children in Australia: Playgroup Participation and Developmental Outcomes Page, J. Cook, M, Murray, L. et.al.

This study explores whether the Abecedarian Approach Australia - 3a intervention provided through playgroups can improve young Aboriginal children’s early language and learning skills, prior to preschool. The study was conducted in two remote Aboriginal communities under the Families as First Teachers model.

The program was adapted to suit a remote Aboriginal context. This includes training aboriginal support workers alongside an early childhood educator.

Complexities with the program include a vast array of indigenous languages spoken by the participants.

However, a strength of the approach is that the adapted learning games and conversational reading were not reliant on an understanding of English.

The study found that children benefited from the program with improved language development, and that children who attended the most frequently benefited the most. The program is a promising way of supporting early childhood development in remote communities, as a pathway into preschool.

FIND OUT MORE link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13158-019-00246-3

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 29

PROFESSOR FLEER INVITES YOU TO

Experiment with Conceptual PlayWorlds A marriage of play and technology to inspire young children to form concepts in STEM

HOW CAN YOU TEACH YOUNG CHILDREN ABOUT STEM CONCEPTS WITHIN A PLAY BASED SETTING? Professor Marilyn Fleer of Monash University has developed a model of intentional teaching which is designed to explore this question. Called Conceptual PlayWorlds, the model is currently in research phase. The results of the research, which will look at how children interact with the model, will become the basis of a national teaching framework to support early childhood educators to teach STEM through play.

“When children play, they imagine,” says Professor Fleer.

“Imagination is the basis of STEM concepts. We have to imagine the universe because we cannot see it, we have to imagine molecular activity because we cannot see molecules. When we support children’s imaginary play, we also support their imagining of STEM concepts.”

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 30

they are. Play allows them the safety to reach their full potential. This idea can be further supported when early childhood educators can find avenues that value the child in play ideas, their perspectives and their endeavours.”

HOW EDUCATORS CAN GET INVOLVED:

Without play a child cannot know who they are. Play allows them the safety to reach their full potential.”

WHAT IS A CONCEPTUAL PLAYWORLD? Professor Fleer describes a PlayWorld as a kind of ecology – a program of learning and development which is about creating an imaginary situation together with the children.

To set up a conceptual PlayWorld, educators create a scenario where children are invited to go on journeys, meet and solve challenges, and learn STEM concepts – all while playing. The inspiration for a PlayWorld could come from anywhere – a children’s book or a fairy tale, and can be set up in any space whether indoor or outdoors.

Rebecca Lewis, an educational consultant guiding teachers who are interested in play based approaches, has helped to create many PlayWorlds with children. All were all based on a story they had read so that they had a shared context for playing together.

“We think about the spaces, often outdoors, where this play will unfold.

We think about how we’ll enter and exit the shared imaginary situation together, for example - an imaginary tunnel, a magic door, or a time machine. And we think carefully about creating the problem that will be part of the play scenario for us to solve together - emotion, drama and empathy are key.”

Oriana Ramunno is a Clinical Teaching Specialist at the University of Melbourne. She has also run many PlayWorld scenarios with educators

and children who are participating in the research. Scenarios have included looking at microbiology through the story of Alice in Wonderland, learning about biodiversity through The Magic Faraway Tree and learning about space and the Moon through the story of The Secret Garden.

Oriana says she has been interested to discover that many educators don’t feel comfortable to play or don’t feel that it is their place to ‘interfere’ in children’s play. She views PlayWorlds as an opportunity to change this view.

“I found that when an imaginary world is created together, when you learn and solve problems together, that relationships with co-teachers and children were strengthened.

Conceptual PlayWorlds really shine a light on the importance of play and STEM in early education.”

Educators can find out more via the Conceptual PlayWorlds website, watch the launch video and download the PlayWorld App, which guides you through how to create PlayWorlds and shows some sample scenarios.

You can also find out the five steps to creating a PlayWorld in this Monash University TeachSpace article.

Professor Fleer’s team are looking for early childhood educators to register their interest in getting involved with future research activities. Participation will include a two-hour professional learning session to show educators how to run a Conceptual PlayWorld, and an opportunity to explore your own ideas with the project’s research team. You can register your interest here: www.monash.edu/conceptualplayworld/get-involved The Conceptual PlayWorld model is part of a larger five-year programmatic research project called the Conceptual PlayLab, which is supported by a Laureate Fellowship from the Australian Research Council. Professor Fleer was recently recognised at the Business Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) Awards for her work in building Australia’s capacity in early childhood education over the last 25 years. 

