Nov 2013

The Independent Education Union early childhood education magazine

CONFERENCE SPECIAL EDITION

Nice Ladies no more

PRINT POST No. PP100007356 ISSN 1326-7566

Vol 18 #3, NOV 2013

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bedrock Vol 18 #3 NOV, 2013

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

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NSW news

4

Ask Lisa

4

QLD/NT news

5

CONTENTS 8

For love or money?

CONFERENCE EDITION Deb Brennan: History and possibilities 6 Jane Caro: For love or money?

8

Lisa Bryant: Nice Ladies no more

10

20 Mobile services in rural communities

Jenny Green: The changing nature of leadership

12

Joy Lubawy: Who do you think you are?

14

Suzanne Kowolski-Roth: Talking it up

16

Jan Wright and Deb Mann: Go with the flow - Reconciliation through education 18 Wendy Baldwin: Mobile services in rural communities

23 The wonder antidote to modern life

20

Giveaways 22 Greenover 23

editorial

John Quessy

Welcome to the special edition of Bedrock where we focus on learning provided by contributors to this year’s NSW/ACT IEU Conference. While the Conference was based in Sydney, its themes of standing up for your professional and your rights are relevant to early childhood teachers all over the country. Just read the Queensland news section on page 5 which outlines new challenges facing early childhood teachers likely to arise from the change of government.

We particularly like Lisa Bryant’s theme 'nice ladies no more' (page 10), which summarises the whole mood of the conference and the profession in general. Early childhood teachers are no longer prepared to be treated as a lesser profession because they are female dominated, and they’re ready to fight for themselves and ultimately improve the lot of all children and families.

Keynote speakers Jane Caro (page 8) and Deb Brennan (page 6) look at the history of female dominated professions and show how discrimination continues today and needs to be tackled. In her workshop Joy Lubawy also asks early childhood teachers, ‘who are you and what do you stand for’? Suzanne Kowolski-Roth urges teachers to ‘talk it up’ (page 16).

Other articles based on workshops provide opportunities to explore your practice, looking at Indigenous inclusion (page 18) and community resilience (page 20).

Terry Burke

We would love to hear from you with comments and story ideas: email bedrock@ieu.asn.au

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NSW news

Seeing Red

Dealing with abuse

More than 200 representatives from NSW early childhood services wore red and gathered outside Parliament House in late August to protest against proposed changes to the funding model which would affect the viability of community based preschools and long day care services and the ability of three-year olds to access services.

Details: www.earlyeducation.org.au

What to do if a child in your care has been abused?

This fact sheet developed by the The Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma, Loss and Grief Network for professionals gives clear guidance about how to navigate this situation: www.earlytraumagrief.anu.edu.au

High Quality The latest ACEQA snapshot shows there are 13,284 education and care services nationally (30.8% of these are in NSW) with 96% covered by the NQF. 56% of services are meeting or exceeding the National Quality Standard.

In NSW the percentage of services with a quality rating is 32% - far better than the national average of 19%.

Download the quarterly report here: http://bit.ly/1exioaA

Watch with a man “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” This quote by Alice Walker opens up the film ‘Miss Representation’. The movie is available on You Tube and it “exposes how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence. The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself”. See it at http://bit.ly/QREScM. Viewers are urged to watch it with a man.

What works?

What works for transition to school for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children is the focus of this literature review by the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care. Download the full review here: www.snaicc.org.au

ASK LISA

D

ear Lisa,

I have a query about my hourly rate of pay and how the new modern awards are affecting the rates of pay.

I believe that I am being paid under the Modern Award Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2010 (although I’m not entirely sure because my boss refuses to tell me what award I’m on) and I’m being paid as a classified level 8 teacher at $30.68 per hour.

I have been with my current employer for 10 years full-time (40 hour weeks with no RDO) and am eligible for long service leave. I thought I would be classified as a level 10 teacher. Can you please clarify for me how these levels work and whether I should be paid as a level 10 teacher?

Natalie

Contact Lisa on (02) 8202 8900 or email ieu@ieu.asn.au

D

ear Natalie In the absence of an Enterprise Agreement registered with Fair Work Australia you are covered by the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2010 (the Modern Award).

A three-year trained teacher commences employment on Step 1 of the scale (unless they have previous experience as a Qualified Child Care Worker). Teachers progress up one step for each 12 months of full-time service.

This means that if you have completed 10 years of full-time service you should be paid as a three-year trained Step 11 teacher.

The wage is currently $35.01 per hour as of 1 July 2013. The previous rate was $34.13 per hour and this was applicable from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013.

You should not be working a 40-hour week without an RDO unless you are being paid two hours a week at overtime rates.

I encourage you to raise your rate of pay and your entitlement to an RDO with your employer. If you are unable to resolve this situation I would be happy to write to your employer.

Lisa

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QLD/NT news

Early education more than a means to an end

T

he value of early childhood education has been well-documented and Australia was well on the way to improving the availability of early education through universal access. But this program is now at risk.

One of the first acts of the new Federal Government was to announce a Productivity Commission inquiry into child care with narrow terms of reference that run the risk of turning early childhood education programs into a mere economic management tool.

The Coalition’s terms of reference were drafted back in November 2012, with the announcement that a Coalition Government would “help ensure that child care is more accessible, affordable and flexible for Australian parents”. The stated aim was producing a child care system “capable of responding to the dynamic and individual needs of parents”.

Education not valued The terms of reference do not use the term ‘education’, let alone even permit the commission to consider the ‘economic’ value of educating young children — which would at least be consistent with the usual purview of the Productivity Commission. This is neither a policy for families nor a policy that promotes learning and developmental opportunities for toddlers and young children. It is an economic policy that treats the educational development of young children not as an end in itself, but as a means to getting parents back into the workforce faster.

The IEUA-QNT is concerned that the inquiry’s narrow terms of reference may lead to recommendations that move the focus away from education and concentrates purely on cost-cutting.

