Childtimes dec 2013 web

Child times Volume 1 Issue 16 Summer 2013

WA ECEC 2013 Conference Approximately 500 early childhood education and care professionals from around WA, Australia and the world attended Child Australia’s third biennial Early Childhood Education & Care (ECEC) Conference. According to every measure, the conference was a resounding success. Keynote and invited speakers provided conference delegates with the latest research on a myriad of issues: the importance of play, brain plasticity and fostering resilience in children, effective parenting strategies, leadership, embedding the NQS in practice and models of integrated early childhood service delivery programs, to name just a few.

Built around four themes reflecting the child at the centre of effective early childhood education and care, the 2013 WA Early Childhood Education & Care Conference “Wheels in Motion” provided

delegates with latest research in early childhood development and outstanding learning opportunities through a variety of workshops and presentations.

The four conference themes were: 1. Engaging Families and Community 2. Pedagogical Quality 3. Integration and Collaboration 4. Leadership The conference objectives followed closely the aims of the National Quality Framework which include: progressing the professionalization of the childcare sector; closing the gap between care and education, supporting quality pedagogical practice and advancing the development of a holistic, integrated early childhood system.

Please go to page 14 for more on the conference.

“A huge thank you to Child Australia for bringing together all of these wonderful and diverse speakers. There is no one way of learning so it has been refreshing to attend a conference that did not rely solely on sessions about behaviour management and routines so thank you."

Australia

From the CEO’s Desk Welcome to the Summer Edition of the Child Times.

I thought I would use this time to raise a discussion point which I first introduced at the recent WA ECEC conference where I put forward a proposal—perhaps provocation might be a better word—for the conference delegates to consider.

I would like to now put it to you, and the other educators in your service, and would welcome your feedback.

The proposal relates to children’s transition to school and, more to the point, the lack of a systematic approach to information sharing between education and care services and schools, as one part of the school transition process.

In early childhood education and care services (ECEC’s) across WA and the NT, which is where Child Australia has services, information about children’s social, emotional and cognitive development is routinely documented by educators.

However, that information, often involving years of documented evidence of a child’s learning and development, is not passed on as part of any consistent transition to school process. Anecdotally, I am aware of ECEC’s that do share information with schools, coordinate meetings between educators and parents, organise orientation sessions and so forth as part of a transition to school process. But, if transition to school processes are happening it would seem to be on an ad hoc or informal basis and more a result of the individual relationships that exist between educators, centre directors and kindergarten teachers.

Evidence tells us that school transitions can impact on children’s future educational success. For example, research highlights that when families, schools and communities work together in positive and collaborative ways, a child’s capacity to achieve their learning potential is significantly enhanced—and so are their general health, wellbeing, positive outlook and sense of purpose in life (Dockett, Perry, & Howard, 2000).

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Sharing information about children’s learning and development outcomes with schools is only one part of the transition to school process but it is an important element so one has to ask why this practice has not been adopted more universally, particularly when all the evidence we have points to the benefits to children?

Could it reflect the historical divide between child care and schools?

That is, might the traditionally held view that a child’s education doesn’t really begin until they enter the formal school setting be at play here? If so, then it would be easy to conclude that the information about a child’s learning and development which has been documented by educators in children’s services is not necessary, or relevant enough to pass on to schools.

Quality Area 6 of the National Quality Standards highlights the link between transitions and quality practices, stating: ‘continuity of learning and transitions for each child are supported by sharing relevant information and clarifying responsibilities’ – Element 6.3.2

A few potential barriers however come to mind, and they include: • the lack of time by already time poor educators • lack of resources • too many schools to cooperate with • confidentiality and privacy issues However, despite these potential barriers, I cannot help but feel that the benefits of implementing transition to school activities between education and care services and schools would benefit everyone involved: children, parents, schools, ECEC’s and the community as a whole.

Have Your Say I would be interested in hearing about transition to school practices that your service has put into place, and in particular, does your service currently engage in any of these activities?

• Mutual visits between ECEC’s, pre-school and schools • Child/parent/ECEC’s/school orientation activities • Meetings and conferences on educational practice • Reading other program’s documents • Coordinating common curriculum or programming

With the gap between ‘care’ and ‘education’ gradually and thankfully dissolving as the National Quality reforms are implemented, is it not time we considered implementing consistent formal transition procedures to ensure all children experience positive transitions to school?

There may even be other potential benefits to such information sharing.

For example, the development and ongoing professional relationships that would be created between educators in ECEC’s and school based settings.

I would welcome your comments and opinions about the proposal to develop formal transition to school policies between education and care services and schools.

Thank you and please feel free to write to me at dawsonr@childaustralia.org.au

Regards Dawson Ruhl Chief Executive Officer

Child Australia’s Inaugural Early Childhood Research Symposium Research to Practice: Breaking New Ground Child Australia hosted the inaugural 2013 Research Symposium held in conjunction with the ECEC conference on 25 October 2013 at Edith Cowan University. The symposium showcased ongoing and recently completed research in the field of early childhood education and care in Western Australia that reflects our local context and contributes to improved outcomes for our children. The Symposium provided an opportunity to examine current research from a broad range of disciplines and created a forum for the exchange of ideas to ensure current practice is based upon solid foundations. In turn, it will provide a platform to inform future research by examining the needs of practice.

An exceptional line-up of keynote speakers, cutting edge national research projects and post graduate student research collaborated in

sharing emergent and future research trends.

Sixteen PhD students presented their research papers, all of whom deserved a medal for bravery, but one research project stood out to the judges earning its author, Cecily Strange from the University of UWA’s special recognition. Her research was entitled “Mothers’ groups and playgroups: fostering support and community connectedness.” The aim of this study was “to investigate the extent that mothers’ groups and playgroups support families with young children, and foster community connectedness in newer residential communities in Perth, Western Australia.”

The Research Symposium was such a success that we will continue to include it as the ECEC PreConference event from this time on.

Child Australia cohosts roundtable for internationally recognised expert in early education.

Dawson Ruhl, CEO of Child Australia and Michelle Scott the Commissioner for Children and Young People co-hosted a roundtable with Professor Charles Pascal, Professor of Human Development and Applied Psychology at the University of Toronto. Professor Pascal was in Perth as part of the ECEC conference and talked to the group of chief executives of government and non-government agencies about the challenges and success of Canada’s investment in early childhood programs.

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A look at our Festival Journey During the weekend of August 10th, Bagot Community held a two day festival which highlighted the culture, spirit and people of the community.

The community opened its doors to the public as part of the Darwin Festival where hundreds of people took up the opportunity to experience life in a Darwin aboriginal community - through the eyes of a child. The youngest residents of the Bagot community took visitors on a walking tour of their home.

Contact Inc. were brought in from Brisbane by the festival organisers to conduct walking tours and within a few hours of the Contact team’s plane landing, we were in full festival flow…

Rather than try to explain how wonderful it all was, I’m going to let these pictures tell the Story.

Our beautiful girls all came together to perform two contemporary Yolgnu dances, the first being Baywara which signifies the changing of the seasons from dry to wet, the girls dedicated this dance to the memory of one of our dancer’s mother who passed away four months ago.

The second dance was North Wind. The dance is in recognition of the north wind that creates clear water and good fishing.