PROJECT RELATED LINKS

PLAY PROVIDES A STRONG BASE FOR STEM FOUNDATIONS

⊲⊲

Professor Fleer is a strong advocate for play in the early years and believes that play is vital because it allows children to revisit their ideas, consolidate their understandings and develop their imagination. It also provides space for collaboration amongst peers and the chance to find new purposes for everyday items.

⊲⊲

“Play provides opportunities for children to be beyond themselves and imagine possibilities,” says Professor Fleer.

“Without play a child cannot know who

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 31

⊲⊲

⊲⊲

⊲⊲ ⊲⊲ ⊲⊲

PlayWorlds website: www.monash.edu/ conceptual-playworld Download the app www.monash.edu/ conceptual-playworld/app Get involved: www.monash.edu/ conceptual-playworld/get-involved Discover the 5 steps to creating a PlayWorld: www.monash.edu/education/ teachspace/articles/five-steps-forearly-childhood-educators-to-create-aconceptual-playworld-and-encourage-alove-of-stem Educators share their PlayWorlds www.facebook.com/ groups/383942372405331/ Professor Fleer’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/marilyn.fleer.14 Sign up for PlayWorlds newsletter www.monash.edu/conceptual-playworld

Are you making the most of your member resources?

Our member library contains over 90 sector leading resources that will help you to navigate the National Quality Framework and standards and provide the best possible outcomes for children at your service.

SAMPLE POLICY

SIMPLE GUIDE

SAMPLE POLICY

SIMPLE GUIDE

Administration of First Aid QUALITY AREA 2: CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND SAFETY

Nappy Change and Toileting

Policy Statement

Introduction

The First Aid Policy, strategies and practices are designed to support educators to:

Meeting the needs of children by providing support during the toileting transition as well as the provision of clean nappies and a safe and hygienic place for changing children is a basic need that is important for children’s comfort and happiness.

⊲ Ensure that ill or injured persons are stabilised and comforted until medical help intervenes ⊲ Monitor ill or injured persons in the recovery stage

The Nappy changing and toileting procedure is an opportunity in the child’s day where interactions, guided by the learning frameworks and NQS, are meaningful, warm and responsive and support children’s learning.

⊲ Apply further first aid strategies if the condition does not improve ⊲ Ensure that the environment is safe and that other persons are not in danger of becoming ill or injured.

Being an Approved Provider

Goals / What are we going to do?

First aid can preserve life, prevent a condition worsening and promote recovery. The capacity to provide prompt basic first aid is particularly important in the context of an early childhood service where staff a duty of care to take positive steps towards maintaining the health and safety of each child.

Strategies / How will it be done?

First Aid Qualifications In accordance with the National Regulations 136(1). ⊲ The following persons are in attendance at any place where children are being educated and cared for by the service, and immediately available in an emergency, at all times that children are being educated and cared for by the service:

Reviewed: Sept 2018

CELA IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY COMMUNITY CHILD CARE CO-OPERATIVE

PAGE 1

Educator (Diploma) Educator (Diploma) (enter name of Preschool/Long Day Care)

Responsible to:

Nominated Supervisor

January 2019

Other Requirements: ⊲ Current First Aid Certificate, Anaphylaxis Management and Emergency Asthma Management ⊲ Clear Working with Children Check

Award/Agreement:

Job Summary

(p.8, Putting Children First, 2006)

Educators work in collaboration with other educators, room leaders and the Nominated Supervisor.

Accountabilities and Key Performance Indicators Education and Care of Children

⊲ To enhance reputation;

⊲ Word of mouth recommendations are very powerful in the early childhood sector – always consider the impression your education and care service and its stakeholders make on the general public and potential clients.

CELA IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY COMMUNITY CHILD CARE CO-OPERATIVE

Strategies / How will it be done?

Risk Assessment for Potential Emergencies

3. What are your end goals?

In preparing the emergency and evacuation procedures, a risk assessment is conducted to identify potential emergencies relevant to our service.

⊲ Set realistic and timely achievements; ⊲ Develop a marketing plan and track your achievements; and

» Make learning visible,

PAGE 1

CELA IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY COMMUNITY CHILD CARE CO-OPERATIVE



Emergency and evacuation situations in an education and care service can arise in a number of circumstances and for a variety of reasons. In the event of an emergency or evacuation situation, the safety and wellbeing of all staff, children, families and visitors to the centre is paramount.

