Rattler + Broadside Issue 126, March 2019

Rattler + Broadside

COMMUNITY EARLY LEARNING AUSTRALIA JOURNAL

ISSUE 126 | MARCH 2019

FOCUS ON THE CHILD

ELECTION 2019 Election 2019: What the sector is saying – Inclusion: How to welcome rainbow families Your 8 week quality PD plan – The importance of trust in communications – Broadside and much more

In response to feedback from our regional members, who requested more access to quality regional training, we commenced our Western NSW Regional Learning & Development Group. This initiative will provide innovative, accessible and affordable learning opportunities to communities who need it the most.

Across 12 months the program will provide a blend of masterclasses, a mini conference, on-line learning, mentoring, and an opportunity for educators to reduce the very real impact of professional isolation. We encourage other regions to make contact with us to explore how this program could be of benefit in your area.

FROM YOUR CEO Welcome back to what I hope will be a rewarding year for all of our members.

Like many of the members we’ve spoken to so far this year, we’ve had a busy start to 2019. We continue to champion the value of early learning for every child across Australia, as well as supporting the professional growth of our members and the wider sector. Keeping this focus top of mind for our members and the wider community becomes even more important with state and national elections looming.

As the national peak body for community, not-forprofit early childhood education and OSHC, we strive in particular for continued recognition of the outstanding level of quality provided in our part of the sector. From the beginning of the National Quality Framework onwards, community based services have led the way in the highest standards of education and care for Australian children and need ongoing support to carry out that work into the future.

A stable, well supported and professional workforce is a vital element in achieving quality early education for Australian children. Supporting leadership capability and ongoing professional development is essential, so that educators have the skills they need to improve developmental outcomes for all children. In line with this, we’ve launched some exciting initiatives within our Learning and Development program - each of our initiatives centres around transforming learning into high quality practice.

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This year we are introducing an Action Learning series.

This intuitive approach includes a blended training delivery that breaks learning into three sections across three weeks. At each stage we apply a range of educational tools to ensure that every style of learner has the opportunity to excel. Staged delivery also provides the opportunity to implement new skills into your practice, discuss outcomes with the group and receive feedback.

A stable, well supported and professional workforce is a vital element in achieving quality early education for Australian children.

In addition, we are excited to announce a series of Masterclasses, which will be available in Sydney and online starting this month.

With the NSW State election fast approaching and the Federal election around the corner, CELA’s advocacy focuses on 5 key areas, which we cover in this issue's Broadside.

We are proud to promote the voice of our members during this crucial time and as always, we encourage you to speak to us personally via our 1800 number or email info@cela.org.au with any queries. We also invite you to revisit our updated member only resources which have guided early education services for decades.

We hope that you enjoy our new digital version of Rattler and welcome your thoughts, contributions and feedback.

Michele Carnegie Chief Executive Officer Community Early Learning Australia

MARCH 2019

PUBLISHER Community Early Learning Australia EDITORIAL TEAM Michele Carnegie, Wendy Lindgren, Tracey Long, Kerrie Maguire, Louise Black, Nathalie DuPavillon, Lisa Cloumassis Community Early Learning Australia JOURNALIST Margaret Paton ADVERTISING AND PRODUCTION Traceylong@cela.org.au CONTRIBUTORS

THIS ISSUE RATTLER+BROADSIDE | ISSUE 126 | MARCH 2019

WHAT'S ON

2

Early education sector awards, conferences and events

SPOTLIGHT ON 2019

4

We ask sector leaders what's top of mind for 2019

Tracey Long, Louise Black, Megan O'Connell,

MEET THE MEMBER

Jessica Horne-Kennedy, Dr William DeJean,

Blayney Early Learners embrace community and share learnings from a world first education study

Dr Suzy Green, Sarah Moore CONTRIBUTIONS We welcome your stories. Copyright is held jointly by the publisher and the author COPYING Email for permission to republish any

6

WELCOMING RAINBOW FAMILIES 9 How your service can be more inclusive of LGBTIQ+ families

part of this magazine. CELA thanks the

NEW AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH 12

children and educators who gave their

Groundbreaking study explores what makes an exemplary educator

permission to be photographed.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE Become a member at www.cela.org.au/membership-packages or email info@cela.org.au

BROADSIDE 16 NSW Election 2019: Advocacy spotlight Election issues: What the sector is saying

Membership includes an annual subscription to Rattler magazine plus

WELLNESS FOCUS: RETREAT INTO WELLBEING

38

How taking time out to put yourself first can help drive professional success

2018 CELA DIRECTOR’S RETREAT REFLECTIONS

41

Directors from our 2018 retreat share their reflections and how they will apply what they learnt in everyday practice

8 WEEK PD PLAN

43

A new year is a great time to integrate quality throughout your service; we show you how, step by step

FINDING THE GEMS OF LEARNING

46

Jessica Horne-Kennedy explains how

WHAT’S TRUST GOT TO DO WITH IT?

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Early education leadership coach Sarah Moore shares why trust is the most important factor in creating clear communications, and the science behind it

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 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

STOP PRESS:

BETTER PAY, BETTER CONDITIONS… INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY #BALANCEFORBETTER CAMPAIGN March 8 is International Women's Day (IWD) and this year's campaign theme is 'Balance for Better', which puts a spotlight on driving a better working world through gender equality.

Three ways to get involved:

Women represent 94% of the Australian early education workforce (Source: NSW Government). Our sector constantly faces workforce shortages due to factors such as poor pay and conditions and lack of public recognition for the profession, so let's do our bit to redress the balance.

2. Explain why the day is celebrated with the children in your service and choose a book to read featuring remarkable women.

©2019 Community Early Learning Australia

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1. Head to the IWC website and click resources for helpful information about the campaign and how to plan an event.

3. Speak up about the pay gap by joining the United Voice ‘Big Steps’ campaign.

Any time of year is a good time to promote the ‘balance for better’ idea.

WHAT'S ON EARLY EDUCATION SECTOR CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

March

April

Early Childhood Learning & Development Conference 29-30 March, Perth

NSW Early Years Conference & Expo 6-8 April, Parramatta

www.ecld19.com

Sarah Moore 'Engagement is Key' Masterclass 22 March, Sydney (Online learning series also begins March) Book at www.cela.org.au/learning-anddevelopment/masterclasses/

www.eyec.com.au

Sarah Moore 'Conscious Communication' Masterclass Webinar series Begins April – online delivery Book at www.cela.org.au/learning-anddevelopment/masterclasses/

Jennifer Ribarovski 'Exceeding The National Quality Standard' 4 April, Sydney For updates see www.cela.org.au/learning-and-development/

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May

June

ECA Reconciliation Symposium 10-11 May, Melbourne

International Society on Early Intervention Conference 25-28 June, Sydney

www.ecareconciliationsymposium.com.au

www.ecia.org.au/Learning-Events/NationalConference-2019

CELA Director’s Retreat 27-29 May, Byron Bay Book at www.cela.org.au/2019-directors-retreat

Sarah Moore 'Conscious Communication' Masterclass 17 May, Sydney (Online learning series begins March)

The Queensland Early Education and Care Conference : People | Places | Spaces 28-29 June, Gold Coast www.candk.asn.au/professional-events

Book at www.cela.org.au/learning-anddevelopment/masterclasses/

AWARDS Early Childhood Australia’s prestigious awards are highly recognised within the early childhood education and care sector, acknowledging the valuable role that professional educators play in promoting and enhancing the delivery of early years learning.

The following awards are now open:

BARBARA CREASER MEMORIAL LECTURE AWARD Barbara Creaser Memorial Lecture Award Barbara Creaser Young Advocates Award Find out more at www.ecaconference.com.au/barbara-creaser-awards/

DOCTORAL THESIS AWARD ECA Doctoral Thesis Award Apply now at www.ecaconference.com.au/early-childhood-australia-doctoral-thesis-award/ RATTLER ISSUE 126

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SPOTLIGHT ON 2019 Sector research and trends

CELA writer Margaret Paton spoke with key sector leaders to find out which insights and topics are front of mind as we move through 2019.

David Worland CEO, Early Learning Association Australia Lifting our Game and workforce strategy It’s good to see the evidence base supporting high quality early learning and care continually expanding.

A key report, Lifting Our Game, was released in the past year and gives a critical impetus to Australia’s policy makers about the need for more investment in the first five years of a child’s life.

Lifting Our Game is going some way to build national

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recognition among policy makers and politicians of early childhood as one of the key pillars of Australian education. However, because it’s a federal election year, we’ll probably see a divergence in the major parties’ views on the value of high-quality early childhood education.

The hot topic for our sector this year is the development of a workforce strategy to attract, develop and retain a quality workforce. It’s a key enabler of positive short and long-term outcomes. More than ever, this is a critical piece of work that requires active engagement across the sector during 2019.

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Associate Professor Susan Irvine School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology Professionalisation in ECE and the National Partnership Annual Performance Report One of my bugbears is the international policy focus on 'professionalising' the ECE workforce. This puts the emphasis on governments taking action. It’s a deficit idea that an external agency has to do something to help move the ECE profession forward. Government has an important role to play, but we need to acknowledge the professionalism educators exhibit in their daily practice and think about how as a profession we work to strengthen and support quality practice.

Elizabeth Death CEO, Early Learning and Care Council of Australia (ELACCA) The importance of investing in professional learning The research paper* that excited me the most has reinforced the importance of educator qualifications, group size and educator:infant ratios as indicators for children's language development. The study, in particular, demonstrated “the importance of degree qualified educators”. This highlights the importance of advocating for government to maintain the National

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Research shows despite positive strategies supporting educators to become more qualified in Australia, those who do so are the most likely to move out of ECE. That’s a dilemma.

While some states and territories have workforce action plans, it’s shameful there’s no national early years workforce strategy – the previous one expired in 2016.

We need to draw on our collective expertise and build a national approach.

The research that went into ACECQA’s recently released National Partnership Annual Performance Report further builds an evidence-base inform and support professionalism and quality improvement in ECE.

Quality Framework and invest in professional learning that further develops educator’s capacity to engage in high quality, language-supporting interactions.

We know that high quality early learning grows confident, capable and curious young learners who are ready to thrive. * Sheila Degotardi, Feifei Han & Jane Torr [2018]: Infants’ experience with ‘near and clear’ educator talk: individual variation and its relationship to indicators of quality, International Journal of Early Years Education, DOI: 10.1080/09669760.2018.1479632

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Meet the MEMBER Blayney Early Learners

by Margaret Paton

Blayney Early Learners is a 41-place long day care service located in the Central West NSW town of Blayney. A small town of 3,500 residents, the service prides itself on its strong connections with the local community.

CELA writer Margaret Paton spoke to Director Georgia Hobby about the centre’s community activities and their inclusion in a university study about the value of professional development on quality education outcomes for children. collaborative partnerships with families and communities.

‘We also value art and creativity,' says Hobby. ‘We allow the children to explore, discover and experiment at their pace. With the support of our passionate educators, we believe we cater for different learning styles and focus on programming for individual needs. We really value our relationships with our families.’

Hobby had been working casually at the service while studying towards her bachelor’s degree. After graduating, she was given a full-time role and was appointed director late last year at age 24. She now manages 12 staff, all of whom have early education qualifications including degrees, diplomas or certificates.

E

ducators at Blayney Early Learners put a great deal of importance on building connections within their local community.

'Because we’re such a small community, we have a tight connection within our families,’ says centre director Hobby. ‘A lot of us know each other outside of here, which helps us to develop the relationships beyond the service’s doors.’