They also participated in a traditional dance with another dance group, One Mob. This dance was performed with live didgeridoo and traditional song.

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Our Pace Kiddies playing with Gundirr [white clay] which was displayed and painted on some of the 740 visitors that we had visit the OSHC over the two days.

Our children took visitors on a walking tour of the community and showed off some of their favourite places on the community. This huge and beautiful Banyan tree is definitely a fave!!

Another spot on the tour was the fire hydrant. The children explained to the visitors that along with this being a cooling off spot, it’s also used to wash off after hunting.

Our boys worked with Jon from Corrugated Iron to develop their amazing circus skills. The visitors were treated to a very aerobic display of flipping and tumbling as well as a free run around the community where the boys showcased their par court skills.

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And then the tour...

We conducted four tours, two each day with a total of 740 people taking a one hour walking tour with us. The tours consisted of dancing, local games, acrobatic tricks, displays of favourite places and showcasing digital music that the children created over the past few months. Visitors were painted with white clay and were told stories from the community. The tours finished with a five minute game of basketball - visitors vs Bagot ‌. needless to say Bagot kids won the games!

This rainbow serpent was constructed from scratch by children from Bagot and some local schools carried it around during the festival.

This image was taken at sunset with a didgeridoo playing and creation story being read aloud. Our dance group then followed the snake out and danced for the closing ceremony.

We had an amazing weekend and by the time we were all dancing to the bands on Sunday night all the anxiety and stress had melted away. The kids did an amazing job and made their families, the community and all of us involved so incredibly proud!

The feedback that is coming in has been great and people were impressed with our OSHC and repeatedly said it felt like a home.

All the OSHC staff were blown away with the amount of people who went through and the lovely response we had from them. People described the OSHC as an oasis, a home, a sanctuary. Some parents struggled to get their children to leave and some parents wished there was something like our OSHC available for their children.

We are all very much looking forward to Bagot Festival 2014!

Kellie Johnson Indigenous Programs Coordinator Child Australia

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During the week before the festival, we were lucky en ough to have Libby from Conta ct Inc teach some graffiti art to the older children which is now hanging on our fro nt fen ce!

Can’t miss it now!

Northern Territory Excellence in Education and Care Awards

A collaborative volunteer working group was established to support the development and coordination of the awards consisting of representatives of Northern Territory branches of Child Australia, Quality Education & Care NT, Catholic Education, Early Childhood Australia, and Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.

These awards were open to both early childhood and outside school hour’s education and care services that show innovative in their approach to Education and Care in the Northern Territory. Services and individual educators who consistently show pride and an outstanding commitment to high quality service for children and families were all encouraged to apply.

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A great opportunity for Educators and Directors to get dressed up for an event that recognises and celebrates the professionalisation of our sector Zoe, Farrar ELC

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The awards gave thanks and acknowledgement to leaders in service delivery who demonstrated excellence and contribution towards achieving quality outcomes for children.

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Please can I take this opportunity to thank you for your presentation at the NT Excellence in Education and Care awards last night?

We, as a Branch, thoroughly enjoyed it. I also have to add that as I was leaving last night, a university professional told me that she had been wondering if being in the early childhood sector was worth it. After your presentation, she has realised it is!! Very well done for giving us food for thought!

With five areas of excellence came five awards, with the Minister for Education, the Honourable Peter Chandler MLA presenting the awards to the following leaders in the Northern Territory Education and Care sector: Emerging Professional Educator – giving recognition to an individual with outstanding commitment and significant potential in the education and care sector. Awarded to Isabella Britten from Jingili Kindergarten.

Excellence in Leadership – this award gives recognition to an individual’s contribution in exemplary leadership in the education and care sector.

Awarded to Betty McKinley from Top End Early Learning Centre.

Service Excellence – this award gives recognition to a service that has developed and implemented outstanding and innovative approaches in quality practice in an education and care setting in the Northern Territory – Awarded to Nightcliff Early Learning Centre.

Excellence in Community Engagement - giving recognition to a service that demonstrates innovative and exemplary community focus and engagement, awarded to Stuart Park Neighbourhood & Child Care Centre.

Excellence in Sustainable Practice – giving recognition to a service that has demonstrated commitment to the promotion of sustainable practice and environmental responsibility in the Northern Territory now, and for the future. Awarded to Stuart Park Neighbourhood & Child Care Centre.

All five award recipients received free conference registration to the WA Early Childhood Education & Care Conference, including return airfares and accommodation, held in Perth on 26-27 October 2013, as well as an amazing trophy and award certificate to be proud of and display for years to come.

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It’s great to see services and individual’s being recognised for the great work they do every day

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Taking into consideration the changing environments in the Education and Care sector, the Department of Education in collaboration with Child Australia decided to re-name and brand these awards as the 2013 Northern Territory Excellence in Education and Care Awards, to be held on September 18th at the Northern Territory Parliament House.

The Keynote speaker, Anthony Semann, provided a thought provoking and inspirational topic around Excellence. Anthony has been both mentor and unending source of inspiration for many Northern Territory Educators and services on a personal and professional level for many years. The feedback received about Anthony and the awards was passed on to us, and summarises both the evening and Anthony’s Keynote;

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During 2009 and 2010, Child Australia hosted the Northern Territory Childcare Awards.

Danielle, NT Explorers Conversation during the evening provided the valuable feedback that all services, individuals and stakeholders could agree on - that these awards will hopefully continue annually.

These awards are viewed by all as a valuable part of the Northern Territory Education and Care landscape, not only to recognise the hard work both Early Childhood and School Aged Care Educators commit to their own service, but to the children and families of the wider community.

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Our Time, Our Place

2013 NT OSHC Conference

The Our Time, Our Place 2013 NT OSHC Conference was held on the 10th of August in Darwin and fully funded by the NT Department of Education.

In the light of Territory school aged care services being assessed for the first time under the NQF, the aim of the conference was to empower and inspire educators to stay focused and resilient during the changes that are occurring under the NQF. This was the main theme of the day’s professional development sessions.

After much collaboration between the NT Regulatory Authority, Quality Education and Care NT, as well as feedback from services including the NTOSHC Association, it was decided that two streams would be facilitated on the day, one aimed at the needs of Directors, and the other at the needs of Educators.

The Keynote speaker, Robyn Monro Miller, was inspiring and engaging and brought with her a wealth of school aged care knowledge and experience. Her keynote address titled Champions of Childhood – encouraged everyone to consider the role they play in their service, the school community and how all educators can be advocates for healthy and happy children. Robyn was accessible to all participants during the day, with many educators taking the opportunity to speak with her about every topic imaginable (see Robyn’s article on page 9) “Robyn Munro Millar inspired, educated and enthralled me, giving me lots of ideas and also reaffirming what we do is valuable and that I am on the right track in my own little backyard.” - Alyangula OSHC 8

Great feedback was received from the Director Stream topics as well; The Resilient Director – led by Rod Soper from Semann & Slattery, and Keeping Focused on the QIP – led

by Heather Barnes. Rod focused on empowering directors to understand their own emotional intelligence and critical thinking, and how they can use this to contribute to their own teams to increase resilience in their settings. Heather inspired services to stay focused with practical strategies on maintaining the QIP with the limited time available.

