Bedrock August 2014 No. #2

The Independent Education Union early childhood education magazine

Vol 19 #2, August 2014

Breaking through gender limitations Too young for maths and science?

THERE IS NO WEALTH LIKE PEACE OF MIND. OK, LOTS OF MONEY WOULD BE NICE TOO.

We all know money can buy us freedom. But nothing can free the mind like knowledge.

That’s why we’re dedicated to educating our members. It’s all about empowerment.

By this we don’t mean sending you a yearly letter stuffed with information.

From the start of your career through to retirement, our people are there to guide you along the way.

We have dedicated professionals available to talk over the phone even late into the evening.

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If you wish, we’ll even come and talk about your financial plans in person at your workplace.

True wealth, as our members will tell you, starts with a wealth of knowledge.

For more information visit ngssuper.com.au or call 1300 133 177.

Issued by NGS Super Pty Limited ABN 46 003 491 487 AFSL No 233 154 the Trustee of NGS Super ABN 73 549 180 515

executive editors

JOHN QUESSY NSW/ACT Independent Education Union and TERRY BURKE Independent Education Union of Australia - Queensland and Northern Territory Branch

editor

Sue Osborne

journalists

Tara de Boehmler Suzanne Kowalski-Roth Michael Oliver

NSW News

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Queensland News

5

Ask Lisa

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Maths and misconceptions: getting confident with numbers

6

Science by doing: early science education 8 The road to pay equity: the IEU’s equal pay case

10

Verena Heron

Getting up and taking a stand

12

Chris Ruddle

Intentional teaching, unintentional harm 14

Print & Mail Pty Ltd 23—25 Meeks Road Marrickville, NSW 2204

Breaking through gender limitations

16

Enhancing play engagement

18

NSW/ACT Independent Education Union GPO Box 116 Sydney 2001 Tel: (02) 8202 8900 Fax: (02) 9211 1455 Email: ieu@ieu.asn.au Website: www.ieu.asn.au

Move it, shake it, jump it: get active

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Yulunga: traditional Indigenous games come alive

22

Giveaways

23

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printing and distribution

publication mailing address

The road to equal pay P10 Getting up and taking a stand P12

Move it, shake it, jump it – get active P20

advertising and subscriptions

BEDROCK is published three times per year by the NSW/ACT and QLD Independent Education Unions and has a circulation of 4,000. Intending subscribers and advertisers are invited to direct enquiries to Kayla Skorupan at the IEU on (02) 8202 8900 or email: ieu@ieu.asn.au

advertising disclaimer

Advertising is carried in BEDROCK in order to minimise the costs to members. Members are advised that advertising is paid at commercial rates and does not in any way reflect endorsement or otherwise of the advertised products and/or services.

bedrock

Is a joint publication of the NSW/ACT Independent Education Union (NSW/ACT IEU) and the Independent Education Union of Australia - Queensland and Northern Territory Branch.

(IEUA - QNT)

John Quessy Welcome to the August issue of Bedrock. We’ve seen a lot of attention in the media recently about a lack of qualified science and maths graduates in Australia.

Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb has said this shortage is a “matter of national importance”.

The focus has been on school and university education, but a passion for science and maths could be fostered from a much younger age. In this issue we look at how an interest in maths and science could be encouraged in an early childhood setting, without requiring any additional special knowledge of

Terry Burke the subjects (see pages 6 and 10).

Elsewhere, we track the importance of the IEU’s crucial equal pay case, the outcome of which will have serious ramifications for all early childhood teachers (page 10).

We talk to some IEU members who have been getting active to make positive changes in their profession (page 12) and explore the latest research in teaching (page 14, 18).

We hope you enjoy this issue. We welcome any feedback, stories ideas or comments. Just email bedrock@ ieu.asn.au Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|3

“It is positive that the Assistant Minister agrees that early childhood education is an investment in society and citizenship, and should not be considered a mere babysitting activity.”

NSW News

Results are in Forty two per cent of NSW’s 4864 services have been quality rated as of 31 March 2014. Of the 2035 services with a quality rating; two services required significant improvement, 992 were working towards NQS, 672 were meeting NQS, 367 were exceeding NQS and two were rated as excellent.

More LDC centres offer preschool program The 2013 National Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Census was released in May and showed there was a sharp increase (34.4 %) in the number of long day care services (1,103) offering a preschool program based on a curriculum framework, up from 3209 in 2010 to 4,312 in 2013. Uptake of the EYLF was strong, increasing from 57.5% in 2010 to 91.8% in 2013 for preschools and from 66.5% to 91.8% for long day care services.

The numbers of degree qualified staff delivering preschool programs in long day care services jumped by over 50% to 4944 in 2013. NSW had the largest workforce with 31.5% of the total workforce compared to the next largest which was 23.5% in Victoria and 21.6% in Queensland.

4|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

When is a teacher not a teacher?

In NSW services changes to the National Education and Care regulations which came into effect from 1 June allow a diploma qualified or a primary school teacher to be counted as an early childhood teacher for short absences (up to 12 weeks).

Services in remote and very remote areas can meet teacher requirements by having access to a teacher for 20% of the time a service is open.

Details: http://bit.ly/1gXZuJh Meeting with Minster Assistant Secretary of the Independent Education Union Christine Cooper and IEU NSW/ACT Industrial Officer Verena Heron met with Federal Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley in May to urge the Government to continue investing in quality early childhood education.

“It is positive that the Assistant Minister agrees that early childhood education is an investment in society and citizenship, and should not be considered a mere babysitting activity,” Ms Cooper says.

“However, ongoing funding is required to ensure the benefits of

early childhood education are not lost,” she says.

“The Federal Government’s support for the National Quality Framework is noteworthy and the Long Day Care Professional Development Program will provide some support to the implementation of the National Quality Framework in Long Day Care, however, it does not address all the key issues within the sector.”

In light of the upcoming review of the National Partnership Agreement for Universal Access for Early Childhood Education, the IEU has urged the Federal Government to continue to provide funding for universal access to ensure support for the sector in future years.

“Attraction and retention of qualified teachers is vital to the delivery of quality early childhood education and to enable this salaries of teachers working in early childhood education and care centers must be comparable to those teachers’ salaries in schools settings.”

QLD News The Queensland Branch of the IEU is concerned about the scheduled review of the National Partnership Agreements which provide funding for community kindergartens. This review is being conducted without any consultation with representative bodies such as the IEU. The importance of the review is greater following a Federal Budget in which no mention of continued funding for early childhood education and kindergartens was made.

The National Partnership Agreements provide federal funding which is in addition to the contribution of the Queensland Government towards the delivery of kindergarten programs.

Over the three years to 30 June 2014 the Federal Government provided Queensland with more than $275 million to support the provision of kindergarten programs through Universal Access.