2. Why would families choose your education and care service?

» Early Years Learning Framework/Framework for School Age Care.



Goals / What are we going to do?

⊲ To establish your place in the local community.

» Education and Care Services National Law



⊲ Ensure regular rehearsal and evaluation of emergency and evacuation procedures.

⊲ To grow and improve your relationships with other organisations and services in the local community; and

» The National Quality Standards

CELA IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY COMMUNITY CHILD CARE CO-OPERATIVE

Policy Review Date Nov 2018



PAGE 1



⊲ Develop specific procedures around each potential emergency situation and ensure full awareness by all staff through the provision of professional development;

1. Why do you need to effectively market your education and care service?

⊲ To increase enrolments;

» Education and Care Services National Regulations

The education and care service will follow best practice guidelines for nappy changing and toileting to ensure the area is hygienic and to reduce the spread of infectious disease. The education and care service aims to make the nappy change and toileting experience a relaxed, happy and social routine that provides an opportunity for educators and children to further develop trusting, meaningful and positive relationships.

⊲ Conducting ongoing risk assessment and reviews of all potential emergency and evacuation situations, including medical emergency situations (see Medical Conditions Policy);

Knowing why you do what you do and how you do it, and then being able to articulate it is a huge marketing advantage.

⊲ In conjunction with Room Leader and other educators, implement a high quality education and care curriculum for all enrolled children that is consistent with:

⊲ Respond to children’s strengths, interests and needs and implement a planning cycle for individual children and the whole group of children within the room. This will need to:

Goals / What are we going to do?

PAGE 1









Our education and care service is committed to identifying risks and hazards of emergency and evacuation situations, and planning for their reduction or minimisation, and ongoing review of planned actions around handling these situations including:

Provocations

⊲ Act in a manner that promotes the best interests of the child.

» The service philosophy, procedures and policies

⊲ Element 5.1.2 -The dignity and rights of each child are maintained at all times.

Policy Statement

Service educators are responsible for providing education and care for children enrolled at the service, consistent with our philosophy and curriculum, and according to the requirements of the National Quality Framework.

⊲ Element 5.1.1 - Responsive and meaningful interactions build trusting relationships which engage and support each child to feel secure, confident and included.

QUALITY AREA 2: CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND SAFETY

“An effective marketing plan… Assists you to successfully manage your resources and time, and will enable you to budget realistically for marketing activities.”

(insert title of appropriate award and/or name of enterprise agreement)

⊲ Standard 2.1 - Each child’s health is promoted.

Emergency and Evacuation

Early Education and Care Service

Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care

CELA IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY COMMUNITY CHILD CARE CO-OPERATIVE

⊲ Element 1.1.3 - All aspects of the program, including routines, are organised in ways that maximise opportunities for each child’s learning.

SAMPLE POLICY

Marketing Your

Date: Qualifications:

CELA IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY COMMUNITY CHILD CARE CO-OPERATIVE

TEAM RESOURCE KIT

Sample Position Description

Position Title:

January 2019

This valuable experience also links back to many quality areas.

Being a Nominated Supervisor

Reviewed: Sept 2018

CELA IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY COMMUNITY CHILD CARE CO-OPERATIVE

PAGE 1

Visit the member resources area to find out more

www.cela.org.au/member-resources

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 32

     

Have you heard?

Guild Insurance can now also manage your workers compensation insurance.

CELA has been proudly working with Guild Insurance to provide protection for our member centres for many years. But did you know that Guild can also manage your workers compensation insurance?

their tailored Early Learning workers compensation product not only provides best value to centres like yours, but is a product that recognises the unique requirements of our profession.

Across New South Wales, Guild protects over 1,000 childcare centres and their workers, right now. And it’s through this experience, we trust that

Getting a quote is easy, simply visit our website guildne.ws/workers or contact Guild on 1800 810 213 to speak to a dedicated account manager.

Guild Insurance provides your business and staff with: Dedicated case manager that handles your claims from start to finish with direct contact details.

Highly competitive premiums with an additional 5% saving for bundling your business insurance*.

Lodge a claim anytime with our 24/7 online lodgement system.

Pay by the month at no extra cost.

1800 810 213 guildinsurance.com.au

Better through experience.