Reading the terms of reference at face value, the recommendations that the inquiry would be forced to produce could reduce quality controls and suppress the wages of early childhood teachers and educators.

Australia’s investment in early childhood education is still lower than comparable OECD countries. Our early childhood teachers are generally paid less than school teachers. This sector’s professionals cannot afford a renewed attack on their wages and conditions in the name of cost-cutting.

The IEUA-QNT would prefer to see terms of reference that recognise the benefits of early education to the child and the value of qualified education professionals, while appreciating the need of maintaining an affordable service for parents.

Narrow terms However, we might soon face a federal funding system that will be determined by an inquiry with narrow terms of reference predicated on child care being an economic, workforce-management tool and not an opportunity for education for the benefit of the child and the nation.

The community kindergarten system in Queensland was born organically, from grassroots groups coming together to create a place where they could educate and improve their children.

We, as a Union, believe in universal access for preschool aged children to high-quality education such as that provided by kindergartens. Early education must be delivered by high-quality, qualified teachers who are rewarded with the wages and conditions they deserve. These values must be reflected in any inquiry into early education, and the IEUA-QNT will continue to champion the rights and conditions of employees in early education.

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On pages 6 to 21 of this edition we present the keynote speeches and workshop presentations from this year’s IEU NSW/ACT Early Childhood Conference.

Keynote speaker - DEB BRENNAN

Early childhood education and care: history and possibilities

P

rofessor Deb Brennan’s talk centred on the history and politics of the sector and the possibilities inherent in the current political context. While some of the historical events touched on dated back to the early 20th century, the political issues were very current.

As early childhood teachers you are working in an occupation with an incredibly rich history – a history that shapes the practice of your work in a myriad of ways as well as influencing your wages and conditions. History does not determine what happens to us, but it has a powerful impact on how we see our options. For those who want to shape the future, there is no better start than understanding where we have come from.

Great credit is due to the voluntary organisations that established the first kindergartens and day nurseries (KU Children’s Services and SDN Children’s Services). From the start, they insisted on the educational, as well as the philanthropic dimension of their work. In the face of hostility and even ridicule, they consistently emphasised

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the importance of qualified staff, especially trained teachers, and rejected the patronising suggestion that their work required only ‘nice ladies who love children’.

Alongside the early services, KU and SDN set up teacher training colleges. Despite the fact that their training took as long as, or even longer than, the training of primary school teachers, early childhood graduates were paid well below the basic wage on completion of their training. According to Gladys Pendred, the Federal Officer of the Australian PreSchool Association, salaries prior to 1940 were so low that kindergarten teachers worked virtually in an honorary capacity.

The early records of the kindergarten unions reflect a good deal of ambivalence about teachers’ pay. While acknowledging the fact that the low salaries resulted in a shortage of teachers (remember, this is almost 100 years ago), they also believed that those who chose to work with the children of the poor should be above base considerations such as money: One dislikes very much to talk of salaries and grumble about their smallness in connection with work such as this, which really cannot be measured in gold or silver (KU of NSW 1919).

According to Ruth Harrison, Principal of Sydney Kindergarten Teachers College from the 1960s to the 1980s, the attitude which the College

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2013 ECS CONFERENCE EDITION

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Monthly pay cheques should be received with a sense of surprise and appreciation.

encouraged among the students was that their monthly pay cheque ‘should be received with a sense of surprise and appreciation’.

1960s: Improvements in pay and conditions Things began to shift in the 1960s as training moved out of private colleges and into the public sector. From 1966, students undertaking preschool training became eligible for commonwealth teacher training scholarships. Within a few years, kindergarten teacher training was integrated into colleges of advanced education and, later, universities. At the same time, the salaries of preschool teachers began to improve. The rapid growth in the number of preschools during the 1960s was one factor here but, especially important, was the number of preschools that opened in conjunction with public and private primary schools around Australia. It became more difficult to pay lower salaries to preschool teachers when preschools and primary schools were co-located. The Tasmanian Government began to provide preschool education in conjunction with primary schools in the 1960s, and all teachers were employed under the same award. In 1970, the Assistant Masters and Mistresses Association (a forerunner of the IEU) gained an award with a common wages scale for preschool and primary teachers employed in non-government schools. This was a significant achievement for the Association.

leave for a seamless program of services and supports. We should push for parents to be able to enjoy adequately remunerated parental leave, secure in the knowledge that a high quality ECEC place will be available for their child when they want it.

Similarly, the ECEC sector needs to build stronger alliances with parents. Most early childhood teachers have strong and deep connections with families at the service and local community level, but these do not necessarily translate into visible, political support. Our sector does not have an equivalent to the NSW Parents Council or the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations of NSW. I believe, however, that visible, loud and public support from parents is essential. Logic and ‘facts’ are unlikely to win the day for teachers in the 21st century, any more than they have done at earlier times in our history. Without this kind of unity, governments will continue to play parents off against teachers, presenting higher (or fairer) wages as an unsustainable ‘cost’ for parents, rather than as the bedrock of quality in ECEC services.

Alliances with parents I have long felt that the early childhood sector needs to build stronger alliances with groups and organisations working in allied fields. What happened around parental leave – with the parties vying with one another as to who could provide the most ‘generous’ scheme – is a case in point.

The advocates and architects of parental leave had the ear of governments to a much greater extent than do early childhood education and care (ECEC) advocates at present. Our sector should seize this opportunity to work with advocates of parental

Professor Deb Brennan is a researcher at the Social Policy Research Centre, University of NSW.

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Keynote speaker - JANE CARO

For love or money?

A

ccording to a recent study, 66% of women would rather receive a promotion than a marriage proposal.

This is really exciting. It is a revolutionary change because it indicates that Australian women are at last valuing money over love. We’re finally remembering our brains.

For generations we’ve accepted divided spheres for genders into public and private, political and nurturing and the remunerated and unremunerated: those who work for love and those who work for money.