The service exceeds the National Quality Standards for children’s educational program and practice and

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Being based in regional Australia has influenced their programming significantly. They enter the local agricultural show each year and give children the opportunity to explore farming in a practical way within their curriculum. Last year the children who live on farms were excited that their sheep were lambing, so a lamb was brought into the service for the day.

And, yes, it did bleat constantly, says Hobby.

When one of the locals, Ben Emms, competed in the shooting event for the last Commonwealth Games, Blayney Early Learners celebrated the event, which they watched on TV, by making a poster and creating a medal tally.

‘We added the event to ‘munch and move’, our fundamental movement, physical and healthy eating program. We encouraged the kids to gallop, side step, run, and skip and highlighted the different activities they saw in the games.’

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Another way in which they engage with the local community is through regular bus trips to visit the local aged care hostel and one in a nearby village, Carcoar.

We have incorporated a lot of the study including environmental rating scales and some shared thinking scales,’ she says.

‘Over time, the children have become more interested in having conversations with the residents. Those constant visits and the range of different activities including performances plus lunch or morning tea with the residents make it more meaningful for everyone,’ says Hobby.

The scales show different examples of best practice for literacy, maths, science, environmental diversity and self-regulation. According to Hobby, it means the service has been able to set their environment up to reflect these things in a play-based setting.

‘We’ve also been connecting with the local primary and high schools. It’s helping the children develop relationships there and we’re seeing the positive impact it’s having on them.’

Tapping into a world-first study The service participated in the Fostering Effective Early Learning Study, conducted by University of Wollongong researchers. The study looked at how educators’ professional development impacts children’s cognitive, social and self-regulatory development. According to the university, the study is a world-first.

‘The study gave us some really great resources and effective strategies to implement into our program.

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'It has helped us to develop our relationships with the children and to spend more quality time with them as we help develop their self-regulation skills as well as scaffolding to help resolve conflict.'

‘One focus of the study is literacy - the environmental print. So within our room, although the kids can’t read it, we expose them to more print. We have labelled our different areas. A few weeks ago, we set up a ‘fish shop’.

Rather than just feature images of fish, we had names of fish and their prices. It’s so much more than just sitting and writing.’

You can download a pdf of the Fostering Effective Early Learning Study to find out more about the study design, objectives and findings.

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Hickory Dickory Dash strikes a national chord

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Welcoming rainbow families

BY MARGARET PATON

How your service can be more inclusive of LGBTIQ+ families

T

he 2016 Census found Australia is home to about 46,800 same-sex couples, more than a third up on the previous Census, but that doesn’t include other types of rainbow families.

Should early learning services go out of their way to be more inclusive of LGBTIQ+ parented or rainbow families?

After all, don’t they just want to be treated the same as everyone else?

Actually, no. Excluding rainbow families (where parents or carers are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, gender diverse, intersex, non-binary and queer ie LGBTIQ+) is what your service risks.

Here’s why it’s not OK to treat rainbow families like anyone else and what your centre can do about it.

‘I get that it comes from a good place, but treating us the same fails to acknowledge that in some important

ways our families are different,’ says Jac Tomlins, a Melbourne mum who’s raised three children with her lesbian partner. Tomlins has researched and written guides for the early learning sector about welcoming rainbow families (see resources).

She says: ‘What’s important is that people see my family, recognise us and know we’re out there. That way early learning centres can make sure they are providing appropriate and inclusive services. Not acknowledging us renders us invisible.’

Even her daughter pipes in with ‘it doesn’t work to treat everyone the same’.

‘The same is having a mum and dad and if you’re a kid in daycare or at school and teachers talk about having a mum and a dad, I don’t have a dad. I have two mums,’ she says.

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Jac Tomlins, partner Sarah and their children

Where it gets tricky for early learning centres is at Mother’s or Father’s Day. Tomlins says what centres ‘do for everybody else isn’t going to work for us.’

‘Lots of parents have had the experience of receiving a card where they’ve crossed out ‘father’ and given it to the kid to bring home. There are ways of doing this that include our kids and others who may only have one parent.’

Alternatives include ‘Special person’s day’ or ‘Family day’ where kids bring along a grandparent or family friend. Tomlins’ advice is: ‘talk to us; ask’.

For the past five years, she’s run workshops for early learning educators, social workers and psychologists about how to be more inclusive.

those roles as centres do with stepfamilies.’

Tomlins urges early learning educators talk to parents of rainbow families and ask them how the centre can better support them and make them feel more included.

Meanwhile, a Newcastle, NSW educator, Samantha Barrish, is a mum in a same-sex relationship who works at a service with families who identify as LGBTIQ+.

‘I know a few people who have gone to pick up their child and been called the aunty or asked, ‘so who are you?’.

We make sure everyone knows from day one as soon as a child walks into a service, that we know what the family makeup is, and what names they use.’

‘It’s helpful for service providers to understand something about the experience of rainbow families.

This allows them to provide a much more culturally safe environment for our kids,’ she says.

Barrish says she’s found great resources at Fair Day, a family day out held at the start of the annual Mardi Gras Festival in Sydney. Her favourite book? ‘The Family Book’ by US writer Todd Parr.

‘We create our families differently and there may be a third parent, a donor or dad who’s involved who may be picking up the child from daycare. We need to acknowledge

‘I have used that a lot to encourage children to be themselves. For children from same-sex families, it helps open up that discussion,’ says Sam.

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Educators might feel a bit uncomfortable about reading a book outside stereotypical parenting – is there a risk other parents might complain?

Felicity Marlowe, Executive Director of Rainbow Families Victoria, says: ‘Reading books that explore family diversity is important for so many children, not just those from rainbow families. We know some centres may be worried about complaints. For example, a parent might get a jumbled story from their child about a book read at childcare, and then come in the next morning and ask why such and such book was read.’

‘We suggest you have a gentle conversation with the parent about including all children and their families.

Offer them the book to read and be open to answering their questions. Respecting and including families will also be in line with your centre’s mission statement and the national quality framework, so remind the parent of these policies too.’

Helping diverse families feel included in your service is much more than lip service. A Macquarie University study of 64 early learning directors in Victoria found none had explicit programs, policies or resources.

How’s your centre looking?

Tips to make your service more inclusive for rainbow families Can members of rainbow families walk into your centre and see their family represented?

That should mean more than a rainbow flag or sticker in your front foyer.

Could your enrolment forms have ‘parent 1 and parent 2’ or guardians rather than mother and father? The latter alienates foster families, too.

How diverse are your book and dress up areas?

Are there enough dolls of different ages/ genders so people can make up their co-parenting families or for the kids who have older grandparents as carers?

Ask rainbow families how you can acknowledge and support them (including nonbirth parents and donors).

Specific questions to ask rainbow parents* What name does your child call you? (for example, Papa or Daddy).

How would you like me to describe your family to others (other children/other adults)?

How would you like us to refer to you when talking with your child?

How would you like me to respond to questions about your family?

*Source: Creating a Welcoming Early Childhood Program for LGBT-Headed Families: Partnering with Parents Who Identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and/or Transgender, USA Department of Health and Human Services

Rainbow Families Victoria offers training and professional development to the early years’ sector including primary schools. Contact them on info@rainbowfamilies.org.au

Links Early Years Support Guide – Rainbow Families

You may also be interested in reading our Amplify article Marriage equality and early childhood education and care curriculums.

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What makes an exemplary early educator?

BY TRACEY LONG

CELA shares the interim results from a ground breaking new Australian study 3,000 hours of data

Key take outs:

261 educators from ‘exceeding’ rated centres around Australia

Perhaps unsurprisingly, educators spend most of their time across the day ‘being with children’, switch tasks rapidly and perform simultaneous tasks frequently.

A first of its kind for the sector

Participants recorded a high level of job satisfaction across the day, and relatively low level of feeling rushed or stressed. There were fluctuations recorded, with higher ratings for feeling rushed and stressed indicated at the beginning and end of the day for some participants.

In a study which may be the first of its kind globally, researchers at Charles Sturt University have analysed over 3,000 hours of data taken from time sample diaries filled out by 261 educators from some of Australia's exceeding early childhood education services.

'Early childhood educators and advocates know that the work they do is skilled, important and complex. This study will help us understand the distinct nature of early childhood education and importantly what it takes to be a great educator in a high performing service'.

Professor Fran Press, Chief Investigator

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What’s behind the study?

The aim of this unique study, according to the research team, is to shed light on the complexity of the work of early childhood education, in order to identify the personal, professional and environmental resources that facilitate exemplary work.

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The desired impact will be to inform strategies to better prepare and sustain the profession, including: Lifting educators' professional status Strengthening employment practices conducive to high quality ECEC Providing evidence based content for preservice education and in-service professional support The project focuses on degree, diploma and certificate qualified educators in ECE centres rated as exceeding in all standards and sub-standards in the NQS. The reason behind this, according to the research team, is to ensure that the data obtained is tied to the delivery of high quality programs.

Findings: The interim findings have revealed interesting results from the time sample study such as what constitutes an average day's work for exemplary educators, how it varies across qualification level and service type, and how satisfied exemplary educators are with their work from hour to hour. The study also revealed rich responses from the focus groups around what makes an exemplary educator.

As one of a number of sector partner organisations for this project, CELA were invited to sit in on the interim findings presentation at the project's stakeholder forum.

Phases: The research project is multi layered, including the following three phases:

1. Quantitative Research

Complete

Collection of quantitative data on educator’s work activity through the use of a time sample study facilitated through a phone app. Educators were prompted at random times over the course of two weeks to record what they had done for the previous hour, broken down into blocks of 6 minutes. The app listed 10 distinct categories of work activity. For each 6 minute block, educators recorded a primary activity and had the option to also identify a secondary activity.

2. Focus Groups

Complete

Focus groups with educators from each level of qualification to gather rich information about what shapes and informs their practices and decision making.

2. Case Studies

Begins late 2019

Intensive case studies of exemplary educators and their work environments to help shed a light on why they do what they do and how organisations support high quality work.

Where do educators spend most of their time?

Being with children* was identified as the task that educators spend most of their time on, followed by routine care/transition** and intentional teaching*** *Being with children encompasses watching/supervising children, playing with, listening and responding to children. ** Routine care/transition activities with children includes hygiene (handwashing and toileting), nutrition (mealtimes), health (sun protection), sleep/rest, organising all the daily transitions, and dealing with injuries or illness ***Intentional teaching is described as providing teaching and learning experiences that are deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful (with intent) and either planned or spontaneous.

Educators spent the least amount of time on professional learning which included self-educate, attend PD/ in-service, support/mentor others, receive support/ mentoring, pedagogical leadership, and reflection.

Performing simultaneous tasks occurs during all activities Working on a secondary activity was identified as occurring for every primary activity at some stage and occurred within 50% of participants’ records.

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Educators switch tasks frequently 47% of all recorded activities took place for less than 12 minutes, with almost a quarter of all activities being recorded as less than 6 minutes in duration.

Some tasks are linked to specific periods Intentional teaching was most likely to take place midmorning between 9am and 11.30am, while routine care and transition spiked across the middle of the day.

Planning and professional learning, while taking up less of the day, occurred throughout the day.

How educators feel about their work throughout the day At the end of each recorded hour, educators were asked to choose from a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high) in relation to how they felt about the following questions: How rushed they felt How satisfied they felt How stressed they felt

Whether they were required to meet multiple demands

children (rapid change seemed more prevalent for educators working with infants and toddlers), size of groups, ratios and staffing models.

