Rattler + Broadside Issue 127 - July 2019

Rattler + Broadside

COMMUNITY EARLY LEARNING AUSTRALIA JOURNAL

EDUCATOR WELL-BEING

ISSUE 127 | JULY 2019

A new study looks at Early Childhood Educator well-being - A magical experience at Nature Explorers How can we lead pedagogy by lifting our gaze? - The shifting nature of quality - Broadside and much more

FROM YOUR CEO In the lead up to the NSW and Federal elections the Labor Party and the Greens adopted strong policies supporting Educator pay increases, children’s participation in early learning and the National Quality Framework. We encourage them to hold firm to these positions despite the result in both elections.

Moving forward with re-elected Liberal-National governments we look to the positives – ongoing commitment at state level to high investment in early education; specific federal funding commitments to preschool education, improving access for disadvantaged children, and supporting data collection.

There is hope that through COAG’s Education Ministerial Council, State and Territory governments will continue to pressure the Federal government to implement the recommendations of the Lifting our Game report.

During term 2, CELA ran a national survey of the state of affairs for Outside School Hours Care services. Thank you for responding to our call out for input, the outstanding response resulted in meaningful information which is being used in consultation with government.

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ince the last edition of Rattler in March, CELA has continued to be a strong advocate on behalf of community early education and OSHC, including having our voice heard at the recent NSW Minister’s Round Table, and as part of the ECEC Advisory Group (NSW).

Our advocacy continues to focus on five key areas: ⊲⊲ Increased enrolment and participation in preschool programs ⊲⊲ Increased fee relief in long day care for disadvantaged children, particularly in NSW ⊲⊲ State and Federal government support for our National Quality Framework ⊲⊲ Support for our rural and regional workforce to lift educational outcomes for children ⊲⊲ An effective national early childhood workforce strategy to attract, train and retain great educators The workforce issues are of particular priority as it is essential that all children have access to consistent, highly trained educators and teachers for quality early education to occur.

It is of great concern that Australia is facing a severe shortage of well qualified early childhood educators, due largely to the high level of attrition. A National Workforce Strategy is urgently needed. Read more about our research into building a sustainable ECEC workforce in this issue’s Broadside.

The results, which we shared in articles on our Amplify! blog, showed that in NSW alone 8000 families are not getting the places they need for their children. The data from our research also revealed that the OSHC market is dynamic and volatile, with costs escalating and service providers cannot always raise fees to meet these costs.

We launched a number of new initiatives aimed at enhancing member touchpoints around the area of leadership, quality and communication, including our Masterclass series and our Western NSW Regional Learning & Development Group, and we hosted another successful Director’s Retreat in Byron Bay. Which brings me to ask— are you making the most of your CELA membership?

In this issue we remind you of all of the wonderful resources and benefits your membership provides. See page 40 for a quick reference guide, and don’t forget that our friendly team are available to answer your queries via our 1800 number.

Our focus for this issue is around educator well-being. We examine exciting new research which measures how hard educators work; what psychological, emotional and physical stressors they experience, and the impact of educator well-being on the quality and sustainability of education services. And for educators we provide practical tips for improving well-being.

We hope that you enjoy reading edition 127 of Rattler.

Michele Carnegie Chief Executive Officer Community Early Learning Australia

PUBLISHER Community Early Learning Australia EDITORIAL TEAM Michele Carnegie, Wendy Lindgren, Tracey Long, Kerrie Maguire, Louise Black,

THIS ISSUE RATTLER+BROADSIDE | ISSUE 127 | JULY 2019

Nathalie DuPavillon, Lisa Cloumassis Community Early Learning Australia

WHAT'S ON

JOURNALISTS

Early education sector awards, conferences and events

Margaret Paton, Victoria Mackinlay ADVERTISING AND PRODUCTION Traceylong@cela.org.au CONTRIBUTORS Tracey Long, Megan O'Connell, Donna Osmetti, Jennifer Ribarovski, Sofia Machado, Leanne Gibbs & Kelly Goodsir CONTRIBUTIONS We welcome your stories. Copyright is held jointly by the publisher and the author COPYING Email for permission to republish any part of this magazine. CELA thanks the children and educators who gave their permission to be photographed.

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

A MAGICAL EXPERIENCE AT NATURE EXPLORERS

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LIFTING OUR GAZE 4

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Regional Business Leader award winner and Citizen of the Year Amy Shine of Forbes Preschool shares her centre's focus on inclusion

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR WELL-BEING PROJECT

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New Australian research takes a holistic approach to examining educator well-being

WELL-BEING TIPS FOR EARLY EDUCATORS

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Kelly Goodsir explores how we can lead pedagogy by lifting our gaze

Donna Osmetti shares a beautiful reflection and we speak to the founders of Nature Explorers about how it all started

MEET THE MEMBER

BROADSIDE 21

EMERGING LEADERSHIP RESEARCH PROJECT

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Leanne Gibbs introduces her research project on emerging leadership

A CULTURE OF CAPABILITY

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Colombo Plan scholarship winner and service director Jess Guerin reflects on her trip to Japan where she met educators and visited preschools in Tokyo, Kyoto and Kobe

WINTER PLANTING

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A guide to winter planting and a colourful activity for children

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Why well-being matters and a new resource to promote well-being in your service

SECTOR RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT 18 CELA’s research and policy advisor Megan O’Connell shares an overview of the latest sector research from Australia and beyond

ARE YOU MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP?

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WHAT’S QUALITY ANYWAY?

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Jennifer Ribarovski explores the shifting nature of quality and provides tips on how to integrate quality into your service

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

BREAKING NEWS: TWO CELA MEMBERS ANNOUNCED AS FINALISTS IN NATIONAL NARRAGUNNAWALI AWARDS Reconciliation Australia has just announced the finalists for the Narragunnawali awards, with CELA members Forbes Preschool Kindergarten (NSW) and Kelly's Place Children's Centre (NSW) taking two of only three finalist places in the early learning category.

Held biennially, the Narragunnawali Awards represent Australia’s first national awards program for reconciliation in schools and early learning services.

©2019 Community Early Learning Australia

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'We were so impressed by the calibre and creativity of the nominees this year, and particularly of the finalists. Teachers and students alike have been working in partnership with Elders, Traditional Owners and community members to ensure teaching and learning is relevant to their local community context.'

Reconciliation Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Karen Mundine You can find out more about Narragunnawali and the award criteria at www.narragunnawali.org.au

WHAT'S ON EARLY EDUCATION

JULY

OCTOBER

REGGIO EMILIA 2019 BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

11-14 JULY | PERTH, WA https://reggioaustralia.org.au/register-for-reggio-australiaevents/2019-biennial-conference/

KU ANNUAL CONFERENCE

26 OCTOBER | SYDNEY, NSW www.ku.com.au/professional-development/ku-annualconference

THIRD INFANT AND TODDLERS CONFERENCE: A RIGHT TO LEARN, A RIGHT TO THRIVE

19-20 JULY | NORTH RYDE, NSW http://events.mq.edu.au/events/3rd-infants-and-toddlersconference/event-summary-3fe0a60c8abd496099a09fd9b8c dfa9b.aspx

SPECTRUM JOURNEYS AUTISM EDUCATION CONFERENCE 27 JULY | RINGWOOD, VIC www.eventbrite.com.au/e/spectrum-journeys-autismeducation-conference-tickets-61410215608

CELA DIRECTOR'S RETREAT

AUGUST

17-19 SEPTEMBER 2019

AUSTRALIAN CHILDCARE ALLIANCE VICTORIA 2019 CONFERENCE 16-17 AUGUST | MELBOURNE, VIC https://vic.childcarealliance.org.au/events/conference

'Being a leader is tough, challenging, lonely and unpredictable. Knowing you can share this with others without judgement is important.'

June 2019 Director’s Retreat

SEPTEMBER EARLY CHILDHOOD AUSTRALIA NATIONAL CONFERENCE 25-28 SEPTEMBER | HOBART, TA www.ecaconference.com.au

SNAICC NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2-5 SEPTEMBER | ADELAIDE, SA www.snaicc.org.au/conference/

Connecting early education leaders for professional growth, networking and revitalisation

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

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

Please email us at info@cela.org.au or phone 1800 157 818 to add your name to the waiting list for our September retreat.

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WHAT'S ON COMMUNITY

NATIONAL PYJAMA DAY

19 JULY The Pyjama Foundation provides children in foster care the opportunity to change the direction of their lives with learning, life skills and confidence.

NAIDOC WEEK 7-14 JULY

NAIDOC week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It's a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

This year's theme acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always wanted an enhanced role in decision-making in Australia’s democracy and invites Australians to 'work together for a shared future'.

Things to do in your early education centre ⊲⊲ Learn a song in language like Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes ⊲⊲ Invite local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders to visit your school. ⊲⊲ Consult your local Aboriginal Land Council and local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) ⊲⊲ Read a book by an Aboriginal author.

Visit the Creative Spirits website for a long list of children's books. ⊲⊲ The Narragunnawali website has a searchable database of curriculum resources for all ages, including early childhood education. www.naidoc.org.au

To become a Pyjama Angel, register for Pyjama Day, make a donation or fundraise, and for any other information please visit www.thepyjamafoundation.com

NATIONAL ABORIGINAL AND ISLANDER CHILDREN'S DAY (NATICD)

4 AUGUST National Aboriginal and Islander Children's Day (NATICD) is a celebration of human rights and Indigenous children. Held on 4 August each year, NAITCD was first observed by SNAICC in 1988. www.snaicc.org.au/children

NATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION WEEK 1-7 SEPTEMBER

National Child Protection Week has been coordinated by NAPCAN, with the support of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs since 1990. The campaign aims to engage and educate all Australians to understand they have a part to play in keeping our children and young people safe from violence, abuse and neglect. www.napcan.org.au/national-child-protection-week

EARLY LEARNING MATTERS WEEK 1-6 SEPTEMBER

Join in to showcase why Early Learning Matters! Head to the website for information on how you can participate. www.everyonebenefits.org.au/early_learning_matters_week

NATIONAL CHILDREN'S WEEK 19-27 OCTOBER

Children’s Week is a national celebration of children’s rights, talents and citizenship held on the fourth Wednesday of October in Australia to coincide with Universal Children’s Day. Each year the theme of Children’s Week highlights a particular Children’s Right.

The theme for 2019 is Article 24 – ‘Children have the right to good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment so that they will stay healthy’. www.napcan.org.au/childrensweek/

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THREE INGREDIENTS make for a magical experience at Nature Explorers

BY DONNA OSMETTI Nature Explorers is a program located in northern NSW, operating from the seaside community of Pottsville and surrounding communities. It was founded in 2016 by local educator Sofia Machado and centre director Cassy Read.

The aim is to build a community of Explorers who are passionate about the outdoors and nature and are willing to play in nature year round. To facilitate this the team empowers educators and teachers to take part in outdoor experiences while following the lead of the children, with the bush and other natural settings as their outdoor classroom.

THIS IS OUR POTION… Early education and support TAFE teacher Donna Osmetti shares her reflection on her visit to Nature Explorers.

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s a trainer and assessor in a registered training organisation, I value the importance of ongoing professional development to ensure I remain current and deliver contemporary educational content to students studying early childhood education and care. I was recently invited to spend the day at Nature Explorers in Pottsville, NSW.

‘This is our potion. We can turn humans into bugs’, the child whispered in my ear. The voice reflected the children’s experience as they mixed their natural ingredients of dirt, sand and leaves with a stick.

Today, I experienced what I believe is the ‘potion’ of early childhood best practice in action whilst at Nature Explorers.

It encompassed all the principles, practices and learning outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework and oozed with excellence in relation to the National Quality Standards.

It delivered what I aim to teach in theory in class every day.

The Nature Explorers philosophy is based upon the forest school model contextualised to both the climate in Northern NSW and the National Quality Framework – the Early Years Learning Framework.

The potion recipe is simple really – just three ingredients.

But it was the importance and role of these individual ingredients that made such a magical potion. A potion that confirmed and extended my own personal early childhood philosophy, ignited my spark and made me feel honoured to be invited to experience Nature Explorers.

As a reflective practitioner, I embrace the opportunity to share my experiences with others and wish to do so on my day at Nature Explorers.

The potion’s ingredients were the children, the natural environment and responsive educators. Each ingredient is just as important as the other.

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INGREDIENT 1: THE CHILDREN

INGREDIENT 2: THE NATURAL BUSH ENVIRONMENT

Everyone develops an image of the child through their experiences and the community in which they are in. Today I witnessed Nature Explorers (children) who were competent, independent, powerful and knowledgeable individuals.