Women were venerated as angels of the house, self-sacrificing saints who keep the home fires burning for their husbands and children. Even a tough old boot like Florence Nightingale was sanctified and trivialised as the ‘lady of the lamp’.

As a society we still struggle with seeing women as entirely human. As love objects women are seen as valuable only in relation to others. They only exist to serve the needs of others: husband, brother, young children or elderly parents.

We’ve emphasised the difference between the genders for centuries; I’m making a plea for us to begin emphasising the similarities. The term ‘equal but different’ was used to justify apartheid in South Africa. The ‘different’, usually the women, get the lousy end of the deal.

The stereotype of a gender motivated by love creates a handy excuse not to take women’s contributions seriously. One way society indicates how seriously it takes someone is by how much it pays them.

Until recently women were seen as motivated by entirely different reasons than men. Men did things for rational reasons, women for emotional ones.

The average pay gap between men and women is 17.2%. This is a clear message that we regard the efforts and achievements of women as of lesser value literally and figuratively. The idea that women are more suited to love and sacrifice than ambition and acquisition allow us to trivialise an entire workforce.

Women are still seen in the context of other people’s lives, mostly men’s lives, rather than at the centre of their own.

You are in the sector that most characterises the female traits of love and nurturing. You get the brunt of this trivialising and stereotyping.

She did her extraordinary work as a volunteer: for love not money.

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2013 ECS CONFERENCE EDITION

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dismissing the importance of love. I just want to share it around so the blokes can share a bit more of their money and income.

”

Teachers, nurses and childcare workers are all underpaid and undervalued. The recent powerful win by the community sector of their equal pay claim led to a whopping pay increase of up to 25%.

Fair Work Australia was forced to agree that the sector was underpaid because women dominated it. This forced everyone to take systematic discrimination seriously. This was the first decision of its kind anywhere in the world.

Historically there’s been resentment to paying women at all for traditional caring work that’s meant to be undertaken for love rather than money.

There remains an entrenched attitude that mothers should care for their children and daughters their elderly parents. So female community sector mother and daughter replacements are paid grudgingly and very little.

We fundamentally disrespect the very real work they do. Care is seen as a moral obligation rather than work.

The most insidious part of this is that carers cannot just walk off the job and leave dependents to fend for themselves. The very young, sick and elderly they attend to are too vulnerable for that.

So women have got it coming and going. As they really do care they cannot make it clear how important they are by downing tools and walking off the job.

so the blokes can share a bit more of their money and income.

The much-heralded Finnish education system shows what can be achieved if you take women seriously.

Finnish schools pay their mostly women teachers well. There’s a high level of gender equity in that country. There’s an emphasis on wellbeing at the centre of education rather than achievement.

Almost all children attend an early childhood service.

It’s not just for our own sakes we need to value women. We have something important to tell those bastards, we’ve just got to make them listen.

When you take women seriously other marginalised groups benefit too. You start valuing humanity over power. Children’s rights start to be asserted. Taking women seriously means taking what they care about seriously too.

Don’t banish love as a motivator, but break the crippling nexus that sees love divorced from money as if love was devalued by money.

Society should take love so seriously it realises how much money it is actually worth and be prepared to pay it.

Taking women less seriously is not just something men do to women. Women do it to themselves.

We’ve all been brought up in a society that doesn’t value women and we all absorb that.

Many working women have a sense that their role is illegitimate and needs to be justified and defended all the time. There’s a sense they’re neglecting their womanly duty by not putting their children in front of their work.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dismissing the importance of love. I just want to share it around

Jane Caro is a well known social commentator, author, advocate, novelist and lecturer.

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Conference Address - LISA BRYANT

Nice ladies no more Fighting for our rights E

arly childhood teachers have a problem.

Early childhood teachers, as we all know, are undervalued, but above all, underpaid. When we have problems, it is always best to go back to basics. Firstly, we need to work out who can fix the problem.

So who can fix the problem? There are only two groups that can pay early childhood teachers what they are worth: families or governments. Families can pay for increased wages via enterprise agreements or increased awards and governments can pay by funding services in such a way that pay inequities can be fixed.

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Equal pay isn’t just about women being paid less. It is also about women’s work being undervalued in our country.

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Regardless of which group we choose to fix the problem, the tactics of convincing them to do so are the same. We need to convince one of these two groups that early childhood teachers are worth pay increases and deserve pay increases, but above all we need to convince them that it will be a problem for them if teachers don’t get these pay increases. Who can convince them of this? The IEU? The Union are running the Teachers are Teachers campaign — won’t they win it?

The majority of people reading this article are in the Union. Early childhood teachers are the Union (along with our compatriots in independent schools).

The employees of the Union can’t win this for early childhood teachers, only early childhood teachers can win this, with the help of the Union employees of course!

If the Union employees can’t fix the problem of your wages, there remains only one person who can — you.

You are just one person, and I know what you are thinking. “Me? We will never get pay parity if I have to do it. I can’t be an activist.” But why can’t you be an advocate or activist? The question you need to ask is

2013 ECS CONFERENCE EDITION

what skills do you have as an early childhood teacher that you could use to advocate for teachers’ wages?

As an early childhood teacher you have skills of caring, observing, compassion, loving, collaboration, respect, warmth, communication, being a good team play and patience.

What is it that stops you using your skills, that stops you being someone like IEU ECS Vice President, Gabe Connell — a passionate advocate for early childhood teachers and children? What is it that stops you making an appointment with a member of parliament to talk about teachers’ wages?

Is it because it is too scary to do this, because you don’t have all the knowledge, because you hate speaking out, because you are just not that sort of person?

What stops you asking for a pay rise from your committee or negotiating an enterprise agreement?

Is it because you are part of a team and don’t want to promote yourself at the expense of other team members? Maybe you hate confrontation?

What if it isn’t these reasons? Maybe the reason you can’t do these things is because you are a nice lady. A nice lady who looks after children.

But maybe it is not even that. Maybe it is not because you are a nice lady, maybe it is because you are a woman.