The current funding is set to cease on 30 December this year.

According to figures released by the Queensland Government, enrolment in Queensland kindergarten programs has increased over the last five years from 30% to close to 100% on the back of Universal Access and the additional funding under the National Partnership Agreements.

With the possible removal of these federal funds, and a lack of commitment from the Queensland Government to maintain existing funding levels, our Union is concerned that parents and children will face exorbitant fees, enrolments in essential early education programs will fall, and our members will face additional pressures on their wages and conditions.

Already, Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley has announced that money previously allocated to the Early Years Quality Fund has been reallocated towards upskilling employees in childcare centres to meet the National Quality Framework – the Framework is also currently undergoing a Productivity Commission review.

While our Union supports increased investment in professional development for employees, without a commitment to provide increased wages and conditions to reflect this ‘upskilling’, the investment is largely meaningless. The action sets a worrying precedent for further actions by the federal government in early education – including kindergartens.

Our Branch has asked members working in kindergartens to contact their MP as well as the Federal Minister for Education to express their concerns.

Hi Lisa, Does the IEU really need to write enterprise agreements for centres? My management committee has written their own enterprise agreement and I know they want to look after the staff, so even though I’m a member I’m not sure I really need to involve the IEU. Belinda Dear Belinda, The IEU offers this service to members as many management committees do not have the resources or skills to develop an agreement without expertise advice.

Seeing the agreement through the approval process is also challenging. The Fair Work Commission has very strict and specific standards which all agreements must adhere to.

In drafting agreements the IEU ensures that the agreement complies with the National Employment Standards (NES) and that the agreement is more favourable to employees when compared with the Modern Award. We also assist the committee in preparing the correct paperwork for lodging of the agreement with Fair Work Australia.

I recently reviewed an enterprise agreement developed by a management committee and found a number of problems with it, including incorrect ordinary working hours, reduced entitlements to overtime and personal leave and outdated terminology.

The agreement did not contain all of the things required by Fair Work. I also discovered that staff had been paid less then the award rate for the last six months.

The agreement would not have been approved by the Fair Work Commission.

By sending the draft agreement to the Union we were able to assist the committee, staff and our members with the changes to their proposed agreement that were needed.

The IEU ensures that the interests of members are protected by the drafting of agreements or reviewing proposed agreements It is always good to have a second opinion.

Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|5

Maths and misconceptions: getting confident with numbers

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re you more comfortable teaching literacy rather than numeracy? If you answered ‘yes’ you are not alone. Early childhood and primary teachers around the world are not as confident teaching numeracy as they are teaching literacy, Denise Neal (pictured), former early childhood teacher and recently appointed life member of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, tells Bedrock Journalist Suzanne Kowalski-Roth.

If you can relate to feeling less confident when teaching maths 6|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

than when teaching literacy it might have something to do with your own experience of maths education.

Were maths lessons dull? Were they focused on getting the right (and only) answer quickly with no exploration of process or alternative methods? And if you didn’t get the right answer were you left with a lingering feeling of being ‘maths stupid’?

There’s a good chance too that as an early childhood teacher you believe that language and literacy are more important than mathematics.

That’s the finding of work by American academics Joon Sun Lee and Herbert P Ginsburg published in the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.

The article reported that other barriers to quality numeracy education in early childhood include the beliefs that young children are just not ready for maths education and teaching simple numbers and shapes is enough.

Another prevailing myth is that some children are born with a ‘maths gene’ despite the fact there is no evidence that some children are born with mathematical aptitudes.

Differences, say the authors of the study are a “result of a complex set of factors such as family, linguistic and cultural experiences”.

With barriers like these it’s not surprising that maths teaching has been eclipsed by literacy teaching in the early years.

However, it’s time teachers updated any misconceptions about maths, says Denise. This is especially true if you’re the kind of person who thinks maths is just about numbers.

“Maths is about much more than numbers,” says Denise. “It’s about understanding space, probability, graphs, charts and tables.”

The days of rigid, fixed methodology with no fun allowed are long gone, but it’s taken the general community a while to catch up.

“The EYLF and Australian Curriculum really highlight that maths is about being a problem solver and communicating mathematically. This means seeing that there are multiple solutions to a problem and adopting different approaches at different times.”

The best way through any ‘maths anxiety’ is for teachers to experience learning in the same way they want children to experience it.

This means teachers engaging in problems themselves and discovering through experiential learning that there are other ways to solve a problem than they might have been taught.

Awareness is everything.

Opportunities abound in the everyday life of a preschool or long day care centre and Denise recommends teachers look to these everyday happenings to incorporate numeracy and plan maths activities.

“Perhaps the children are exploring a particular book like We’re Going

on a Bear Hunt that has possibilities for learning maths related words like ‘under’ or ‘over’ and other spatial concepts.

“Or, it might be a counting book where you can engage the children in counting activities throughout the childcare centre. It might be about making patterns or simply saying ‘Oh, look at the clock, the big hand is nearly at 12, it’s time for morning tea’.

“I saw a great example where there was a building site across the road and the teacher pointed out how tall the building was and asked if they could build something tall like that with their blocks. It was a great way to introduce comparative measurement and the associated language,” Denise says.

Other tools include using songs or playing shops with children, writing out prices or discovering how much water will fit into a jug and finding out if it will fit into a drink bottle too. It’s also all about making the most of those precious visitors, by planning ahead for mathematical opportunities.

“Let’s say the postman is coming on Friday. You might talk about writing numbers on letters. Or perhaps the policeman’s coming on Monday, so we might talk about numbers on cars.”

Collaboration is key. Far from working alone nutting out complex mathematical equations in isolated locations, modern mathematicians collaborate, share their findings, propose ideas and look at ways to

work together to solve them, Denise says.

With this spirit in mind the Australian Association of Mathematics teachers has started a forum for early childhood teachers to provide support and share ideas. They also have early childhood maths specific resources available.

“My great hope for maths education is that all children believe they can do the maths and see it as an enjoyable thing to be involved in. My hope for teachers is that they are confident teachers of mathematics and feel they have at their fingertips a range of strategies they can use to engage children in those positive and worthwhile experiences.

“It’s imperative that a love of maths is encouraged early on in individuals for success in dealing with the mathematical challenges life presents, but it’s about more than that. It’s about the future success of Australia.

“Many of the decisions we make as a nation are based on maths. In order to make wise decisions we need good mathematicians,” Denise says.

Nine misconceptions about mathematics education in the early years.

3. Teaching simple numbers and shapes is enough 4. Language and literacy are more important than mathematics 5. Teachers should provide an enriched physical environment, then step back and let children play 6. Math should not be taught as a stand-alone subject 7. Math assessments are irrelevant when it comes to young children 8. Children learn mathematics only by interacting with concrete objects, and 9. Computers are inappropriate tools for math instruction.