I have always considered the environment to be the third teacher.

This belief was strongly reinforced throughout today’s adventures.

The children experienced many opportunities to take risks, problem solve individually and collaboratively, make decisions, and learn the consequences of their decision making. Each child experienced a variety of roles throughout the day to support their identity, sense of agency and sense of belonging.

There was an abundance of living creatures that we found and watched from a safe distance – bearded dragons, tawny frogmouths and a variety of birdlife. The open endedness of our surroundings made for extensive learning opportunities.

The roles are designed to support children’s responsibility to themselves and those within their community, to work collaboratively with each other, to respect the environment, to resource their own learning and to respect each other.

To begin the day, two Nature Leaders (children) assisted in guiding us to our base camp. Their role was to lead the way and ensure that we were all safe. Children were responsible for guaranteeing our equipment trolley arrived safely to our base camp. They worked together, one to pull the trolley and one to push, to negotiate through the bush terrain and problem solve around obstacles.

We approached base camp and the children formed a circle. Under the guidance of an educator, an Acknowledgement of Country was performed.

We continued a little further into the bush and I did wonder how we would contain the children….

Don’t we need a fence of some sort?

As a group, the children took six red ropes and chose the perimeters of their space. They tied the ropes to six different trees in various locations defining their base. I was truly amazed at the ownership taken.

The children’s play was complex, collaborative, imaginative, curious, hands on with unlimited possibilities – we made potions, shared discoveries about ourselves and the natural world around us.

It was obvious in all of us that being in the natural bush environment had a magical touch of calmness and balance. The things we discovered and learnt more about in a natural environment were exciting.

The children were very careful to resource their own learning using only materials that were allowed. They knew not to harm any living creature and were very careful about where they were standing. As we climbed we became koalas in trees, lizards in trees… each time negotiating spatial awareness and problem solving to work out how to get from one branch to the next, encouraging and supporting each other.

INGREDIENT 3: THE EDUCATORS Today I witnessed educators who are passionate about what they do, and who are responsive to children and respectful in every engagement.

It was evident that the educators knew their stuff; not only could they articulate their philosophy but they could put it into action.

Nature Explorers practise their belief of child led play. This was witnessed continually throughout the session. ‘Time’ was led by the children and the day ran at the children’s pace. We stopped to view tractors, flowers and trees, all on the children’s initiative.

The educators supported the children’s learning through acknowledging the child’s voice, challenging and supporting children to extend and deepen their understanding through actively co-constructing knowledge and testing out theories.

A child new to Nature Explorers questioned where the ‘playground equipment’ was.

An educator used this opportunity to question the child as to what playground equipment they would like to have seen to which he replied 'a see-saw'. With this information, the educator, the child and the child’s new friends planned and made a seesaw using a hand saw and materials from their natural environment. It was a true reflection of the three ingredients working together in a valuable learning opportunity supporting the holistic development of the child.

I could continue to write for pages on my experience at Nature Explorers, but I believe I cannot truly paint a picture or put into words the personal learning that I experienced on my visit. What I do know is that the Nature Explorers philosophy and implementation of practice in my eyes reflects what high quality early childhood education and care encompasses.

I will value the opportunity I experienced and will use the knowledge gained within my educational delivery to ensure that future educators have the chance to learn about differing educational philosophies and pedagogical practices that support children in different contexts.  Donna Osmetti | Donna has worked within the Early Childhood profession for 24 years as an Early Childhood Teacher, Director and more recently as a trainer and assessor for a registered training organisation. Donna’s passions are wide spread, covering inclusion, social justice and how the natural environment supports children’s learning and development. Donna believes that early childhood trainers and assessors have a responsibility to ensure that delivered educational content reflects contemporary practices.

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L-R Nature Explorers founders Cassy Reed, Sofia Machado and trainer Donna Osmetti

A FERTILE SEED THAT GREW FROM A CLEAR VISION

The idea behind Nature Explorers and the plan for the future Interview with co-founder Sofia Machado by Tracey Long

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he opportunity for Nature Explorers came about when Pottsville Community Preschool director Cassy Read became concerned about changes to the funding model, and the need for stand alone community based preschools to adopt a successful business model to ensure viability.

At the same time, fellow educator and co-founder Sofia Machado had a vision to build an educational program without walls, where children and educators could learn collaboratively in the environment and in all types of weather. She wanted to create a program that allowed children to understand, respect and love their environment while working towards all the EYLF outcomes.

According to Sofia, making the dream a reality way not easy.

There were no programs like Nature Explorers anywhere nearby to learn from, and while she knew that bush kindies existed in Victoria, she couldn’t find any in New South Wales or Queensland to study.

‘Nature programs need to be contextualised for each particular geographic location, their community and the skills of educators,’ says Sofia. ‘I read a lot on the Scandinavian, Canadian and European models. We had to develop handbooks, enrolment processes for playgroup and preschool offerings, we were

required to interpret and apply regulations, ensure we met the state department expectations, and used the EYLF throughout our program. It was a big undertaking to coordinate, and explaining the vision to the staff was a massive undertaking as well.'

Nature Explorers began as a pilot program in 2016 aiming to include key stakeholders such as the Management Committee, local TAFE and University, and a small group of eight families that reflected the local community.

‘This was an essential part of the success of the program,’ says Sofia. ‘We gained honest feedback and it empowered us to understand what the stakeholders were looking for.’

During the first year, Sofia presented on her experiences in setting up Nature Explorers at a conference on Children and Nature in Canada, which gave her the opportunity to gather additional insights.

‘I learnt a lot about what was important for families and the community to know and understand,' recalls Sofia. ‘We had to be really clear that the program was still like preschool or long day care, not just taking kids for a walk. In the initial stages, we concentrated hard on making learning visible to ensure everyone could understand what we do and why.’

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Three years on, and the program has been a great success.

The team are now working with 124 families with children aged between one and 12 years old across different educational settings including playgroup, preschool and a primary school program run at Stokers Siding Primary School. Sofia explains that the team has grown not just in numbers, but also in developing their knowledge and skills as teachers.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE:

They regularly attend professional development sessions to ensure that their skills and knowledge are current. They have developed a culture of collaboration within their team supported by a distributive leadership philosophy which has empowered educators to become leaders within the team. The team now has a considerable number of Early Childhood Teachers and Forest School leaders to maximise the quality of their program.

‘We hope to include an after school care program for children in this time frame, and eventually vacation care,’ says Sofia, who would also like to roll the program out into more primary schools.

‘We constantly use critical reflection and engage with stakeholders to ensure that the Nature Explorers program is an exceptional, innovative and evidence-based program at all times.’ Says Sofia. ‘We truly believe in the power of sharing to enable others to implement this type of philosophy and practice at their services.’

Next year Nature Explorers will be offering the program to all of the children who enrol at Pottsville Community Preschool (up until now it has been an additional program), Sofia will celebrate the birth of her second child, and Cassy is going to facilitate the extension of the preschool from one unit to three.

‘We also want to inspire and motivate other services to implement similar programs across Australia through sharing what we’ve achieve with as many people as possible.’

THINKING OF SETTING UP YOUR OWN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM WITHOUT WALLS? Here are some tips from Sofia:

In line with this ethos, Nature Explorers Twilight was created in 2018. It’s a networking evening for teachers and educators who are passionate about outdoor education to share practice and provoke new ideas.

1. Jot down your dream program/ school and keep it close to your heart

FULL OF REWARDS

3. Have your team on board - they are the most important resource you will ever have. Share your dream and empower them to have input and grow the dream with you!

According to Sofia, the experience of setting the program up has been full of rewards, but the most rewarding element has been the people who have been involved.

‘The educational team is truly passionate about what they do,’ she explains. ‘They really believe in our philosophy and embrace it with all their hearts.

‘And then there’s The Explorers – all of the children that come to us. Their joy, excitement, and their great sense of belonging to their own Nature Explorers group is impressive.

These children are acquiring lifelong skills and are constantly transferring their learning from their Nature Explorers session into their family adventures.’

2. Take small steps, but don’t lose sight of the big picture.

4. Know your community well - understand what families are looking for, what community organisations you could partner with and share your dream with key stakeholders.

5. Understand things take time - relationships need to be nurtured and small steps need to be taken - be patient!

6. Don’t forget the paperwork – you need to be mindful of the need for safety and documentation. What we do at Nature Explorers is based on research, which gave us credibility as well as a bench mark to ensure high quality

BUSH KINDER RESOURCES AND NETWORKS IN AUSTRALIA: Eco Explorers: www.ecoexplorers.com.au/bushkindergarten-melbourne-directory/ Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Network: https://earlychildhoodoutdoorlearning.weebly.com/ Articles by Sue Elliot, University of New England https://earlychildhoodoutdoorlearning.weebly.com/ education-for-sustainability---paper-by-dr-sue-elliot.html www.earlylearningreview.com.au/outside-in-the-bravenew-world-of-bush-kinder/ Claire Warden Nature Pedagogy trainers in Australia https://www.claire-warden.com/cw-training-partners/

'We constantly use critical reflection and engage with stakeholders to ensure that the Nature Explorers program is an exceptional, innovative and evidence based program at all times'

Nature Pedagogy International Association www.naturepedagogy.com

Sofia Machado | Sofia is an educational change maker having implemented new curriculum approaches in Portugal and Australia. She is passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences in natural environments - programs that support educators to raise their potential and challenge people’s perceptions.

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MEET THE MEMBER Amy Shine of Forbes Preschool

BY MARGARET PATON Forbes Preschool is a 100 place centre located 374km from Sydney in the Central West of NSW. At the 2016 census, Forbes had a population of 8,432, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people making up 12.1% of the population.

Like many rural towns, Forbes’s population work largely in the area of agriculture, forestry and fishing, with the livelihoods of a significant number of families in the community affected by drought. Centre director Amy Shine oversees a large team of educators who teach 180 children, over 50% of whom come from vulnerable backgrounds.

If you walk through our front door, you’re treated the same whether you’re the local doctor or just released from jail

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t’s not every day you hear of a preschool director winning a regional business leadership award and taking home her town’s Citizen of the Year for being an ‘early education campaigner’.

AMY’S LIGHT SHINES ON FORBES Meet CELA member Amy Shine, who’s been at the helm of Forbes Preschool for a decade. She won the business leader category at the Western NSW Business Awards in 2017. That was for demonstrating an outstanding entrepreneurial spirit, strategic business direction and innovative ideas and inspiring a new generation of business leaders.

‘The state gala event was like going to the Logies. I felt it was such an achievement to be there and in a category with amazing business leaders – that was enough for me,’ says Shine.

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What helped give her the edge for the regional award was securing $1.5M funding to expand her centre, hosting an annual conference for the early learning sector and boosting access to affordable early education for families experiencing disadvantage.

Shine, who manages 16 educators, says: ‘We’ve gone from a little preschool with a $300,000 budget to a much bigger budget, moved into our new building in 2016 and we are about to put on an administration manager.

‘We have 180 children enrolled at our service over the week with 50% of children coming from vulnerable backgrounds.’

Forbes Preschool has two rooms for children who will transition to school next year, plus another room for three and four year olds who will return to preschool the following year.

Depending on the needs of the children, the ratio is about 1:7 staff to children.

While the centre is physically a large space, there’s a long waitlist, and Shine says that they gauge the needs of the children already enrolled when it comes to releasing news spots. The team prioritise places for children the year before school and for those referred from the refuge or one of their Aboriginal service partners.

MINIMISING BARRIERS For shine, identifying ways to connect with the community and minimise barriers are vital in offering a quality service.

‘We’ve partnered with council and community organisations to develop a pop-up preschool in vulnerable parts of Forbes. We go out with a tent, mat, chairs and games and have some morning tea prepared. Even the local dentist wants to get involved and talk to parents about essential hygiene,’ she says.

‘I’m keen to close the gap to get families to drop off their children at our service or come along to the pop-up preschool. I do a lot of doorknocking to see the families and when I visit them in their communities compared to them visiting me here; it’s a very different start to our relationship. Families are much more comfortable in their own neighbourhood.’

Shine is eager to get the message out that the sector is about intentional play and how to extend that and the flow-on effect for later schooling. Her preschool’s philosophy is that everyone is welcome and belongs – children, family and community.

‘It doesn’t stop at kids. If you walk through our front door, you’re treated the same whether you’re the local doctor or just released from jail. We rent rooms to the local community for mothers’ group, infant massage, a domestic violence group, Wiradjuri language classes, Mission Australia’s NDIS representative and more.