Read the reasons above that make you a good teacher — these are all positive attributes for women in our society. Read the reasons you may believe you can’t go talk to a politician or demand a wage. These characteristics: confidence, faith in your knowledge, a liking for confrontation and the ability to speak up — are all considered negative character traits when held by women.

Confidence and anger Even when women are as competent as men, women tend to lack confidence in our abilities and downplay our accomplishments to a greater extent than men do. We are taught from an early age to be nice ladies. We are rewarded when we look after others. We need to learn not just to look after others, but to look after ourselves.

We need to be angry. We need to be angry at the lack of pay parity for early childhood teachers and to be confident in our skills to fix this problem.

Know that some of the reasons that you, as an individual, earn less money than you should, is because you are a woman, in a gendered career, in a society where men earn more than women.

Know that the skills you have acquired through your life may be the skills that you have been allowed to develop as a woman.

Know that the skills you have not developed in your life may be the skills that women are not praised for having.

Once you know these things, allow yourself to feel angry. Then take that anger and act.

Acting to fix the problem of wage disparity for early childhood teachers takes some skills. Skills of speaking and writing. It takes knowledge too. Knowledge of the political system and enterprise agreements and how to get the media interested in the issues. These are the things that people like Gabe does on a regular basis. But they are not skills that that they are born with. They are the skills that people like Gabe have learnt as they stood up for children and their teachers. And they are skills that you can learn too.

Why should you? Because in the words of Dr Seuss: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not”.

Australian women earn 17.5% less than men doing the same work. Australian women need to work an additional 64 consecutive days to earn the same as an Australian man. Did you know this? Equal pay isn’t just about women being paid less. It is also about women’s work being undervalued in our country. Why are early childhood teachers paid less? Is it because it is an unimportant job or is it because it is a job traditionally done by women — nice woman at that.

And until you learn to stop being a nice lady, until you learn to start fighting for your rights, you can bet that nothing will ever, ever, get better.

As you read this, think about whether you have done any advocacy for children in the past few weeks. Have you stood up for a child or for children’s rights?

Lisa Bryant is an early childhood education consultant, specialising in research, writing, policy, publication and advocacy.

Now turn your thoughts to our ‘problem’: the issue of teachers’ wages. Have you stood up on this issue in the past few weeks?

No? Why? Is it because children are more important than you? Is this because as a woman you have been taught to put others needs before your own?

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WORKSHOP - JENNY GREEN

“

Having identified who may possibly be a recipient of your leadership, it is important to factor in the needs of these groups and how your leadership practice will support and advocate for the specific group.

”

Having identified who may possibly be a recipient of your leadership, it is important to factor in the needs of these groups and how your leadership practice will support and advocate for the specific group.

Purpose or intent of your leadership

The changing nature of leadership T

he definitions and perspectives of leadership vary from Rodd describing leadership as “visionary and influential” to the latest leadership text Leadership from Waniganayake, Cheeseman, Fenech, Hadley and Shepherd saying “Leadership is a professional responsibility of educators implementing quality early childhood programs”.

How we implement our role as a leader, is the sum of our knowledge, experience, reading and thinking of and about the role, all within the context of the work setting. However, the leadership role does have to include the regulatory and licencing requirements and other mandatory aspects. For example, National Quality Standard (NQS) 7: Leadership and Service Management.

So what constitutes leadership practice? The thinking and practice of this is underpinned by the following concepts: who is your leadership for; what is the purpose/intent of your leadership; leadership style; what informs how you lead?

Who is your leadership for?

As mentioned, the NQS identifies that we are going to be assessed on how we manage the elements of NQS 7.

In addition to the NQS, who else is a recipient of your leadership? Responses may include: staff, children, families, a sponsoring body, colleagues in the sector including allied health services and the broader community.

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Waniganayake et al comment: “Intentional leaders are educators who engage in ethical practice by implementing leadership responsibilities in positive, purposeful ways.

Such leaders demonstrate courage in their decisionmaking and find ways to collaborate with others to achieve collective goals”.

This is a multi-faceted response and could include: to guide, inform, support, manage, challenge and advocate for. The endings will vary and will reflect the different groups that you are implementing and enacting your role as a leader with. The following table explains this position.

The table shows the specific group they are working with, the purpose followed by the task at hand. Although a small example, the intention of including this table is to show the diversity of the role and the subsequent tasks, thinking and leadership involved in the day-to-day practice of an early childhood setting.

The reality of ‘being’ in the role, is that you possibly don’t reflect on the number of issues in a day that you manage, the diversity of the role and the range of leadership skills you draw on to effectively address the task.

Group

Purpose

Task

Staff

To guide

Implementation of the EYLF in the learning program.

Families

To inform

Review an organisational policy

Children

To advocate

Assessing and evaluating the learning program

Leadership style In Community Child Care Co-operative NSW CEO Leanne Gibbs’ presentation at the 2012 National Quality Standards Conference, she introduced the concept of leaders falling in to the following categories: egotistical leader or enabling leader. As the name implies, an egotistical leader

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is driven by their ego. An enabling leader, supports and embraces the concept of enabling staff.

Egotisitical leader Egotisitical leader’s identity? n

n n

n

How would this impact on the team?

trying to meet own need rather than the team’s needs.

n

n

seeking ‘kudos’

n

show the ‘cult of personality’

n

controlling (either passive or overt)

n

team seeking approval asking for permission showing a lack of trust lack of drive staff feeling disempowered and passive

n

lack of contribution

n

diminishing capability

Enabling leader

What might be the How would this impact characteristics of an on the team? enabling leader’s identity? n n team growing to show passion implement relevant n embrace and and authentic motivate practice develop the team n n team feeling n sharing enthusiasm supported in their commitment. n listening (and hearing)

n

n

n

acknowledgement & validation working to build staff capacity being strategic

n

n n

n

n

developing staff skills and knowledge empowering gaining enlightenment

What informs how you lead?