Resources The full article from the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood about maths misconceptions in early childhood is available here http://bit.ly/1lm7er1 The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers early childhood website has activities, a forum and resources: http://connectwith. earlyyears.aamt.edu.au/ For those who need some help overcoming ‘math anxiety’ and in need of math motivation visit www. suzannesutton.com

1. Young children are not ready for mathematic education 2. Mathematics is for some bright kids who have ‘mathematics genes’ Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|7

Science by doing

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ven the heat from the sun is not as inexhaustible as the curiosity of a young child.

Any teacher who has tried to explain a cloud, or the wind or rain and been met with a thousand repetitions of ‘why?’ can attest to that, Bedrock Journalist Michael Oliver writes.

Kylie Barker is an Early Education Teacher at Alderley Kindergarten, on the north side of Brisbane. She has taken a proactive attitude, like all the teachers and assistants at the kindergarten, to teaching science. It is embedded into their culture.

The one thing that she and the other staff at the kindergarten never do is patronise the children or assume they are too young to learn about the world around them in a scientific way.

“We might not call it biology, nor might we call it physics, but we teach science here at Alderley kindy,” Kylie says.

“What we do is let children learn and discover how the world around them works and how we can alter things to produce different results 8|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

and outcomes. That is what science is, whether we call it that or not.”

No test tubes or equations on a blackboard can be seen, yet science is everywhere you look in the curriculum at this kindergarten.

“We have one colour mixing experiment involving milk and a little bit of detergent. It is essentially an exploration of surface tension – watching these self-contained droplets fall apart and then melt and merge with each other, combine and form new colours. The children are completely fascinated with the process.

“This isn’t just some fun colour game to capture the attention of the children, make them say ‘wow’ and then move onto the next topic. It goes deeper than that.”

The children of Alderley Kindergarten are actively involved in hypothesising and testing predictions, the very core of scientific enquiry, although it is never called that by name.

“When we did the colour mixing experiment we made predictions and then we compared our predictions to what actually happened.”

One experiment was based on a children’s book by New Zealand author Pamela Allen, Who Sank the Boat? which tells the story of five friends – a cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig and a tiny little mouse – who decide to take a boat for a row in the bay. They all try their hardest to carefully get onto the boat but eventually the boat sinks.

Children creatively engage with the plot of the book to aid their understanding about how objects sink and float by creating their own boats and experimenting with different objects to see how much weight their boat can hold.

“We get a big tub of water, and little figurines of all the animals and let the children explore floating and sinking. Again, we get them to make predictions, explain why they think this or that will happen, and then let them test their ideas themselves.”

Floating and sinking is an extremely interesting subject for children as it counters a lot of intuitively held ideas about what should and should not float.

Some examples of science in action at Alderley Kindergartern, Brisbane

“There is nothing like the expression on a child’s face when you drop a pumice stone into water and they see that rock can in fact float,” Kylie says.

Kylie stresses that the key to teaching science to kindergarteners isn’t the content or method, but to follow the children’s lead. Not to teach according to a set plan, whether the children want to hear it or not, but to guide them with their discoveries once a particular subject or line of questioning has piqued their interest.

“If the kids aren’t interested it isn’t going to work. I can pull out all the vegies from the patch for them one by one and tell them about photosynthesis, but they will just walk away if they aren’t interested. The enquiry must be directed by the children.

“It is about inspiring their love of inquiry. We might give them a little nudge in the right direction, but they are finding out for themselves.

If the results of the experiment defy their expectations then we take it as an opportunity to investigate further. We go off to learn more together, sometimes sitting with

them on an iPad looking at YouTube videos or pictures, or setting up new experiments. When kids get excited about learning something new and investigating, it can funnel into other areas like learning a musical instrument, into numeracy and literacy, into fostering relationships.”

Parents are often surprised, and even flummoxed, when they find out that an essential part of the children’s curriculum is scientific, including biology, chemistry and physics.

“Once I sent a report to some of the parents about some play the children were doing with blocks and ramps. I described how the kids were experimenting with the incline in ramps and what that did to the acceleration of objects as they rolled down. I mentioned the phrase ‘I won’t go into the physics of this ’ and I got this rather surprising reply from one of the dads saying ‘this isn’t physics. Physics is equations and the speed of light and things like that. This is just kids playing with blocks’.

“But all of this is science. It is about understanding the world around them and getting them to ask why and

how. If we can start this practice now when they are young, they will be the scientists of the future.

“It is about inspiring their love of inquiry.

We might give them a little nudge in the right direction, but they are finding out for themselves.”

“What ever we do, we never, ever explain something away by just saying ‘it’s magic’!”

Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|9

The road to equal pay

T

he IEU’s Equal Renumeration Case being heard at the Fair Work Commission is well underway. NSW/ACT IEU Assistant Secretary Carol Matthews explains how it will work.

What is the Equal Remuneration Case?

The Equal Remuneration Case is a case in the FWC taken by the IEU on behalf of teachers in preschools and childcare centres in all states and territories.

Our case is that early childhood teachers are overwhelmingly women and that they are paid less than other workers, in particular male workers, doing work of comparable value.

Another way of putting this is that their work is undervalued.

Is this the same case that United Voice is involved in?

United Voice has made a claim on behalf of everyone in the child care industry. The IEU claim is specifically focused on teachers. However the FWC is hearing both claims together as the issues overlap. So, yes, it is all the same case.

When did the case start?

The IEU claim was lodged in October last year. There were a lot of procedural issues to sort out so it was very slow in starting.

Do all cases take this long?

Not usually. However it’s hard to get pay rises under the federal industrial system and this case is a very big deal because over 100,000 employees are affected nationally. Of course teachers are a much smaller group. The pay rises the unions are seeking are also 10|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

much more than you can normally get. There are five members of the Commission – that is judges and Commissioners – hearing the case, so that shows how important it is. The three most senior members of the Commission are also on the panel.

There are a lot of parties involved.

Usually there are about 10 people in the courtroom in Sydney and there are other people on the video in other states.

This is a new type of case and the Commission wants to make sure everyone feels they know where the case is going and they have an opportunity to comment. The only other case like this in the federal system was the case for employees in social and community services.

However, that case occurred under the Labor Government and halfway through the case the Government agreed to fund pay rises. This is a very different context.

What is the position of the Abbott Government?

We know Assistant Education Minister Sussan Ley has said pay rises are an issue for the FWC not the Government. It is fair to say, a very low profile position. Even though the Commonwealth is represented by a senior barrister, on most of the issues so far it has avoided putting a position.

For example, the Commonwealth doesn’t want the FWC to set general principles which could set a precedent for other cases. They have also said very little about the principles proposed by the other parties, including the IEU. Who else is involved in the case?