Undertaking simultaneous tasks: Participants viewed the need to undertake simultaneous tasks as ‘the nature of the work’ and acknowledged that there will always be interruptions to deal with.

Satisfactions ratings: Focus groups revealed that satisfaction ratings were often related to work environment, flexibility and the philosophy of the service.

What makes an exemplary educator?

In the eyes of educators, a broad range of professional traits and environmental factors supported their work, including: Prioritising/decision making

Autonomy

Leadership

Favourable work conditions (ratios/staff models/non contact/ programming)

Teamwork Communication

Job satisfaction high, stress levels relatively low 79% of responses for ‘rushed’ were recorded as a ‘5’ or below, with 31% of responses being low, and only 2.6% of responses high.

The average ratings were as follows: Rushed: 3.5

Stressed: 3.3

Meeting multiple demands: 4.3

Satisfied: 7.3

Job satisfaction and stress level vary slightly by role Those with room leader or teacher roles were likely to respond with slightly higher ratings for feeling rushed, stressed or having multiple demands to meet.

Assistants and educators were likely to record a slightly higher rating for feeling satisfied, although ratings were high across the board.

Passion Critical reflection Advocacy Professional development

Focus group discussions are currently being held with educators at each level of qualification. The focus groups are still ongoing and are being used to probe more deeply into the data, so the researchers can gain a better understanding of the nature of educators work at their qualification level, and the skills, knowledge and organisational conditions that help them to be ‘exemplary’.

Rapid changes: Discussions suggested that the rapid changes recorded by some respondents may be down to the age of

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Professional networks Intensity of the work – sustainability for educators

When asked the same question, it’s no surprise that responses from interviewees at director level came from a slightly different angle: Listening Valuing people Organisational structure Making decisions Relationship Role models Non judgemental

Focus group findings:

Mentoring/coaching

Valuing and empowering educators Leaders providing a framework Critical reflection Professional development and learning

Next steps in this study: Case studies are yet to take place and are scheduled for late 2019.

If you represent a centre that qualifies for the study (exceeding in all standards and sub-standards) and would like to be considered for the case study phase, please contact Associate Professor Sandie Wong; email sandie.wong@mq.edu.au, phone (02) 98509844.

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Inspired learning with sector experts Early childhood specialists for over 40 years CELA training equips educators with the knowledge that changes practice and underpins quality early education. Join our scheduled sessions, or we can tailor a session to suit your team and location. ff Highly experienced facilitators ff RTO accredited ff NESA registered PD

2019 initiatives Masterclasses Leadership Communication with Sarah Moore Early education leaders will gain an understanding of what gets in the way of team engagement and communication, along with the tools to open lines of communication and drive a deeper level of involvement that really lasts.

Find out more Exceeding The National Quality Standard with Jennifer Ribarovski This session will guide you through thinking about where you can provide evidence of how exceeding themes are reflected in your practice. For updates see www.cela.org.au/learning-anddevelopment/

Regional Learning & Development Group

CELA Active Learning series

Regional educators can be part of a dynamic group engaging in face to face training, masterclasses, webinars, mini conferences and mentoring.

CELA’s new Active Learning sessions give educators the best tools to transform their learning into high quality practice.

This program is designed to ensure that your learning is transformed into high quality practice that you can apply within your service.

Find out more

Our blended training delivery breaks learning into three sections across three weeks, with educational tools to ensure that every style of learner excels.

Find out more

To find out more visit www.cela.org.au/learning-and-development or call 1800 157 818 RATTLER ISSUE 126

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Broadside NSW state election 2019 – FOCUS ON ADVOCACY MICHELE CARNEGIE - CELA CEO With 90% of brain development occurring in the first five years of life, quality early learning sets everyone’s foundations. If Australia fails to invest early, we pay for it later.

Our governments must invest in the future of our nation. They must invest in upstream prevention of educational ills, not just downstream cures.

They must invest in us.

1

Children who start behind stay behind

2

To the greatest need for the greatest return

The sector’s voice is loud, calling on the next government to make a firm commitment to affordable, high quality early learning and campaigning for increased public awareness and understanding of the benefits of investing in early learning. Ahead of this wider sector support, CELA’s commitment remains firstly to you as community, not-for-profit, and small providers.

With the NSW and federal elections imminent, we focus our advocacy spotlight on the following areas:

NSW children are being left behind.

We have the lowest level of preschool enrolment in Australia. Our children deserve access to affordable, quality preschool, no matter where they live. That’s a job for the next NSW government.

Families can't afford to access early learning for children who need it the most. Unlike most states, there is insufficient fee relief in long day care for disadvantaged children in NSW. That’s a job for the next NSW government.

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Broadside

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3

Attract, train, and retain great educators

4

Stand up for our National Quality Framework

NSW endorsed a much-needed plan to grow our workforce, but the strategy is sadly short-term and lacks effective funding. The next NSW government has a simple job: extend the 4-year strategy to 10 years, and fund meaningful training support. That’s a job for the next NSW government.

We have all worked too hard and invested too much to let a Commonwealth political agenda pull the NQF apart.

The next NSW government’s job is to fight to retain and keep improving our nation’s combined commitment to quality for all our children. That’s a job for the next NSW government.

5

We must support our rural workforce to lift educational outcomes for children A regional workforce needs access to high quality professional learning opportunities, to give educators the expertise they need to turn educational disadvantage around. That’s a job for the next NSW government.

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1. Broadside

1 Children who start behind stay behind NSW children are being left behind. We have the lowest level of preschool enrolment in Australia. Our children deserve access to affordable, quality preschool, no matter where they live. That’s a job for the next NSW government.

The majority of our lifelong brain development occurs before we turn five years old. In that time, we learn to communicate, to get along with others, and to be able to control or adapt our behaviour, our emotions, and our thoughts.

These skills are the foundation for everything else we are able to learn and do in life. After the age of five we can make some advances, but it costs more and is less effective than intervening early.

Quality early childhood education is the best chance for all children to make the most of those years of maximum brain development.

What does that look like?

If you spend two years attending at least two days a week of quality learning-through-play you’re more likely to: Make good friendships Pay attention in school Participate in teams Choose healthier food and activities Engage in post-school education and employment Have better literacy and numeracy skills Develop positive adult relationships NSW children are being left behind. They have the lowest level of preschool enrolment in the country. NSW children deserve these benefits. They deserve to be in classrooms with other children who have had these benefits. It’s within the power of the NSW government - no matter who wins - to make it happen.

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1. Broadside

What do we need?

NSW children aged three and four must have access to affordable places for early learning, at least two days per week, in long day care or preschools, in the two years before they start school.

Can we afford it?

The cost of quality early education is far outweighed by its return. The state’s total early childhood education investment is $474.3 million, and to put that in perspective, its total school education investment is more than $17 billion. That’s less than 3% of the total education budget being spent on learning programs for children in the most productive learning years of their lives.

NSW has invested in subsidised places to make it more affordable for 4-year-olds to attend preschool or a long day care program for 15 hours (around two days) a week. In 2018 NSW began a small program of funding for 3-year-olds.

The cost of continuing the 4-year-old universal access and including all 3-year-olds is estimated around $60 million, of which about half is already committed in the short term. As a percentage of the overall education budget in NSW this is additional investment is tiny, yet it will pay dividends almost immediately with benefits flowing straight into school kindergarten classrooms and beyond.

Around 20,000 NSW children, one in five, start school behind their peers every year (AEDC, 2016). Half of these children will stay behind, fail to finish school and transition to employment (Mitchell Institute 2015).

Each young person that remains disengaged costs the government over $400,000 over their lifetime.

Ensuring all children start school on track is a prudent investment (Mitchell Institute 2017).

Why does this matter?

For decades, outcomes for NSW and Australian children have declined against national and international benchmarks. While governments and school education authorities are aware of this deficit, and have invested heavily in classroom support, curriculum development, and teacher training, the evidence of our experience versus other countries suggests there’s a much better way to spend our precious education funding.

School students, staff, and communities all stand to benefit exponentially from increased investment in high quality preschool education for at least two days a week, for two years, for every Australian child.

This is the model which has seen other nations maintain and improve their international standing while Australia continues to fall behind.

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Teachers point to unmanageable classroom behaviour as the single greatest barrier to quality education for all children. On the other hand, primary school teachers say they can identify children who attended quality preschool programs by their ability to ‘settle’, longer attention spans and more social attitudes.

What research now shows is that the countries that continue to see improved outcomes for children in academics and wellbeing are also the countries which choose to invest in quality preschool programs and make them affordable for all families.

In the highly respected Lifting Our Game report, the authors point out:

“

The benefits of quality early childhood education are widely accepted internationally.

The evidence is extensive and consistent. Most comparable countries recognise this, and invest accordingly. In contrast, Australia is below the OECD average in terms of investment in early childhood education and participation in early childhood education. It is not surprising that Australia’s school outcomes are of concern - Australia fails to invest early and pays for it later.

”

Who has most to gain?

Evidence is also clear that while all children benefit, children whose families are experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage will gain more benefit than anyone. These children’s life paths are set to struggle without the crucial advantage of education.

Without regular exposure to quality early learning programs, children from disadvantaged homes are likely to start school well behind their peers in every way - socially, physically, emotionally, and in speech, in coordination, in attention span.

Sadly, many children in this situation will struggle to ever catch up with their peers. That ultimately leads to poor outcomes as adults and continues their family’s cycle of disadvantage. They start behind, and they stay behind. A reasonable improvement in early learning funding for all children would give every kindergarten child the best possible chance to focus, make friends, regulate their own behaviour, and learn to learn.

This is why the next NSW government’s funding must be for all children, for two years before school, and for two days or more a week, in a quality program at preschool or long day care.

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What is quality?

A decade ago, Australian governments met and were convinced by research that ‘quality’ needed to be the primary aim of every early years learning service in the country. They agreed to the National Quality Framework (NQF) which has become one of the most successful early childhood education regulation and improvement programs in the world.

Both the research which persuaded Australian governments to create the NQF and substantially more evidence since that time shows the lifetime benefits for preschool children only appear when early years programs are high quality and back up by quality schooling.

To maximise returns, the final requirement to give NSW children lifetime benefits is for the government to work closely with the representatives of early childhood education and care in this state.

The sector is ready to work together in order to help NSW make changes to preschool that will last each child a lifetime.

With enough affordable places and sufficient supply of qualified teachers and educators, the next NSW government can be the architect of reforms flowing out to the wider school education sector, the community, and the economy for decades to come.

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2 To the greatest need for the greatest return Families can't afford to access early learning for children who need it the most. Unlike most states, there is insufficient fee relief in long day care for disadvantaged children in NSW. That’s a job for the next NSW government.

Greatest need, greatest return In NSW, unlike Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, families in hardship only receive subsidies for their children to attend community preschools and not for the private or not-for-profit long day care programs which would allow their parents more opportunity to work, study or volunteer.

Children from vulnerable or disadvantaged homes are already at greater risk of missing developmental milestones because of parental illness, family dysfunction, lack of stimulating activities and educational resources, and poor nutrition.

In the first five years of their lives, children’s brains develop more and faster than at any other time. In those five years, we all learn to communicate, to get along with others, and to control and adapt our thoughts,emotions and behaviour.

Many children learn these skills in their families, but children from disadvantaged homes are less likely than others to have adults able to help them build foundational skills during the years when their brains most benefit from learning.

Quality early childhood education is the best chance for all children to make the most of those years of maximum brain development.

Sadly, in NSW the families who most need external education and care programs for their children are least able to afford them.