Influences on leadership: n

regulatory

n

contextual

n

n

research and theoretical underpinnings

n

professional development and training, and

n

staff, children families and the broader community.

Given the nature and the diversity of leadership, leaders need to be clear about what they bring to their role, how this impacts on staff, expectations of staff and the professional development and guidance of staff.

What’s in your toolbox?

To support the concept of what you bring to the role, this can be viewed as ‘tools of the trade’. What is the relevance of a toolbox for a leader? I am suggesting, that faced with a new or different situation to respond to, resolve to find an outcome through reflection. By drawing on previous experience you can resource yourself and effectively consider a range of options as to how to manage this specific issue.

Toolbox inclusions: n

reflective journal

n

book of mantras

n

organisational culture

n

personal philosophy, and

n

journals and other reading matter.

For consideration? n

what is your intention as a leader?

n

how do you advocate for your staff?

n

what is your activism around leadership?

giving ‘everyone’ a voice

Jenny Green has worked in the sector for 36 years. She is currently Director of a 59-place centre for Integricare. She teaches at the University of Western Sydney early childhood teaching program and has presented her research on leadership in Portugal.

less staff turnover

Source: Gowrie Educational Leadership Learning Community April 2013

Waniganayake and Semann in an article in Rattler discuss the identity of the leader and the impact on their following: “Effective leaders have a strong sense of identity. Giving shape to this identity requires leaders to be professional, and demonstrate a sound knowledge and understanding of early childhood contexts”.

An enabling leadership model, will often incorporate the elements of a ‘distributive leadership’ model. Ebbeck and Waniganayake define this form of leadership: “In sum, the distributive leadership model relies on building relationships through recognition of existing knowledge and empowerment based on competence and understanding. It assumes that leadership cannot exist without knowledge or team work”.

responsive, for example the commencement of the school year and new enrolments

References Ebbeck M Waniganayake M 2004, Early Childhood Professionals. Leading Today and Tomorrow, MacLennan & Petty, Sydney.

Rodd J 2006, Leadership in Early Childhood. (third edition) Allen & Unwin, Sydney.

Waniganayake M Cheeseman, S Fenech, M Hadley F Shepherd W 2012, Leadership, Oxford, South Melbourne Waniganayake M Semann A 2011, Being and becoming leaders. Rattler, 100 (4), 22-24.

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WORKSHOP - JOY LUBAWY

Who do you think you are?

I

“

t’s wonderful you know, we are all teachers now!

That’s what they say in the NQF.”

My heart sinks. It’s an evening presentation with a group of wonderful folks from Family Day Care. Yes, they are educators, most of them have at least a Certificate 3, some have a Diploma and a precious few have gone on to get a degree. But they are not all teachers. Teachers are teachers! Have we been let down by this term educator?

I heard Anthony Semann (semannslattery.com) speak about using the term ‘professional’ too loosely.

What does being a professional really mean? Who is recognised and belonging to a profession and what are the criteria? Yes, we can act in a professional or ethical manner, but does that alone make us a professional?

Travelling around, as I have been doing these last eight years, has opened my eyes to lots of things. While I have learnt a lot and reflected a lot, there are a few niggly

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things that are eating at me, and the most important one I think is the loss of the title and status of teacher.

Stand out from the crowd I see this loss happen when a well-meaning new authorised supervisor/director/manager carefully makes a display of the ‘centre team’. I search and search as I stand in the foyer of the centre, and try to find her photograph. I know she is trying to make everyone in the team feel important, but is she negating all her study, experience, knowledge, status and qualifications in an effort not to stand out from the crowd?

I see this loss happen as photographs are put up of all the members of the team working in this or that room, but the qualifications are hidden or absent and generic titles of ‘team leader’ or ‘educator’ are substituted.

Qualifications are not the only answer, but they are a significant answer.

We all know people who are incredible educators and

2013 ECS CONFERENCE EDITION

“

”

What do you bring to the children that a well-meaning woman from the playgroup can’t?

we all know people who have gone through university and have the title teacher but are not living up to the promise. After all that study and expense and effort surely we must have something worth having. Why are we hesitant to make it visible?

A woman tells my husband Pete: “I have been working here 32 years you know”. I reflect, she may have 32 great years of experience, or she may also have one year 32 times over, and she may or may not have added study to that experience.

Experience alone not enough Experience alone is not enough. Too often though, this person with 32 years experience thinks she holds all the knowledge and makes life and work difficult for the newly arrived graduate. Who holds the power in your centre? Is it the person with the most qualifications and knowledge or the least? Who should it be? How difficult is it if you are the new arrival to establish yourself as the captain of the team?

I have so many stories about this power balance being out of kilter. The cook said that they could have no garden at the centre as it said in the regulations that gardens were prohibited, as they might attract bees! Yes, we need to think about the risk that bees could present and manage the risk, but a playground devoid of all living and possibly flowering things?

Balloon ban Another centre told me that they could not use balloons at any celebrations because it was against the regulations. The clerical assistant had said so. It remained unquestioned for a long time. Yes, leaving parts of a burst balloon on the floor where it could be inhaled is a risk, so we should manage the risks. Yes, some children may be frightened of balloons when they burst. Well, let’s not make light of this and go around bursting balloons for the fun of it, but we might be able to help a child not be alarmed by balloons with careful and gentle exposure over time.

How can we conduct the Teachers Are Teachers campaign, if we are letting the side down?

Are you and your qualifications visible? Are you just part of the team or are you the leader, the captain, and perhaps the coach of the team? Every team has a captain.

Are you going backwards?

How are you putting educational theory into practice?

Can you remember and articulate what you are seeing children do in the light of what a theorist has suggested to us or do you water down your knowledge, until at the end of four years of working you too have a Certificate 3.

Is it good enough to smile and turn a blind eye or speak up and explain when you see indicators of poor quality?

Do you go with the flow and bend over backwards for the sake of peace?