It’s our partnership with the community,’ she says.

MEAL TIME GATHERINGS Meal times are seen as an another opportunity to be welcoming and inclusive, and are viewed as an important time for the children and educators to come together, to get to know each other and to be involved in intentional teaching moments.

Amy shares that the preschool’s kitchen is relaxed and homely, the ‘hub of the preschool’.

‘Our kitchen is a place to be with our friends and educators from other rooms. Just as adult meal times are viewed as an important occasion, we replicate that at Forbes preschool.’

In the past educators had noticed that some kids might not turn up if they had no bread or fruit for lunches. This issue was quickly and simply addressed by purchasing some lunch boxes and having fruit, snacks and bread available for families unable to provide packed lunches for their children.

‘Lunches are discreetly packed and put in the fridge,’ explains Amy. ‘This way no one has any shame and no one knows any different if we have provided the food or if they brought it from home.’

LEADERSHIP REWARDS Amy has a bachelor’s degree in early education, has been a TAFE educator and has mentored other directors in partnership with Community Childcare and Contact Inc. She has worked in Gilgandra, Coonamble and Walgett before moving to Forbes.

‘The more west I could get, the better. It was so rewarding because you have that real sense of community in a small town and people really appreciate your service.’

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Many years ago, Shine was involved in teaching at Walgett TAFE, upskilling Aboriginal educators to get their diploma. ‘This was a rewarding experience; we shared stories of culture and experiences the women and men had had as some were from the Stolen Generation. I shared policy changes and research.

We laughed, we cried, and we reflected together.’

She’s since mentored one of her educators, Codie Smith, even co-presenting with her at conferences.

‘Codie was suspended from school over 20 times, kicked out of home, and told her principal where to go on more than one occasion. One of the Aboriginal workers at the local high school asked me to give her a go. Since then, Codie’s completed her diploma and almost finished her university degree. At age 24, she’s the most amazing person and has inspired me in picking herself up and making a real difference in children’s lives.’

Shine’s also noticed that among the children in her centre there’s been a large increase in those with additional needs. She employs occupational and speech therapists and works closely with community health and local NDIS providers.

The preschool operates a small group school program that is supported by these professionals in the Girinya room. It's a purpose-built room, which even has a rock wall, swings, and is great for heavy work.

THE FRUITS OF RECOGNITION A spinoff benefit of winning the business award is that it’s made a ‘real difference’ in her community.

‘We’re taken very seriously now in the education and work we do. University researchers are coming to us and wanting to do research into our practices.

They’re acknowledging what we do.’

It's clear that Amy is an inspiring leader in demonstrating the value of early education for children from all backgrounds, and the importance of an inclusive and connected community.

'What impresses me so much about Amy and her team is that they have created a space where there is no difference and where education is truly the greatest social equaliser,' says Michele Carnegie, CELA CEO. 

Read more about Amy in the Forbes Advocate article Amy Shine named Forbes Citizen of the Year www.forbesadvocate.com.au/story/5871807/amy-shine-named-forbes-citizen-of-the-year-on-australia-day-2019/ and Amy’s Passion for Preschool lands Business Leadership Award www.forbesadvocate.com.au/story/4645678/passion-for-preschool/

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Why don’t you give us a call

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1800 810 213 guildinsurance.com.au

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

Advice on regulatory obligations

Guild Liability specialist for advice on claims

Better through experience.

Insurance issued by Guild Insurance Ltd, ABN 55 004 538 863, AFSL 233791 and subject to terms, conditions and exclusions. Guild Insurance supports your association through the payment of RATTLER ISSUE 127 | JULY 2019 | 11 referral fees. This document contains general advice only and doesn’t take into account what you currently have, want and need for your personal circumstances. It is important for you to consider these matters and read the Product Disclosure Statement. EAR32802 GLD4947 Early Learning ACA Flyer 03/2019

Important new Australian ECE sector research

BY TRACEY LONG

THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS WELL-BEING PROJECT The Early Childhood Educators Well-being Project (ECEWP) is a joint project by researchers at Macquarie University and Charles Sturt University. The research takes a holistic approach to examining early childhood educators’ well-being within the context of their work environments. The research team recently completed their pilot phase and CELA were invited to attend a roundtable session to understand the research and input into the next steps.

O

ver 195,000 people work in the early education sector (Social Policy Research Centre 2017) however, the ECEWP research team assert that relatively little is known about early childhood educator well-being.

‘Educators need to be well so that they can provide stable, stimulating, supportive, effective learning environments for children,’ says Coinvestigator Tamara Cumming (Charles Sturt University). ‘Often well-being is ill-defined in studies, and a range of diverse tools and techniques have been used, and that makes it difficult to build a comprehensive understanding of educator well-being.’

The research team also point to the fact that many studies explore aspects only

from an individual perspective, without paying attention to the effects or quality of educators’ work environments, or the physiological aspects such as body stress, weight, blood pressure and stamina.

‘Our research uses a holistic approach to examine both the psychological and physiological aspects of well-being within the work environment,’ explains Tamara. ‘By taking this holistic view, we hope to provide a more comprehensive understanding that can then be used to inform interventions to better support and sustain the workforce.’

educators are key to achieving highquality experiences for children and families, and what goes on in early childhood services relies primarily on them. But for educators to continue to provide stimulating and effective learning environments, day in and day out, they need to be well, and well-supported.

BETTER WELL-BEING IS SIMPLY BETTER FOR EVERYONE

‘The problem is that if their well-being is compromised it not only affects the educators themselves but also affects children’s learning and development, the organisations in which they are employed and by extension the sustainability of the early childhood workforce. Hence, educator well-being is a really important issue.’

Research Helen Logan (Charles Sturt University) says that early childhood

Prior to beginning the project, the team reviewed existing research.

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'Our innovative and holistic data collection approach allows us for the first time to quantify how hard educators work during their day and what the particular stresses are on their bodies' The team found that educator well-being has been linked to better capacity to support children’s resilience (Bouillet, Ivanec, & Mijevic-Ridicki, 2014), to have higher quality interactions with children (de Schipper et al., 2008) and to provide support for children’s emotional needs (Cassidy, King, Want, Lower & KintnerDuffy, 2016).

They also revealed that, unsurprisingly, poor educator well-being has costs for educators. Research has found that early childhood educators often report high levels of stress (Ota, Baumgartner, & Berghout Austin, 2013), emotional exhaustion (Løvgren, 2016) and psychological distress (Corr, Cook, LaMontagne, Waters, & Davis, 2015).

Poor financial well-being, as a result of inadequate industrial conditions and pay, can also have a flow-on effect for the well-being of educators’ own families (Linnan et al, 2017).

Educators’ well-being has an impact on the entire operation of early childhood organisations. Hence, poor educator wellbeing can also be costly for employers.

Costs can be due to absenteeism, the need for casual staffing, and worker’s compensation claims. Between 2012 and 2015 in the state of Victoria alone compensation claims cost early

childhood employers close to A$47 million (WorkSafe Victoria, n.d.).

‘Our innovative and holistic data collection approach allows us for the first time to quantify how hard educators work during their day and what the particular stresses are on their bodies,’ says Associate Professor Sandie Wong (Macquarie University). ‘Having this data will allow us to best target our efforts to find effective interventions.’

A HOLISTIC VIEW OF WELL-BEING The project team has developed a holistic view of educator well-being that takes into account the complex, political relationships of work environment and educators’ psychological and physiological well-being.

IN THE PROJECT: ⊲⊲ Organisational context is measured through an online survey including items from the Early Childhood Work Environment Survey (Jorde Bloom, 2016). ⊲⊲ Psychological well-being is assessed through a range of psychometric assessments. ⊲⊲ Physiological well-being is assessed through health screening, biometric measures of height, weight, flexibility and blood pressure; salivary cortisol measures; cardio-respiratory activity and physical effort using wearable technology (read more about the research team’s use of Hexoskin technology via the Charles Sturt University article ‘CSU academics lead first in the world research’).

RESEARCH TEAM:

Researchers Tamara Cumming and Sandie Wong fit the hexoskin - a sleeveless vest with sensors embedded to monitor and record biometric data at one-second intervals.

‘One of the most gratifying things to come out of the research is that educators, perhaps for the first time, are considering their own well-being and what can be done to support the well-being of themselves and their colleagues.’

The team’s theoretical approach has been published in Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood: Towards a holistic conceptualisation of early childhood educator’s workrelated well-being).

NEXT STEPS

Early childhood researcher Associate Professor Sandie Wong (Macquarie University) co-leads the multidisciplinary research team. Sandie is particularly focused on physiological well-being.

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

Dr Helen Logan from Charles Sturt University is exploring the role of early childhood organisations in educator’s well-being.

The project involves a multi-disciplinary team that includes biomedical scientists and exercise physiologists from CSU and other institutions.

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After completing the pilot study using data from 78 early childhood educators, the ECEWP project team is now planning future research directions. You can keep up to date with their project via Facebook – search for ‘Early Childhood Educator Wellbeing Project - ECEWP Facebook’ and ‘like’.

If you would like to register interest in being a participant, please message the team via their Facebook page with your email address and they will add you to their database. 

'Raising children who are hopeful and who have the courage to be vulnerable means stepping back and letting them experience disappointment, deal with conflict, learn how to assert themselves, and have the opportunity to fail.

If we’re always following our children into the arena, hushing the critics, and assuring their victory, they’ll never learn that they have the ability to dare greatly on their own.'

Brené Brown

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OUR NEW LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT CALENDAR HAS ARRIVED CELA training equips educators with the knowledge that changes practice and underpins quality early education.

Our latest training calendar offers a wide range of engaging topics, including some NEW courses developed especially with current sector issues and interests in mind.

WHAT'S NEW

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS, CHILDREN’S VOICES NESA Registered PD WHEN: Wed 31 Jul OR Wed 20 Nov This session aims to explore the background to the concept of the rights of the child with links to the EYLF, Code of Ethics and the National Quality Standards, and how to embed the rights of the child in practice.

GOING TO BIG SCHOOL NEXT YEAR HELPING FAMILIES AND CHILDREN PREPARE NESA Registered PD WHEN: Mon 19 Aug OR Mon 21 Oct Early years educators understand the changes children face when moving to school - what more can we do to ensure each child (and their family) is truly ready to transition?

EDUCATOR WELL-BEING: FILLING AN EMPTY BUCKET NESA Registered PD WHEN: Fri 16 Aug OR Mon 25 Nov This session will explore where you find your ‘flow’ and what depletes your energy. It is important for educators to identify what fills their bucket and enable them to be present when working with children and their team mates.

DOWNLOAD OUR LATEST CALENDAR: www.cela.org.au/new-training-sessions-2019/

EXPERT TRAINING THAT COMES TO YOU CELA offers training in any metropolitan, regional and remote area, any time across Australia. If our training calendar options don't suit you or your team, call our Learning and Development experts on 1800 157 818 to arrange a customised session.

No matter where you are located, we can come to you or connect via video conference. Find out more > RATTLER ISSUE 127 | JULY 2019 | 15

WELL-BEING

TIPS FOR EARLY EDUCATORS

BY NADINE BARTHOLOMEUSZ-RAYMOND

BEYOND BLUE GENERAL MANAGER EDUCATION AND FAMILIES

R

esearch shows one in five workers in Australia are currently experiencing a mental health condition, and anxiety and depression tends to affect people during their prime working years.

These conditions can manifest themselves in a number of ways.

People with mental health issues report earning less per hour, have lower productivity rates, feel insecure in their jobs and are less satisfied with their work. They also feel stressed more often and believe they are less respected or recognised for their work. The role of early learning educators demands a high level of responsibility, so it makes sense that the job can affect a person’s mental health.

WHY EARLY EDUCATOR MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS

7 TIPS FOR EARLY EDUCATOR WELL-BEING

Your well-being influences: ⊲⊲ How you interact with children ⊲⊲ Your relationships with children ⊲⊲ Your ability to respond to challenging or unexpected situations ⊲⊲ Your commitment and desire to remain an educator

While others determine much of your work environment, individually you can take the following steps to protect and enhance your mental health and well-being. ⊲⊲ Identify what’s important to you, and what you want to change or do ⊲⊲ Find a mentor to offer support, guidance, reassurance and accountability ⊲⊲ Try to set realistic expectations for what you can achieve personally and professionally ⊲⊲ Engage in professional development that inspires and refreshes you

By looking after your own well-being, you can create the best possible version of yourself as a person and an educator.