Insurance issued by Guild Insurance Ltd, ABN 55 004 538 863, AFSL 233791. Guild Insurance supports your association through the payment of referral fees. This information contains general advice only and does not take into account what you currently have, want and need for your personal circumstances. It is important for you to consider these matters and read the policy and/or the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before you make a decision about an insurance product. to underwriting approval. Terms and Conditions apply (including exclusions and limitations).

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | Subject NOVEMBER 2019 | 33 You can get a copy of the PDS by calling 1800 810 213. EAR79101 Early Learning - CELA Ad 112019

More than words

Why good conversations with infants count

BY ADELINE TEOH A decades-old study linking a ‘word gap’ with language and brain development is being challenged with a greater understanding that language acquisition is about more than words.

B Is there a word gap between households of different socioeconomic status?

And does it follow that the word gap can be an indicator of future academic success?

y the time a child reaches the age of four, one who grows up in a household with wealthy, professional parents hears 30 million more words than a child from a household of low socio-economic status (SES). Known as the ‘word gap’, this phenomenon was extrapolated from the mid-1990s research of education academics from the University of Kansas, Dr Betty Hart and Dr Todd Risley.

A quarter of a century later, early educators and linguists are re-examining what Hart and Risley’s study unveiled. Is there a word gap between households of different SES? And does it follow that the word gap can be an indicator of future academic success?

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 34

Revisiting the study Hart and Risley’s data was deep, though not comprehensive: they visited 42 families from different socio-economic backgrounds – 13 high-income families, 10 families of middle SES, 13 of low SES, and six families on welfare – and spent an hour a month observing the household from the time the child was seven months old until the age of three.

The researchers revisited 29 of the 42 families when the children were in third grade to conduct a follow-up study. They found that measures of accomplishment

It is not the number of words or the sophistication of the vocabulary a child hears that matters, but the quality of their conversations at age three were highly indicative of performance at the ages of nine and ten on various vocabulary, language development, and reading comprehension measures, concluding that the foundation built at age three had a great bearing on the children’s progress.

Since then, parents and educators have focused on closing the ‘word gap’ to try to level the playing field for children who may be socio-economically disadvantaged. However, closing the gap is a superficial fix for what should be a more involved practice; it is not the number of words or the sophistication of the vocabulary a child hears that matters, but the quality of their conversations. Hart and Risley write: "the most important aspect to evaluate in childcare settings for very young children is the amount of talk actually going on, moment by moment, between children and their caregivers."

Revisiting the study, many later education researchers have pointed out that Hart and Risley’s sample size was too small and localised, and that similar experiments did not give evidence that led to similar conclusions.

Dr Ilana Mushin, Associate Professor in the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Queensland and President of the Australian Linguistic Society, cautions against reading too much into the word gap. “There’s an underlying anxiety about these sorts of studies. What does it mean to have a ‘word gap’? If you're exposed to a narrower range of vocabulary, is that the same thing as having less language acquisition? Language acquisition isn't just words.

You can always learn new vocabulary, that's easy. It's the understanding that comes with that.”

Director of the Child Language Lab, Dr Katherine Demuth, who is also Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University, believes the word gap correlates to children's vocabulary size but says the link between low SES households and language acquisition is less clear. “There are suggestions that higher SES families may be talking more to their children. That might also involve larger vocabularies, more book reading and different types of words. However, SES itself is not a determinant of that,” she states.

“I've done lots of work in southern Africa in rural peasant communities where the verbal interactions are extremely rich. Children are doing amazing things with language at a very early age in part because people are talking to each other all the time. So you have a rich verbal communicative environment that does not dovetail with low SES. When you look at diverse communities around the world, SES is not the most important factor. It's really having a rich language environment that is the critical factor.”

More than words Having a fixation on the ‘word gap’ means educators often forget that language is more than words. While the link between linguistic and cognitive ability has been well established, the way we measure this is rooted in academic

ability. Other factors, including the difference between the family environment and the school environment, may account for a perceived lack of language development when that is not the case.

Mushin states, for example, that there is a clear connection between being multilingual and beneficial cognitive development. However, “if you grow up in a multilingual household or a household where English is not spoken as your first language, that's going to have an impact on going to school in Australia where English is the medium of instruction,” she notes.

Children from more educated households are more likely to have experienced the kind of discourse that carries into the school environment, whereas children from a different cultural environment would need to adjust to an unfamiliar discourse. This doesn’t determine development, however.

“You can have people who have not finished high school engaging very interactively with children just fine. You can also have well-educated parents who don't have any time to spend with their children,” Demuth notes.