Do you slip back into something you think works because you have seen it on the windows of the centre down the road or because they use it at the primary school, or one of the staff has this amazing collection of photocopies for children to colour in? Has all that study just been something to do, an exam to pass or a paper to hand in?

Do you attend in-services, read articles and read the latest books but remain unchanged? Have you learnt new ways and reflected on ideas you have read or heard about? Do you talk the talk or actually walk the walk?

Are you letting the side down?

Finally I have to ask a question that a lecturer and friend asked me when I first began teaching: “What do you bring to the children that a well-meaning woman from the playgroup can’t?” It rocked me completely!

Good question though. How do you make a difference?

Who do you think you are?

Joy Lubawy is a regular contributor to Bedrock and IEU conferences. She is retired from teaching but still consults and writes about early childhood education for a wide audience.

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WORKSHOP - SUZANNE KOWALSKI-ROTH

Talking it up.

How to tell your story A

“

lively culture of professional inquiry is established when early childhood educators and those with whom they work are all involved in an ongoing cycle of review through which current practices are examined, outcomes reviewed and new ideas generated.” Early Years Learning Framework, Being, Belonging, Becoming.

With all the changes in early childhood many people are feeling tired, perhaps even over it.

Maybe some people are even feeling downright angry or disillusioned with the NSW Government’s proposed changes to the funding model. And, with the recent change of Federal Government and uncertainty around where early childhood is now headed, you could add worried to that list.

What other feelings do you have about your work?

Are you feeling proud of it? You should be feeling proud of what you do and what you contribute. Every day children learn from you and are cared for by you. You enable families to function in the modern world.

But have you spent any time reflecting on how you communicate your work and its importance? My guess is not many early childhood teachers have thought much about this. Fran Press hit the nail on the head at the Teachers are Teachers campaign launch and in a later interview for Newsmonth when she said: “Early childhood teachers need to be better at

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articulating what they do. I’m sure teachers have very good philosophical discussions in staffrooms and during professional development and are very good at articulating what they do to one another. That’s safe.

There’s a common language that people can reference.

But what I don’t see done very well is teachers talking to parents and other professionals about what they do and why they do it and the way they use their professional expertise and judgement.”

Adult education and leadership are a large part of what you do even if you didn’t sign up for that. You’re not just the teachers of under-6s. I think there are some teachers who have embraced this challenge but we need more teachers to make this shift in self perception.

You have power, use it.

The world really needs your story.

What story are you telling yourself about your work?

Is it a story of commitment? Of excitement about your contribution? Of how you’re contributing in a profound way to the health and happiness of future generations?

Of survival despite the ongoing struggles? Are you front and centre in your story – a heroine fighting the good fight? Slaying the dragons of economic rationalists and those who would have early childhood defined as school preparation and do away with play.

If ever there is a noble story it is this one.

Or perhaps your story is that of the victim. Of passion

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2013 ECS CONFERENCE EDITION

”

Adult education and leadership are a large part of what you do even if you didn’t sign up for that.

lost due to state sanctioned cynicism expressed via lack of fair funding. Of your contribution being misunderstood and of losing heart.

early childhood education is important? How do you talk about this? What could you change to make it clearer to others?

Every one of you is a heroine. You’re still here. You might be battle weary, scarred and over it. It shows you still care.

Your service’s story How has your service defined its story? How do you communicate your philosophy? How does it fit into the bigger picture of your local community and the country?

How is it engaging with all these groups?

But you have to care about your own story and get it straight. If you’re shy your passion for what you do and how you talk about it to yourself will see you through your shyness to the other side. If you’re tired, joining with others will give you new energy. If you’re over it you need to reconnect with your passion and what you love about your profession.

Everyone, no matter how they feel in early childhood, needs to be able to talk up your work. Who are the real experts in early childhood education? State ministers?

Opposition spokespeople? Businessmen like Eddie Groves? Media commentators who know little about your work and care even less?

You are the experts.

And why shouldn’t you collect professional acknowledgment, appreciation and most importantly more pay and superannuation? How many other jobs out there have such a profound influence on lives and learning?

Communication in the service How do you communicate in your service? Here are some common ways: n Newsletters n Service displays n Daily diaries n Portfolios n Email n Informal and formal meetings n Enrolment n Workshops n Casual conversations n Mainstream media, and n Social media Your story Do you have a coherent story that you tell yourself about your work? Why did you become an early childhood teacher? Can you write down a timeline of your career and the high points? Why do you believe

Parents need to see your work. Not only that but they need to understand your work. They can be your greatest champions. But you need to engage.

How are you explaining what you do to parents rather than describing what you do? If a parent sees a photo of the teacher reading a book to a group of children when they come to pick up their child, is it explained to them by the teacher as: 1. The children are being read to (descriptive). or 2. the children today really enjoyed this book about Mr McGee. They are developing pre-literacy skills and we had a lot of fun making the sound of the letter ‘b’.

The children are also developing social skills when they talked about things they had seen in the air and each took turns to listen respectfully – we’re doing lots of work on that at the moment (explanatory).

Is there space in the week to have informal chats with parents about their child and what you are doing and why? How do you communicate your service’s point of difference to parents? How are you including them in their child’s learning?

Suzanne Kowalski-Roth is a Bedrock journalist working with the IEU for many years, and most recently on the Teachers are Teachers campaign. She is an experienced activist and believes it’s time the contribution to education and care that early childhood teachers make is recognised with better pay.

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WORKSHOP - JAN WRIGHT AND DEB MANN

Go with the flow reconciliation through education I

n this paper we have featured the waterhole as the life force for reconciliation in early childhood services. The waterhole represents the coming together of powerful energy to create a safe and tranquil place. However it can also disappear, dry up and become a barren waste. If the water current encounters a barrier it could turn into a whirlpool as the forces clash. In our work this is akin to a power struggle that can completely confuse, disrupt or oppose the way forward to true reconciliation.