It will help you to perform your role over the long term cognitively, physically and emotionally.

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⊲⊲ Think about eating well, sleeping well, saying no to unhelpful temptations, practicing and developing skills, learning from mistakes, celebrating wins and having outside hobbies or interests ⊲⊲ Develop a well-being plan ⊲⊲ Create new well-being habits

BE YOU – A NEW WELL-BEING RESOURCE FOR EARLY EDUCATORS Be You offers online professional learning and resources and has been developed with input from hundreds of educators with their workloads, daily pressures and complexities of their roles in mind.

It provides professional development, tools and services, links to evidence-based programs, and a 70-strong support team on the ground to help learning communities day-to-day.

Be You is designed to equip educators with knowledge, resources and strategies for helping children and young people achieve their best possible mental health.

As part of this, resources are available to help educators understand how to look after their own mental health, so they can be their best and support the mental health and well-being of the children in their care.

By using Be You, educators and learning communities can embed strategies that promote help seeking, create opportunities for career growth and personal development, acknowledge a job well done and offer resources for staff to build a sense of self-efficacy.

It provides information on how to reduce and manage stress levels, maintain positive social interactions and how to seek support.

HOW TO USE BE YOU IN YOUR SERVICE Educators can start their Be You professional learning by registering as an individual on the Be You website and verifying their account. Once logged in they will be given the option to register their service as a Be You learning community and self-nominate as the Action Team leader. A Be You consultant will be in touch to confirm the registration and provide ongoing support to the learning community as they implement Be You.

The Action Team is a group of individuals within your service who will coordinate the implementation of the whole learning community approach to Be You and make sure it’s tailored to meet your needs.

The Action Team leader has access to a range of optional planning and implementation tools including: ⊲⊲ Statement of Commitment: Reinforces leadership commitment to and support of Be You and can be displayed in your reception area or included in important publications. ⊲⊲ Reflection Tool: Prompts your Action Team to consider policies, practices and other factors that support or hinder the development and maintenance of a mentally healthy learning community. ⊲⊲ Surveys and Surveys Guide: Helps your Action Team to better understand the needs of your learning community by giving educators, families, children and young people a voice. ⊲⊲ Action Plan template for services and schools: Captures your learning community’s objectives and the actions your Action Team will take to achieve them, documenting resources, timelines and strategies to address challenges along the way. ⊲⊲ Actions Catalogue: Lists quick wins and longerterm actions your Action Team can select from and tailor when putting together an Action Plan. ⊲⊲ Share and Extend Guide: Identifies ways to bring educators together to reinforce a whole learning community approach and allow educators to debrief, share key learnings and discuss how this can be applied to their practice.

CELA learning & development specialist and Gymea Community Preschool educational leader Jennifer Moglia recently completed the Reflection Tool survey for her service, which can be downloaded as a PDF or completed online.

'It has proved to be a useful tool which the action team leaders were able to complete together to provide us with evidence of our strengths and areas for improvements,' says Jennifer. 'If it is completed online, Be You analyse the results and provide you with your top strengths and weakness areas.

'The action team at my service are now working through these areas for improvement and developing an Action Plan. We will link all of this to our QIP.' 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BE YOU visit www.beyou.edu.au Mental health professionals are available at the Beyond Blue Support Service via phone 24/7 on 1300 22 4636 or via www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support for online chat (3PM – 12AM AEST) or email responses (within 24 hours).

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EARLY EDUCATION SECTOR RESEARCH FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BY MEGAN O'CONNELL, CELA POLICY AND RESEARCH CONSULTANT

When Children Are Not Read to at Home: The Million Word Gap

Logan JAR, Justice LM, Yumuş M, ChaparroMoreno LJ, Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. Mar 20, 2019

A new article from the United States demonstrates how the word gap increases during the first five years of children’s lives. The researchers contend that exposure to reading is a key, as language in books is more diverse than caregiver-child conversations.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30908424

The researchers estimate parents who read one picture book with their children every day provide their children with exposure to an estimated 78,000 words each a year. They estimate that over the 5 years before kindergarten entry, children from literacy-rich homes hear a cumulative 1.4 million more words during storybook reading than children who are never read to.

Whilst focused on the home environment, this article should also be read in the context of the early childhood education system and the possibility of educators helping to close the gap.

Virtual Special Issue European Early Childhood Education Research Journal This online journal contains articles from 2017 to present on play.

Articles cover topics such as the importance of risky play, with research showing that engaging in risky play builds a child’s risk competence, including reaction time when responding to risky situations.

A study of children aged 3-5 showed that children with more prosocial behaviour, who interrupted play less and were less isolated, were more likely to have friends.

Another study examines the interaction between language and social competence in three year olds and

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finds that toddlers with low levels of language are less able to engage in social play with other children, have lower levels of social competence and are most likely to withdraw and play in solitary situations. This highlights the need to focus on language to lift social competence in children. However, the study also found that poor social competence, above poor language skills, accounted for play difficulties highlighting the need to also focus on social competence regardless of language barriers. https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/play-vsi/

Intergenerational and Intragenerational Externalities of the Perry Preschool Project James J, Heckman, Ganesh Karapakula The paper follows the children and siblings of the Perry Preschool Project.

It finds the children of the participants have higher levels

of engagement in education and employment and lower levels of criminal behaviour. This effect is especially significant for males.

The effects arise despite the living circumstances of the families. The study also finds wider benefits for the siblings of the participants, again particularly male. The authors contend this intergenerational transfer is because parents have more stable households with better social and emotional regulation, even if their socio-economic circumstances remain challenging.

The findings continue to confirm that there is no fadeout of the gains from early learning commencing at birth, and that the main gains are not in IQ or academic achievement for the original participants but gains in employment, health, lower crime and more stable future family situations, lead to academic gains in the next generation. https://econresearch.uchicago.edu/sites/ econresearch.uchicago.edu/files/Heckman_ Karapakula_2019_inter-intra-externalities-perry.pdf

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH School starting age and child development in a state-wide, population-level cohort of children in their first year of school in New South Wales, Australia This article examines Australian data on education outcomes compared to school starting age.

The researchers linked the school age data with the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). They found that each month of maturity corresponded to an increase of about three per cent in the probability of scoring above the 25th percentile in the

'The findings continue to confirm that there is no fadeout of the gains from early learning commencing at birth, and that the main gains are not in IQ or academic achievement for the original participants but gains in employment, health, lower crime and more stable future family situations, lead to academic gains in the next generation.'

INTERGENERATIONAL AND INTRAGENERATIONAL EXTERNALITIES OF THE PERRY PRESCHOOL PROJECT James J, Heckman, Ganesh Karapakula

AEDC. A tipping point hit, whereby when children who were older than 5 ½ started school later they were more likely to be vulnerable, most probably because of special needs delaying their school entry.

Assessment of Children as Confident and Involved Learners in Early Childhood Education and Care: Literature Re view

Around 25% of NSW children start school later. Children born between January and July have the choice to start school in the year they turn five, or delay entry until the year they turn six.

This literature review is one of a series of reviews to support Victorian early childhood professionals to assess children’s learning and development in relation to the five Learning and Development Outcomes in the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF), but has wider relevance for all educators in supporting the choice of tools to understand children as learners.

Some children are less likely to have delayed entry including indigenous children, children who didn’t attend preschool and children with mothers from Asian or Middle Eastern backgrounds. Parents with lower levels of education tend not to delay children.

Children in affluent suburbs are most likely to be delayed, perhaps because parents can bare the cost of another year of care.

These differences can exacerbate existing inequities, as children who are more likely to be developmentally vulnerable are amongst the youngest in their cohort. Policy change to allow less flexibility in school starting age, combined with the removal of financial barriers to care in the years before school, could assist in reducing this inequity.

Mark Hanly, Ben Edwards, Sharon Goldfeld, Rhonda G. Craven, Janet Mooney, Louisa Jorm, Kathleen Falster https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.01.0

The authors propose six principles for assessing children as confident learners: ⊲⊲ Assessment addresses established components of children’s learning ⊲⊲ Assessment enables early childhood professionals to describe a continuum of learning ⊲⊲ Assessment is valid, reliable and fair ⊲⊲ Assessment is conducted in a way that enhances engagement and relationships ⊲⊲ Assessment includes children’s self-assessment ⊲⊲ Assessment involves the child’s community and informs professional partnerships Section 3 identifies a wide range of tools available to support early childhood professionals in their assessment of children’s learning. The tools selected address each of the key components of the Learning Outcome across the full range of learning skills that children develop from birth to eight years.

The tools identified provide 'point in time' assessment which is valuable for educators, particularly to identify and target learning difficulties and developmental needs. However, there is a gap related to tools that provide ongoing monitoring of a child’s progress. www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/earlyyears/ EYLitReviewLearning.pdf

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⊲⊲ NSW Budget 2019-2020 ⊲⊲ The BBF funding model needs an urgent review ⊲⊲ Building a sustainable workforce RATTLER ISSUE 127

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NSW Budget 2019-2020 NSW STANDS FIRM ON COMMITMENT TO FUND QUALITY EARLY LEARNING

The NSW Budget includes few surprises and confirms the ongoing commitment to higher investment.

The NSW government announced a 2019-20 Early Childhood Budget of $526.7million, which is substantially more than the Queensland Budget announced last week ($293million), but significantly less than the commitment in the Victorian Budget ($881.6 million).

It is heartening to see that the NSW Minister for Early Education and Early Childhood Learning,Sarah Mitchell believes it is important for every child in NSW to have access to a top-quality early childhood education, ‘no matter where they live or their circumstances’. In her media release Minister Mitchell stated that, ‘we are seeing significant improvements in the education standards of children entering kindergarten’ (first year of school).

We look forward to seeing the data behind this statement and seeing the important evidence that shows the direct link between increased participation in quality early learning and improved education standards upon entering school.

CELA estimates that the NSW Government is spending five times more on early childhood education and development than it receives from the Commonwealth government in the National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education.

For this financial year —2019-20, the NSW Government will receive $90.2million from the Commonwealth government under this Agreement, which supports all children to have access to 15 hours a week of a preschool program in the year before school.

NSW funding for preschools is delivered through the Start Strong program which supports preschool education in community preschools and long daycare centres across the State.

The Budget also includes an additional $20 million for the Capital Works Program (announced earlier this year), bringing it to a total of $62.1million over the next 4 years.

New and existing preschools can apply for grants to build, renovate or extend their facilities to cater for increasing enrolments across the State.

We also look forward to receiving more details about how much of the $2.4billion allocated in this Budget for vocational education and training will flow through to Early Childhood Education and Care training and students.

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THE NSW GOVERNMENT’S START STRONG PROGRAM, CURRENTLY INCLUDES: ⊲⊲ Start Strong Pathways, which provides programs and initiatives that support the early learning needs of young children by linking with preschool programs and providing families with a pathway into early education. ⊲⊲ The Quality Learning Environments program, which aims to enhance the physical or educational learning environments at community preschools and not-forprofit long day care centres through minor capital works, infrastructure and specialised education programs; ⊲⊲ Community Grants, which are being used by community preschools and not-for-profit long daycare centres to increase the number of Aboriginal and disadvantaged children participating in early childhood education; and

2019-20 NSW BUDGET SUMMARY $526.7 million in 2019-20 (recurrent expenses). This includes the Start Strong program to support preschool education across NSW, in both community preschools and long day care centres. It continues to support services to offer community preschool places to three-year-olds from January 2019. This funding supports universal access for two years of early childhood education, continuing a commitment made in the 2018-19 Budget.

Includes: ⊲⊲ $20 million over 4 years for new and existing community preschools to build, renovate or extend their facilities to cater for increasing enrolments across the state. ⊲⊲ $1.8 million over two years to support Playgroup NSW to establish 'Play Strong' playgroups to support early learning pathways for vulnerable communities across NSW. ⊲⊲ $5.2 million to support preschool children and their families facing hardship in rural areas. ⊲⊲ $120 million over 4 years in before and after school care to make it available to all parents with children at public primary schools by 2021.

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The BBF funding model needs an urgent review SQUARE PEGS IN A ROUND HOLE Vicki Olds is an early childhood teacher, but lately she’s wondering why.

For years she’s delivered specialised and responsive early childhood education programs to some of Australia’s most remote and vulnerable families as part of the Broken Hill Outback Mobile Resource Unit, a BBF (budget-based funding) service that covers an area of more than 220,000 square kilometres.