Caroline Fewster’s topic Real World: Practical ways to document and assess children’s learning in OSHC, and Robyn Monro Miller’s Selling the message of My Time, Our Place were aimed at Educators.

“Kristina Skipper’s talk on inclusion support that was really good and how she deals with situations - it was very REAL.” Sacred Heart OSHC, Palmerston We had some great door prizes on the day consisting of a free Ipad Mini, a customised in-service session, PD Workshops, and resource packs donated by Network of Community Activities.

It was an inspirational and empowering conference with Child Australia receiving fantastic feedback from all involved.

“I found it very informative. I also love how you meet plenty of new people and make connections that you can use for networking.”

- Little Joey’s ELC OSHC, Katherine

“It has brought us some much needed ideas to refresh and bring our programming in line with the new framework. The main thing we came away with was to keep things realistic.”- Lil Ants OSHC, Alice Springs Caroline’s very interactive topic was loads of fun with Educators taking home a CD full of practical methods of documentation and assessment specific to OSHC. Robyn focused on promoting the sector in the right ways, reflecting on what was important to educators and being advocates for school aged care in a productive and solutions-focused way.

As a member who utilises both the NT OSHC Association and Early Childhood Australia, Kristina Skipper, Director of Humpty Doo OSHC, told some very familiar stories about the benefits of membership, not only to the service but the individual needs of the children.

Zira, winner of the IPad Mini

NT Team and Presenters

Practising the Art of Being

by Robyn Monro Miller The committed and talented Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) Educators from the Northern Territory OSHC Sector that gathered in August for the conference were summed up in one public statement made in a workshop by a participant.

“We are awesome!”

This may have been a revelation to some present in the room but for many people it’s been known for a LONG time!

In the workshop “Selling Your Message” the challenge of how to engage and market the work of OSHC services was considered as a challenge. Educators identified that a lack of recognition about the value of their work and lack of appreciation by other professionals was a common experience. This lack of understanding resulted in sometimes difficult working conditions and low pay rates. In many cases, it was characterised by a sometimes troubled relationship with school leadership. However, many of the participants present were long time members of the sector; in excess of 5 years, and their passion and commitment when they spoke was evidence of why they remained in the role.

Awesome

Roundtable discussions quickly identified that OSHC was, in fact, important to every member of the community as OSHC services are a critical piece of infrastructure for the Australian economy. Without quality services for children, where diversity, accessibility and choice is provided, families would not be able to work and contribute to the economy and the community through each family member’s workforce participation.

Essential services we take for granted like transport, healthcare and aged care are all dependent on a workforce made up of parents able to concentrate on the task they are employed to do. So the next time some one tells you “I don’t use childcare,” remind them that they do.

Whenever they access any services they are dependent on children’s services for skilled, competent, engaged and motivated employees.

(Or better still; ask them if they want to risk a medical procedure or even a haircut, being undertaken whilst the specialist is worrying about their child…!)

Without access to a quality OSHC service, those employees would not be there to provide many of the services taken for granted by the general population. We are all interdependent. A healthy and happy community starts with access to quality children’s services.

In reflecting on the critical messages that OSHC educators in the NT want to deliver to Government, schools and the community, participants agreed that ….

OSHC services are…

Integral to the community Essential for the economy Good for kids

In reflecting on the value of their service to the community, participants were encouraged to individually reflect on why their service was so important in their own community. Many identified factors of accessibility, location, staff, affordability, and interesting programs as factors for their services. It was identified that a common value of any quality OSHC service, in any community, was primarily as an extended support network for families and children.

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What Professional Development and Support Can PSCWA Offer?

Professional Development Calendar Our professional development workshops to children’s services in WA are offered at the low cost of $11 per hour for eligible services. Our Professional Development and Support Calendar is sent to services twice yearly and can be downloaded from our website at www.childaustralia.org.au.

In Service Our in-service Professional Development is delivered with your team, at your service, and is customised to suit the specific needs of your service. We will arrange a suitable facilitator to meet your service’s request or you can request a particular facilitator and a date will be arranged based on availability.

On-line Your service has various opportunities to access online Professional Development.

• IPSP online resource centre: The online resource centre provides information that can be accessed through the PSC Alliance website (www.pscalliance.org.au), resources are available free of charge and explore a range of themes and ideas relevant to the sector. The IPSP online library will provide resources that are appropriate, up to date, of high quality, and in formats which are easily accessed.

• One World for Children has a range of exciting live sessions to support educators with their growing knowledge of the NQS. Visit their website for more information at www. owfc.com.au. Subsidised rates are available for eligible services.

Learning Circles Child Australia’s Learning Circles are an opportunity for educators and directors to further develop their professional relationships and share the wealth of knowledge and experience they have with an experienced facilitator to guide the learning/conversation.

These Learning Circles provide educators and directors with the confidence to move forward in their continual improvement and develop positive outcomes for their team.

These Learning Circles provide opportunities: • to raise issues for discussion on typical practice;

• to reflect on practices, share new learning, insights that contribute to the development of best practice; • for educational and care professionals to strengthen their links and, • to identify further professional development and support.

The Quality Learning Circles provide an opportunity for educators to visit services that have been rated as exceeding. Keep an eye out for further Quality Learning Circles as services continue to reach this rating and are happy to share their experiences and learnings.

A written report with be provided to your service identifying key strategies to assist you in ongoing continuous improvement and development of your Quality Improvement Plan (QIP).

Eligible services rated Working Towards or Significant Improvement Required can access FREE support to work through the service’s assessment report to develop an action plan for continual improvement.

Helpline

Consultancies

Call our free Helpline number where we can assist your educators with information and advice to support your education and care service. If you have a question or require assistance and support, call us on 1800 783 768

General Support Visits

Resources

These visits involve our IPSP team working with services to engage in ongoing reflection and continual improvement by providing practical, professional advice and guidance to respond to identified needs of the services. This could include providing links to useful resources and tools, or sharing information about upcoming professional development opportunities for your team.

We can provide your service with information on useful resources to support the implementation of the National Quality Framework. Visit our website to find various useful downloadable resources.

In order to reach and sustain quality outcomes for children throughout WA we need to utilise all of our strengths and come together.

Service Consultancies Service consultancies are customised to fulfill the direct needs of individual services. These visits include: • a service visit to observe and discuss practices with educators • advice on practical strategies to assist educators in embedding quality practices A written report which includes some strategies and ideas for practice is provided to the service to further assist with ongoing continual improvement.

National Quality Framework (NQF) Support NQF Consultancy Support includes: • visiting your service at a prearranged time; • observing and discussing practices with educators and management; • offering practical strategies to educators to assist them in the development of supporting documentation and quality practices

Specialist Equipment Specialist equipment is available on loan from the PSC to eligible education and care services to assist the inclusion of a child who has demonstrated ongoing high support needs in a child care environment. To request Specialist Equipment, a service must complete the Specialist Equipment Request available on our website and submit it to PSC with a completed Service Support Plan (SSP) developed with your Inclusion Support Facilitator (ISF). See our website for additional information or call our helpline on 1800 783 768

Bicultural Support Bicultural Support provides eligible education and care services with access to an interpreter or other bilingual/ bicultural person to support the service to enrol and settle a child/children from culturally and linguistically diverse, Indigenous, or refugee or humanitarian intervention backgrounds.