In its broadest sense ‘reconciliation’ means coming together. In Australia it is the term used to refer to the bringing together of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Australians. Supporting reconciliation means working to overcome the reasons there is division and inequality between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Australians.

Whirlpools of knowledge come and go depending on the climate. In Australia, Charlie Perkins’ 1965 memorable freedom protest ride highlighted the discrimination and poor living standards for Aboriginal people. His advocacy contributed to the 1967 Referendum which was one of the first waves of change for Aboriginal justice.

Forty-eight years on the drips into the change waterhole have caused little more than the odd ripple.

It is important for non-Aboriginal people to understand that water is a powerful spiritual connection for us and many first nations peoples globally, as we believe that each drop is important and as it joins forces its energy nourishes and sustains the collective movement and wellbeing. The lesson in early education should be to create intentional relationships that will provide a culturally comfortable and responsive space that is fluid, transparent and respectful.

You need a sense of place that is free for adults and children to explore their sense of belonging and promote their cultural identity. Teachers need to remember who we are in this waterhole. We have to remember not to drown Aboriginal voices or become ‘experts’ that dominate and create an abyss or undercurrents of preeminence. We need to listen and learn from Aboriginal communities of new ways of working, not drown out the longest living culture’s wisdom and wellbeing.

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“

You need a sense of place that is free for adults and children to explore their sense of belonging and promote their cultural identity.

”

2013 ECS CONFERENCE EDITION

The clarity of water reminds us that our upstream travel requires us to be ethical and just in all of our work and for us to create meaningful interactions, true reconciliation and wellbeing for everyone. To fail to do so has had dire consequences.

Our waterhole has identified essential elements to ensure the waters are continually moving towards that tranquil place where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families feel their children’s best interests and their cultural identity is respected and nurtured. To reach an authentic place where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are accepted by the majority of Australian as the first peoples and teachers who really belong, teachers and the non-Aboriginal service community should consider each of the following elements before immersing themselves in community business: Understand that for strong relationships to occur and be sustained with Aboriginal people their services needs to be ready. The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), has listed the following features for ready learning settings:

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n

School and family relationships

n

Welcoming, inclusive environments

n

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff

n

Cultural competence, and

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n

n

n

n

n

Teachers should demonstrate respect: •

in all their reactions to other ways of being and belonging

•

review personal history and perceptions, and

•

Reflect on current status quo.

We need to ride the waves of responsibility as teachers and learners, understanding that with knowledge comes responsibility and accept our roles in ensuring equitable practices.

Streaming mutual actions, reciprocity, is the give and take, especially in relation to the exchange of rights and privileges. And finally, teachers should reject racism in all form, silent, routine, systemic or overt.

They should rally to restore real reform through the provision of culturally safe early childhood education to every child in this country and as the cycle swells ensure that every drop, flow, torrent is reflected upon and the stability of collective calm waters are viewed as the preferred path of action to take and maintain when early childhood teachers swim towards social change and reconciliation.

Valuing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and ways of learning.

Recognise Aboriginal resilience and support efforts to revive languages, reclaim lost land, restore local control and regain political interest. This means to go with the flow and allow Aboriginal leadership to flow fast and strong.

Uphold Aboriginal rights to own, learn and teach their cultural knowledge and determine what is taught and how knowledge is transferred.

Access and retain leadership positions in early childhood workplaces.

Provide fair remuneration and working conditions for shared traditional knowledge.

Enjoy the same privilege as the majority of Australians.

Jan Wright is Executive Director of Ngroo Education Inc, which conducts workshops across NSW mentoring non-Aboriginal early childhood staff on respectfully engaging with Australia’s first people. She has worked for social justice for 30 years.

Deb Mann has been working to improve outcomes for her people for 40 years, particularly working in education settings, from early childhood to university. She has a Masters in Education.

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WORKSHOP - WENDY BALDWIN

Developing resilience through mobile services in rural communities

W

e are often told by commentators that the Australia of Patterson and Lawson no longer exists. This is simply not true. The people of the bush, those fabled, tough, brave, resilient laconic people do exist and it is my privilege to serve them.

I am the Teaching Director on the Gwydir Mobile Children’s Service. Operating out of Moree in north west NSW, we travel 1000kms per week delivering a quality early childhood education for families isolated by distance, bad roads and small numbers. The people I serve are amazing, their children extraordinary and my fellow mobilers unique. This is our story.

Let me tell you about the Christmas parties It rained and rained in the October/November of 2011.

There had been suicides in our community and people were exhausted. And then in November Moree flooded.

The first week of December was our Christmas party week. The rain again began to fall. As I rang around on the Tuesday night I could hear the desperation in the voices of the parents. “Can you come?”, “Will you come?” I knew that I had to go out or I would not be able to look those amazing people in the eye.

I got to Gwmteg (a property) and there was water as far as the eye could see. You could see the road posts but not the road. I took my seat belt off and wound the windows down just in case. Through the water I went. I was in a land cruiser with a snorkel and the water came

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to the top of the tyres. When we arrived at the hall the water was up to my ankles but they were all there. I was blown away with admiration for these women and men of the bush. No one was complaining, they were all laughing and joking, smiling and thanking me — who had had the easiest drive of all — for coming. We did our concert and I said thank you and headed back.

2013 ECS CONFERENCE EDITION

By the time I got to the Gwmteg crossing the water was on the bonnet. One of the dads followed me in the tractor just in case. The next day we did it all over again to get to Croppa Creek.

Life on the land is challenging. You can work all year to grow a crop and in the week before harvest loose it to hail, storm, fire, flood or drought. There is nothing you can do about it except have a whinge, have a laugh and move on. To get that crop you need to deal with wild pigs, kangaroos, emus, bugs, fungi and weeds. If you have stock you need to be vet, midwife, drover and nutrition expert. To run the farm, which remember is a million-dollar industry, you need to be accountant, futures trader, mechanic and builder.