Vicki, and a fellow educator, Emma Fenton, load educational resources into their truck and head to halls, parks, sheds and farmhouses on Monday mornings and return on Friday nights. There’s no doubt in their minds that the service they deliver must be primarily early childhood education.

However, the current Australian Government transitioned some BBFs from Education into the Social Service portfolio, and that’s changed things — a lot.

OUTSIDE EDUCATION

DEVALUED

'Since we’re not in the Education portfolio any more, the little recognition there was of my skills as a teacher have been devalued further,' Vicki says.

CELA CEO Michele Carnegie says Vicky’s not alone in her despair: one of the most valued delivery models for early childhood education in remote and disadvantaged communities has been lost.

'Previously we programmed and documented our early education sessions – but now we report on social outcomes through the ‘data exchange’.

'We were a key element in meeting universal access for remote children – but if we aren’t even in the portfolio, where does that leave preschool access for the children living remotely in the 220,000 square kilometres that we serviced?

'I feel like we are a square peg being forced into a round hole.

'I just hope that our most isolated children, who no longer receive an early education program, don’t end up being the square pegs in life as they grow up without the very real benefits of an early education.'

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'Mobiles provide a unique opportunity to enhance early educational experiences, provide early intervention and the essential social skills for children in remote areas,' Michele says.

'With AECD figures showing that children living in remote areas are already far behind their urban counterparts, this is an even more serious step backwards.'

SOCIAL GLUE Mobile children’s services are often the social glue of remote areas.

Across Vicki’s region, parents travel up to 150km because they highly value the benefits for their children.

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The sessions allow parents to come together and talk about the development of their children, share concerns and support each other.

'It’s also an opportunity for remote parents to learn how to educate their children by observing the work of educators like Vicki and Emma,' Michele says.

'One example is sharing numeracy and literacy games with parents, which means that children keep learning with their families – like counting fence posts when driving through the paddocks.'

Michele says that with limited access to the internet and without the educational know-how, whole families miss out on the skills they need to educationally nurture their children to the same level as less-isolated children.

February 2019 dust storm

'This deeply valued and essential educational program has been replaced with a different program driven by loose social outcomes and uncertain funding,' she says.

'We don’t really understand how it works, but the end result of the data entry is a ‘social cohesion score’ which allegedly shows how our Mobile Resource Unit has had an impact on people’s lives,' she says.

'Vicki’s service and others like it are essentially in a holding pattern with no idea if funding will continue beyond 12 months.'

'The irony is that there’s no room in the data exchange for the real impact we have had.

KEEPING UP The children and families may not see an immediate difference in the service, but the educators and managers are suffering.

'Families who have been surveyed about our service rank it as one of the most crucial services government provides them in these areas,' Vicki says.

'We had built an educational program that worked, and that met the needs of people who are desperate for quality interactions for their children.

'Many of these preschoolers won’t ever attend a mainstream school before high school – they’ll go onto distance preschool and then school of the air for primary school and possibly boarding school after that.

'Without ever having an early education experience, fitting in or keeping up at school is extremely difficult.'

Instead of the reporting Vicki previously delivered, that was aligned with the National Quality Framework and the Supplementary Regulations, she now uploads sampling information to the Social Services ‘Data Exchange’.

UNCERTAIN FUNDING Vicki says that when they were under the Education portfolio, the BBF funding was 'tight, but at least we knew where we stood'.

Now, however, that sense of stability is gone. 'Worst of all is having no certainty that we can plan for the future,' she says.

'The new department doesn’t understand what we deliver or the difference it makes.

DATA EXCHANGE

'The education benefits for children, for example, or the way we deal with natural disasters like massive dust storms and bureaucratic issues with venue problems and continue to meet families who are depending on us.'

'How can we recruit staff that way?'

'How can we get any kind of continuity into vulnerable children’s lives?'

CELA will continue to put a spotlight on the challenges faced by BBF services and look for ways to amplify their value in the sector.

'BBF services were established and funded to meet specific community needs in areas where there was never any likelihood of independent financial viability,' says Michele Carnegie. 'This has not changed and the Australian Government needs to acknowledge this so these services can continue and expand on the extraordinary part they play in early education.' 

Whitecliffs session setup

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Building a sustainable workforce Can it be done?

BY MEGAN O'CONNELL AND BEC LLOYD Ahead of both the NSW and Federal elections this year, the need for serious government commitment to sustainable workforce strategies was raised time and again. At the national level some parties, but not all, responded with detailed policy positions. The Liberal party, which was silent on workforce policy, has now been returned to government so the questions the sector asked ahead of the May election remain largely unanswered. While we wait for the Australian Government to respond, we can look for clues in their position on related topics – such as the Senate Red Tape Inquiry – and consider the progress being made by state governments, which bring their influence to national policy through the COAG Education Council.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN…

She explains the current situation in this extract:

Without spending too long looking backwards, the ECE workforce policy presented by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) ahead of the Federal election this year might be considered a high water mark for professional support to this sector. Of particular relevance was the commitment to lift educator wages by 20% over the next eight years, on top of any award wage gains through the Fair Work Commission.

'We are not training enough teachers to replace those leaving the workforce currently, let alone for an additional year of preschool. Within five years one in three teacher vacancies will remain unfilled unless early action is taken to retain and upskill the current ECEC workforce. This requires an urgent commitment to improving pay and conditions for ECEC educators and teachers.

The response from Education Minister Dan Tehan was to call the plan ‘economic vandalism’. This position was backed by Minister Tehan’s representative at the ECE Election Forum, Senator Patterson, who told the audience that the LNP did not support Labor’s ‘radical’ approach to ‘tax some Australians who work in private businesses in order to subsidise the wages of other Australians who work in private businesses'.

Attrition is a major issue in the early childhood education and care sector. The average years of ECEC experience for ECEC qualified staff is just 7.4 years, and the median age around 34 years. This median age has stayed the same for six years, meaning there has been no overall ageing of the workforce due to attrition rates remaining high. Around 80% of the workforce turns over every 6 years.

In fact, the ALP plan relied on achieving significant savings through its taxation plan, but as they weren’t elected their capacity to deliver on the promise will not be tested. What we can say for certain is that the current Australian Government has no interest in subsidising early childhood educators’ salaries.

The bulk of the 200,000 strong workforce is diploma (34%) or certificate (38%) qualified, with a small number of staff, around one in eight, bachelor qualified. The workforce has nearly doubled since 2010.'

STATE OF THE ECE WORKFORCE According to Megan O’Connell’s analysis for CELA, this sector’s workforce demand is about to hit a new high.

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[Editor’s note: national workforce surveys showed a total national increase from 108,521 in 2010 to 194,994 in 2016]

As Megan’s analysis explains, we are looking at a booming employment sector which – generally speaking – cannot hold onto the staff it needs, nor attract the even greater number it

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will soon require. How many more? Double again the current number. The Australian Job Outlook estimates more than 220,000 additional early childhood teachers and educators will be needed over the next five years.

These aren’t all new positions, although some demand does result from ongoing employment growth. No: a substantial number of the 220,000 educators who need to be hired in the next five years will simply replace other educators who we know will leave the sector.

Why do they go? Every survey, study industrial hearing, and exit interview points towards poor pay and conditions – particularly compared to school education – as the two key reasons this sector struggles so much to attract and, especially, retain qualified educators.

4. Support services to retain educators and teachers, embed sustainable business practices and manage the challenges of staff turnover Source: NSW Early Childhood Workforce Strategy

Victoria

With something of a headstart on rolling out two years of preschool, Victoria is also active in both professional development and recruiting people into the sector through scholarships and other incentives.

Some of the Victorian programs are described here.

STATE POLICIES AND REVIEWS The Commonwealth might be mute on this issue (more on that shortly) but several states are actively pursuing workforce strategies and supporting targeted professional development programs for the sector.

The question in those cases is whether they are doing enough, for the right parts of the sector, and with a sufficiently long term view to generate sustainability.

Examples include:

New South Wales

Queensland

Queensland’s Workforce Action Plan 2016–2019 aims to 'enhance the capacity of Queensland’s early childhood workforce through a number of initiatives'.

Due now for its next iteration, the plan’s final review has recently been out for consultation ahead of completion.

Like the NSW strategy, the Queensland plan acknowledges the need for educators to feel valued with professional respect – a related concern to the lack of ‘professional pay’.

The Queensland plan also embeds government responsibility for professional development to build capacity:

The NSW Early Childhood Workforce Strategy is the result of extensive research and consultation in the sector and is one of the newest strategies in place around Australia.

Under the positives, the strategy recognises the sector as an integral part of a child’s ‘education journey’ and accepts some government responsibility in supporting retention of staff and managing high staff turnover in a quality education framework.

As negatives, observers point to the strategy’s short timespan – only four years (2018-2022) – and lack of commitment to the kind of funding required to roll out effective professional development programs across a geographically and culturally diverse workforce.

In particular, the special issues faced by rural and remote services are felt to be not adequately managed in this plan.

The Workforce Strategy prioritises four key focus areas. These are: 1. Promote the early childhood sector to the public as a critical part of a child’s educational journey, and as an attractive field to build a career for prospective educators 2. Support the workforce to obtain qualifications and experience to prepare them for the workplace

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3. Build the skills base of the workforce by supporting educators and teachers to attend professional development and update their qualifications and skills

Ongoing access to high quality professional development is also needed for educators to develop and maintain the skills they need to respond to the complex needs of children and families and the changing responsibilities of their roles. Building workforce capability in leadership and working with children with complex needs were identified in the review as two key priorities for skills development across the sector.

Source: Queensland Workforce Action Plan

AN INVESTMENT OR RED TAPE? There are two ‘sleeper’ factors that may be contributing to the Australian Government’s mute position on supporting workforce development.

The first is the Australian Senate’s efficiency inquiry, which had a sub-committee report devoted to ‘red tape in childcare’. The committee, led in 2018 by former Senator David Leyonhjelm, had the following terms of reference: As part of its inquiry into the effect of red tape on the economy and community, the committee will examine the effect of red tape on childcare, in particular:

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1. the effects on compliance costs (in hours and money), economic output, employment and government revenue; 2. any specific areas of red tape that are particularly burdensome, complex, redundant or duplicated across jurisdictions; 3. the impact on health, safety and economic opportunity, particularly for the low-skilled and disadvantaged; 4. the effectiveness of the Abbott, Turnbull and previous governments’ efforts to reduce red tape; 5. alternative institutional arrangements to reduce red tape, including providing subsidies or tax concessions to businesses to achieve outcomes currently achieved through regulation; 6. how different jurisdictions in Australia and internationally have attempted to reduce red tape; and 7. any related matters.

However, in the Interim Report recommendations – to be found here – many findings focus on educators’ qualifications and conditions (such as ratios) as ‘red tape’ and requiring review.

These recommendations include two which demand an evidence base linking qualifications with quality care (a result of the committee querying the cost of providing qualified staff in current ratios) as well as: 2.33 … reviewing the principles of the National Quality Framework [to] recognise that formal qualifications are not the only prerequisite for the provision of high quality child care, as this can also be provided by parents.

The second ‘sleeper’ is the Australian Government’s known reluctance to endorse the National Partnership Agreement on the NQF past its current expiry in 2020. With the NQF under review, and a Senate report attacking workforce quality initiatives like qualifications and ratios in its hand, the Commonwealth needs to hear clearly from the sector about what it really wants to see happening in workforce matters.

BUILDING SOLUTIONS In conclusion, Megan’s analysis looks at the big picture solutions required to support a sustainable, high quality early childhood education workforce. She points to the pressing need for a National Workforce

Strategy, and the economic argument to be made by all levels of government – state and federal – to turn back the turnover in this sector and retain and train great educators in large number: 'A key solution to the impending workforce shortage is to retain educators and teachers within the early childhood education sector. A National Workforce Strategy is needed – to examine and address issues of pipeline and focus on pay and conditions, including salary and access to supported professional development.

The constant churn of students through four year degrees and into and out of early childhood education, often within a decade, is costly to the government and the individual. Educators switch to school teaching given the higher salary, or leave the workforce altogether. More needs to be done to retain early childhood educators – this is the key to offsetting the future shortfall and delivering on the promise of two years of preschool in the near future.

Pay and conditions for early childhood teachers and educators must be made congruent with the work undertaken in other like professions. A range of studies have been conducted highlighting the centrality of issues such as hours and salary to workforce retention within the early childhood sector.