To request Bicultural Support, services must complete the Bicultural Support Request Form available on our website and submit it to the PSC with a completed Service Support Plan (SSP) developed with your Inclusion Support Facilitator (ISF).

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Building a Bridge between Education and Care

by Sara Hinchley, Senior Manager – Service Delivery WA

A little while ago, three brave and generous educators from Highgate Kindergarten and Citiplace Child Care centre, agreed to walk for a while in the other’s shoes, and then talk candidly about what they did and didn’t see and experience during this time.

Everyone, including principals and directors, recognised that this was a rich professional learning opportunity which had the potential to build a bridge between two key sections of the early childhood education and care sector.

Each educator involved in this exchange shared their learning experiences through spending time in the other’s setting; observing, helping out, understanding the context of the other program and establishing a working relationship. They were given the opportunity to share their views and analyse their image of the child whilst having observed the school and early learning centre’s choice of curriculum, environment and pedagogy.

Participants were given an insight into the unique ways each setting supported children’s sense of identity and belonging and were encouraged to reconceptualise their views on early learning and school settings.

As a result of this research and experiment, it was discovered that both services deliver high quality programs and are located within close proximity to each other.

Together we developed a framework to support the development of this working relationship and before each educator spent any time at the others’ setting we asked them to reflect on what they expected to see?

When Raquel Kindy teacher at Highgate Kindergarten was approached to participate in this project she responded; “When approached to be a part of this action research, my first response was one of intrigue and a sense of feeling, “What a great idea, why haven’t we done this before?” I have close working relationships with people from other agencies who work with the children I teach (i.e. therapists, disability services, Autism Association) so what was getting in the way of a working relationship with teachers who, in some cases, were teaching the children I teach for more days than I was?

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My initial thoughts were that this would be a great opportunity to meet these teachers and begin a professional partnership. I didn’t think further than this partnership being one where we shared information regarding specific children. However, after meeting for the first time and realising the focus of this research was more about walking in my colleague’s shoes, and each of us learning from the other rather than just an information sharing arrangement, I began to think about the research in a broader educational sense.

I began to question what I actually knew about teaching Kindy in a care setting and what I thought I knew. It soon became clear that I didn’t know much at all and that I hadn’t ever really thought too much about it. Even though these teachers were teaching the same age group as me, under the same curriculum framework in the same city region and in some cases the same children as me, what they were actually doing had never really crossed my mind.”

Each educator was provided with an opportunity to spend time in the others setting, during the visits there were many professional conversations and sharing of ideas below are some of the key topic areas discussed:

Curriculum: The EYLF – Being, Becoming & Belonging; NQF; and the Australian Curriculum were discussed in each context • The educators discussed ‘documentation’ and how ‘intentional/ explicit teaching’ was incorporated into the curriculum • They consider how assessment was used to further inform teaching • They referred to the ‘skills’ of ALL educators working with children (educators, teachers, assistance), their varied roles and responsibilities

Environment: Many similarities and differences were observed and discussed including program design, implementation and evaluation.

Relationships were a key focus: Children: • Learning within a ‘socio-cultural’

framework was explored - “what is ‘holistic’ learning” • Where and when were educators engaged in children’s ‘purposeful’ play Families: • The image of the educator....How is the educator viewed by families – is the educator taken seriously regarding children’s development and learning in each setting – do we see parents as ‘close’ partners Community: • The community perception of each setting....How other support networks and agencies are included...What is the community image of the “family” in each setting. What is the cost to the community for each setting and how is this viewed. What expectations are placed on each setting by the community regarding ‘outcomes’?

Professional Leadership: • How can early childhood settings respond to new innovations and change?

• How well do we implement and embrace change?

• Do we find time to critical reflect on our practice?

• What is the ‘value’ of assessing children’s learning?

• Who is documentation for?

• Do we place limits on children’s learning?

• What are our expectations?

• How well are we working and valuing the contribution of others?

• Do we value, instigate and maintain supportive partnerships?

• How much time is allocated to professional discussions and communication?

• Do we take responsibility to advocate for the profession?

It became very evident that the children’s experiences were more similar than different!

After now learning their story, how might your school or ELC consider how a similar exchange might be workable in your own community?

How could you use this type of opportunity to experience such a collaborative approach?

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Our January - June 2014 Professional Development calendars are now available on the Child Australia website!

In WA, all 930 eligible services will receive a copy in the mail.

The WA calendar has over 190 workshops being delivered throughout the state, including the Child Australia Play Conference taking place in March and a Behaviour Forum being presented by Louise Porter in June. We will be introducing some new facilitators in the new year and many new workshops are also being offered.

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All eligible services in the NT will also receive a copy in the mail.

The NT calendar is bumper packed with new workshops as well a few repeats for those who missed them last time. We are thrilled to introduce two new facilitators - Ben Walker and Niki Buchan – both of whom will be delivering some very exciting workshops in this calendar. Remember to book early so you don’t miss out!

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Be Inspired Niki Buchan is an Educational Consultant with a biomedical background who now works for Inspired EC in Australia, where she is involved in various projects including conference keynote speaker, naturalistic playground design, product development, international study visit facilitator and mentoring as well as being the Pedagogical Leader for Nature Alliance FDC service.

Niki has a great love for the outdoors and for the past 30 years has been working with adults and young children internationally in very consultative, naturalistic and sensorial environments

both indoors and outdoors.

Niki founded her own FDC, LDC and Pre-schools in South Africa then moved to Scotland where she was Head of Morrisons Academy Nursery which achieved the ‘Centre of Excellence’ status. She then worked with Claire Warden, CEO of Mindstretchers, where she delivered Early Years training, led an action research project, coauthored books and was head of the internationally recognised outdoor Nature Kindergartens.

Under Niki’s Headship, Auchlone Nature Kindergarten attained the highest possible status from the Scottish Educational Inspecting body (HMIE), as a Centre of Excellence, the first outdoor kindergarten, and only the second in

Scotland to receive this accolade! She is also a Claire Warden licensed trainer in Australia and New Zealand.

Niki is passionate about Naturalistic Learning and has built a reputation in Australia as an outspoken advocate for children’s right to a high quality childhood. She has a special interest in consulting all children, supporting boys’ and toddlers’ development and recognising the benefits of risk taking.

She is a keen photographer and is seldom seen without a camera in her hand – usually outdoors and surrounded by children!

We are thrilled that Niki Buchan will be facilitating workshops at Child Australia in both the NT and WA.

NT Dates 24-Mar-14

6.30pm-8.30pm

25-Mar-14

9.30am-1.30pm

26-Mar-14

9.30am-12.30pm

26-Mar-14

6.30pm-8.30pm

27-Mar-14 27-Mar-14

Workshop - Sustainability - More Than Just a Worm Farm Workshop - Effective Planning Through Talking & Thinking Floorbooks Workshop - Learning Tracks Documentation Framework

WA Dates Play together, Learn together conference

29-Mar-14 9-Jun-14

6.30pm-8.30pm

Seeing the magic in the moment, Programing for babies

10-Jun-14

9.30am-11.30am

Excursions made easy

Workshop - Schemas

10-Jun-14

6.30pm-8.30pm

Seeing the magic in the moment, Programing for babies

9.30am-12.30pm

Workshop - Creating a High Quality Play & Learning Environment

11-Jun-14

9.30am-3.30pm

Inspiring Educational Leadership

6.30pm-8.30pm

Workshop - Treasure Baskets & Heuristic Play

11-Jun-14

6.30am-8.30pm

Learning tracks documentation framework

Go to our website for more information and to register. Be sure to book early as places are limited.