The NSW and Victorian State Governments are also involved and

“There are five members of the Commission hearing the case, so that shows how important it is.”

large employer organisations.Some of the employer organisations are more worried about the flow-on to other industries and don’t necessarily represent many employers in the child care industry.

Where is the case up to?

We are still talking about the legal principles. Basically, what is the test for a union to show employees are not receiving equal remuneration?

For example do you have to compare the work with comparable work done by a group of male employees and then argue the female employees should get the same pay? Or can you compare to another group of female employees? Or can you show in other ways the work is undervalued?

There is also an issue about when you make a comparison – do you get exactly the same rate as the workers you are comparing with, or is the pay discounted for some reason.

Although it sounds esoteric, these practical differences affect how we will run our case.

What is the next stage?

As soon as the FWC sorts out the legal principles, the Union will be looking for witnesses to talk about their work to the FWC. We will be looking for teachers in both preschools and long day care centres, profit and community based centres and around the country.

We are optimistic about the eventual outcome of achieving significant pay rises for our members, but there are a lot of hoops to jump through. We really need members’ help to get there.

Email Verena Heron at verena@ieu.asn.au to volunteer.

Witnesses for the affirmative

Marie, Gabe and Ariane.

M

arie Jacobsen, Director of Leeton Preschool, Ariane Stephens, Director of St Stephens Preschool, and Gabe Connell, Director of Albury Preschool, have all volunteered to act as witnesses for the IEU’s equal pay case.

Marie says she volunteered “because people need to recognise that early childhood education and care is a profession, it is not babysitting, and we need to lift the profile, financially, socially and professionally.

“We will not have a future in early childhood education and care while so many teachers opt to go into the school system, where they are recognised on a whole different level.”

Ariane says she “feels so passionate about the appalling state of the pay and conditions for early childhood teachers, especially for directors and nominated supervisors, considering the legal responsibilities and the complexity of the role, especially in stand alone centres.

“As a director/nominated supervisor my job, depth and breadth of responsibility, knowledge and skill required is not reflected in any way shape or form in a monetary fashion.”

Like Marie, Gabe is concerned about teachers preferring to work in schools: “I am concerned that the sector is failing to attract and retain early childhood teachers. We are fearful that the requirements set for qualified

teachers in the National Quality Framework will be weakened because we are unable to find teachers who are willing to be employed in early childhood at much lower wage rates, and this will lead to a further ‘devaluing’ of the profession and the sector as a whole.”

“This is not just a case of some nice ladies getting their knickers in a knot,” Marie says.

“This is about social justice and being financially sound and economically viable.”

“We are professionals who take on big roles and do so much extra work.

We are never really ‘off duty’. No one really walks away at closing time and doesn’t think or do anything for work until clocking on the next day – it doesn’t work like that.

“We have to be recognised for what we do and now that families are valuing early childhood education, we need to ensure that the rest of society does too. It is no longer a case of ‘in my day we didn’t have preschool’ because that is exactly why preschools were set up, so children could socialise.

“And bush kids matter too. Their situation is probably more important than regional/city children as they often only have their one day at preschool as their social outlet.

“All children have a right to an early childhood education and all teachers have a right to be paid fairly and equitably for what they do, without the

guilt trip of ‘if you ask for more pay we will have to increase fees’.”

Gabe says: “We are in danger of losing more early childhood teachers as the current demographic of teachers in the sector is ageing and looking to retire.

This is not just a case of some nice ladies getting their knickers in a knot. This is about social justice and being financially sound.”

“Who will replace us? Will this mean that we will see a weakening of the requirements under the regulation?

What does this mean for families and children when all the research says outcomes for children can be directly linked to the level of qualification of the educator.”

Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|11

Getting up and taking a stand

W

hat happens when early childhood teachers want change? This article looks at three directors who have got politically active. From meetings with the Assistant Minister for Education to talking to parents, these early childhood firebrands share their stories with Bedrock Journalist Suzanne Kowalski-Roth.

“It took forever to get no answers from Barry O’Farrell,” quips Director Ariane Simon, whose preschool is in the former premier’s electorate of Kuringai.

So when she wrote to Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley recently she was bowled over when she got a call from the Minister’s secretary to set a date right away.

Ariane’s strategy was simple. Mix crankiness at the Federal Government’s lack of consultation with community-based preschools with her passion for her profession and a willingness to meet anywhere at anytime. She was also armed with findings of a survey of over 800 families that showed 70% of parents who used preschools either worked or studied, debunking the myth that preschools aren’t used by working parents.

Ariane asked the Minister in her request for a meeting some tough questions like: ‘What will you say to families other than that preschools are a ‘state responsibility’? and ‘Have you talked to families that use our services, to directors or committees about what we do, the service, education and support we provide?’

Together with Louise Murfet, Director of Jacaranda Preschool, the two committed activists put their views to the Minister in a meeting that was robust and went on for much longer than the allocated time.

Ariane says the meeting was extremely valuable and they were able to communicate the reality of the work of community based preschools.

What would she recommend budding early childhood activists do? Get the facts really straight before you get into the fray and Ariane also advises asking questions that demand an answer.

But she knows advocacy at the highest level is not for everyone. There is a lot that can be done behind the scenes. Whichever level people are comfortable at, it’s important to be heard, Ariane says.

Being fed up and despondent about all the changes happening in early childhood over recent years led to the founding of the Northern Rivers Preschool Alliance, Melinda Gambley, Director at Clunes Community Preschool near Lismore, says.

The alliance of 28 preschools stretching across three state electorates is a positive response to the fallout surrounding the uncertainty and complexity early childhood services have had to deal with over the years.

“We were feeling a bit frustrated, tired and isolated, so we decided to get this group going. We could see a lot of our colleagues leaving the sector because they were sick of it,” says Melinda.

12|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

(Far left) Louise Murfet and Ariane Simone after their meeting with Sussan Ley. (Left) Melinda Gambey with Adrian Piccoli, NSW Education Minister, and local MP Thomas George.

(Below) Janelle Gallagher with some Kurri Preschool children.

The Alliance provides networking, professional development and support to members.

What sets the alliance apart is that every preschool contributes some money every year in order to employ a consultant for four hours a week. This consultant is a former early childhood teacher who drafts policy, sources a pool of casual workers, looks up legislation and advocates on behalf of the group.

“We asked her to organise the meeting with the MPs. We’re making it up as we go along. It’s not perfect but it’s working well,” says Melinda.

All of the 28 preschools were asked to send representatives, including parents, to the meeting.

Careful preparation was key so the group met beforehand to work out their strategy.

“We wanted to talk to them about Universal Access and the changes to the NQF. We wanted to be organised and professional and to stick to the facts.”

“There were around 35 people there.

We met in a hall. In one afternoon we were able to hit on three electorates.