A recent Australian study found that 1 in 5 educators plan to leave their job within twelve months due to the 'extreme financial hardship' staying in the sector entails, whilst educators that stay in the sector are reliant on household members subsidising their salary.

Upskilling the existing workforce is also essential – there is a large labour pool of educators that could be upskilled with the right incentives. If just 1% of educators upskilled to bachelor level this could fill the impending teachers shortfall. However, low pay, long hours and a lack of recognition inhibits educators from upskilling, and staying in early childhood education if they do upskill.

It is essential that all children have access to consistent, highly trained educators and teachers.

If urgent attention is not committed, disadvantaged children and children in rural and regional areas, will fall behind as trained ECEC teachers become scarce within five years.

The government must focus on building the ECEC workforce as a key priority to ensure all children can thrive.'

'We are looking at a booming employment sector which – generally speaking – cannot hold onto the staff it needs, nor attract the even greater number it will soon require.'

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LEADING PEDAGOGY:

Lifting our Gaze

BY KELLY GOODSIR Early childhood pedagogy and practice specialist Kelly Goodsir writes about how we can lift pedagogy by sharing the power of influence and moving from checklists to a more flexible and collaborative approach. Kelly shares some insightful case studies from services she has worked with to show how this approach can be implemented.

L

eading pedagogy is both a privilege and a responsibility.

A privilege because of the invitation to influence teaching and learning in your context and a responsibility because we must also discern how to effectively advocate for quality practice and quality teaching both inside and outside our services. It also involves establishing curriculum direction which means we lean deeply into the vision and philosophy and align our pedagogical approaches.

Leading pedagogy is also a term I use to view the role of educational leadership in a way that communicates a more shared responsibility in an early childhood setting. Moving beyond the ‘position’ where one person holds the power of influence and including the diversity of experience within the whole service will add depth and breadth to pedagogy.

A SHIFT IN THINKING – FROM CHECKLISTS TO COLLABORATION Developing educational leadership first in ourselves and then in others potentially requires a shift in thinking about how we construct leadership as a shared and collaborative process.

How do we work towards this idea of shared pedagogy whilst sharing leadership not as a one-dimensional hierarchy but as a multi-dimensional process that shares expertise?

To authentically lead pedagogy, it is important to move away from an audit, checking or inspection type of culture where predesigned forms and checklists guide the practice of educational leadership.

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Loris Malaguzzi the great educationalist of the 21st century warned against using prophetic pedagogy, which he describes as a recipe approach which over simplifies knowledge and undermines the image of the teacher and child in the construction of pedagogy (Cagliari, Castagnetti, Giudici, Rinaldi, Vecchi & Moss, 2016).

The alternative is to engage in cycles where conversations, collaboration and co-constructing occur more flexibly. How we use our time and the tools and systems we create to support leading pedagogy should propel us forward not be restrictive.

That’s why lifting our gaze matters.

Knowing where you are heading is important (the vision) but how you get there is going to be something you navigate along the way with the team. Perhaps if we lead pedagogy from a position of curiosity and listening, we are able to bravely tune into the unexpected?

THE EDUCATIONAL LEADER PILOT PROGRAM – OPENING A DOOR TO THE BIGGER PICTURE In 2018 an Educational Leader Pilot Program was created, which delivered a series of sessions across 6 months, engaging 29 Educational Leaders.

The sessions derived from the position description for educational leaders and offered an opportunity to delve more deeply.

Alongside the training topic each month all educational leaders engaged an action research project to actively engage their leadership. What showed in the post program survey was a 55% increase in participants’ confidence and skills as an educational leader. What contributed to this increase specifically was participants:

CASE STUDY

1. Building learning relationships 2. Being empowered as teachers and educators 3. Embracing difficulties and challenges together 4. Reducing isolation through connecting regularly After the program was finished, one educational leader shared that the program helped to lift her gaze and not get so bogged down in the details but to see the bigger picture.

This statement offers an important message to leaders. Once an established direction is shared in a team it is time to let go and let others engage in ways that fit best with them. Let’s unpack a little more these 4 principles.

1. BUILDING LEARNING RELATIONSHIPS – ‘NOT COMPLIANCE RELATIONSHIPS’ Robertson (2016, p 35) states that if new learning is to take place, leaders must cross the boundaries of their comfort zones, into the zones of critical thinking and exploring new possibilities.

This can be constructed through the process of coaching.

Making sense of our experiences is an important part of coconstructing meaning which requires a level of interpersonal competency, openness to new ways of working and pedagogical knowledge. This will lead to greater learning potential overall.

Being involved in the classroom with educators is an important factor here. Rodd (2015, p127) reinforces this by stating that it is estimated 10% of workplace learning comes from formal training, 20% through the communication and feedback of others and 70% through the practical experiences, tasks and problem solving of on-the-job- learning.

Twelve of the 29 participants engaged in the educational leadership pilot programs post program survey stated that the most important thing they learnt was to ‘listen more’. Listening related to their ability to respond to their team in ways that empowered them, allowing them the time and resources to pursue their ideas. This fostered more ownership in shared pedagogy overall.

Here are some questions to reflect on:

How can leade rs of pedagogy po sition themselves as learning partner s?

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the How do we honour for ed uir req ns itio nd co th wi ge ga en our team to ongoing learning?

ning be How can lear as an active constructed al process? ti en ri and expe

'Whenever I have successfully worked through a problem, challenge or difficulty with a colleague I have always gained a deeper sense of pedagogical awareness.

Its where the break though happens.'

2. EMPOWER THE TEAM – ‘NOT POWER OVER THE TEAM’ One of the four principles that underpins Te Whāriki (2017, p18), New Zealand’s bi-cultural curriculum is empowerment/ whakamana. But what does this really mean?

To learn and develop your team to their potential requires a wide range of enriching experiences that are driven by their interests, ideas and curiosities in education and early learning.

How can your practices as a leader create the environment that empowers agency and autonomy over how the curriculum and pedagogy is enacted in your context?

3. EMBRACE DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES – ‘NOT FORMULAS OR RECIPES’ We cannot foster learning relationships without challenges.

Fullan (1997, p32) goes that one step further and boldly states that problems should actually be our friends! Imagine having a mindset like that. Whenever I have successfully worked through a problem, challenge or difficulty with a colleague, I have always gained a deeper sense of pedagogical awareness.

Its where the break though happens.

An embedded spirit of inquiry is an essential problem-solving strategy in this case and it requires a commitment to research, to look inwardly and to seek other perspectives in ways that lead you to a shared solution.

4. ENGAGE COMMUNITIES OF LEARNING – ‘NOT ISOLATION AND INDIVIDUALISM’ 'We need sustenance for the journey, for it is difficult and often lonely - a paradox because in teaching one is always with others.' Stefania Giamminuti, Reggio Emilia Conference 2017.

This has always resonated truth with me as isolation only limits people’s access to ideas and solutions. It fosters conservatism by placing a ceiling effect on pedagogy. The power of people participating together is a goal worth pursuing even though it’s complex, messy and at times confusing.

REFERENCES Cagliari, P., Castagnetti, M., Giudici, C., Rinaldi, C., Vecchi, V & Moss, P. (2016).

Loris Malaguzzi and the schools of Reggio Emilia, a selection of his writings and speeches, 1945-1993. Routledge, Taylor and Frances Group.

Fullan, M. (1997). The complexity of the change process. The challenge of school change: a collection of articles, (p27 - p45). Hawker Brownlow Education.

Ministry of Education. (2017). Te whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā

CASE STUDY Kardinia Childcare and Kindergarten in Geelong, Victoria is one of the largest services in Victoria and has over 100 staff employed. Each week they have a reflection meeting between 8am – 10am where a representative from each classroom attends. Over coffee and breakfast, they collaborate on various topics related to their pedagogy as a team. It is critical to their overall philosophy and approach that they regularly engage their team in a circle of learning.

Recent discussions have included: ⊲⊲ What does or could arts practice look like in our programs? ⊲⊲ What does risky play mean to us?

Let’s begin to re-imagine how meeting and programming time is arranged so as to consider a collective team instead of an individual person. How can we consider using our time differently than before? I wonder what possibilities would then emerge in our shared pedagogy?

Leading pedagogy is a complex, rich and rewarding role for educators that requires tools, systems and processes that speak to the many possibilities of how educators approach teaching and learning. I leave you with this important quote to consider: 'Leadership is to possess the ability to have a strong influence on others. The quality of our leadership is directly proportional to our fellowship.' (Pringle, 2007)

Are you easy to follow?

mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand.

Robertson, J. (2016). Coaching leadership: building educational leadership capacity through partnership, 2nd edition. NZCER Press.

Rodd, J. (2016). Leading change in the early years; principles and practices.

McGraw Hill Education, Open University Press.

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THE RISE AND RISE OF LEADERSHIP IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION SETTINGS PART 1 BY LEANNE GIBBS Leanne Gibbs is a researcher, author and consultant on leadership and public policy in early childhood education.

She holds the position of principal researcher at a large public provider of early childhood education and is a doctoral candidate at Charles Sturt University. In this article Leanne introduces us to the background and thinking behind her current research project on leadership in early childhood education settings.

'Whilst effective leadership influences the quality of an ECE setting, we don’t give leadership development the attention it needs to ensure a sound pipeline of leaders in our sector.'

I

’ve always been curious about the development of leadership in early childhood education settings. As a young director of a long day care centre, I experienced first-hand the challenges of leading people, policy and practice.

I had little preparation and confidence for the leadership role and navigating the complex regulatory landscape was difficult. There was constant pressure to maintain control and to keep the centre in a state of equilibrium. I was also responsible for educator performance development and I didn’t face the challenge of building my colleagues’ leadership with much knowledge.

Despite all this, I loved the role!

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My own story (from long ago) is reflected in the existing research on early childhood leadership. Whilst effective leadership influences the quality of an ECE setting, we don’t give leadership development the attention it needs to ensure a sound pipeline of leaders in our sector. Recent research by the Mitchell Institute highlighted the continuing lack of systemic support for the development of leadership in ECE and argued that this was a lost opportunity for the enhancement of quality and for leadership sustainability.

(Torey, Fox and Cloney 2017) The good news, however, is that there is a much greater focus on this important aspect of ECE and there is a growing

enthusiasm for research on leadership.

We have some of the greatest leadership scholars in this country and they have pioneered leadership research at an international level. Their research shows that the pathway to leadership remains unclear, taking on leadership roles is more accidental than intentional, and educators feel inadequately equipped to handle the leadership role. It is also hard to identify emerging leadership and, once identified, how to develop it. These challenges could lead to a shortage of ECE professionals who are willing to take on a formal role as a leader.

Given these challenges there seemed to me an opportunity to investigate how leadership emerges and how it is identified and developed in the complex world of early childhood settings. Any leadership development research must consider the distinct context and complexity and the unique nature of ECE settings, the policy landscape, and the workforce profile. The development of leadership is mo st often the responsibility of the formal leader and this places the leader in a position of power to enable or constrain the emergence of leading.

The broad development of leadership reflects the perspective of those seminal researchers such as Rodd and

Waniganayake who have highlighted the key role educators have who may not formally occupy leadership positions (2015). They believe it is essential that all educators within the profession are encouraged to engage in the discussion on leading and to have access to opportunities that build and develop leadership.

So, building on the existing research, I wanted to take a different approach for my doctoral studies. Instead of studying the leader I wanted to study organisations-I wanted to see how the practices in early childhood organisations enabled and constrained the emergence and development of leadership. I believed research in this area offered an opportunity to understand how ECE settings can cultivate leadership and how the practices and culture of an organisation (rather than an individual) can influence and enhance the leadership capability of both formal and informal leaders.

In order to study the practices of an organisation that identifies and develops emerging leadership, I took a holistic approach. Over a period of a year I studied three early childhood settings with different management structures, in the public and private space. I observed and interviewed educators, studied documents

and ran a special type of consultation, called a World Café, with educators.

This has helped me to identify what emerging leadership looks like. It has also helped me to understand; ⊲⊲ How language is used; ⊲⊲ The resources that are allocated; ⊲⊲ The way a centre is physically structured; and ⊲⊲ How relationships and governance are carried out to support that emergence and development of leadership.

An understanding of these organisational practices may assist in the development of integrated approaches to leadership development and improved performance, not just in Quality Area 7 of the National Quality Standard but right across all standards. What a positive influence this could have on outcomes for children and families and the early childhood sector.

This research project is nested in the Charles Sturt University led ARC and industry funded study Exemplary educators at work.