Thank you for the opportunity to hear from such amazing people.

I enjoyed the speakers and was impressed that most of them bridged the various education levels of the audience.

A brilliant session that challenged us to think more deeply about what we do, how we do it, why we do it and above all how it links to theory and development for children.

I found the whole conference very rewarding and informative.

Everyone speakers / staff/ displays were very helpful and friendly.

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Always good to hear new research findings, to listen to such knowledgeable experts and to network with likeminded professionals! Thank you for a wonderful 2 days.

Thank you Child Australia for planning and hosting a brilliant event. The speakers were great, the content was current, inspirational and varied. The app was great also. Thank you.

This is the only event I know of where the conversations and presentations aren’t just based on topics like behaviour management and documentation. Let’s think more broadly and seek meaningful information from a variety of sources and professions.

Thank you for your practical ideas to assist us on our sustainability journey

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HOW TO

HOW TO

SERIES

SERIES

HOW TO

HOW TO

SERIES

SERIES

HOW TO SERIES The How to Series was developed by Child Australia to provide educators with practical support to implement the National Quality Framework. The series consists of seven booklets promoting the seven key areas of quality provision. Each booklet references the National Quality Standard, the Early Years Learning Framework and My Time, Our Place.

Booklet titles are: • Developing and Updating Policies • Building Strong Partnerships with Families • Work Health and Safety • Supporting Children’s Transitions and Routines • Creating the Perfect Playspace

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being more than collecting rainwater having a vege patch, but now after listening to all of these ideas and how other services are achieving these things, I feel more confident to give it a go with the children and families at my service.”

• Promoting Healthy Eating and Nutrition • Developing Curriculum and Assessment The PSC has been delivering workshops to assist educators to embed this learning and reflections into their practice and 94% of participants have said these workshops have assisted them to create change within their service.

Here is some of the feedback we have received...

“I now have a greater awareness of how to provide cultural experience with our children everyday.”

“The activities and group work was great, I got to hear how other educators are doing things, it really made me think about how I can do things differently, can’t wait to go back to work tomorrow and change our routines.”

“This workshop provided me with the tools to evaluate our service’s philosophy to ensure our educators have a sense of ownership and feel confident to embed it into their program planning”

If you would like to attend these workshops and receive a free booklet, check out the upcoming workshops in the PSCWA Professional Development calendar.

“I struggled to think of sustainability

Welcoming Conversations Guide and Visual Booklet Have you seen our new bicultural resource?

the reflective questions useful in team meetings to generate discussion.

The Welcoming Conversations Guide and Visual Booklet have been developed as a tool for educators and can assist services with sharing important information about the care of a child or children of families who have English as a second language or come from other cultural backgrounds.

The Welcoming Conversations Visual Booklet can easily be customised for your individual service by simply downloading the template and inserting your own photos. Go to our website for a copy of the Guide, as well a sample Visual Booklet and customisable template.

The Welcoming Conversations Guide provides reflective questions to prompt your thinking when welcoming new culturally diverse families into your service.

There are also suggestions for things you could try in your setting to make it a place that supports Welcoming Conversations with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) Families. You may also find

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If you need the support of an interpreter or bilingual/bicultural person to help with the family’s enrolment and settlement process, contact our helpline on 1800 783 768.

The types of bicultural support we can assist with include: • facilitating communication between eligible ECEC services and families • facilitating cultural awareness • advising services on culturally and linguistically appropriate practices • providing services with linkages to resources at your service

Collective Impact Child Australia believes that the future of effective early childhood service delivery is not in isolated service delivery silos, but through interagency collaboration. Consequently, Child Australia is deeply committed to the notion of collaborative practice and multi-agency service delivery.

With this in mind, Child Australia, in partnership with the Centre for Social Impact and state-based partners including WACOSS, NTCOSS and Medicare Local, recently hosted one day forums in Perth and Darwin on Collective Impact (CI).

Collective Impact can be defined as a large scale multi-agency approach designed to solving complex social issues through the collaboration of stakeholders from diverse sectors with a common agenda.

There was great interest in both CI forums. In fact, the WA forum was oversubscribed and consisted of a diverse group of participants from NGO’s, government and the private sector. The NT Forum had over 60 participants with representation including all levels of government, the Non-Government sector and a number of Peak Aboriginal Organisations. The NT forum highlighted examples of Collective

Impact already occurring in the NT and wetted the appetite for greater use of the CI methodology.

Multi-agency collaboration is not a new concept, the social sector is filled with examples of collaborative initiatives however, what sets CI apart is that it is not a ‘model’ but an approach involving “a centralised infrastructure, a dedicated staff, and a structured process that leads to a common agenda, shared measurement, continuous communication, and mutually reinforcing activities among all participants.” (Kania and Kramer (2011)).

NT Collective Impact Forum

Dawn O’Neill speaking at the NT Collective Impact Forum

The Five Conditions of Collective Impact Common Agenda Shared Measurement Mutually Reinforcing Activities

All participants have a shared vision for change including a common understanding of the problem and a joint approach to solving it through agreed upon actions.

Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all participants ensures efforts remain aligned and participants hold each other accountable.

Participant activities must be differentiated while still being coordinated through a mutually reinforcing plan of action.

Continuous Communication

Consistent and open communication is needed across the many players to build trust, assure mutual objectives, and create common motivation.

Backbone Support

Creating and managing collective impact requires a separate organisation(s) with staff and a specific set of skills to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative and coordinate participating organisations and agencies.

Help Your Child Develop A Love of Learning Child Australia’s Home Interactive Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) is a free service available for Geraldton families with children who will turn four in 2014.

This program actively supports families to create a fun and stimulating learning environment in the home. Parents learn how to be more involved in their children’s development during the important early years, and in doing so, lay the foundation for success at school.

activities which include sorting, counting and stories. Parents also learn how to include the learning experience in everyday activities.

The Brotherhood of St Laurence is licenced to run HIPPY in Australia and the program is funded by the Department of Education. Child Australia delivers HIPPY in Geraldton.

To enrol or obtain more information, the program co-ordinator, Betty Bovell can be contacted on 0427 242 615, or by emailing bettyb@childaustralia.org.au.

HIPPY parents meet as a group to work through activity packs, or alternatively, a tutor visits the home to explain and demonstrate the activities. Parents then share with their children in their own time

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Inclusion: What does it look like in practice? This is Josie’s Story

by Zoe Davis, Director – Farrar Early Learning Centre

Imagine you are a parent seeking care for your baby, you have goals for your child and you have values that you will draw upon when choosing the right place for your child. Now imagine your child has a vision impairment, how might that change the way you view a Long Day Care environment?

Settling into a Long Day Care (LDC) environment is a big deal for children.

For many children, it signifies the beginning of a journey into a wider community than their family home and culture, a space where they will encounter a range of somewhat strange social settings and social expectations. Upon entering any new environment, there is a sensory overload that occurs, add to that the human element of new faces and voices and it must be said you have a potential recipe for disaster.