For me though the heroes of the land are the women of the land. These women are mothers, cook for 15 contractors, accountant, book keeper, machinery driver, mechanic, vegetable grower, nurse, ambulance, sounding board and manager of staff. Then there is the off-farm job. Many work in town as well as supporting the school, the preschool, the SES, the CWA, the tennis club, the breast cancer support group and the local theatre group.

These parents raise extraordinary children These children live in the dirt. They literally ride motorbikes at four, quad runners at seven and drive at 10. By the time they are 12 years old they are helping to move machinery for their parents. This is a result of expected competence. They grow up confident. They are resilient.

When Matthew was three years old he went out with his dad David. They put Matthew’s bike, which still had trainer wheels on the back of the ute so that Matthew could ride around in the grain shed whilst David worked.

At some point David was injured and knocked out. So Matthew got his pushbike off the ute and pedalled 5kms home to his mother Heather to tell her that Dad wouldn’t wake up.

These children have lost dogs, snakes, chooks, foxes, ducks and hawks. They have reared poddy calves and poddy lambs. The natural world is their home.

These are the extraordinary children I teach! Yet you will never see them as an example in a training package or a professional article. Never do you see a bling wearing, quad bike riding, yabbie collecting farm kid. They are invisible.

It’s a pity my families are invisible because they could teach us so much about resilience. The parents and the children are resilient because they have to be. They accept the challenges that life brings them and they rise to the occasion. Often the courage to rise to the occasion comes from the expectation from parents and

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Often the courage to rise to the occasion comes from the expectation from parents and the community that they are capable.

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the community that they are capable. They are expected to be capable and so they are.

For the mobilers like myself the same is true. We are it.

There is no one else. People expect us to come through floods and drought, good times and bad and that is what we do. They trust in us and they believe in us and we don’t let them down.

In floods we go through the water, in droughts we have working bees to gather them together to beat the depression.

We are there for the births and the deaths. The story of mobiles is part of the story of the people of the bush.

So come out and visit us, we would love to show you our wonderful, challenging world. You won’t be disappointed.

Wendy Baldwin is Teaching Director of Gwydir Mobile Children’s Service, a mobile preschool operating out of Moree.

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GIVEAWAYS

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 6 December.

Envelopes not marked with which giveaway they are entering will be disqualified.

Giveaway 1

Three copies

Three copies

Crinkly Book of Aussie Animals Illustrated by: Jill Brailsford Publisher: Walker Books of Australia Cloth Books ISBN: 978 192 2077387 Discover creatures from the Australian bush, nest, outback and shores. These crinkly material books illustrated by Jill Brailsford have simple contrast illustrations designed for sensory stimulation and development.

Jill was born in England and moved to Australia as a young girl. She studied art and design after leaving school and has been illustrating on and off in between lots of part-time jobs including cafĂŠ cook, flower picker and stained glass window painter.

Giveaway 3 Funny Bums Author: Dr Mark Norman Publisher: Black dog books an imprint of Walker Books Australia ISBN: 978 174 2032504

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Giveaway 2

Distressed or Deliberately Defiant?

Author: Dr Judith A Howard Publisher: Australian Academic Press Group ISBN: 978 192 2117151

It is not unusual for teachers to be confronted with severely challenging student behaviour, children who fly into unexplained violent and oppositional outbursts without warning, who respond poorly to tried and true behaviour management processes. This book explains such behaviour as the neurological, physiological and behavioural outcomes of disorganised attachment due to prolonged exposure to a traumatic home life and provides practical advice to teachers on ways to mange these children.

Three copies

Why do some animals have funny bums? The rear ends of animals come in many shapes and sizes. Find out why some animals have funny bums, and have lots of fun with a touch of science.

Dr Norman is head of science at the Museum of Victoria where he leads an active natural sciences research team. He is also a teacher and cinematographer, working with the BBC, National Geographic and Discovery Channel.

GREENOVER

The wonder antidote to modern life

W

hen was the last time something took your breath away with its beauty or mystery?

Bedrock Journalist Suzanne Kowalski-Roth suspects for many readers it was probably quite recently.

Working with the very young seems to carry the benefit of keeping alive that most precious but underrated of modern emotions — wonder.

Defined as “A feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable” wonder is an emotion that opens the door to delight and curiosity about the world around us.

Early childhood is the time of wonder. Biologist and environmentalist Rachel Carson, wrote in The Sense of Wonder: “If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world would be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength”.

“Arouse the emotions", Carson admonishes, "for the foundation of learning is in what we love,” writes Linda Lear, Caron’s Biographer.

So don’t worry if you have no words to classify or explain what you see in your service’s outdoor space but rather enjoy the emotions you feel and the fact that the children you are with can experience them too.

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Don’t worry if you have no words to label, classify or explain what you see in your service’s outdoor space but rather enjoy the emotions you feel.

”

Exploring the bark of a tree, the path ants follow, locating the sounds of birds through the hum of traffic or the shape of clouds as they move along the window are simple ways widely available to invoke wonder. It is about being receptive to the natural world, wherever you may be. Making a space for wonder in your day will also align you with the goals of the Early Years Learning Framework and encourage children to sharpen their observational skills and become active explorers of the world, predispositions encouraged for later science learning.

Simple ways to evoke wonder

• Rachel Carson urges those who need reinvigoration to ask themselves: “What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”

• schedule a night walk or get up early to watch a sunrise • get out the magnifying glass and see how different miniscule things look on a larger scale, and • plan a short sensory walk around your local area or your service and ask the children to find: something they like the feel of; something they can smell; something that they can eat; something they can hear that is a creature or something they can see that they haven’t seen before.

You could extend the experience by adding something that makes them feel happy.

Reference Carson R, 1965, The Sense of Wonder, HarperCollins

It was critical for Carson that adults approach nature with fun in mind rather than the teaching of children.

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

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Recognise their outstanding leadership and achievements by nominating them in one of three categories: Advancing Pedagogy and Practice Outstanding Young Educator Excellence in Building Inclusion

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