In a future edition of Rattler we will share the findings of the research and what can be learnt about how to identify and develop emerging leadership. 

REFERENCES Torii, K., Fox, S., & Cloney, D. (2017 ). Quality is key in early childhood education in Australia. . Retrieved from Melbourne: www.mitchellinstitute.org.au Waniganayake, M., Rodd, J., & Gibbs, L. (2015). Thinking and learning about leadership; Early childhood research from Australia, Finland and Norway.

Sydney, NSW: Community Child Care Co-operative.

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A CULTURE OF CAPABILITY

Observations on early education in Japan

BY VICTORIA MACKINLAY Have you ever wondered what early childhood education looks like in another country? Jessica Guerin, service director of a preschool in Sydney, was fortunate enough to find out when she won a scholarship to visit nine preschools in Japan.

T

he Australian Federal Government's new Colombo Plan scholarship provides opportunities for Australian undergraduate students to undertake semester-based study and internships or mentorships in 40 participating Indo-Pacific locations. As part of her Bachelor of Education, Jessica Guerin spent two weeks travelling across Japan meeting educators and visiting preschools in Tokyo, Japan and Kobe.

‘This was an opportunity that I will continue to cherish throughout my career as I was absorbed into the culture of Japan, and welcomed with open arms by the professionals and children in these early childhood settings.’

GREAT EXPECTATIONS Jessica made some interesting observations from the outset, with the ratio of children to

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WHAT IS THE EARLY CHILDHOOD STAFF/ CHILD RATIO IN JAPAN? Age 0

3: 1

Age 1 & 2

6:1

Age 3

20 : 1

Age 4 & 5

30 : 11

educator being much higher in Japan (30:1 for four and five year olds) and centre capacity seemingly much greater (one centre she visited had 672 children and around 20 classes).

What stood out the most for Jessica was the Japanese educators’ attitude towards the children. ‘The educators’ expectations for the children were so much higher than what I’d observed here [in Australia],' she says. ‘The children were so capable and so independent.’

This came through loud and clear in the amount of risky play she witnessed in the preschools. ‘One centre had a woodworking section in the playground; like something you would see in a high school classroom, with saws, braces, nails and hammers,’ she says.

The children were free to make their own creations with the tools with minimum educator supervision. She also saw children shimmying up door frames using their arms and legs and climbing on high metal structures.

‘One of the preschools we visited was on a main road and there were massive gaps in the fences and they didn’t have a front gate,' she says. However, it was almost unthinkable the children would break the rules and leave the grounds.

‘Ultimately, I found it quite empowering,’ Jessica says. ‘Children should take risks in play, as long as they’re controlled risks.

If they don’t take risks in play and their interactions, how can you expect them to take risks like entering a new group of friends in primary school?’

A lot of trust is given to the children, she observed, and this was especially true at the Bush Kindergarten she visited.

Moreover, the preschool environments themselves seemed to involve an element of risk.

' The educators’ expectations for the children were so much higher than what I’d observed here [in Australia],'

‘The general rule was if the child couldn’t see the educator then they’d gone too far, rather than the educator saying If I can’t see you, you’ve gone too far,’ she says.

The responsibility lay firmly with the child.

Along the same lines, she found that Japanese children are very much held accountable for their own learning. One example she witnessed was at a service that was largely project-led. She asked the teachers how the projects worked over a period of months and what they do if the children lose interest.

MORE OF JESSICA’S OBSERVATIONS: ⊲⊲ ON LUNCH TIME: ‘From what we saw, all the centres provided food and had a chef. The children were really excited to have us eat with them. It was so cute watching them use chopsticks which is great for hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.’ ⊲⊲ ON GENDER OF EDUCATORS: ‘There were a lot more male teachers in Japan. I don’t know if that’s a testament to how they are regarded in society. In Australia we need more male teachers.’ ⊲⊲ ON RESOURCEFULNESS: ‘They were really into using recycled materials. They create a lot with what they have rather than purchasing new things.’

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‘They said it’s actually the children that bring each other in and, if someone is not pulling their weight in the project, it’s the children that negotiate, which I found mind-blowing,’ she says.

BUILDING SELF-DISCIPLINE AND RESILIENCE On top of being held accountable, the Japanese children Jessica observed were also encouraged to have high levels of resilience.

Yukiyo Nishida is one of Jessica’s lecturers at the University of New England and accompanied the Australian students on their scholarship to Japan.

Yukiyo grew up in Japan and has studied and taught in England, Japan and Australia, so is in a unique position to comment on the cultural sensibilities.

‘Japanese children are encouraged to develop a sense of selfdiscipline, hard work and be respectful members of society,’ she says, adding that trust and respect are integral to Japanese culture. ‘In Japan, we measure ourselves by the standards of other people, and parents teach children how to behave in public spaces from a very young age.’

CULTURE CLUB Culture also plays a big part in Japan’s approach to Early Childhood Education.

‘Japan is a pretty homogenous country, so it’s much easier to set a certain value in society,’ Yukiyo says. ‘On the other hand, Australia is a pretty diverse country so it would be very difficult to set one value as various values must be welcomed and appreciated.’

She goes on to explain that this cultural difference means that in Australia children are treated more as individuals whereas in Japan, they are more likely to be all grouped together as children.

Culture also plays a significant role in the early childhood curriculum in Japan. ‘The Japanese curriculum is greatly related to seasonal events and cultural activities,’ she says, with children being exposed to traditional Japanese arts and crafts like origami and Japanese music, movements, storytelling and dance.

Jessica remarked that the Japanese curriculum seemed to be incredibly structured, observing organised English language and music lessons. She noticed there were many rules for the

children to follow, with children being expected to wait or line up for extended periods of time.

‘Overall I believe this trip illuminated many differences between both countries, and subsequently the many strengths of both Japan and Australia in relation to early childhood. For me, this was a timely reminder of the importance of research and networking, even on a global scale, in order to gain further information and further knowledge in order to best support the children in our care.’

KEY TAKEAWAYS The Japanese scholarship experience has left a lasting impact on Jessica.

‘We need to empower children not only to take more risks, but we need to accept they are capable beings,’ she reflects.

Her experience has affected the way she interacts with the children at her own centre: ‘I think it’s just constantly having that conversation with yourself when you see children in play.

There’s always that little voice in your head that says Stop!

That’s not safe! or Don’t climb that! Coming back from Japan, that voice in my mind is a little bit quieter.’

She’s also determined to really involve children in decisions and get them to take more responsibility for the day to day happenings. This can be seen in the new community garden created on the nature strip outside her centre which was

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inspired by a child’s interest in a resident possum. The children have been involved in every stage of the project and also hold joint responsibility for the garden’s upkeep.

‘I think we can raise expectations for our children,’ Jess says. ‘Because, even though it seemed like there was a lot of expectation placed on these [Japanese] children, they were able to do amazing things and they all seemed really happy.’ 

Jessica Guerin is the director of a 24 place non-profit service located in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. She has been working in the early childhood sector for nine years and is currently in the last semester of a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood).

Jess believes that children should be empowered to recognise they are active citizens who are capable of making powerful contributions to our world.

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WINTER GARDEN ACTIVITIES ADAPTED FROM OUR LITTLE GREEN SPADE WINTER DIARY

BY TRACEY LONG

While for some winter may be a time to hibernate, there are still jobs to be done in the garden. Many of these jobs are vital for maintaining and preparing your garden for a fruitful future, and there are still plenty of seeds that can be planted in Winter.

3 JOBS FOR YOUR LITTLE WINTER GARDENERS:

3. REGENERATE

1. HARVEST

During winter, allow one or more garden beds to lie fallow (unseeded). You may wish to help the soil to regenerate by planting a green manure crop. Green manure refers to crops that are grown specifically to be planted back into the soil to replace nutrients, improve soil structure and aid water retention. You can purchase green manure mixes at nurseries or use any seeds that will germinate during winter.

Winter is a time to reap the fruits of your labour with the harvest of root vegetables, citrus fruits and leafy greens to provide the nutrients needed for winter health. Why not make a special winter soup after your harvest?

2. PROPAGATE Mid to late winter is the perfect time for seed propagation – whereby seeds can be germinated and planted in individual containers until they form seedlings.

This will mean you are well prepared to plant in the warmer months ahead. A greenhouse is a good investment to help regulate temperatures and humidity to support germination and growth of seeds during the colder months. You could make your own mini-greenhouse, purchase one or be lucky to receive a hand-me-down. Busy little hands will love to help plant seeds and watch them grow in the greenhouse.

Mixes that contain legumes are great for fixing nitrogen deficiency, while mustard seeds have roots that can help to control parasites within the soil such as nematodes. Include oats for weedy areas as their fibrous roots are great for breaking up soil and overcrowding weeds.

WINTER PLANTING While winter is a great time for other jobs including regenerating soil, it’s always fun to plant.

The following list of winter planting is not exhaustive; some plants are better planted in early winter, others in late winter,

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and some need to be propagated from seed before planting in garden beds – get to know your climate zone and garden microclimate and learn as much as you can about the plants you grow.

Green Harvest www.greenharvest.com.au and Daleys Fruit tree nursery www.daleysfruit.com. au provide information on the plants they sell, as well as how and when to plant.

CHILDREN’S ACTIVITY Feature plant: silverbeet/rainbow chard Adding colour to the edible garden during winter is made easy with the addition of rainbow chard. Rainbow chard is a type of silverbeet that grows with colourful stems, including red, orange, yellow, pink and green. Rainbow chard is

WINTER PLANTING LIST VVArtichoke (globe) VVAsparagus VVBeetroot VVBeans (broad/fava) VVCabbage VVCape gooseberry VVCarrot VVCelery VVChicory VVFlorence fennel VVGarlic VVJerusalem artichoke VVKale VVOnion VVLettuce VVMalabar spinach VVPeas VVPotato VVRadish VVShallots VVSilverbeet (also Swiss chard/ rainbow chard) VVSnow peas VVSpring onions VVStrawberry VVSweet potato VVTatsoi.

VVLamiaceae: Mint family – basil, mint, sage, thyme, rosemary, lavender.

nutritious and fun to eat. It is high in fibre, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

A rainbow of colours ⊲⊲ We can celebrate healthy food with children by introducing them at a young age to food growing, preparation, nutrition literacy, seasonal eating and culture. ⊲⊲ Take children out to the garden with a basket to harvest their rainbow chard and other veggies they have grown.

When harvesting rainbow chard, demonstrate how to twist and break the outer leaves from the base of stem. This will mean that new leaves will continue to grow from the centre of the plant throughout the season. ⊲⊲ Growing rainbow chard is a great way to introduce children to eating a rainbow of healthy foods every day.

Identify how many of the different colours of foods are eaten each day to create a healthy eating rainbow display in your service. ⊲⊲ The colourful stems of rainbow chard are delicious when cooked with a little butter and olive oil. Cut the stems finely, add some garlic and cook until softened, then add the cut leaves and cook a little longer. Serve as a side dish... ...or use the colourful stems and leaves in a dish, such as spanakopita. ⊲⊲ There are many ways to use spinach and rainbow chard in cooking, and to introduce young children to simple recipes. There are a variety of cookbooks for children that can be used or start your own cookbook of recipes that you cook from the garden – have families contribute their favourite recipe too.

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⊲⊲ Provide a copy to families of the recipe of any dish that you prepare with the children. This will enable children to share what they have learnt with their family and cook the meal at home. It’s even better if you have an abundance of produce growing, so you can give some to the families to use as well.

The best idea when it comes to ‘what to plant when’ is to reference a seasonal growing guide for different climate zones, such as Gardenate www.gardenate.com or ABC Gardening Australia Vegie Guide www.abc.net.au/gardening/vegieguide 

Are you making the most of your membership?

1800 PHONE SUPPORT CELA’s expert support staff of sector professionals are only a phone call away. We can guide you on: What to do, how to interpret and who to contact to resolve your queries and questions.

TRAINING CELA’s range of courses are designed to lift and inspire your team in all areas of professional practice.

As a member you receive a 10% discount off all CELA courses.

WEBINARS

We’ve helped thousands of services to open their doors, achieve accreditation, improve their ratings and reach their goals. As a member you not only have access to our expert consultants, but you receive a 10% discount on all consultancy services.

Our member library contains up-to-date resources that will help you to navigate the National Quality Framework and Standards and provide the best possible outcomes for children at your service.

POST A JOB

Our monthly professional learning webinars are free and exclusive to members and can be watched at a time that suits you. You can find past webinars by going to www.gotostage.com/channel/celapremium-members

CONSULTING

RESOURCES

Did you know that our website is visited by over 7,000 people a month?