What must be done?

In Victoria, the new Victorian School Readiness funding program addresses this gap by offering consistent fee subsidies to all families with Health Concession Cards.

The next NSW government needs to follow a program like this one so that families in need have options beyond the limited number of community preschools.

Currently NSW provides a maximum of $6600 a year for ‘equity’ families whose children can attend a community preschool, but nothing for long day care service fees.

NSW community preschools are some of the highest quality early childhood education providers in Australia,

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but there are only 800 preschools and they usually operate shorter sessions and close during school holidays.

There are also many excellent preschool programs offered in more than 3000 NSW long day care services, but, like preschools, the costs are beyond the reach of disadvantaged families without additional subsidies.

Expand initiatives that build trust and improve access Some of the state’s most extreme hardship is felt by families living in remote areas or without personal or public transport. Some people in those communities experience additional cultural barriers to sending their children to early childhood education. They may have poor English language skills, or damaging personal experiences in education that make them more protective of their children attending external programs.

We need the next NSW Government to fund some very specific initiatives that encourage vulnerable families to send their children to early childhood education to gain the quality learning-through-play which is needed to prepare them for school and life.

Initiatives include funding community outreach workers to support families of young children, transport to ensure accessibility, and innovative models of delivery in certain areas with low participation in early learning.

Funding for bus transport has happened to some extent, but more is needed and a long-term commitment to adequate funding will let families make permanent plans for both children and adults.

Overcome unfair barriers Children with disabilities and children who have been removed from their homes or deemed ‘at risk’ desperately need stable, supportive early childhood education programs but cannot gain the additional support they need.

One way the next NSW government must help is to engage with the National Disability Insurance Agency, schools, and early learning providers to clear the way for children with disabilities and developmental delays to get the most from their first years of life.

The state government runs the NSW departments of Health and Education. It is in a position to bring those agencies and others together to remove unintended administrative and funding blockages and make it easier for children with disabilities to use their NDIS funds for quality early years programs.

Similarly, the next NSW government can support the state’s early childhood educators to access ‘capacity building’ funding from allied health providers - an absolutely crucial step to ensure families get the sector support they need to navigate the NDIS in the early years.

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3 Attract, train, and retain great educators NSW endorsed a much needed plan to grow our workforce, but the strategy is sadly shortterm and lacks effective funding. The next NSW government has a simple job: extend the 4-year strategy to 10 years, and fund meaningful training support. Our children deserve quality, well paid, professionally recognised educators

Our Children deserve quality well paid professionally recognised educators.

NSW recently completed a four-year Early Childhood Education Workforce Strategy, for the period 2018-2022.

The strategy, while welcome, is hampered by two factors: 1. insufficient funding for meaningful professional learning and development initiatives 2. a limited timeframe which discourages long range planning by employers and staff.

The National Productivity Commission, and others, recognise a damagingly high turnover rate among professional early childhood educators. The sector’s staff turnover sits around 27% per annum. Any workplace will experience staff turnover, the early childhood education sector suffers from disruptive change too often.

After removing parenthood-related causes, which have a greater effect due to the highly feminised workforce, from the figures the turnover remains high. Educators point to low wages as the single greatest cause even though many employers pay above award. Their colleagues in schools, many with similar tertiary qualifications, typically enjoy shorter face-to-face hours and much longer vacation periods.

High turnover leads to increased employment costs per staff member, lost investment in professional learning, constant disruptions to efficient team-building, additional stress for directors and managers seeking qualified staff and a lack of continuity for children in the educators they know and love. The combination of these factors hampers the pursuit of quality and diminishes outcomes for children.

NSW has started well with its four year strategy, but the next NSW government needs to build on that work, and quickly.

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What must be done?

NSW must create a 10 year NSW Early Childhood Education Workforce Strategy (2019-2029) that builds a quality, well-paid, highly satisfied, and professionally recognised early years workforce.

Why? The four years currently covered in the NSW strategy is simply not long enough. Research under the National Quality Framework (NQF) shows educators are willing to improve their formal qualifications but tend to take longer to finish a program of study. This can be due to maternity breaks, pressures at work, or needing additional time to improve their personal literacy or language skills.

A four year strategy doesn’t provide the confidence employers and educators need that support for learning will be available for the time needed to complete a degree or diploma.

Administratively, four years is also problematic. It typically takes more than a year to review and update a strategy like this, during which time employers and educators will not be able to make longer term plans for aspirations like entering a degree program on a scholarship.

Around Australia and in similar initiatives in NSW, 10 years is seen as a more appropriate period for workforce strategic planning and actions. It removes important policies from the immediacy of a short election cycle and lets small and large service providers make plans for staffing and professional development that will offer stability and growth to their staff.

Educators and employers support the need for national workforce strategy, and the next state government must pursue this actively with its colleagues on the COAG Education Council.

Why? Like all other employment sectors, early years education is a mobile workforce and since 2012 this has been supported by national regulations, national laws, and national qualification and employment policies through the NQF.

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An important element of the NQF was to give the independent national statutory authority, ACECQA, the power to set qualification requirements and to approve the ‘equivalence’ of any individual diploma and degree qualifications from any Australian or overseas tertiary education institution.

While this approach has many merits and is largely welcomed by employers and educators, it is yet to iron out all inconsistencies in approved qualifications. In particular, the sector would welcome greater access to primary education degree-qualified teachers whose studies also covered the early years.

People with education degrees that include the early years, but who did not complete their ‘prac teaching’ in an early childhood setting, are usually not deemed to have equivalent qualifications. This further drains the available pool of degree qualified educators in our sector and we believe the COAG Education Council needs to consider its overall position on consistency in qualifications.

In the 12 months to June 2018, NSW experienced a net loss in population of 21,700 people to interstate migration. Early years educators move to and from NSW for work like any other employee, and a national workforce strategy would not only support individuals and their employers, it would support the state and territory governments, too.

A general professional development fund for all educators.

Why? The current NSW strategy includes steps in this direction, but the funding is tied to single financial years and therefore an unreliable source of support in the sector. The small amounts of money that are on offer in each grant make it difficult for services to develop efficient and effective long-term training plans and to support retention by enabling educators to undertake professional learning and upskilling.

The government sets, supports, and regulates standards for employment, through the NQF and other industrial laws. Past experience shows that great gains can be made in the workforce when the government also independently provides and monitors professional development funding.

Alongside the independent national authority, ACECQA, the next NSW government should use its knowledge of the standards and regulations with which early childhood services are most struggling, and direct high quality sequential learning over a defined timeframe and development activity to those areas via a general training fund.

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Increase and support the employment and learning of Aboriginal educators.

Why? Aboriginal educators remain underrepresented in the NSW early childhood education workforce, but are highly desired in many, possibly most, services.

When present and trained as early childhood teachers and educators, Aboriginal people can ensure culturally rich early learning occurs for all children. Their presence inspires confidence in Aboriginal families, and a greater number of Aboriginal educators will undoubtedly lead to higher enrolment rates among Aboriginal children.

While the current strategy takes steps in this direction, more must be done, over a longer period, to reach out to Aboriginal people to enter this workforce and increase their skills.

Ensure early childhood teaching degree qualifications and experience are recognised regardless of workplace setting or the age of children they work with.

Why? As well as raising qualification inconsistencies at COAG level, the next NSW government must work with the sector, the NSW Educational Standards Authority (NESA), ACECQA and the national teacher registration authorities to include more early childhood teaching degree qualifications for accreditation/registration.

It is already difficult for early years services, especially long day care, to compete with the school sector for staff whose degrees cover both early childhood and older children.

A teacher is a teacher, regardless of where they completed their prac teaching. When a qualified teacher, who has an understanding of the early years, is willing to accept lower pay and shorter holidays in order to work with pre-school aged children, the sector must be able to hire them without additional barriers under the approved qualifications list.

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4 Stand up for our National Quality Framework (NQF) We have all worked too hard and invested too much to let a Commonwealth political agenda pull the NQF apart. The next NSW government’s job is to fight to retain and keep improving our nation’s combined commitment to quality for all our children.

Continued partnership support for the NQF. The NSW early childhood sector, and our colleagues in other states and territories, were shocked when the Commonwealth cut NQF funding in 2018-19 and flagged the end of the National Partnership Agreement (NPA) that sustains the NQF. It was a hidden announcement, tucked under what initially appeared to be extra funding for ACECQA but which, on investigation, turned out to be the bare minimum ACECQA needed to pay its staff and keep the lights on.

Why? Because the Commonwealth had, without warning, cut all funding previously provided to the states to be shared with ACECQA. “The Government is committing an additional $14.0 million to support the ongoing work of the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) through to 30 June 2020 in overseeing the National Quality Framework. This guarantees ongoing Commonwealth leadership following the completion of the partnership agreement with states and territories.” (Ministerial media release, May 8 2018)

What’s the problem?

From the outset of the NPA in 2009, the Commonwealth had delivered a shared national responsibility for the NQF by subsidising the state and territory costs of participation. This approach, common in most NPAs in any portfolio, made it both attractive and affordable for a truly federated system to be implemented.

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Without the $20million and more that the Commonwealth was expected to share among the states each year, we can expect far more dispute and fragmentation of the NQF - which has a direct effect on employers, educators, families, regulators, and ultimately on children.

We have all invested far too much time, money and commitment in the NQF to see it disbanded now.

What must be done?

The sector expects the next NSW government to commit publicly to the ongoing implementation of the NQF and to use the COAG process to convince the Commonwealth to reinstate a federated approach and shared funding, rather than, as the media release suggests, ongoing Commonwealth leadership being the new order.

How? If the Commonwealth will not renew the national partnership, we expect the next state government to commit to adequate funding for implementation and administration out of the NSW budget. Based on the loss from Commonwealth, this means about $7million from the , to maintain quality standards in early childhood education as it already does for school education (NESA).

Improve quality with reassessment benchmarks The NSW government is responsible for regular assessment and ratings of services using the national laws, regulations and quality standards as a guide.

NSW has assessed most services so the focus now needs to shift to quality improvement, especially since one in four services are assessed as working towards the quality standards.

At an operational level, NSW needs to do more to improve its delivery of assessment and ratings and to safeguard the reputation of its ratings by using clear performance benchmarks.

How? One important initiative for the next NSW government is to reassess all rated services in a timely way so that the credibility of the ratings system is maintained.

A suggested timeframe is reassessment within 12 months for services assessed as Working Towards, two years for services assessed as Meeting and three years for services assessed as Exceeding.

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Safeguard the research effort One crucial role that ACECQA and the NQF have played in raising quality in early years learning has been in sourcing and communicating evidence of how quality education works, what it looks like in practice, and how to direct our focus to the areas of greatest benefit to children.

Why? This research effort, both from ACECQA researchers and from others working to the NQF principles, has delivered vital improvements and efficiencies in our sector. In less than 10 years we have moved from relying heavily on international studies to sourcing considerable Australian and NSW based evidence for our work.

This means government is able to make wiser choices about funding - for instance, placing much greater emphasis on community-based early learning services when it becomes clear from research that our not-forprofit sector delivers considerably better quality outcomes in every ratings measure.

Without this research effort, governments and the sector are once again flying blind.

Meet the OECD standard for investment in early childhood education It is no less than disgraceful that Australia has allowed its investment in early years learning to fall so far behind similar countries in the OECD. It is not at all surprising, given the benefits of early learning to children’s foundation skills, that our lack of investment matches our poor performance in every educational outcome from those same countries.

The next NSW government must gift its citizens a permanent improvement in the lives, businesses and communities today’s children will build.