I think we did pretty well. We got a fairly good response from the MPs,” says Melinda.

Having parents attend lent authenticity. “It makes what we’re saying real.”

It’s critical to ensure you have likeminded people around you to offer support as advocacy can be hard.

“Finding those people is the key.”

Janelle Gallagher Director of Kurri Kurri and District Preschool considers herself to be an accidental advocate.

“When you’ve been doing this work for as long as I have you get cross about things,” she says.

Recently her local Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon visited the preschool to hear about the funding uncertainty and it was picked up by local media.

Advocacy hasn’t come easily to Janelle but inheriting the preschool’s legacy of community sacrifice is a big motivator and she feels entrusted to ensure the sustainable future of the centre for generations to come.

It’s important to know what’s going on politically and economically to ensure the continuing future of the preschool.

“If you don’t do that then the community suffers, the children, the staff. We’re a medium employer of lots of women,” says Janelle.

“I’ve had to work on advocacy skills.

I don’t like to rock the boat, I think we’re all a bit like that in the sector but gradually your realise you have to.

The squeaky wheel gets the most oil and you need to be able to stand up.

Often families don’t understand what’s going on as the sector is so complex.”

At Kurri preschool fees will go up by $15 a day if Universal Access doesn’t continue and Janelle says in a disadvantaged area like hers families just can’t afford that hike.

“We know traditionally when fees have increased you get families that

attend less with their children or they don’t attend at all,” she says.

The uncertainty of funding and ongoing change has been crippling to the sector.

While passion is important you really need to be prepared and do the right work and have the facts and figures sorted. Janelle’s found

“We’re making it up as we go along. It’s not perfect but it’s working well.” the support of families and staff invaluable as well as the work of the Community ChildCare Cooperative and the NSW Preschool e-group.

“It means you don’t feel isolated. It keeps you thinking and wondering what we can do collectively to affect change.

“Unless we work together and look at the sector as a whole we’re never going to achieve the things we want to achieve for families and children.”

Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|13

Intentional teaching, unintentional harm

T

he importance of playbased education must be emphasised in the face of an increased ‘audit mentality’, Flinders University Associate Professor of Early Childhood Susan Krieg tells Bedrock Journalist Michael Oliver.

The audit mentality has infected bureaucrats, technocrats, governments, parents and schools with the idea that if you can’t measure something, it might as well not exist. As a result of this mentality schools are placed under increased pressure to elevate student outcomes as measured through standardised testing and compete internationally.

There is a growing push both vertically from governments and horizontally from anxious parents to lower the age at which formal, intentional schooling commences.

Although intuitive, this campaign flies in the face of the large body of evidence which shows that the introduction of excessive amounts of formal education damages a child’s well-being, negatively affects their outcomes and has a deleterious effect on their motivation and passion for learning throughout life.

Play is an essential part of early childhood. It allows children to explore their world and develop their imaginations. Children learn language and to socialise with other children. Through touch, sight and sound children learn about sizes and volumes, words, ideas, games, 14|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

structure, letters. Through play-based early education, children also learn about themselves.

Yet a misguided effort to reduce the age at which children are prepared for school is threatening the importance of play in kindergartens, preschools and childcare. And the voices are getting louder.

“The voices are so strong, because Australia is positioning itself as a competitor in terms of educational outcomes,” Associate Professor Krieg says.

“Many people believe that the earlier you start formal learning the more likely children are to be successful. The emphasis on literacy and numeracy at birth-to-five years is certainly increasing. However, I think we are going in the wrong direction and if we look to the countries with the best educational outcomes we see that they start formal education later.”

In Finland, formal schooling with instruction in reading and mathematics does not begin until age seven. Before that point, children attend kindergartens and day care centres that use play-based frameworks.

Finland is one of many countries with play-based early childhood and early primary school curricula that has consistently scored a higher PISA ranking than Australia, and other nations such as the United States and UK.

“People see more formal structured education as benefiting literacy and numeracy. But the evidence is actually the opposite,” Professor Krieg says.

When people talk about ‘schoolification’ of preschool they are describing a curriculum in which children perform literacy and numeracy tasks, with an increased dominance of teacher instruction and a narrowing of children’s experiences at school. They spend more time indoors; less attention is given to horizontal dynamics like the peer relations between children; and children spend less time discovering their world through play or exploring outdoors.

The most immediate harm done to children when schoolification takes place is the damage done to their disposition for learning.

“When playing, children are more likely to be persistent, resourceful and creative,” Professor Krieg says.

In New Zealand, several key 2012 investigations by the University of Otago compared children who started formal literacy lessons at age five with those who started at age seven. They showed that early formal learning doesn’t improve reading development, and it may even be damaging. By the age of 11, there was no difference in reading ability level between the two groups. However, those who started earlier grew ambivalent towards reading and

their relative text comprehension levels declined as they progressed through school.

Parents, not just bureaucrats and governments, are part of the growing push for schoolification.

“I hear reports of parents saying ‘I don’t want my children to be playing, I want them learning’. We have major work to do as early childhood educators in talking to families about what children are learning when they play, especially those dispositions of persistence and creativity.”

Parents, who want only the best for their children, are harking back to an idea of ‘back to basics’ — often led by media reports of outcomes and opinion pieces pining for a halcyon age of education that may never have existed.

This ‘back to basics’ model often has its most harmful impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“With disadvantaged children there is often a sense that we need to ‘catch them up’ with earlier, and more formal schooling,” Professor Krieg says.

“So the curriculum, very sadly, becomes an intervention and a tool for trying to catch them up. In that process, their experiences are narrowed and their love for learning impaired.”

Professor Krieg is careful to point out that good early childhood education is not free of intentional or

instructional teaching, but rather the first years of preschool to the early years of primary school should be thought of as a transition continuum.

“There is a place for intentional teaching in preschool, but it needs to be very carefully balanced. If you are working with a group of 25 four-yearolds trying to do some intentional teaching is a real challenge.

Intentional teaching with young children must take place in small groups or with individual children.

But the imbalance within many school-readiness programs is that there is a switch to a clear dominance of intentional teaching and the children’s opportunity to play, explore and practice is reduced. It needs to balanced and carefully thought out.”

The early years of primary school also need to incorporate more play to effect a better transition for young children into formal schooling.

Children are presented with a very difficult and abrupt change upon starting school, to a situation in which they have very little control over who they engage with, or ideas they are exposed to. Even the way their bodies are managed, with long periods sitting at desks and the negotiation of boys and girls toilets, and the experience of only being able to use toilets at particular times of day, represents a severe shift. The pressure to ease the transition is placed upon preschool programs rather than examining the pedagogy

of these early grades.

“Children move at age five into school, from an adult-child ratio of one-to-10 or one-to-15 to a group of 1-20 or 1-25. That limits what can happen and the amount of attention each child can get. In Australia we need to look at that transition period,” Professor Krieg says.