When you look at diverse communities around the world, SES is not the most important factor. It's really having a rich language environment that is the critical factor There’s also an advantage to having parents “who are not mystified by the school system, who can assist with homework, who can read to the children,” says Mushin, and all of this is independent of language acquisition. “If a child comes to school with, say 30 percent less vocabulary than another child, what's the problem? Is there a problem? The assumption in [Hart and Risley’s] research is that there is a problem. But what's the real-world consequence for that child? There is huge cultural variation in the way children are socialised into using language and they all end up as competent adult members of their society. And that's all we want in the end.”

Instead of measures like vocabulary, literacy and academic achievement, language could instead be measured by its social currency. And multilingualism, including hearing children of deaf parents who use sign language, affords the richest source of social currency because the child can communicate with a wider range of people.

Additionally, language teaches children social rules – from how to communicate their needs and attend to the needs of others, to how to take turns. Those lessons are independent of vocabulary.

“As we develop cognitively, we learn how to be social in our world,” says Mushin, noting that this varies across cultures. “Globally, there are different practices for how you rear children and not all of them involve a lot of talking to children. There are cultures in the world where babies spend most of their time strapped to their parents’ backs while the parents work in the fields and they don't get talked to a lot.

But they learn language just fine.”

The upshot? The word gap is real but the effects do not carry the implications nor the consequences that educators first thought.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 35

Talking the talk ⊲⊲

START EARLY

⊲⊲

“Talk to your child even when they're pre-verbal.

Carry on conversations with them,” Demuth recommends. “Understanding comes long before speech. Don't hold back on talking to a child just because they themselves are not talking.” ⊲⊲

Avoid turning every conversation into a lesson, don’t be afraid to speak naturally. “If you pathologise [the word gap] and then come up with routines or things that you're going to teach, it isn't natural any more,” notes Mushin. ⊲⊲

PAY ATTENTION

⊲⊲

MAINTAIN ATTENTION

Do big pitch changes help children learn language?

Not quite, says Demuth. “It looks like that may be really more for affect, engaging to show that you're interested: [brightly] ‘Oh really!’ As opposed to [monotone] ‘Oh really.’ It helps keep the child's attention.” ⊲⊲

⊲⊲

USE OPEN QUESTIONS

Closed questions have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer; open questions invite a more complex response.

Start your questions with ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’ or ‘how’ to initiate a conversation.

EXPOSE THE CHILD TO DIFFERENT SPEAKERS

The case for involving early educators in a child’s development is clear: they provide a diversity of voices. “There's some evidence that suggests that children learn better from a variety of speakers so having a diversity of input from different speakers actually helps them figure out what the sounds of the language actually are,” says Demuth. “Having a diverse group of people interacting with a child is a good thing. The key is interacting; the child will learn a lot more from one-to-one interaction, not overhearing 10 people talking to each other.”

ENGAGE CHILDREN WHEN YOU TALK

In her book Language Development: Knowledge and Use, Dr Paula Menyuk from Boston University found that language skills were better developed in the children whose parents spoke to them directly and allowed time for a response than in those whose parents conducted a monologue. Of course, parents, caregivers and educators will sometimes need to give uni-directional instructions to children, but two-way engagement will be of most benefit. “Don't talk at children, but really engage them in conversation,” says Demuth. This includes modelling turn-taking.

USE RECASTING TO TEACH NEW WORDS

If you intend to teach a child a new word, try recasting. “Recasting is ‘What does the ball do?

Where's the ball? What colour is this ball we see here?’ Ball, ball, ball – as a subject, an object, in the middle of a sentence, at the beginning and end of the sentence, with an adjective: ‘the big ball’, ‘the red ball’, with the possessive. ‘my ball’,” explains Demuth. “Research suggests that being able to use a word in multiple ways within a sentence facilitates learning.”

Be present when you talk to the child. Distractions are commonplace, especially if you are supervising other children, but the one you need to quell the most is your Invisible Voice. If a child is telling you about the snail trails they saw this morning, your Invisible Voice will often cue up facts about snails, an anecdote about a snail from your childhood and a mental list of extension ideas for snail-related activities. Instead, learn to be present and really listen to the child. ⊲⊲

SPEAK NATURALLY

⊲⊲

ADD A LANGUAGE

If parents, carers and/or educators are comfortable in another language, consider adding it to the repertoire of conversation with the child. “Most children in the world grow up with more than one language. Monolinguals are the exception,” says Mushin. “When we're balancing what is cognitively beneficial in terms of the kinds of conversations that very small children should be included in, you'd want to consider trying to raise them with more than one language.”