This makes our website a great place to advertise your current job openings. Members are free to post as many listings as they like.

EVENTS We run a program of events designed to stimulate thinking, inspire best practice and bring likeminded people together to lift each other up. Check our website for updates.

RATTLER MAGAZINE Rattler magazine is published digitally in March, July and November, with a printed annual edition mailed out in December.

We welcome member stories and contributions. Email info@cela.org.au to share your story

Community Early Learning Australia (CELA) is endorsed to provide NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Registered Professional Development for teachers accredited at Proficient Teacher Level.

Refer to NESA on the training calendar to choose sessions that will contribute towards your training hours.

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CELA MEMBERSHIP: WHEN YOU’RE WITH US, YOU’RE ALWAYS SUPPORTED Being a CELA member means that you’ll never have to face a challenge alone. Our highly experienced sector specialists are only a phone call or email away.

When you contact CELA you’ll be speaking with people who have operational experience in service delivery and management, many of whom are still working in the sector. Whether you’re looking for a better understanding of how regulatory changes affect you and your service, or resources and support to improve practice and service delivery, our expert staff will help you to find your way.

HOW YOU CONNECT WITH US Jackie is a Centre Director and owner at

a new suburban, community based service.

Jackie took out a CELA service membership when she was planning her new centre to keep her team connected to sector advocacy issues and provide access to current regulatory information.

Jackie engaged our consultancy services when she needed help with the set up and implementation of her new service, and received a 10% discount as a member. Since opening her service, she has booked four members of her team into our Conscious Communication Masterclass (members receive a 10% discount on training). Jackie has advertised job vacancies on our job listing site (free for members) and recently attended our annual Director’s Retreat this year.

Amanda is a room leader at a regional

community preschool. She joined CELA five years ago after she was offered the room leader position and realised she needed help navigating her new roles and responsibilities. Her first port of call was our resources section where she read about running a staff meeting and goal setting for her team.

Amanda has called our 1800 information and support line on a number of occasions, the most recent being to discuss understanding the regulations around staff lunch breaks and ratios. The centre director recently booked Amanda a position in our Western NSW regional learning & development group where she will engage in a range of training topics delivered across face to face learning, personal mentoring, webinars and a mini conference.

Jackie recently purchased our publication Thinking and Learning about Leadership: Early Childhood Research from Australia, Finland and Norway, on which she received a 10% discount as a member.

Josh is a recent Diploma of Children’s Services graduate who has just started working as an educator at a large, private service.

He joined CELA last month when he learnt about our member resources from a fellow graduate. Josh found our resources vital to support his practice and stay up to date with current regulations. After introducing his centre director to CELA, she has signed him up for our next Behaviour Toolkit for Educators - Action Learning Series and he’s been working his way through our historical list of lunch time bites webinars.

Mary is an ex centre director who is now retired.

She keeps her CELA membership in order to stay connected to current sector issues and looks forward to receiving her tri-annual copy of Rattler magazine.

Siohbahn is a university student

studying for her Bachelor of Early Education. She joined CELA during her second year of study after signing up to receive our weekly Amplify blog and finding out about our membership benefits. Siohbahn now receives our tri-annual Rattler magazine and keeps up to date with sector news and issues.

Julie is the children's services manager of a local area council with 15 early education services under her management.

Julie’s council regards CELA as their main professional learning and support provider, booking all of their team’s training sessions through CELA, for which they receive a 10% discount. Julie has found our regularly updated resources vital, and ensures that all centres have access to CELA’s resources. She advertises jobs on our jobs board, which is free to members, and uses our job description templates to post new positions.

CELA has been supporting early education and care professionals for over 40 years Members can phone 1800 157 818 to talk with our helpful team

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WHAT IS

QUALITY ANYWAY? Jennifer Ribarovski explains how the changing nature of quality can be positive for the sector and offers insights into how to best approach your QIP.

AUTHOR BIO JENNIFER RIBAROVSKI IS A SYDNEY UNIVERSITY ECE LECTURER AND HEAD OF JR EDUCATION. SHE HAS MORE THAN 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN THE SECTOR AND PLAYED KEY ROLES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL QUALITY FRAMEWORK FIRST FOR THE NSW REGULATORY AUTHORITY, THEN THE AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN’S EDUCATION AN CARE QUALITY AUTHORITY (ACECQA)

C

ontinuous quality improvement is a key feature of the National Quality Framework (NQF) for Education and Care Services in Australia. The National Law and Regulations, introduced under the NQF, include several requirements that apply to the Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) document.

Quality can, and I would argue should, look and feel very different as contexts and communities change. If we agree then that quality is contested, and open to a range of perspectives, debate and discussion, then we must also agree that our view of quality will be dynamic and changing.

Quality Improvement Planning is also featured in the National Quality Standard (NQS). The approved learning frameworks, the Early Years Learning Framework and My Time Our Place, have a principle entirely focused on ongoing learning and reflective practice. This is integral to quality improvement planning, as a critical component of planning for quality improvement is to reflect on current and existing practice.

It is this ongoing critical reflection on practice that leads to thoughtful and considered approaches to curriculum required by the NQS.

As we welcome new educators, children and families into our services, we therefore welcome new ideas and opinions on what constitutes quality in our own contexts.

This is why there is a focus on continuous quality improvement in the NQF, reflecting the understanding that it is an ongoing and developing process. This can sometimes be uncomfortable for educators, because essentially it requires us to critique and reflect on practice over the course of a career, continuously questioning and analysing what we do.

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THE OPPORTUNITY IN A SHIFTING DEFINITION OF QUALITY The idea of continuously questioning practice requires educators to communicate; to debate, to critique, to plan, to apply, to succeed and sometimes to fail. It requires a collaborative and trusting approach.

The truth is often that there is no truth, and it is in this very puzzle that the opportunity lies. If we are as a profession to grapple with the definition of quality, to frame a shifting definition of quality based on our conversations, communities and contexts, then we will by the very nature of this be required to understand the why of what we do and build the capacity to articulate it effectively.

The guiding principles do not mandate or define what constitutes quality practice, however they do require consideration and attention. The philosophy is the place where these principles are reflected, given that a centre’s philosophy underpins practice.

Therefore, when we assess practice against the NQS, we should also consider our philosophy, and what that tells us about our beliefs and values, and our educational approach.

WHAT’S CRITICAL REFLECTION GOT TO DO WITH IT? Critical reflection is also a key feature of the NQF. Critical reflection goes hand in hand with continuous quality improvement, because to think about how we improve practice we need to reflect on how we currently do things.

In welcoming different perspectives through the continuous improvement cycle, we open up space for professional conversations, which allows different ideas and perceptions of quality to emerge, and ultimately for more thoughtful considered practice.

Surely this is strong rationale for the benefits of critical reflection. McNaughton (2005) frames critical reflection as a framework for teachers and educators to engage deeply with questions of ethics of power, often taken for granted. When we are able to do this, then we engage with ideas of equity and inclusion through our relationships with our colleagues, children, families and the community.

Where does our philosophy fit into the QIP? Every service and every community is unique and this is why a service’s philosophy is developed in consultation with key stakeholders, and reviewed on a regular basis, to reflect the uniqueness of each service and community. Because stakeholders change, so too do people’s ideas, attitudes, beliefs and values. But it is more than just a collection of ideas, attitudes and values that guides education and care practice. The guiding principles of the NQF and the approved learning framework provide a platform for us to consider multiple perspectives and ideas, while keeping these evidence-based principles in mind.

Quality can, and I would argue should, look and feel very different as contexts and communities change.

So now we know what continuous improvement is and why it is valuable…what next?

Education and care services in scope of the NQF are required to assess their own practices against the NQS and National Regulations; identify their strengths and areas for continuing improvement and develop a Quality Improvement Plan that prioritises areas for improvement. Assessing practices against the NQS requires educators to critically reflect and engage in an ongoing cycle of enquiry.

The quality improvement planning process The diagram below represents the key features of the Quality Improvement Planning process. The critical examination of practice, considering the service philosophy and asking some of these key questions to guide thinking, is the first step in the process.

How do I self access and undertake Quality Improvement Planning for my service?

Critically examine your practice - question how and why certain practices occur

Identify your particular strengths that can or should improve

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Document your self assessment to inform quality improvement planning

The Guide to the National Quality Framework includes a set of reflective questions for each NQS Quality Area that support educators.

What must I include in my QIP document and what should be left out?

When educators ask what they must include in a QIP I like to take this time to point out that while there are QIP templates available from ACECQA, regulatory authorities and other sources, none are required to be used by any service. It is up to each service to decide how to document their QIP. The only minimum requirements are prescribed by National Regulations. According to Regulation 55, a QIP must contain; ⊲⊲ a statement of the philosophy of the service ⊲⊲ an assessment of the quality of the practices of the service against the National Quality Standard and the Regulations ⊲⊲ identification of any areas that the provider considers may require improvement (Regulation 55).

Beyond these minimum (and quite flexible) requirements, services are free to decide what to include and what to omit from their QIP document.

Some services have reported success using photographs in their QIP as part of the self-assessment process. This can be an effective way of showing elements of an environment that you want to improve, or to show the successful results of an environmental change plan. Before deciding to do this, it is important to consider whether the photograph is really adding value to the document, or if it is just showing what you may have already described quite clearly with words. Ask yourself is it adding value.

How often to update a QIP and who is allowed to see it?

The National Regulations prescribe that the QIP must be reviewed and revised - having regard to the National Quality Standard - at least annually, and at any time when directed by the Regulatory Authority (Regulation 56). However, if your service is really operating under a continuous quality improvement planning model, you will likely need (and want) to update your QIP document more regularly.

Many educators I spoke with reported great success by incorporating this into their regular meetings as a standing agenda item. Other services that operate on a school term or school holiday calendar schedule QIP review meetings at the start and end of each Term or holiday period.

REFERENCES Guide to the National Quality Framework, Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (2017).

Belonging, Being & Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia, Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2009).

My Time, Our Place: Framework for School Age Care In Australia, Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2011).

Clear goals and responsibilities are vital for lasting change One long day care service director described how they found the first couple of years of using the QIP document easy in terms of identifying areas for improvement and describing what they wanted to change, but then every year they found that little had been achieved. They sought feedback from other services and realised that while they had honestly evaluated their practice and identified the problems, in most cases they were not setting clear enough goals to achieve the outcomes they wanted.

Where they had set reasonable goals, they had failed to achieve them because nobody was responsible for the actions and they had no clear timeframes. Now this service only sets goals they know can be achieved, rather than just writing a wish list for improvements. Educators are all asked to be involved in the process, with differing levels of responsibility depending on their skills and interests and every goal is assigned a leader.

Because the review process is ongoing, it never ends and the documentation has become part of the service’s everyday practice.

What will make the QIP process quick and easy?

There is no magic pro-forma, checklist or formula that will make the QIP process quick and easy. It is not intended to be separate from your everyday work. Quality Improvement Planning is about continuous improvement. It is about learning from past lessons, being informed by research so that we grow and develop as professionals, and critically reflecting on practice, which is a key component of engaging in effective practice.

The QIP document is a tool to record the larger process of ongoing critical reflection, analysis, change and improvement in your service. When I read a good QIP document I can visualise the service, its children, families, environments and educators.

I get to know what this service, as a unique community, values and prioritises – I can see its personality.

Ultimately, quality improvement planning is about better education and care experiences for children and families, and better learning and development outcomes. It is the driver behind your program and service operations, and a reflection of the professional commitment and engagement of all educators in the service. The NQF offers increased rationale to pause, reflect on and think deeply about the what and the why of our work as education and care professionals, an important pedagogical skill that contributes to responsive, quality practice. 

Early Childhood Australia (2016) Code of Ethics Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010. (Cth) (Aust).

Education and Care Services National Regulations 2014. (Cth) (Aust).

Doing Foucault in Early Childhood Studies: Applying Poststructural Ideas, MacNaughton, G, RoutledgeFalmer, London (2005).

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Director's Retreat BYRON BAY 17 -19 SEPTEMBER 2019 Inspire - Engage - Ignite

Connecting early education leaders for professional growth, networking and revitalisation The challenges of leading people, policy and practice can often be overwhelming, particularly when there’s little time for professional reflection or physical renewal.

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

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

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

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

- June 2019 Director's Retreat

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

Find out more: www.cela.org.au/2019-directors-retreat/ Any questions? Please call 1800 157 818 or email: info@cela.org.au