“People see more formal structured education as benefiting literacy and numeracy. But the evidence is actually the opposite.”

“There needs to be learning continuity across those years. Just as there is a limited place for intentional teaching in kindergartens, play should be expanded on both sides of that fifth birthday.”

Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|15

Breaking through gender limitation

16|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

O

ne kindergarten in Brisbane is taking a different approach to gender identity. Bedrock Journalist Michael Oliver talks to its director Margarita Chercoles.

Kindergarten is usually the first occasion that children spend significant amounts of time with other children and adults other than their parents. It is an environment in which children are exposed to ideas and learn about the world around them through play-based enquiry.

It is also where children establish a personal identity independent of their parents.

Children may even begin to discover their gender identity. Gender, as opposed to sex, comprises the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine. For most children, their emerging gender identity will present little problem as it will align sufficiently with societal norms and expectations. However, when children discover counter-normative gender identities it can prove a challenge to parents and educators.

Any rational look at the different roles played by men and women, across cultures, across history and across subsets of class and professions within the sexes reveals that gender is fluid. As such, children have just as much a right as adults to discover their own identity.

Margarita Chercoles is Principal of Staverton Kindergarten, in Chelmer, west Brisbane.

“Because I am pregnant and the children are curious, we were today talking about birthing clinics, and doctors and nurses and midwives.

None of the little boys had any problems putting on the nurses’ costume,” Margarita says.

“Some boys were even stuffing pillows and cushions under their shirts and saying ‘Look at me Miss Margarita - I’m pregnant too’!”

Staverton Kindergarten might seem like a trendy, inner-city crèche and looking around, the toys reveal a standard play-based learning environment with trucks, blocks, cooking sets, dolls, action figures and a playground. Nothing in the decor reveals immediately that the kindergarten is the site of intensive gender-sensitivity and nondiscrimination training.

“I always start the year by telling the boys and girls that they can be anything and they are all equal,” says Margarita.

“We usually start term one with an open discussion where I ask the children all sorts of questions like ‘what’s your favourite food?’ or ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ and at that stage you can see a lot of preconceived ideas about gender.”

All the boys want to be doctors, lawyers and firemen, policemen and pirates. The girls want to be dancers, ballerinas and mummies.

For the most part children want to be what their parents are (except, perhaps, for the pirates) and Margarita believes this is because parents are the only role models these children have before coming to kindergarten.

“Their house, their parents, and their family are the reference points for everything,” Margarita says.

As the year goes on and the children are exposed to more and more experiences many of their ideas about what boys and girls should be break down.

“We encourage children here to run and climb trees — whether boys or girls.”

Margarita talks of boys who like to sit quietly and girls who like to rough house. The kindergarten is filled with boys who love playing with the cooking toys or wearing butterfly wings.

“I think most of what a child of this age believes is from their parents.

That is the baseline for deciding what is and isn’t normal. That’s why I think it is so important to try and expand that exposure.

“Children are like sponges! They absorb everything around them at a fantastic rate, but if they are only receiving one type of influence they are going to have a narrow view of what is possible.”

A child’s identity emerges as they take in huge numbers of novel ideas, experiences and stimuli. If this emerging identity is rebuked or derided, Margarita says it can do untold damage to the wellbeing of young children.

“At times during my career as a kindy teacher I have seen children of three or four who have obviously been told that who they are is wrong or not good enough — and it is heartbreaking,” she says.

“I have taught children who, even at kindergarten age, acted differently to what gender norms would expect.

They later went on to become transitional or came out as gay. I can’t imagine the damage that would have been done to these kids if someone

like me, as a teacher, were to have tried to control that behaviour or describe it as ‘wrong’.

“These children’s negative feelings come from parents who may be hard on them, or from parents who are hard on themselves — and the children pick up that behaviour. It can take a whole year to try and open these children up. I tell all my children that you will make mistakes when learning and it is part of the fun. A lot of kids are afraid of making mistakes and this applies to when they decide who they are.”

Kindergarten is not just a place to provide a safe, value-free environment for children to discover their own identity. It is also the place to establish clearly in children’s minds principles of equality and non-discrimination.

Margarita believes that all forms of prejudice are related to each other and primarily come from a lack of exposure to difference.

“Children have just as much a right as adults to discover their own identity. ” “Every child comes to kindergarten with preconceived notions. Part of our program here at Staverton is to give children the skills to question and hypothesise about the world and form their own judgments.

We challenge the children with ideas and new experiences and make them constantly question what they already know.

“For example, our area of Brisbane isn’t particularly multicultural. I am of Spanish and Filipina heritage and for many children I am the first darkerskinned person they have met.

“So we explore lots of different notions of race and culture, and family types through books and discussion. We read books about families with two dads or two mums, parents who adopt, parents of one race with children of another, and all the other types of families you can have” Margarita says.

“We like to let the children know that there are many different ways of doing or being many things.”

Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|17

Enhancing play engagement

T

eachers have a significant role in enhancing children’s play engagement but sometimes it’s a case of less is more, according to a paper

by Utrecht University academics Elly Singer, Mehrnaz Tajik and Joy Otto, Bedrock Journalist Tara de Boehmler writes.

Associate Professor at University of Utrecht’s Department of Developmental Psychology in the Netherlands, and at the University of Amsterdam’s Department of Education, Elly Singer’s work is based on 30 years of observational studies in child care centres and reflection with parents, professionals and researchers. Her earlier research showed that quiet and intense play was important for children’s learning and development – to learn about the world and develop social skills, creativity and perseverance.

Children who are highly engaged in 18|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

play are able to focus longer and have more time to co-construct shared meanings and develop friendships.

Singer, Tajik and Otto’s latest research focuses on the actions that teachers and child care staff can take to enhance engagement. Studying 18 groups of toddlers in a range of playengagement scenarios, the findings reveal that practitioner availability has a strong effect.

“The pedagogical staff were actively involved in the investigation,” they write. “With the help of short films by Laevers, De Bruyckere, Silkens and Snoeck (2005) they were given brief training aimed at becoming aware of the different levels of play-engagement.

“The goal and the hypotheses of the research were explained. The pedagogical staff were asked to choose one activities corner and to furnish it afresh for each filming day. Filming was

done during free play, ie the children were free to play as they wished. During the first 10 minutes pedagogical staff entered the specially arranged corner.

They remained quietly distant and if they needed anything they walked over to see them. After 10 minutes one of the pedagogues entered the corner. During the subsequent 10 minutes she remained in the corner with the children at play. After filming there was a brief interview with the staff pedagogue.”

Rather than continuously walking around with short interactions, the exercise showed engagement is high when staff sit quietly with the children or when they do not disturb them in their play.