Demuth agrees. “Most children in the world grow up in a language-rich environment with multiple languages. There's evidence that children are pretty good at keeping these languages distinct from quite an early age.” 

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 36

PUT YOUR FOCUS ON WELLBEING The wellbeing of the community in which early education occurs is central to building and maintaining best practices within the sector. CELA provides resources and training designed to improve wellbeing in your service.

EDUCATOR WELLBEING: FILLING AN EMPTY BUCKET

WELLBEING TOOLKIT This wellbeing toolkit offers Directors an introduction to the growing scientific base on psychological wellbeing, namely Positive Psychology. This includes evidence-based strategies on how to best support your wellbeing and that of your staff, as a way to ensure your communities flourish.

WHEN: 25 November 2019 or 27 May 2020

The toolkit provides an introduction to the current science of psychological wellbeing, including: ⊲⊲ an overview of what psychological wellbeing is currently understood to be ⊲⊲ a rationale as to why taking a proactive approach to mental health and wellbeing is important ⊲⊲ scientifically supported strategies to build wellbeing for you as Director/Leader and your staff

Drawing from Positive Psychology, Neuroscience and Emotional Intelligence this workshop aims to support educator wellbeing as well as identifying strategies that enable you to navigate difficult conversations, tricky personalities and assist you in identifying and embracing your strengths, passions and purpose as an educator.

FIND OUT MORE: www.cela.org.au/shop/wellbeing-toolkit

This session will explore where you find your ‘flow’ and what depletes your energy. It is important for educators to identify what fills their bucket and enable them to be present when working with children and their team mates.

FIND OUT MORE: www.cela.org.au/learning-and-development/ educator/#wellbeing

EXPERT TRAINING THAT COMES TO YOU CELA offers training in any metropolitan, regional and remote area, any time across Australia. If our training calendar options don't suit you or your team, call our Learning and Development experts on 1800 157 818 to arrange a customised session. No matter where you are located, we can come to you or connect via video conference. Find out more >

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 37

PRESCHOOLS UNDER PRESSURE Rattler investigates preschools under pressure in NSW and Victoria, and how local communities are standing up for their preschools and have been victorious.

I

T comes as a shock to realise that many preschool or kindergarten services, even those with the highest quality ratings, currently face financial and survival pressures.

The big public debate about preschool has focused on ongoing Federal commitment to provide funding for all four-year-olds to attend 15 hours per week before they start school. With state governments in Victoria, NSW, and the ACT opening the way to extend funding to three-year-olds in preschool programs.

The new pressure point comes from venue security, especially for local council-run early childhood services – and the battles are over land-use and rental costs.

COMMUNITY ACTION IN PORT PHILLIP BAY In Melbourne’s city of Port Phillip, five services currently fully run and funded by the council are at the centre of a heated public debate – with some Councillors pushing to reduce costs to council and transition the services to being community or not for profit management. The cause has been adopted by Community Alliance of Port Phillip who organised a public meeting with over 100 residents to oppose the Council proposals.

Convenor of the Community Alliance of Port Phillip (CAPP), Dr Rhonda Small said, “Council’s five centres … are vital hubs and connectors in the community providing high quality care that sets the benchmark for other providers.”

A parent of that community, writer Kasey Edwards, managed to get an opinion piece published in The Age, which quoted from a review of the Council’s children’s services portfolio.

Author of the review Dr Tim Moore, Senior Research Fellow at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute found that, ‘maintaining the current childcare services, even expanding them, would deliver the best immediate and long-term outcomes for all children, including those living in disadvantaged households.’

Ms Edwards concluded in her piece that, “early years education is in desperate need of bold, courageous and evidence-based leadership from our politicians.”

The community are disappointed that at their September meeting1 Port Phillip Bay Council decided to go ahead with developing a business case for potential divestment of these early childhood services to the not-for-profit sector instead of committing to direct service provision by Council into the future, which consultations had shown was what the community and the services wanted.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 38

A VICTORY FOR GLOBE WILKINS PRESCHOOL For parents at the Excellent rated Globe Wilkins Preschool in Marrickville, NSW, their troubles started with an email about an agenda item at a meeting of the Inner West Council.