Now I am certainly not trying to place a negative spin on Long Day Care, in fact, as an early childhood professional, I strongly believe that Long Day Care poses a unique learning opportunity for children and their families. All that is life is learning, so it makes sense for children to be exposed to as many experiences as possible in the early years of life.

I am, however, a firm believer that if we are to be realistic, we need to not only recognise that the transition into care is one of potential hazard, we also need to be intentional about forming partnerships with, and working alongside, families to ensure we are setting children up for success.

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This is exactly the situation faced by one family who joined us at Farrar ELC this year. From the very first conversation I had with Josie’s mum Lara, it was clear that this was a family who were planning long term. Lara explained to me that their biggest goal was for Josie to grow to be an independent adult, now this is certainly not a short term (this week, this month, this year) type of goal.

This is the type of goal that guides your decision making over a long period of time. Now you might say that this is a fairly common goal, one that all parents have for their child.

The difference however, comes in the way that this goal is promoted and achieved.

As an educator team we started to unpack this ‘common’ goal so that we could see it more clearly from many perspectives. What does it mean to be an independent adult? What does that look like for a baby or a two year old or a 12 year old? How can you measure it? One idea that kept surfacing was this: When making decisions for, or with, children you need to keep the ultimate goal in mind and ask yourself “Will this assist a child to become an independent adult?” So when deciding if you should place your child into long day care you could ask yourself “Will attending LDC assist my child towards becoming an independent adult?

Josie has Microphthalmia, with an orbital cyst in her left eye and a Chorioretinal Coloboma in her right

eye. These conditions are so rare that when Josie was born, not one person at the Darwin Private Hospital had seen it before, nor knew where to get help for Josie or her family.

Microphthalmia occurs in 14 of every 100,000 births, and Microphthalmia with a cyst is the least common type of Microphthalmia, and a Coloboma occurs in 1 in every 10,000 births, and are conditions that cannot be discovered during pregnancy.

Lara tracked down specialists and took Josie on an emergency trip to Brisbane when she was 10 weeks old to have her eyes accurately diagnosed and to find out if she had any further symptoms. Following this diagnosis, Josie’s family were able to accept and adjust their lives and their futures to include a blind child. As Josie grows, she has proven that she is not blind, but that she has a vision impairment, and every day she is learning how to use her useable vision.

We all wait for the day when Josie can communicate and tell us what she can see. However, everyone remains very aware that Josie’s retina is very delicate and that whatever vision she does have could be taken away so easily.

Josie commenced at Farrar ELC when she was 7 months old and joined Play Studio 1 which caters for eight children between the ages of six weeks and one year. From the beginning, Lara shared her wealth of knowledge with our team and also invited us to attend Josie’s physio sessions to gain greater confidence in promoting Josie’s development. We saw this as an opportunity to not only support Josie’s development, but also to learn new skills and strategies to promote the development of all children in our care.

After all, isn’t that what inclusion is all about? Working in partnership with children, families and external experts to help children become independent adults? We were intentional about using this statement to guide our entire decision making process. If there was a resource that would assist Josie to achieve a new goal, then we reflected

Showcasing Exceeding Services In Quality Area 3 PSCWA has been working with many services across WA to support them to successfully implement the National Quality Framework.

upon how this particular resource may assist other children or the group towards goals and milestones.

In the five months since Josie’s commencement here at Farrar, we have seen her achieve several goals and milestones such as learning to sit unassisted, crawl and even roll ball back and forth with a friend which shows us that we are tracking well against the goals included in our Service Support Plan (SSP).

If we were to offer any services a little advice about how to be inclusive of children with additional needs, the first thing we’d say would be this. Throw away everything you ever thought you knew about being inclusive because it isn’t about one on one exclusive care or providing additional stimulation to one child. It is about gaining a deeper level understanding of where all of your children are at in their journey and discovering ways of working with individual children to assist them towards learning outcomes.

Inclusive practices require deep reflection and high quality partnerships with families and specialists.

All of Josie’s physio and OT appointments are now undertaken via video conference or ‘VidKids’ with Vision Australia therapists in QLD and with many of these sessions now scheduled here at Farrar, we are able to ensure we remain up to date and on track with Josie’s development. This also provides us with an opportunity to ask questions and seek additional information or literature about vision impairment in children.

From this experience, the learning opportunities for our educator team have been countless and it has really reminded us to think more long term and always keep the ultimate goal in mind when making decisions. All that is life is learning, so we aim to assist families to raise independent adults.

As of 6th November, according to “snapshot” the statistics that are being published by ACECQA, the quality area that people not only in this state, but throughout Australia appear to be struggling with the most is Quality Area 3 “Physical Environment.” This quality area focuses on ensuring that the environments we provide for children are “safe, suitable and provide a rich and diverse range of experiences that promote children’s learning and development.”

How can these quality elements be easily recognised? It’s difficult to explain and articulate because everyone’s opinion of what quality services look like for children appear different depending on individual’s family background, beliefs about children, culture, contexts, personal beliefs / values, and experience -their personal context.

We are guided by the National Quality Standards and these should form our base but what we build on top of that needs to be in line with context for our own individual service, which encompasses children, families, community and educators. On the following pages we have included some stories from two services that have been rated as exceeding in Quality Area 3.

In our upcoming Professional Development calendar we will be conducting Quality Learning Circles. These learning circles will provide opportunities for educators to view services and speak with educators who have received an exceeding rating.

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Child Australia PSCWA Child Australia PSCNT Bagot Community OSHC Child Early Learning Centre & OSHC Lockridge Farrar Early Learning Centre

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Showcasing Quality

Ewin ELC The Ewin Early Learning Centre is located in the beautiful East Kimberley Region, about 40 minutes from the Northern Territory Border.

The centre was built by the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley and operates as a not for profit centre, governed by a parent board who work closely with the coordinator to provide high quality care for our children. We currently have up to 25 staff, over a hundred different families utilising the centre, and we cater for up to 80 children per day.

I moved to Kununurra about 18 months ago and began my journey at the Ewin Centre as Room Leader of the Junior Toddlers room. During this time, we as a team spent a lot of time unpacking the EYLF and the Quality Standards and tried many different ways to reflect them in our remote setting of Kununurra.

We received notice of our pending Rating and Assessment Visit much earlier than expected, which did unnerve us slightly, but we did very well and received an overall rating of Exceeding for our service.

Some ways that helped us to earn this rating for Quality Area 3, the Physical Environment, included having bright, open, well ventilated rooms with lots of natural lighting and having outdoor fencing which allowed the children to see out into the streets and surrounding community like the nearby school, etc. In addition, we have large glass doors which we keep open for lengthy periods, allowing free access between indoor and outdoor play. The assessors noted that the equipment and furniture were safe, clean and well maintained, as well as size-appropriate for each age group in the centre.

Our links to the natural environment provide appropriate levels of challenge and risk. For example, in the Big Toddlers Room, the children are allowed to climb one of the shade trees under the supervision of Educators. Other rooms purposefully left the new loads of sand for the 20

sandpits in the original pile it was delivered in, which have eventually worn down to gentle slopes in the Babies and Junior Toddlers yards.