How? The next NSW Government must lift investment in early learning, along with other levels of Government, so that NSW and Australia match the performance of leading OECD countries by investing at least 1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in early childhood education.

It could start by following the compelling evidence in the Lifting Our Game report, which it co-funded, to provide affordable places in preschool and long day care for at least two days a week, for two years before school, for every NSW child.

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The state’s total early childhood education investment is $474.3 million, and to put that in perspective, its total school education investment is more than $17billion.

That’s less than 3% of the total education budget being spent on learning programs for children in the most productive learning years of their lives.

The cost of continuing the 4-year-old universal access and including all 3-year-olds is estimated around $60million, of which about half is already committed in the short term. As a percentage of the overall education budget in NSW this is additional investment is tiny, yet it will pay dividends almost immediately.

As the most populous Australian state, NSW has influence at a national level. Combined with the Victorian effort to fund two years of preschool for all children, NSW could lead the way for all other jurisdictions and the Commonwealth to finally grant our children the start they need to succeed in school and in life in modern society.

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5 We must support our rural and remote workforce to lift children’s outcomes Attracting and keeping a quality workforce is a challenge across rural and regional Australia.

This challenge is multiplied for early learning services in rural and regional Australia – services struggle to attract and retain staff, and to support staff to engage in professional learning due to the challenges of distance, cost and availability of staff to backfill.

What is the effect on educators?

Educators have limited access to face to face professional learning due to the cost of travel and time out of the workplace. The shortage of casual staff to backfill vacancies, cover illness and offsite training, adds further pressure.

The impact of this on educators is that they are less supported and have less access to leading edge pedagogy and practice than their urban counterparts. They face barriers to meeting accreditation standards. Educators are less able to keep pace with developments in practice that would build their knowledge and capacity, and the experience of children in their care. At the same time, many rural and regional educators are facing complex and challenging family matters that impact children.

These Educators are faced with unacceptable barriers to professional learning, which builds practice, knowledge and capacity, enabling them to enhance the experiences of children in their care. At the same time, many rural and regional children are facing complex and challenging family matters which demand high skills from educators.

Educators in rural and remote services are more likely to have trained remotely, and less likely to have worked in a variety of services so may lack diverse professional experience. They have less opportunity to develop and learn new skills, more limited networks and are more likely to experience burnout.

Impact on children and quality early education Regional and remote children start school far behind their city counterparts – they are more likely to be developmentally vulnerable than children from metropolitan areas. Nearly one in two children from remote

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communities are developmentally vulnerable compared to around one in five across Australia. (reference Lifting Our Game Report) This early disadvantage continues throughout children’s schooling and beyond. Rural and remote children are far more likely to be absent from school regularly – around forty percent of NSW government primary children in remote areas miss a month of school per year. (Report on Government Services 2019, Table 4A.24) Regional and remote children are less likely to complete school, and to transition on to further study or work.

Only 55 percent of rural and regional young people across Australia are fully engaged in work or study at age 24 (Mitchell Institute, Education Opportunity 2015, p.71).

The key to turning these statistics around is ensuring all learners have access to high quality early learning. We need to address disadvantage before children arrive at school, and we need a highly trained workforce to do this.

What is the solution?

Educators in regional and remote communities need additional training to meet their communities' needs.

The recent inquiry Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education confirmed how crucial early intervention is to meet those children's needs. Quality early education, delivered by educators who can continually develop and refine their practice, is a vital, and efficient, way to deliver early intervention.

We need a rural and regional workforce strategy with explicit focus on actions to attract, retain and continually develop the educator and teaching workforce in non-urban areas. This includes committing funding for access to in-person professional learning, learning networks and release time, similar to the consideration given to school teachers in the same areas.

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Vox Pops NSW ELECTION 2019 – WHAT THE SECTOR IS SAYING

We asked key early education voices which issues they want to amplify in the lead up to the coming NSW election. Unsurprisingly, support for the National Quality Framework, calls for improved levels of pay and a push to extend universal preschool access to 3-year olds are common themes.

VICKI OLDS Chairperson, NSW Mobile Children’s Services Association.

Director, The Outback Mobile Resource Unit and Tibooburra Multi Purpose centre

and support complex family needs

population is too small to support

in rural locations. Every day is a

financial viability. Aren’t these

challenge. In regional areas where

children as important as those living

incomes are low and currently

in areas of high population?

drought effected, government funding is insufficient and we

the unintended consequences when increasing the funding of one service type and not the other.

Mobile Preschools are losing out

Based at Broken Hill and servicing 220,000 square kms across remote NSW. NSW Mobile Children’s Association continues to advocate for the same election issues – better pay, universal access and recognition for the value of our profession. It’s hard to get people to acknowledge the educational benefit of what we do. Our pay is miserable and fails to reflect our level of qualification and the diversity of skills required to deliver quality early learning

Government needs to consider

to centre based preschools who are getting additional Start Strong subsidies enabling them to reduce their fees below the cost of a Mobile service. Further to this, Mobiles are expected to reach 600 hours of simply can’t ask struggling parents for more money to run our Mobile services.

service delivery – this is very difficult to achieve in remote areas where educators travel up to 2 hours to get to the venue, unpack and travel back

Some Mobile services that

to base, often in the dark, presenting

transitioned to CCS have closed

WHS issues. Regional educators and

venues in regional towns where the

children deserve more.

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MARK WOODLAND

HELEN GIBBONS

JOHN CHERRY

CEO, Xplor

Secretary, United Voice

Advocacy Manager, Goodstart Early Learning

(former early learning educator)

(co-founder and former CEO, Woodland Education) Xplor isn’t asking the government for anything except to lead the country and be great. If the government’s not going to do it, we can.

We want them to believe in education, invest in helping educators with better professional development and we’ll deal with increasing wages.

There are bigger issues here. We have some of the best subsidies in the world, so let’s have a look at some other ideas on how to improve education. It’s not always about money.

The whole point of government and business is to work together. If we genuinely care about educators and children, let’s solve the problems and not fight about it. Businesses have been forced to be very flexible, but what hasn’t changed is the education system, one of the least flexible things I can think of.

When educators are looking for which candidate to vote for, pollies need to back up what they say. The big eye opener for me was realising politicians can control a lot and have important jobs, but educators can influence a lot, too. You don’t need a policy to determine what educators do with a child.

The key issue is that Australians have been led to believe we can’t afford a whole bunch of things.

We can afford a world-class early education sector – we can’t afford not to have it. An integral part of that is well-paid quality educators.

The most important priority is ensuring all Australian children have access to two years of preschool, that means extending it to three-year olds as a bare minimum for the long-day care sector. Only 57% of three year old children are in early learning despite the evidence showing that children get a much better start to school. Goodstart is an enthusiastic participant in the Early Learning and Care Council’s ‘Launch into Learning’ campaign (launched 21 Feb) for two years of preschool for all children.

Because of the way the government has set up funding for the sector, the only way to win better pay is by getting the parents to pay more. It’s not sustainable. The government needs to fund this sector properly and fund professional pay.

United Voice has a 10-point policy position, but none of it is achievable without a clear workforce plan that sees a well-paid qualified workforce.

We need political candidates who really understand the sector, know the real opportunities and see it as early learning not childcare or workforce participation or babysitting. I would want a candidate who understands the contribution early learning makes for the child, their family life and none of that happens without quality educators.

United Voice’s Big Steps 10-year policy vision

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We want to see all parties commit to supporting the National Quality Framework and improving access for disadvantaged children. Quality early learning means quality educators paid and recognised as professionals and supported by ongoing professional development.

Governments should fund all of that not parents.

At the polling booth, educators should be looking for political parties to develop really good policies and for their local candidates to be an advocate for early learning.

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Vox Pops - NSW ELECTION 2019 WHAT THE SECTOR IS SAYING CARENA HAWKINS

in many decisions, yet at other

these communities are finding their

Director Sutherland Activity Centre

schools, it seems to be a constant

ability to access these services

fight between the two. To me it doesn’t make sense. It often feels like

The main issue for the OOSH sector at this present moment is that the NSW Government (Education Department) are raising the rent of

the OOSH is an afterthought, whereas

severely impacted and centres questioning their viability.

at any meetings about transition, the parents’ first question seems to be ‘is there an before and after school service, and are they full'?

ANA-LUISA FRANCO Manager, Engagement Centre Early Start, University of Wollongong A key issue I will be following rooms used for OOSH in the school that they are located. In some services I know of, the rent has gone from $9,000 to $45,000 a year. These increases are ridiculous, regardless of whether you are not for profit provider or a private provider. If the number of children drops in these services, the service would not be able to pay rent, let alone wages, and are tied to a lease agreement for 3 years.

Another issue is that it seems every OOSH within public schools are treated differently. Some are just part of community and are included

All of these centres support families and children experiencing

heading into the next election is any

disadvantage and the majority of

evaluation and change to the new

them are located in communities

Child Care Package, particularly the

with limited or fragmented access

activity test. I am hoping that there

to other support services. These

is recognition of these impacts and changes made to enable better

centres are a crucial support for

access to ECEC services from

families and provide them with one

families and children experiencing

of the most valuable and responsive

vulnerabilities and disadvantage.

services in these communities. While

I am regularly hearing from

this situation has been exacerbated

educators in ECEC centres across

by changes to policy at a federal

regional, rural and remote areas of

level, a state government could have

NSW and the ACT about the impact the new Child Care Package has had for their centres. The changes to the

a positive effect through targeted funding for services working to

activity test and lower subsidised

increase access for vulnerable or

hours have meant that families in

disadvantaged families.

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MARCH 2019 | 36

JACKIE BAXTER

governments to reflect on the day to day needs of families and our communities.

Director Mary Bailey House, Strathfield How to attract and retain early

HOW TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD CONTACT CELA SO WE CAN AMPLIFY YOUR VOICE

education professionals is the issue that is most top of my mind at present.

e: info@cela.org.au f: @communityearlylearningaustralia 1800 157 818

I've been trying to recruit a child care trainee since October 2018 but have been unable to do so. We've

CONTACT THE CANDIDATES:

advertised and re-advertised the position and on each occasion only attracted one applicant who we've

I can see the impacts of issues

Write to or call

like traffic congestion and public

THE HON. SARAH MITCHELL, MLC Minister for Early Education, Aboriginal Affairs and Assistant Minister for

transport on families – where

interviewed and on each occasion

children need to spend longer sitting

they weren't the right fit. We pay for the Certificate III, give them the

in cars and waiting for overcrowded

Education

option of training providers and

trains, or additional hours in

Message Sarah via this form

give them a day off to study either

children’s services while family

at home or at the centre. We don't

travel times are extended, which in

give them any responsibility and

turn stretches staffing.

KATE WASHINGTON MP Shadow Minister for Early Education and Shadow Minister for the Hunter

assure them that the traineeship is a learning experience.

As educators we are aware how important natural environments

e: portstephens@parliament.nsw.gov.au Find candidates in your electorate here:

I've noticed a decline in applicants

are for wellbeing. I have noticed the

for traineeships over the past 2-3

extensive use of all of the green

years and wonder if early childhood

spaces by local families in our city,

CONNECT WITH THE CAMPAIGNS

education is losing its appeal? My

so I hope there is ongoing planning

hope for the Early Childhood sector

Early Learning Everyone Benefits

for easy access to more open

Campaign

spaces as our city grows.