The preschool is run by the Council’s Children’s Services department and is one of only 35 early childhood services in the country with an Excellent rating by ACECQA. The issue is that (unusually for NSW) it is co-located in a primary school, and the school had warned the Council years earlier that it would need the premises back.

“Our campaign is now focusing on helping the parents at the council run childcare centres to be consulted and represented on the proposed advisory committee to inform the business cases,” said Dr Small. “We firmly believe that Council should be doubling their investment in early childhood services, and their leadership, expertise and their experience in running quality services not trying to save money.”

When eight parents heard at the Council meeting that the plan for Globe Wilkins was to move to a smaller councilowned location away from the advantages of being in the primary school they decided to campaign against the decision, because they strongly believed that it would be harder to maintain the high quality at the new location.

“None of us had any experience at political lobbying but we identified early on that the key decision maker was the State Education Department – they owned the land and had the power,” said parent activist Stephanie Collis.

“We knew that bureaucratic meetings had happened between local and state government people but they had come to nothing. The Inner West Mayor had even met with the Education Minister at the time - Rob Stokes with no clear response.”

FAIR RENT FOR PRESCHOOLS CAMPAIGN IN SYDNEY’S NORTH In the outskirts of Sydney’s northern suburbs, five community-run preschools have launched the Fair Rent for Preschools campaign with a Change.org petition. Each preschool rents premises from Hornsby Council and all have had their rents increased by 300% in the last three years, with more rent rises to come.

To launch their campaign the preschools held a picnic to rally community support in July 2019: “Over a hundred people enjoyed the sun, fun and community spirit at Ruddock Park to celebrate our wonderful Community Preschools,” said Janet Campbell, Director Cherrybrook Community Pre-school Inc.

The parent activists developed a compelling case through their website and communication to other parents, motivating many people to make direct contact with the Early Childhood Minister through emails and letters. They also mobilised public support by organising several mass events attended by up to 800 people.

Sarah Mitchell, who was then the NSW Minister for Early Childhood and a mother of two young children herself, recalled that in July 2018 her office started to receive a large volume of letters from parents, educators and community members expressing their concern that Globe Wilkins Preschool was being closed.

Other preschools involved are: Larool Preschool, Thornleigh; North Epping Kindergarten; Norwood Community Preschool, Asquith; and The Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Hornsby.

They are worried about their long-term survival and are educating local councillors about the difference between community run and for-profit services, and why community run preschools need financial support to continue providing high quality services to children and families.

The former Deputy Mayor Vince Del Gallego put a motion to council in August and asked for some more information and a meeting to be held between pre-schools and council with an invitation to all councillors to find out more information prior to a decision being made.

‘The onus is on us to prove that the increases are unfair,’ says Campaign spokesperson Janet Campbell, Director of Cherrybrook Community Preschool. ‘It’s a hard fight on top of all our other responsibilities and has required lots of extra meetings (after hours) and support from the families.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 39

“I quickly realised, as a result of these letters and other passionate community action, that this was no ordinary preschool and that we needed to act quickly to save it. In fact, Globe Wilkins is one of only 17 services in NSW to be awarded the ‘Excellent’ rating by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority because of its collaborative partnerships with professional, community or research organisations, and commitment to children that respects, reflects and celebrates culture and diversity.”

The parents lobbied ceaselessly – writing letters to Ministers, local and federal MPs – from all sides of politics and made use of any opportunity to make their voices heard.

“From the very beginning, (our campaign) was about a properly resourced school and preschool - we didn't want to take rooms away from the school that it needed.

It was always about what's best for all levels of education,” said Stephanie.

A turning point for the campaign came when they attended a NSW pre-election forum attended by Sarah Mitchell, the Labor Shadow Minister and Greens spokesperson. The Globe Wilkins Preschool parents sat right at the front.

“We made sure we put up our hands first when it came to question time – we asked Sarah Mitchell why an Excellent rated preschool was being disrupted. She was aware of our plight and spoke to us afterwards and we gave her and her advisors more information,” explained Stephanie.

The parents action group also had success with both State and Federal Labor oppositions, who had promised to keep Globe Wilkins Preschool going and made funding pledges of $1million to keep the preschool at its current location.

When the ALP lost both the State and Federal elections, the parents were worried about what the consequences would be.

Lobbying all sides paid off however, as in a cabinet reshuffle of the re-elected Liberal government, Early Childhood Minister Sarah Mitchell was promoted to become the Education Minister as well as retaining her Early Childhood portfolio.