Imitation and challenge In the first scenario, with a teacher remaining at a distance to the newly arranged activity corner,

the researchers make the following observations: “Most staff pedagogues had cleared up the activities corner and provided it with material from another group or material that had not been used for a long time to elicit a particular activity. There was Duplo, a car track or material for imaginative or constructive play. The level of play engagement during episode 1 was in general high: 45% of the children played for three minutes or longer in a concentrated way.

“Most of the children began by exploring the toy and playing alone or in parallel. After a first contact between themselves the children thought up new variations in their play. They imitated each other in increasingly exaggerated fashion, challenged and invented new things. There followed a build-up of interactions leading to a climax. The children then screamed with pleasure.

“From time to time the children made eye contact with the staff pedagogue who was sitting or walking around at a certain distance. They looked towards her, indicating for example their construction and said: ‘Look, I’ve made a tower!’ And after the pedagogue replied: ‘I can see it’, they went on with their play’.”

Making contact When the teacher entered the activity corner after 10 minutes, in all groups it caused children to look up from their play, with most of them stopping playing.

“Some children walked out of the corner while others came in afresh. They went and sat or stood by the pedagogue and asked for her attention: ‘Look what I made!’ The staff pedagogues tried to make contact with them with questions such as: ‘What are you busy doing?’

That too stopped the children playing. The social structure and balance of the group was changed by the pedagogue’s entrance. Playing together stopped. In the groups where a child had taken leadership in their play together, he or she lost that leadership. The children now turned to the pedagogue.

Often a new balance returned to the group after some time.”

Supervision styles The exercises show that play engagement may increase when supervision is nearby, with quietly shared attention, and decrease when teachers adopt a take-charge regulating approach.

“In six groups the staff pedagogues were mostly just calmly present. They expressed their interest and attention by small gestures. Communication was reciprocal. In all these groups the level of play engagement was higher when the pedagogue was nearby,” the authors say.

“The staff pedagogue is relaxed, responds to children’s initiatives, confirms the child by repeating what he/she has said and puts open questions to them. Attention is shared. When there is disruptive behaviour by a child she ensures that calm is maintained in the group by a small gesture. Her voice is soft and quiet so that she does not disturb the play of the other children.”

In one scenario a teacher sits with six children playing with Duplo. When a child asks the teacher to look, the teacher responds : “Oh, lovely, Lisa.

With a swing in the garden.” Lisa responds: “It’s a holiday garden”. The other children remain absorbed in their own play and don’t look up.

In other groups teachers try to influence and enrich the children’s play. They put open questions to the children and take the initiative and often leave the room for the children to fill in the play further for themselves.

In the groups with a higher level of play-engagement “active supervision was combined with a calm presence”, the paper says. “In the four groups with a lower level of play-engagement “there was more disturbance”.

“In two groups with a lower level of play-engagement the pedagogue’s initiatives did not connect with the children. [The children] seemed to be bored by the playthings or responded sluggishly to the pedagogue’s suggestions.”

In terms of a take-charge regulating approach, the study also notes what happens when a teacher takes the initiative and communication is mainly one-sided.

When directions don’t not fit with what the children are doing, teacher actions “undermine and stop the children’s play”.

Availability counts The paper says the highest level of engagement was “probably due to the greater availability, as a result of which children felt emotionally more secure and able to play quietly together at a distance from the pedagogue. Secondly, there was very little walking around; only when the pedagogue entered the corner were the children disturbed in their

play. Thirdly, the newly arranged corner stimulated the children to explore and to play together. This too probably raised the level of play-engagement. Fourthly, the style of supervision by pedagogue had its influence. Supervising by calmly shared attention and nearby involvement seem to be more important than talking and initiativetaking during play.”

“The style of supervision by the pedagogue had its influence.

Supervising by calmly shared attention and nearby involvement seem to be more important than talking and initiative-taking during play.”

Singer, Tajik and Otto say that while the investigation demonstrates that teachers can “significantly raise the level of children’s play engagement after a single, brief training session”, the impression should not be given that this way of working is easily implemented.

With all the responsibilities that teachers in early childhood services juggle and their need to walk around while monitoring children, the authors acknowledge the challenges.

“Children in a group need pedagogues to be available and accessible, so that they can themselves decide whether to play nearby or more at a distance. That means that the pedagogue must trust the children. Such a reversal in pedagogical dealings with children requires a firm and enthusiastic management willing to work with the pedagogues, willing to reflect and experiment in order to improve the quality of pedagogy in child care.”

Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|19

Move it, shake it, jump it – get active W hat causes 1.9 million deaths per year?

Bedrock Journalist Suzanne Kowalski-Roth discovers that the same culprit is also responsible for around 10-16% of breast cancer, colon cancer and diabetes cases and 22% of heart disease worldwide.

The answer is physical inactivity, according to the World Health Organisation.

Around a quarter of Australian children aged between 5-17 were overweight or obese in 2007–08 while 61% of adults register as overweight or obese, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures. The spotlight has fallen on lifestyle and how we are educating and caring for ourselves and our young.

Currently physical inactivity is estimated to cost the Australian economy $13.8 billion. Over 16,000 Australians are estimated to die every year prematurely due to lack of physical activity. Productivity also suffers with 1.8 days estimated to be lost per worker per year due to physical inactivity.

Australia’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines set by the Commonwealth Department of Health advise children from birth to one year be encouraged to engage in floor-based play in safe environments.

Toddlers and pre-schoolers should be physically active everyday for at least three hours spread throughout the day.

The guidelines recommend screen time be completely avoided for the 0-2 age group while children in the 2-5 age group should be limited to less than one hour per day.

Additionally it’s recommended that infants, toddlers and preschoolers

20|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

should not be sedentary, restrained or kept inactive for more than one hour at a time, with the exception of sleeping.

For adults at least 30 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity is recommended on most days of the week. If you do not meet this level of exercise you are not considered to be physically active.

Physical activity in early childhood services typically covers the following areas:

• unstructured ‘free’ play • structured ‘planned’ play • active transport, and • everyday physical tasks.

Quality Area 2 - Children’s Health and Safety aims to ensure that: “Physical activity is promoted through planned and spontaneous experiences and is appropriate for each child”.

A recent ACECQA 2014 snapshot found that 23% of services nationally were still working towards NQS or needed significant improvement required in Quality Area 2 (while noting that this area also contains elements of health and child protection).

Introduce more physicality into your day and the children’s day by encouraging families to walk, cycle or catch public transport. A recent Danish study found that children who walked or cycled to school had a massive improvement in their ability to concentrate. Active transport also connects people much more intimately with their environment and community.

Be a physically active role model.

Join in playing with children as much as possible. Program a wide range of structured and unstructured opportunities and keep a record of the activities in an active play resource folder.