Launch Into Learning Campaign

the child minding industry that is

One particular issue for early

United Voice's Big Steps Campaign

portrayed by governments.

childhood services that stands out

The Parenthood

is for Australian society to view it as an education field rather than

are the workforce issues. I hope the election outcome brings a

KAREN GANNON

government with an understanding

Director Betty Spears Childcare Centre, Tempe

of the issues and a strong

With two elections looming for 2019 I think this is a great opportunity for our

qualified staff, particularly in long

commitment to current strategies and beyond, to attract and maintain day care centres.

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MARCH 2019 | 37

Tally Room

WELLNESS FOCUS

Retreat into Wellbeing

Working in early education and care means putting the needs of others first, professionally, but as William DeJean and Suzy Green explain, putting yourself first drives professional success as well, and retreats offer a great way to shift your focus and take care of you.

R

esearchers, writers, speakers and thought leaders tell us that who we are is strongly connected to how we teach and lead. That is, our backgrounds, wellbeing and ways of understanding who we are all connect to the ways we engage with the work we do.

That’s why taking care of you (financially, emotionally, physically, spiritually) is not just essential for your own wellbeing but it’s essential for your professional success as well.

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Too often, discussions of wellness and wellbeing are narrowly defined by discussions of eating well and the importance of regular exercise. Yet we find even with a healthy diet and regular exercise, life often still feels out of balance, we get sick or we have this sinking feeling that there’s more to our life that is calling for our attention.

That’s why to truly take care of you requires time out for self-reflection and the opportunity to engage in deeper conversations about the changes you might need to make.

MARCH 2019 | 38

It will also require different kinds of ongoing activities and commitments.

This commitment to self-care means investing consistent time to not just your professional responsibilities, but also to creating a life you truly love.

It means taking time out to fill your cup so you have the energy, stamina and insight to give back to others more fully. It means making who you are the priority you deserve to be. A retreat provides this precious time out to investigate and reflect on your own life, patterns, values, strengths, dreams and hopes for the future

What is a retreat?

A retreat is scheduled time-out of the daily grind to allow you to step back and reflect. It can be done in solitude or as part of a group but it’s really precious time for you to focus on you. Unlike a training session or workshop, a group retreat is a gathering of people who all come together to engage in reflective practices in order to discover their own answers and wisdom. It is a time for renewal and reflection; a time to look at who you really are, the life you are living and the directions and values you care about.

Retreats take place in various locations, timeframes and structures. Some might include walks, yoga, journaling, small group discussions or other reflective practices.

There are retreats held outside of the city and urban retreats scheduled in a location inside a city to make them accessible to everyone. Regardless of where they take place, they’re designed to provide a space for you to engage in a deeper connection to who you are. To do this effectively, it can be enormously helpful to work with trained professionals in a small group engaging in facilitated reflective practices and activities.

Most retreats are designed with the intention of allowing you to investigate: Where am I in my own life?

What’s working well?

Participants at CELA’s Director’s Retreat in Byron Bay Although you may already engage in reflective practise, like taking walks, writing in a journal or spending time alone, attending a retreat allows you to move into a deeper practice of reflection through the power of community.

When you reflect with others in a structured environment, you have an opportunity to hear other people’s stories, gain new perspectives, meet new kinds of people and to consider things we might not have thought of before. For many people, being in such a community provides a space for their individual reflection process to go much deeper, than when alone.

What do I truly value?

Time to schedule a retreat

What are my strengths and how can I use them more fully?

It’s so easy for our lives to be filled with helping and caring for others, teaching and leading, that our own lives get placed on the back burner. Even when we take a break, we might go on a holiday only to discover we are still feeling busy and tired when we return. Or there

What adjustments might I need to make?

What am I not seeing or not considering because of how busy my life is right now?

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MARCH 2019 | 39

are times in our life when we’re contemplating making personal or professional changes or looking for the time to stop and consider next steps.

Scheduling a retreat, once a year, or multiple times a year (seasonally) is a great proactive way to put yourself on top of your own to-do list.

You don’t need to wait for a crisis to attend a retreat.

They are designed for you to be proactive about your wellbeing , scheduled into your own life as you can continue to make positive changes so you can develop a life you love and reflect your authentic and best self.

Who you are matters If who you are connects to how you teach and lead, being a student of your own life is as important as being a student of your profession. It’s a reminder that who you are matters.

If you’ve never attended a retreat before, it’s okay to feel a level of apprehension. It’s often a normal part of the process. It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, or that you shouldn’t attend. Often fear is an indication that you are about to step into an environment of important growth.

When you intentionally, strategically and consistently work to ensure you are at your best, not only does it positively impact the work you do, but also you’re teaching, by example, others how to do the same, and creating a powerful ripple effect of wellbeing in the community.

Dr William DeJean is an award-winnning educator with more than 20 years experience inspiring people to reach their full potential.

Dr Suzy Green is founder of the Positivity Institute.

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MARCH 2019 | 40

DIRECTOR’S RETREAT REFLECTIONS Being a leader in our sector often means juggling the needs of children, families, staff and management. We believe that taking care of yourself is essential for every early education leader’s wellbeing and a significant contributor to professional success and the success of the people you lead.

CELA runs an annual Director’s Retreat featuring sessions with respected sector specialists who guide early education leaders through content designed to help them think, grow and reflect on their professional purpose. Here we share some of the reflections from our last retreat in 2018, and a short interview with two leaders who share how their learnings have impacted on their day to day practice.

Rebecca Grugan

Carena Hawkins

What did you most enjoy about the retreat?

What did you most enjoy about the retreat?

The relationships created with the trainers and the other participants. The attendees were true professionals and were engaged and open minded to whatever we discussed.

Having time to share with directors in a beautiful location and learning how to make a change to how you give yourself time to just breathe, reflect and recharge.

What was the most valuable thing you learnt?

Different ways to change your perspective to how you look at a problem and use your intuition more, 'if it feels right, it probably is'.

Director, The Hills Montessori

Director, Sutherland Activity Centre

To follow my intuition and gut instinct. To continue trusting myself and living life spontaneously and to take every opportunity that feels right.

What was the most valuable thing you learnt?

What reflections did you take away from the retreat?

What reflections did you take away from the retreat?

To remember to breathe and that we are making a huge difference in the world with what we do.

How will this affect your day-to-day practice?

I am more aware of my breath. I am pushing my belief of ‘self-care is not selfish’ on to my staff to ensure they too look after themselves. I will absolutely be back in 2019. I highly recommend this retreat for Leaders in our sector.

Be kinder to yourself because if you are at your best, this enables others around you to be more calm and confident and the environment becomes a more positive and productive place to work or live.

How will this affect your day-to-day practice?

We will be changing how we greet the children to make sure it's always with a big, beautiful smile. We will give educators more time to reflect and be themselves as the ratios are not paramount during the session. We will look at what ideas each educator can bring to the service.

ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS tI at at some poin th d re ve co is d 'I have he retreat gs I enjoyed. T in th g n oi d d stoppe ion. A to this realisat e m co e m d pe has hel od. This d beautiful fo an g in tt se lovely le’s sitively on peop po s ct pa im k I thin for ability to care ning of a new 'It’s the begin themselves.' g understandin reflective and am on. I’m so journey that I e opportunity grateful for th given me.' that you have

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'Thank you for sharing knowledge to guide me in developing a deeper understanding of myself and how that relates to the people I work with.

I feel incredibly blessed to have been allowed the space and time to connect with such amazing educators and master of their profession.'

MARCH 2019 | 41

'Thank you for making

me look at things in a

new light and helping me

realise that I am enough.

I pride myself on being an

advocate for the children

in my care and this has

been a reminder of how

great an educator I am!'

Research continually highlights the VALUE OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

C

harles Sturt University’s Exemplary Educators study (2019) features learning and development as one of the top traits identified as supporting exemplary educators in their work, while The Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education project (EPPSE) found consistent correlation between the proportion of highly trained educators in a service, the overall quality of the service, and children’s long-term outcomes (Taggart et al.

2015, p. 8).

When planned and implemented effectively, professional development can be a key tool to support best practice outcomes for children as well as improving team motivation and morale.

Self-satisfaction and enthusiasm Through developing our capacity to link theory and practice, we deepen our understanding of the value and significance of our work. In turn, this sustains our commitment, our enthusiasm and capacity to keep growing professionally and personally.

Staff retention The Practice Potentials study (2008) showed that professional development was seen as a key factor in making the workplace a place that staff wanted to stay in because it was seen as contributing significantly to staff commitment and engagement.

A positive effect on children, parents and the wider community According to CELA’s research and policy consultant Megan O’Connell, qualified educators can create a program of learning that stimulates children and lifts children’s outcomes throughout early years and beyond.

Highly trained educators are able to support children to develop their language skills, to work with families who have complex needs, and to build relationships with staff across their centres.

Ultimately, the aim is to make children’s early education sparkle through meaningful growth in every educator’s practice.

2019 LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT CALENDAR An exciting year of professional education created by our sector experts.

Find out more

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YOUR 8 WEEK QUALITY PD PLAN

BROUGHT TO YOU BY LOUISE BLACK, CELA L&D SPECIALIST Are you planning for quality in 2019?

Quality Improvement Planning is about continuous improvement. Therefore, you can expect to be questioning, reviewing and evaluating practice as a part of your everyday work as teachers and educators. It is about learning from past lessons and being informed by research so that we grow and develop as professionals.

It is also about critically reflecting on practice, which is a key component of engaging in effective practice.

The concepts of quality and critical reflection are not always easy to comprehend by newer staff members, and may be challenging to embed cohesively throughout the service. A new year represents a good time to consider our practices and whether they are enhancing the quality of our service or if they need to be brushed aside for a new start. It’s also a good time to look at how clearly all staff members understand the concept of quality and critical reflection.

We have put together a step-by-step 8 week professional development plan to start your team off on the right foot to enhancing quality across the service in 2019.

Plan for educational leaders to improve quality This eight week program challenges your thinking and practice around quality. Follow it and you will gain greater understanding of how you are tracking in relation to your QIP goals, how your service philosophy has been received and understood by your team and how critical reflection is being used throughout your service.

Whether you work through the plan as a staff group or as an individual, you will reflect on current practices, review what quality looks like in your service and plan your shift towards the desired outcome.

EDUCATIONAL LEADER PROFESSIONAL LEARNING SUGGESTIONS Customised training around quality

Related CELA calendar sessions

We can also come to your service and customise training for your team with a focus on quality including: ⊲⊲ Philosophy review and development ⊲⊲ Engaging educators in the QIP ⊲⊲ Exploring the NQS Exceeding themes ⊲⊲ Critical reflection and goal setting

⊲⊲ Measuring Quality and Articulating Quality Practices in your QIP ⊲⊲ Demystifying Critical Reflection ⊲⊲ Critical Reflection and Assessing Children’s Learning DOWNLOAD OUR TRAINING CALENDAR

Please call CELA‘s Learning and Development Specialists to discuss your team needs on 8922 6444 or email info@cela.org.au

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YOUR 8 WEEK PLAN

PLAN FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERS TO IMPROVE QUALITY

Week 1

Week 3

Evaluating 2018

Considering quality

Evaluate goals on the Quality Improvement Plan

What does Quality practice mean to you?

Discuss as a team:

The quality of a service’s practice will change due to turnover of educators and will need reviewing in light of new families and children joining the service community each year.

Which goals did we achieve? What contributed to this?

What measurable outcomes did we achieve? Can we articulate our achievements?

How can these successes be built on this year?

What do we need to continue to do and plan for?

Get together as a team to discuss what quality means to you and what it looks like, feels like and sounds like in practice in the context of your service.