“One of the advantages of being both the Minister for Education and the Minister for Early Childhood is that I’m able to more easily cross between departments and work out bespoke solutions for more complex problems,” said Sarah Mitchell. “Globe Wilkins was one of the first situations where I was able to apply that approach and I’m delighted at how quickly we could come up with a result.”

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 40

KEYS TO SUCCESS FOR COMMUNITY CAMPAIGNS Every situation is unique, and the keys to success will vary in every situation, but there are some common elements we can observe in these community campaigns: ⊲⊲ Passionately concerned and dedicated parents, with a range of skills and contacts ⊲⊲ Understanding who the decision makers are and engaging in strategic political lobbying ⊲⊲ Determination and persistence in the face of setbacks ⊲⊲ They are making their causes public through: • Holding public meetings • Running picnic days • Setting up facebook pages, websites, petitions and generating public support • Linking in with local support groups, who take up their cause • Making their voices heard at public forums • Writing letters and articles in a range of media

TIPS FROM SAVE GLOBE WILKINS PRESCHOOL CAMPAIGNER, STEPHANIE COLLIS:

The parents action group made contact: ‘We called and emailed her office and discovered that discussions between the Education Department and the Council for a solution were moving forward. Now they were committing to keeping the preschool on the school premises.”

Minister Mitchell said, “The proposal we are now progressing in terms of a purpose-built facility will provide a unique arrangement for the community of Globe Wilkins and Wilkins Public School.”

The final outcome was welcomed by the community and the Council in June – the State Government has extended the lease for the preschool at the current location in the public school for another two years. The Education Department will build a new preschool on the school premises. When it’s ready there will be an open tender process for Council and Community organisations to bid to run the service.

I think our relentlessness was key. Everyone expected us to give up but we just weren't prepared to take no for an answer. It wasn't easy though. It was a 12-month emotional rollercoaster and we're lucky we all have such amazing partners and kids who have supported us to spend so much time on the campaign.

Getting one-on-one time with the Minister was invaluable – especially asking our questions in a public forum. We got one on one time with her after the forum and that was the start of a dialogue between the campaign and her office that we had not managed to have to that point.

HOW DID YOU DECIDE WHO TO TARGET? We focused on the people who had the power to make decisions that would save the preschool, or reverse the decision that was putting the preschool's future in jeopardy. That included people in the state government and local council at both a bureaucratic and political level.

HOW DID YOU GET THE COMMUNITY ON BOARD?

www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/9.1%20ADOPTION%20OF%20EVERY%20 CHILD%20OUR%20FUTURE%20CHILDRENS.pdf - Rec 2.7 and 3 1

Two awesome family days out with our Spring and Autumn picnics, as well as lots of social media activity.

And the sheer ridiculousness of the situation made it fairly easy to gain support.

RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 41

Why don’t you give us a call

When something goes wrong, or an incident occurs where you need support, you can always count on us. With Guild Insurance, you have access to Guild Liability Claims specialists, our dedicated team here to provide advice if a claim comes your way.

Working with children can be unpredictable. If something happens to a child in your care that escalates to a claim, it can be overwhelming.

Our Guild Liability Claims specialists are here to offer claims advice on regulatory obligations for your unique situation, and can even engage the services of Meridian

Lawyers, Australia’s leading allied health legal defence team and part of the Guild Group where legal support is needed.

We also provide 2 hours free legal advice on employment related issues made against you or your centre, even before a claim is made, helping you stay well informed on employment and regulatory matters.

When you’re insured by Guild Insurance, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing here is one less thing to worry about, so you can stay focused on what you do best – looking after the children in your care.

Our early learning business insurance offers benefits such as: 2 free hours of legal advice on employment related matters – even before it’s a claim

1800 810 213 guildinsurance.com.au

We can even engage the services of Meridian Lawyers, where legal support is needed

Advice on regulatory obligations

Guild Liability specialist for advice on claims

Better through experience.

Insurance issued by Guild Insurance Ltd, ABN 55 004 538 863, AFSL 233791 and subject to terms, conditions and exclusions. Guild Insurance supports your association through the payment of RATTLER ISSUE 128 | NOVEMBER 2019 | 42 referral fees. This document contains general advice only and doesn’t take into account what you currently have, want and need for your personal circumstances. It is important for you to consider these matters and read the Product Disclosure Statement. EAR32802 GLD4947 Early Learning ACA Flyer 03/2019