Go outside for play as much as possible. Outdoor play gives children opportunities to:

• make big movements • try new movements • have ‘rough and tumble’ play • improve their balance, strength and coordination skills • seek adventure and watch and explore nature • extend their creativity • learn from their mistakes, and • manage their fears and build toughness.

Encourage parents to allow their children to engage in risky play and talk to them about any concerns they may have and how the benefits outweigh the risks in most situations.

Preventing risky play can lead to low physical and mental health, poor motor skills and imagination, lack of independence and social skills, poor problem-solving skills and lessened ability to take on challenges and a poor sense of self-belief.

Regularly ‘prompting’ children to move in different ways helps to challenge them and constantly improve their skills. This can involve prompting children to change how their body can move.

Ask questions like: How fast can you do that?’

Can you do that sideways?

Can you do this with one leg and then

the other?

Can you both do that together?’

Prompts should encourage a range of activities that include upper body, lower body and full body movements in indoor and outdoor play spaces.

Encourage children to actively participate in the life of the centre by helping to set up activities and meal areas, put away toys, helping with the gardening, tidying up inside and outside play spaces Develop a policy on healthy eating and physical play and put it up so that parents can see it’s a core part of the service. Try lots of different activities from children’s cultures.

Look out for ways to incorporate physicality into normally sedentary activities like reading – acting out how a character might feel or their possible actions.

Some questions to guide reflection on practice for Standard 2.2 include: How do we set up the environment and resources to encourage and support children to engage in movement and physical play?

How do we encourage child-

initiated or child-directed play and recreational experiences?

How do we encourage children to solve problems in relation to physical challenges in the environment?

References The Cost of Physical Inactivity, 2008 Medibank Private.

Department of Health and Ageing: Director/Coordinator Book p68 Get up and Grow: Healthy eating and physical activity for early childhood Director/Coordinator Book http:// bit.ly/1hgfCEt National Physical Activity Recommendations for Children 0-5 years olds: http://bit.ly/1jaeoAn Activities, games for babies and children including indoor active play ideas: http://health.act.gov.au/ kids-at-play/active-play-everyday/

“Over 16,000 Australians are estimated to die every year prematurely due to lack of physical activity.”

Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|21

Yulunga: traditional Indigenous games come alive

K

en Edwards, Associate Professor of Sport, Health and Physical education at the University of Southern Queensland has 23 filing cabinets filled with treasures that promise fun, learning, cooperation and creativity, he tells Bedrock Journalist Suzanne Kowalski-Roth.

The former Physical Education teacher became perplexed when on a school camp teachers wanted to play games from the Eskimo culture.

He thought there must be local Indigenous games available. It set him off on a project travelling around Australia assisted by Indigenous student Troy Meston, consulting extensively with indigenous communities and producing the Yulunga resource for the Australian Sports Commission.

Yulunga has 140 games divided into age groups. Many of the games within the K-3 age group are suitable for early childhood use. They include ball hitting and rolling games, hide and seek games, guessing games and wrestling games.

Each game in Yulunga has an identifying word from the language group to make the connection between the game and the culture.

The games have proven to be a powerful way for Indigenous children to connect with culture.

“I’ve run workshops where I’ve had Indigenous kids come along with behavioural problems and at the end of the day they’ve had tears of joy and told me this is the best day of their life,” Ken says.

The resource has also provided a way to develop understanding and 22|Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014

acceptance of different cultures. Are there any differences in play between Indigenous and non-Indigenous culture?

“Generally speaking there are higher levels of cooperation and lower levels of competition,” Ken says, citing the example of one of his favourite stories from a central Australian community where children race but the young children start first or further down the track so everyone finishes at the same time. The winning wasn’t important,it was just about participating and being involved.

Download Yulunga here: http://bit. ly/QXmjFS Ken recommends: Juluhya, a game suitable for two to eight players.

It’s suitable for indoor or outdoor play and a favourite pastime of the Aboriginal children in the Numinbah Valley area of south Queensland.

It was played by rolling small round pebbles down long sheets of bark. These were folded in a tubular fashion. Competitions were held to see whose pebble appeared first.

Equipment you’ll need is a piece of flexible tubing, approximately, 6–8 metres in length and with a diameter of 10–15 centimetres.

You’ll need a supply of tennis balls or large marbles and a stopwatch and containers to hold the tennis balls.

Game play and basic rules On the signal to start players put 10–20 tennis balls in one end of the tubing (one after the other) and work cooperatively to move them through to the other end of the tube and into a container.

Koabangan A game called koabangan was an object finding game (usually a goanna claw) observed being played in the early 1900s by the Kokominni boys of north Queensland. It’s suitable for four or more players, indoor or outdoor Equipment You’ll need an object such as a tennis ball or a paper clip for a goanna claw.

A number of short bushy trees are required. If this is not suitable then other areas can be used to hide the object.

“The winning wasn’t important, it was just about participating and being involved.”

Game play and basic rules The players sit in a circle with their heads low and hands over their faces. One player hides the object somewhere in the playing area.

On a signal being given by the ‘hider’ the players jump up and start looking for the hidden object. The idea is to find the object first within a set time.

The player finding the object has the next turn.

GIVEAWAYS 1. Kimochis Educator’s Tool Kit One set to give away With fun activities to practice tone of voice, body language, and appropriate words, Kimochis will help children learn techniques for handling life’s challenging moments with character.

This kit aims to help children effectively communicate feelings, build confidence, self-esteem, strong relationships and the foundations for academic success and social and emotional intelligence.

The Kimochis Educator’s Tool Kit includes the 296-page Kimochis Feel Guide: Teacher’s Edition, five Kimochis characters, 29 feelings, and the takehome parents’ Feel Guide in a sturdy, black bag.

2. Land Girls Series Three (M) Roadshow Entertainment/ABC Videos Three copies to give away Series three of this award-winning BBC drama explores the loves and lives of three girls, Connie, Iris and Joyce, doing their bit for the British war effort in the Women’s Land Army. The local manor house gets turned into an army hospital after a bombing raid, and Connie celebrates her engagement, while a ghost from the past could ruin everything.

3. The Search for Noah’s Ark with Joanna Lumley (G) Roadshow Entertainment/ABC Videos Three copies to give away Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley travels around the world to discover the truth behind the account of Noah, the flood and the ark in this BBC documentary.

To enter one of these giveaways, put your name, membership number and current address on the back of an envelope addressed to Bedrock Giveaways 1, 2 or 3, GPO Box 116, Sydney 2001 by Friday, 8 August.

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Bedrock| issue 2|Vol 19|2014|23

2012 winners, left to right: Louise Simpson representing Buninyong Preschool, and Amy Douglas.

Join your colleagues and celebrate at the HESTA Early Childhood Education & Care Awards

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