Brainstorm and record responses.

Week 2

Week 4

Revisit the service philosophy

Quality practice: critical reflection

When reviewing the service philosophy consider the following questions:

Critical reflection is a key part of planning for ongoing quality improvement under the NQF. Educators need to have an understanding of how their practice is informed by critical reflection.

Does the Philosophy represent the views, values and beliefs of the current educators?

Do the team know how to use this in their everyday practice? How is this reflected in discussion and documentation?

How is the Philosophy used to embed quality practice?

Reflect on the following: What role does critical reflection play in my practice?

What opportunities are there in our service for educators to engage in critical reflection?

Is critical reflection happening across all 7 Quality Areas?

Helpful resources:

CELA resources available to members only:

Guide to the National Quality Framework www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/about/guide

Team Resource Kit Fact Sheets including: Engaging with your QIP NQF Reflection Tool Goal Setting

NQS Knowledge Game www.acecqa.gov.au/resources/supporting-materials/games Information sheets: Designed to help educators to think about quality practice across the seven quality areas of the National Quality Standard. www.acecqa.gov.au/resources/supporting-materials/infosheet

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Thinking about Fact Sheets including: Developing a Philosophy Suggested questions for reviewing the QIP AND Self Assessment Go to: www.cela.org.au/member-resources-2/

MARCH 2019 | 44

Week 5

Week 7

Use the information gathered from team discussions and reflections to set the goals for the coming year.

Identify potential gaps in educator and management practice, skills and knowledge that could be improved by engaging in PD.

Competency audit for PD

Setting goals

Consider: Which goals need to be continued from last year?

What changes are happening in the service that may prompt a goal?

Think about: Your succession plan Identify the need for any upgrades to qualifications

Information gathered from staff appraisals – what requests or identified gaps need to be acted on?

Prioritise areas of PD and determine what mode of delivery is preferred to achieve your goals.

Week 6

Week 8

Engaging the team with the QIP The QIP is your plan for continuing improvement. All educators should have a sense of ownership.

Consider: Giving educators the opportunity to buddy up to take responsibility for a Quality Area or allocate an area based on strengths, interests or skills Include professional discussions about progress in staff meetings Working on one goal at a time Focus on identifying measurable outcomes

Celebrate your plan to enhance quality practices Now that you have decided on your plan to enhance quality practice in 2019 – commit to it!

Finalise: Identify courses relevant for individual educators.

Make the call, or go online and book the courses you have chosen.

Display the plan so everyone (including parents) knows what they can look forward to in 2019.

Choose a credible PD provider who customise the training to your needs and provide value for your training budget.

TRY THIS: ⊲⊲Once you’ve committed to the agreed training, display the plan so everyone (including parents) knows what they can look forward to in 2019. ⊲⊲Create a template that educators can use to identify the outcomes that they want from the identified PD Sessions. ⊲⊲Remember that if you work with a not-for-profit provider you know you are getting the best possible value for your PD budget.

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Unpacking the process of assessment and planning FINDING THE GEMS OF LEARNING

NQS QUALITY AREA 1 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AND PRACTICE

A central component of the assessment and planning cycle is the process of analysis - the ‘sifting’ process of the cycle. However, analysis takes time – when analysis is rushed then opportunities for seeing the ‘gems’ of learning can be lost. Jessica Horne-Kennedy explores how educators can pace the cycle in order to sift out the gems of learning that will be treasured by children for years to come.

A

t the beginning of this year I was fortunate to travel to my homeland of New Zealand. Often on these trips I find a spare moment to fossick through old possessions kept in boxes in my parents’ garage: books, notes and once-treasured objects. Many of the items that remain embody special memories unique to my experience as a young child. When placed in my hand, these objects transport me back to this time, having the power to unlock significant memories.

By reflecting on the experience of sifting through the significant remnants of my childhood, a question arose for me. I thought of the children that I have worked with as an early childhood teacher and wondered:

Have I documented the children’s play and learning to capture the most significant moments in a way that will be meaningful to each child?

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When the children of today have grown into adults, will they treasure the documentation that we have created?

Will they look at our observations and say: ‘my teacher knew me so well...?

Early childhood expert Toni Christie’s words resonate here when she poses the question: Who is it for?

When the children of today have grown into adults, will they treasure the documentation that we have created?

Will they look at the observations that we have spent time writing and say: ‘my teacher knew me so well – they understood me’?

When we consider these questions, we are presented with an important idea for reflection. Our documentation processes must be based on thoughtful and deep

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understandings of each child who attends our service – this ensures that our reflection authentically represents the child and captures the story of who they are at a specific time in their learning journey. When we understand each child as a learner, we can approach our educational programme with intention.

For example, at the observation stage of the planning cycle, a service could ask:

Unpacking the cycle: making time for deconstruction, reflection, and reconstruction

After this ‘unravelling’ through reflective questioning comes the process of reconstructing. Reconstruction is about making meaning and asking how we can put into practice the thoughts arising from our shared critical thinking.

⊲⊲ Does the information we have gathered reflect the children’s voices and rights? ⊲⊲ How do we know that it does this?

As an early childhood consultant, a question that I am regularly asked about the planning cycle is ‘am I doing it right?’ The guidance I give is for educators and teams to take the time to ‘unpack’ the cycle.

When we begin to look at each stage of the cycle and ask questions about what it means for our context, then we can engage with the cycle in meaningful ways that reflect our own service culture, philosophy and values.

Quality Area 1 of the National Quality Standard emphasises that a responsive approach to teaching: ‘…values, scaffolds and extends each child’s strengths, skills, knowledge, interests and ideas to ensure a commitment to child-centered learning that promotes children’s agency.’ (ACECQA, 2018, p.94)

The Gathering Basket – a starting point for engaging with the assessment and planning cycle In New Zealand, the Maori people call a basket woven from flax a ‘kete’ (Te Ara, 2019). To begin thinking about the assessment and planning cycle, I ask educators to imagine a ‘kete’ for each child or group of children that they work with.

A key enabler to this approach can be found within the assessment and planning cycle (Standard 1.3) of Quality Area 1.

The assessment and planning cycle Observing/collecting information

Reflecting/evaluating Analysing learning

Implementing Planning

Source: ACECQA • analyse each child’s learning and development in relation to the learning

of the approved learning frameworks (see Element 1.1.1), to For educators,outcomes deconstruction a form ofand critical identify progress which can be is shared with families others and to assist in identifying goal(s) for further learning and development thinking that •allows us to take apart concepts and plan the program including: meanings through questioning those elements our » strategies and experiences for individual children (based onof their goals) » experiences to support achievement of group goals practice that normally go unquestioned.

By asking » experiences to extend emerging strengths, abilities and interests » experiences that follow up on input from families of the reflective questions about each component » experiences related to relevant community events assessment and planning cycle, educators canidentify arrive • implement the planned experiences, and at the same time and utilise ‘teachable moments’ to respond to and support children’s newly at a deeper awareness of abilities howand tointerests implement the cycle emerging strengths, • reflect on individual children’s learning and participation and the program in their specific service context. as a whole, to support further planning for learning.

Some jurisdictions have different documentation requirements for educational

programs for children over preschool See shared Regulations 74, 274A, 289Aand and 298A. Questions asked will come fromage. the values beliefs about children, learning, and the curriculum framework underpinning day to day practice.

National Quality Standard and Assessment and Rating | Guide to the National Quality Standard

Assessment and planning cycle

Element 1.3.1

THE PLANNING CYCLE

Image source: Sophia Tunnicliffe

Into this ‘gathering basket’, the educator places everything that is known about the child: their strengths, their interests, their home culture, their family background, their play, and their friends.

This process of visualising a basket helps to describe the first stage of the cycle – the stage of observing and collecting information. This gathering stage is important and it is essential to emphasise that this early point of the assessment and planning cycle is not about rushing into writing up a formal observation such as a learning story, because the focus is initially on building a more 125 complete picture of who the child is.

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Sifting the contents to discover the gems how to reflect without becoming overwhelmed John Dewey tells us that ‘Observation alone is not enough. We have to understand the significance of what we see, hear and touch.’ (Cheeseman, 2012 p.1). Here, the important thing to remember is that in the process of gathering information, one must be curious and open to the meanings that arise – this allows for deeper understandings of the child and their learning to form.

Building this picture is deepened when we engage with the consecutive stage of the cycle – analysing learning.

At the analysing learning stage of the cycle, the visualisation continues. Here, I ask educators to imagine a giant sieve – like the ones that children use for play in the sandpit. Into this sieve we tip the contents of the gathering basket. Some items will fall right through the sieve, and some will remain. Those remaining items are like the treasures that the children find buried in the sand – they are the gems.

In your day to day interactions with children, there will be many moments that you see but the key to implementing the assessment and planning cycle with intention is to determine which parts will build on the child’s emerging strengths, interests and abilities. Each educator’s ‘sieve’ is formed through the professional knowledge that they hold – it is a diverse combination of pedagogy, theory, personal philosophy and interpretation of the Early Years Learning Framework.

Our questions and curiosities are essential at this stage.

We must allow ourselves to wonder and muse about the child’s processes of exploring their world.

It’s important to understand the learning that is valued in order to evaluate or analyse what has been learnt.

Ask yourself:

What is learning in the context of the child, the educator and the service What is valued here?

Does it reflect the philosophy of the service?

What am I attempting to teach?

Does it reflect my personal and service philosophy as well as honouring the child?

Often educators will gather a lot of information and it can be overwhelming to decipher the learning that is occurring. Effective deciphering requires time to ask questions about our observations of each child’s play.

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By asking: What is important? What are the gems?

The process of analysis begins to go beyond seeing and hearing to think deeply about the significance and meaning of the child’s experience.

Carr and Podmore (2001) provide us with ‘a series of questions that supports a child centered analysis based on the child’s voice: Do You Know Me? Can I Trust You? Do You Hear Me? Is This a Fair Place for Me? Will You Let Me Fly? These questions provide educators with a powerful set of tools to see the impact of teaching decisions and strategies on a child’s learning process. When we listen to the child’s voice in this way, we can ensure that their voices are represented strongly and respectfully in the choices we make.

Slowing the pace to perceive the rich moments of learning.

If we are to uncover the unique gems of each child’s learning experience, then the first step is to slow down the pace that it takes to embed the assessment and planning cycle in practice. For educators, time is precious and the decisions we make each moment of each day affect the children in our care. Both Joy Goodfellow (2008) and Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (2011) talk to the importance of educators bringing

The message for our work as advocates for children’s learning is to take the time to slow down the pace of implementing the assessment and planning cycle. their ‘whole self’ into awareness to perceive what is happening in the surrounding environment. This sense of awareness is about being present to ‘catch our thought’ and to then act on the thought or discovery in our teaching practice.

For me, this was what happened in the moment that I was crouched over the dusty old boxes in the garage of my parents’ home in New Zealand. I was finding the gems that were left over from my childhood and these in turn opened a window to understanding how I learned and played as a young child.

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The message for our work as advocates for children's learning is to take the time to slow down the pace of implementing the assessment and planning cycle. This ensures that our methods of gathering and interpreting information about children's play and experiences of the world translate into documentation that children will treasure, remember, and use to understand their sense of becoming, both now and into the future.

About the author: Jessica Horne-Kennedy works

References Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA). (2018).

Guide to the National Quality Framework. Retrieved online: https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-11/Guide-to-the-NQF_0.pdf Carr, M. & Podmore, V. (2001). The “child’s questions”: Programme evaluation with Te Whāriki using “Teaching Stories’. Early Childhood Folio 5. Retrieved online: https://www.nzcer.org.nz Christie, T. (2017). ‘Yeah Baby!’ Conference. Brisbane, August.