In the Big Kids outdoor area, the sand mounds play a part in reflecting the mining interest of the town in the children’s’ role-play with trucks and so on. The shade sails in each outdoor area were also noted to protect the children from our harsh climate throughout the year. Many of our families spend their spare time and weekends out bush so we try to make the most of the possibilities of the outdoor environment.

When it came to sustainability within the service, we knew that we were doing several things on a daily basis such as recycling the food scraps for our Chef’s chickens, using plenty of scrap and recycled paper, and flagging down the shire people out mowing to get the lawn clippings for our gardens and so on, but we were concerned about the fact we do not have ANY recycling services in our town which we believed could impact our rating for this quality area.

However, in our apprehension of the upcoming assessment, we had overlooked many other things that we all do to promote sustainability every day. Some that were ultimately noted in our assessment visit included – vortex water bottles using cool drink bottles, stacking activities using formula tins donated by parents, cardboard sheeting for peg boards, tyres and pallets for garden beds, and the use of an old dinghy, reflective of many a weekend spent in Kununurra!

This of course strengthens the link between home and the centre.

The environment is changed regularly to reflect the children’s current interests and happenings in their world. For example, in the dry season, station/camping areas are created indoors and outside. A lot of the furniture is on wheels so it is easily manoeuvred by the children to where they would like it to be in their environment.

The garden beds around the centre are watered by the children, using left over water from their cups at meal times and the children were observed by the assessors tending to the plants with their own tools.

The centre pet rabbit is also fed by the children from the vegie gardens.

Cane toads are a big issue in our community, and the children are educated about how and why we collect them in a certain way and why we have a cane toad collection point at the centre. A Department of Conservation staff member was asked to come and speak to the children about this too.

Since the Assessment and Rating Visit, we have made the most out of pre wet season council clean ups, and we try to collect many of the logs and stumps that have been pruned to use in our environments. The recent elections have also allowed us to utilise old voting and ballot booths for a number of uses in the different age groups.

We are big on simple, open-ended items that are easy to get our hands on, and that the children can explore with and create their own uses for.

Tess Hatch, Room Leader of the Junior Toddler Room

Showcasing Quality

Treasure Island Child Care Centre Treasure Island Child Care Centre, is a not for profit organisation located in Cannington. Our centre recently went through the assessment process and our final rating was exceeding across all seven areas.

We were able to achieve exceeding as we have extremely passionate educators who embraced the EYLF and worked collaboratively with our families and their children. 90% of the centre’s educators are diploma trained and the centre encourages and supports the staff in achieving further qualifications.

Since the introduction of the EYLF, we have noticed a significant increase in our family’s becoming involved and contributing to our curriculum. Parents and guardians do this by providing photos or life experiences from their weekend and or holidays and these experiences are then incorporated into the curriculum and displayed in their child’s room, creating a strong tie between home and day care.

We feel it is important for families to feel welcome when they enter our centre. We create a welcoming atmosphere by promoting diversity and this can be seen by the display of assorted posters and photos of our children, their families and our educators. We are extremely lucky to have several of our educators that come from cultural and diverse backgrounds.

Our environments allow for open ended interactions, spontaneity, risk taking, exploration and a connection with home. They are set up in a way that takes into account individual children’s learning styles and they provide opportunities for children to interact with nature and take risks according to their capabilities. Our outdoor environment is naturally shaded and our children have access to mud, dirt, rocks and mulberry trees.

The children are encouraged to pick and eat the fruit, real grass and water play and we have numerous sensory gardens as well as both fixed and movable climbing equipment.

an opportunity for the children to make a worm farm for them to take home which helps to secure the link between home and the day care environment.

We have also had one of our parents bring in their pet Macaw called Giovanni and another brought in their pet kangaroo named Jarrah. These intentional teaching moments help to promote how important it is for us to care about the world around us. We are currently focusing on recycling and being water-wise with the children. As part of our QIP, we intend to apply for a Lotterywest grant later in the year to install solar panels as this will help to reduce the centre’s carbon footprint.

Over the past 12 months our centre participated in the Little Green Steps pilot program. This program supports education of both staff and children and about being connected to their world through sustainable practices and learning experiences. Our educator’s role model and provide intentional teaching opportunities for the children to practise caring for the environment.

Even though we received an exceeding rating, we currently have several elements of our outdoor environment under renovation.

Earlier this year we had an incursion from the worm shed and this provided

Nicole Vandeness, Coordinator for Treasure Island Child Care Centre

I would like to thank the educators for their dedication and all of the hard work they have done, and continue to do, which helped our centre achieve our exceeding rating. We would not be the successful centre we are today without them.

Our indoor and outdoor environments are set up in consultation with the children. Our individual rooms have developed learning webs which documents when an experience is child initiated, group orientated, spontaneous or, for intentional teaching purposes, it also documents when the experience is led from family input or a community event.

Our environments offer a range of choices that reflect the individual children’s stage of development, their interests and their capabilities. We have several children at our service with additional needs, therefore we need to ensure our environments are inclusive and promote independence.

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A Bit About Early Childhood Education and Care in Denmark Every time I visit my native country of Denmark, I make an effort to visit a few Early Childhood and Education Care (ECEC) settings to get inspired and to boost my pedagogic beliefs in Early Childhood.

One of the integrated ECEC services that I visited recently was ‘Lystholm’ in Fredensborg. They had a fantastic outdoor area inclusive of sheep, chickens, rabbits and fish and the children grew vegetables and actively took part in the animal’s upkeep. The playground was spread over different levels with various dedicated play areas including one mighty wooden Tepee, big enough to cater for children and adults sitting on benches inside around an open fire where they could cook meals, talk, tell stories and sing. The children went on regular excursions, either by foot or public transport, which is a common sight in Denmark as there is an emphasis on children being seen and heard in the society.

Through play and interaction with adults and peers, the children are encouraged to be respectful of their surroundings and each other, and to foster a development of self-regulating social interactive management. It is generally accepted that it is not just the parents who are responsible for children, it is also the community.

Risk takings are viewed as part of life and believed to equip the child with skills such as independence, agency, resilience, empathy, problem solving, responsibility, etc.

You will find young children to be very aware of their surroundings and to have developed a ‘self policing’ element that assists in limiting unacceptable risk taking. I got a taste of these ‘self policing skills’ when I attempted to cross a street before the lights were green (no cars around) and was told off by a small group of un-supervised children (approximately 7 years of age) on their way to a play ground across the 22

road. I embarrassingly apologised, and waited politely for the light to change, as I should have done in the first place!

What is important to add is that quality ECEC does not come cheaply and this is evident in Denmark who spends as much as 2.0% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on children. 98% of ECEC’s are state owned (funded through the taxation system) and approximately 90% of all children in Denmark attend ECECs. Furthermore, early parent/child attachment is encouraged through a generous maternity leave program that offers parents 52 weeks paid parental leave, with the possibility of extension. Another interesting factor is that most children do not enter the school system before the age of six (preschool) and the philosophy behind this “late” start is the importance of social and emotional readiness.

Early Childhood Educators are called Pedagogues and to become one requires a degree in pedagogics.

The study is heavily subsidies by the state and offers additional access to free financial support and low rate student loans. The charter is that society ‘invest’ in children’s futures by supporting the educators to become experts in the pedagogic work, hence gaining a relatively high respect for their role and are better paid. It is interesting to note that the study attract over 25% men which has a positive effect on gender role modelling.