Council of Australian Governments (2010). Educators Belonging, Being and Becoming.

Canberra, ACT: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Cited in: NQS PLP e-Newsletter No.39 2012.

Goodfellow, J. (2008). Presence as a Dimension of Early Childhood Professional Practice.

Australasian journal of early childhood 33(1) Retrieved online:

https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-177828643/presence-as-a-dimension-of-earlychildhood-professional. Immordino-Yang, M.H (2011) Implications of Affective and Social Neuroscience for Educational Theory. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43, (1). Retrieved online: http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~immordin/papers/Immordino-Yang_EPAT_2011.pdf Maitland, P. (2014). Souvenir Nostalgia. Room One Thousand, 2(2) Retrieved online: https:// escholarship.org/uc/item/7bb700th MacNaughton, G. & Williams, G. (1998). Techniques for Teaching Young Children, Australia: Addison Wesley Longman.

Quilting. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved, February 11, 2019, from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilting Stewart, S. (2014). Reading a Drawer. Room One Thousand, 2. Retrieved online: https:// escholarship.org/uc/item/4t87g8bw Stewart, Susan (1993). On longing: narratives of the miniature, the gigantic, the souvenir, the collection (First paperback edition). Duke University Press, Durham.

Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. (2019). Flax Kete: Flax and Flax Working. Retrieved online: https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/10389/flax-kete

as an early education and care consultant. She is a qualified early childhood teacher with a Masters in Education (Honours), and holds over ten years teaching experience across a range of age groups including the role of centre Director.

EARLY EDUCATION SECTOR RESEARCH FROM AROUND THE WORLD

by Megan O'Connell, CELA policy and research consultant

The Front Project and Future Tracks – Market Research Insights on Early Learning and Care and Early Childhood Teaching The Front Project has released market research around perceptions of a career in early learning. This research, undertaken to inform the rollout of Future Tracks, a pathways program into a career in early childhood education, uncovered the following views:

N o clear or consistent language - research showed that both adults and young people consistently refer to ‘childcare;’ rather than early learning. Lack of understanding of quality.

S taff working in childcare and early learning work are perceived to be underpaid and undervalued and the profession is viewed as less respected than school teaching.

Seed Report – new data released analysing children's outcomes at age 4

C onfusion around age and the qualifications required to work in early learning, and the differences between school teaching and early childhood education. A view prevailed that you need to like children, and that skills in working with children were innate rather than taught.

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Read the report at The Front Project

The Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) is a major United Kingdom longitudinal study following nearly 6,000 children from across England from age two through to age seven. New data has been released analysing children’s outcomes at age 4.

Read the report at Seed.natcen.ac.uk MARCH 2019 | 49

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WHAT’S TRUST GOT TO DO WITH COMMUNICATION? BY SARAH MOORE I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant.

- Pentagon Spokesman Robert McCloskey

B

eing an effective communicator is an essential skill for the early education leader. The ability to motivate, inspire and engage many audiences and stakeholders is a key requirement of all leaders, but we can fall short in our delivery due to a lack of understanding of the dynamics between the message giver and receiver.

On any given day early education leaders are required to facilitate numerous conversations or discussions on topics as far reaching as child development, curriculum requirements, staff performance or simply providing

re-assurance to a concerned mother about her son. The ability to traverse these topics while at the same time managing interpersonal dynamics and expectations is both challenging and rewarding, in equal measure.

There is an expectation that leaders will come readily equipped with the skills to manage these conversations.

This is rarely the case, however skilled the leader is. We all require ongoing development to increase our knowledge, understanding and capability in this area and there is now a growing body of research that is shifting our understanding of the skills required to be a great communicator.

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MAKE A SCARECROW

We are living in a time of unprecedented change and uncertainty and the ability to cut through the noise and chatter that surrounds us is an important skill to master.

Early education leaders are not exempt from this and if unprepared can find themselves not only misunderstood but also in conflict as a result of a conversation gone wrong. To make matters worse, there may be an inability to repair the situation and instead of finding a resolution we can find ourselves adopting an entrenched position.

This results in nine out of ten people walking away from a conversation with a different view of reality and a different understanding of what was agreed.

This is hardly surprising when we consider the research finding from Stanford University that reported that nine out of ten conversations fail to hit the mark. This results in nine out of ten people walking away from a conversation with a different view of reality and a different understanding of what was agreed. This is an astonishing number that gives us plenty of scope for improvement.

I know of many leaders who had great intentions when starting a conversation but quickly realised that the course of the conversation was going in a completely

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different direction to what was intended. This often results in a poor experience for both parties as the intended impact falls well short of the original intent.

The Pentagon Spokesman Robert McCloskey eloquently highlighted this point when he said, ‘I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant.’

Our perception of reality seldom matches the reality of the people around us, despite us thinking this is the case.

What skills and new insights do early educational leaders need to be more successful in their communication?

We can’t keep relying on the communication tools of the past, they no longer serve our needs or purpose.

Instead we need new thinking, new tools and a fresh understanding of what makes communication effective.

With the help of Judith E. Glaser author of Conversational Intelligence® we have a new lens from which to learn and understand the dynamics of conversations. Glaser’s research and communication tools are revolutionising our understanding about the way in which we as humans communicate, from a neurological perspective.

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Challenging our views Conversations are not always what we think they are.

We’ve grown up with a narrow view of communication as the process of expressing thoughts, observations and opinions. In the past early education leaders’ communication has mainly focused on developing active listening and emotional intelligence and conflict resolution skills. We now know that conversations have the power to enable participants to bridge the gap between how things are viewed and seen between both parties.

Conversational Intelligence® is also giving early educational leaders the ability to gain new understanding about what gets in the way of communication and how to elevate our communication skills so we can build connections, strengthen relationships and navigate our way through potential conflict and misunderstandings.

It’s all in the brain When we access our pre-frontal cortex, via feelings of trust, oxytocin is released. The prefrontal cortex enables us to collaborate with others, have good judgment, be strategic, handle difficult conversations, and build and sustain trust. This can be seen in the early education space when team members are open to discussion, receptive to change and easy to engage with. These behaviours indicate that they are in a space of trust and demonstrating a desire to partner, share and discover together, whilst releasing oxytocin.

If we are in an environment of mistrust, we are operating out of the emotional part of our brain and this may limit access to our brain’s higher thinking ability, reducing our ability to be the best version of ourselves. This can be seen in the early education space when team members are reactive, defensive or shut down. These behaviours indicate that team members are in a space of distrust and are demonstrating protect behaviours such as resistance or sceptic whilst releasing cortisol.

You can imagine the difference it would make to children, families, colleagues, other professionals and stakeholders if they are communicating through a lens of trust as opposed to one of protect.

How can early education leaders build trust through their communication?

3 tips to elevate your communication

B

elow is a small introduction to some basic Conversational Intelligence® concepts for you to consider. The most powerful and impactful way to use these concepts is to embody them into your practice and to be curious about what you discover, with a growth mindset.

1) BE FULLY PRESENT The fastest way to build trust is to be fully present with the other person, not judging, rejecting or confirming what you think you know about the other person or the situation. Be open to where the conversation takes you. The fastest way to be fully present is to take some conscious, deep breaths.

2) LISTEN TO CONNECT Create a clear intention that you want to make a human connection with the person you are connecting with. Explore what you don’t know about what is being said. Come from a place of curiosity and try not to make assumptions.

“Listening to connect, not listening to respond has been a huge shift for me as I have become consciously intentional about more deeply attempting to understand what people are expressing to me, rather than focusing on communication exchanges and potentially missing important insights.” Collette Marks, Educational Leader, Parkes Early Childcare Centre

3) QUESTION Questions are a powerful way of demonstrating that you want to understand other people’s realities. Be curious, don’t assume understanding and knowledge.

When we ask questions for which we do not know the answers we open up a space to build joint realities.

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Through my work with many Leaders as a Conversational Intelligence® Certified Enhanced Skills Practitioner, I have experienced and witnessed some measurable shifts in outcomes for early education leaders. One that is particularly memorable was a director who faced a particularly complex conversation between a family and a group of health professionals.

The director was extremely nervous but composed herself by consciously grounding her thoughts and preparing her intentions. She listened to connect, not judge or reject and asked a range of questions for which she did not have the answers. As a result she found that the difficult conversation was transformed and the outcome was better than she could have ever anticipated. Because she worked through the lens of trust, she was able to elevate the conversation to a new level which facilitated a positive outcome for everyone involved!

Creating environments of trust results in an increase of team motivation and performance as well as a decrease in misunderstandings and conflict. The ultimate outcome is a higher quality of communication which leads to an elevated quality of service.

About the Author: Sarah Moore is the Director of Early Education Leadership Sarah participated in the first International Conversational Intelligence® for Coaches Program in 2016 & 2018 and became a Certified Enhanced Skills C-IQ Coach. She now utilises the research and neuroscience based tools created by Judith E. Glaser, within the Early Childhood sector, through her coaching, mentoring and training facilitation.

If you are interested in finding out more about how you can benefit from using Conversational Intelligence® within your leadership, you may want to follow the link below to the range of Leadership Communication Masterclasses Sarah is running for CELA. FIND OUT MORE

References: 1.Stanford University Study- https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/speech-acts/) 2. Conversational Intelligence – How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results – Judith E. Glasers

MASTERCLASSES WITH SARAH MOORE CONSCIOUS COMMUNICATION

ENGAGEMENT IS KEY Discover what gets in the way of team engagement and communication + the tools to drive deeper involvement and communication that lasts.

Elevate your team's communication skills: find out how to build trust within your team and how to respond to conflict effectively.

Find out more

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Director's Retreat BYRON BAY 27-30 MAY 2019 Inspire - Engage - Ignite

Bookings now open – limited spaces!

An event of professional growth, networking and a chance to recharge for directors and leaders in the Early Education sector.

Being a leader in our sector often means juggling the needs of children, families, staff and management. Taking care of yourself is essential for your wellbeing and a significant contributor to your professional success and the people you lead.

The 2019 Directors Retreat in Byron Bay will feature sessions with respected sector specialists who will guide you through content designed to help you think, grow and reflect on your professional purpose.

Something that I will take away from this retreat is confirmation of the feelings and passions I have for this sector...I now have some tools to use to unwind, destress and tackle my obstacles and some energy to strive for what I want.

- Nov, 2018 Director's Retreat

We only have 20 spaces available, so we advise those interested to book soon to avoid missing out.

Find out more. Any questions? Please call 1800 157 818 or email: info@cela.org.au RATTLER ISSUE 126

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WESTERN NSW REGIONAL LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT GROUP Approved Providers - we’ve got you covered Are you looking for high quality professional Already Approved Provider or applying become one? learninganopportunities for your regionaltoservice?

CELA is excited to announce an innovative approach to delivering quality As the peak body for Australia’s early to and middle childhood education learning & development opportunities early educators in regional NSW.sector, we can support you during the provider approval process and beyond with: These opportunities include NESA registered training and are designed to meet the needs for all qualification levels and service types.

Approved Provider training courses -Across Professional Learning 12 months you can be part of a dynamic group of regional early -educators Resources & Publications engaging in face to face training, masterclasses, webinars, -mini conference Membership services and mentoring. This program is designed to ensure -that your Mentoring learning is transformed into high quality practice.

Consultancy

To find out more visit our website www.cela.org.au or call us on 1800 157 818