The municipals (regional state offices) are obligated to provide ECEC facilities and resources that can meet the needs of all children, including children with additional needs and at risk. This includes access to resources and specialised dedicated educators and professional expertise. Although Danes have an ancient cultural heritage and language, there are many ‘New Danes’ (migrants and refugees) who come from such diverse backgrounds as the Middle East, Turkey, Africa, South America, Europe, Asia, Greenland, and Scandinavian countries.

Although the education department supports multilingualism and fluency in Danish is regarded crucial in order to be integrated the ‘New Danes’ are offered Danish Language Stimulation programs external to ECEC as it is primarily viewed to be the parent’s obligation to maintain their first language. However, pedagogues are trained to support the development of the Danish language and to be competent in CaLD inclusive matters as well as social and emotional abilities.

You can read more about studying pedagogics in Denmark at: http:// international.ucc.dk/ You can read more about risk taking at: Tanya Vincent Churchill fellowship report 2011 on playgrounds in Denmark http://www.churchilltrust.com.au/ media/fellows/2011_Vincent_Tanya. pdf Tim Gill’s website inclusive of risk taking: http://rethinkingchildhood. com/ A good read is: ‘What inspiration by a visist to Danish ECEC can lead to is ‘A walk on the Beach (and adventure in the Mud) by Ungrid Maack, (2013). ‘Rattler’ Magazine journal (107), Spring 2013.

Community Child Care Co-operative (NSW) ‘What is Paedagogy anyway’ PSC Alliance booklet (free to download) http://www.childaustralia.org. au/Documents/IPSP-Section/ PSC/PSC-Publications/What-isPedagogy-Anyway.aspx Jane Hansen, RISP Coordinator Children of all ages have for decades (inclusive of the author) played in, on and under the ‘Magic tree’ on Frederiksborg Castle Grounds.

Bagot OSHC Outdoor Environments Project

by Kellie Johnson, Indigenous Programs Coordinator Recently, the educators, children and families of Child Australia’s Bagot Out of School Hours Care service (OSHC), have been collaborating on an ongoing project to redesign and implement changes to our outdoor spaces.

The aim of this collaborative project is to encourage the children and families to utilise our yards and outdoor areas more, while also promoting a sense of belonging and pride in their own spaces.

seeds themselves. Not only is this experience teaching the children some life skills, but it is also giving them a sense of pride and achievement in their own environments. We see this clearly when they are showing the garden areas and their growing seeds to their parents and family members who come into the OSHC.

During our conversations with the children, they suggested that they would like to have a space to be by themselves if they wanted, or to play with a small group of their friends. So to date, the spaces that have been developed outside have been small spaces, designed to invite between one and five children at a time.

As part of this project, we have also been learning about sustainability and reflecting on how we are sustainable in our everyday practices. Part of our sustainability conversations with the children has been about recycling and the use of second-hand objects and materials that we could use in and around our service. Many tyres of all sizes were donated to us and the children have suggested using these tyres as garden beds. We have also been using our imaginations and creating play scapes based on the children’s interests. We are setting up a new garden play scape each week with a variety of loose parts, animals, natural materials including shells, rocks, bark and plants.

As part of the project, the children were invited to choose their own flowers and plants and to plant the

Another aim of ours is to have our outdoor environments act as a third teacher and so both inside and out,

There were no “formal” gardens on Bagot Community, so to build a place where children could come to explore and learn at the same time, was a great project for us all to embark on together.

we have been striving to create spaces of wonder and enjoyment for the children to explore, at their own pace and in their own time.

The children have learned so much from this project already and from the discussions we have had while doing it. The children are learning about the connectedness to nature – the interdependence between themselves, the plants, nature and the seasons, and they are learning to be proud of their own environments and in the process, becoming proud and successful people.

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Cultural Connections – NAIDOC Week Celebrations

by Zoe Davis - Director, Farrar ELC

In July, the Northern Territory participated in the 2013 NAIDOC week celebrations and at the Farrar ELC, we used this time as our starting point for reflecting upon our current practices, and how we promote cultural competence.

We planned a range of invitations and experiences and we provided a range of open-ended cultural resources including books, photos and various artwork. On the Friday of the week long celebrations, we were lucky enough to have the children, educators and some family members from the Bagot community OSHC visit us. From the moment they arrived, our children and educators were captivated by their costumes and we were all eager to greet them.

each dance connects to culture. The male dancers used Ochre we had at the service to paint their bodies, and this added to the experience. After the dancing we provided an afternoon snack and sausage sizzle and then together we sat out on the grass in our playground to eat and share stories.

The deep connection the Bagot OSHC educators have with all of the Bagot community members was immediately evident to us and during a conversation with Sylvia this observation was cemented when she stated that:

The dancers performed two dances for us and Sylvia kindly explained how

What a fantastic experience for our children and educators. Thank you

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‘These women (Kellie and Kali) are the ones who are closing the gap for us.’

In this conversation, Sylvia also spoke passionately of how she wishes for children of all cultures to be taught acceptance of the cultures of others and that she hopes we (at Farrar) will continue teaching our children about their culture. We spoke at great length about how we can work together to achieve this wonderful outcome for all children and Sylvia agreed that in order to teach acceptance of all cultures we, as educators, must first understand culture.

This lead to an innovative idea. Over the coming weeks and months, Farrar ELC and the Bagot OSHC will engage in an educator swap program. This will provide our educators with the opportunity to visit the Bagot OSHC and work alongside their educators to gain a deeper understanding of culturally appropriate

ways of being and doing. Our children and educators will be able to work alongside the Bagot OSHC educators and children on shared projects and planned events.

In the time since the visit by the Bagot community OSHC, the children and educators at Farrar have reviewed the camera footage of the dances and many children are now using these movements in their dancing, we have also presented the Bagot OSHC with a photo frame to show our appreciation and the educator swap program has commenced with Carolyn and Kali swapping places.

Our intention is to ensure that this experience, and the lessons within, are not merely forgotten as educators and families inevitably move on. By taking these first steps towards a wonderful partnership we will be able to continue the journey and build on what we have already learned and experienced.

Sylvia explaining the connection between dance and culture.

A snack for our visitors

It is important to seek guidance when you are still learning the moves.

And lastly on behalf of everyone at Farrar ELC, I would like to thank Kellie, Kali and the Bagot Community members for joining us at Farrar. Your presence and messages will remain with us.

We all have a part to play in closing the gap and here at Farrar we are working on how we can best assist in this.

Did you know ?

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but

by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself. Find out more about the origins and history of NAIDOC Week.

Each year, a different city hosts the National NAIDOC Awards Ceremony and Ball. The host city, National NAIDOC Poster Competition and the NAIDOC Awards winners are selected by the National NAIDOC Committee.

The fantastic male dancers.

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Child Australia is pleased to announce the 2014 Commissioner’s for Children and Young People (CCYP), Thinker in Residence, Dr Michael Ungar, who will spend two weeks speaking to parents and professionals about strengthening the resilience of WA’s children and young people.

The 2014 Thinker in Residence will be held in May with Dr Ungar undertaking a series of meetings, workshops and seminars.

The residency will build on his visit to Perth in October 2013 where he delivered two Children’s Week seminars providing an overview of the research on resilience as well as practical strategies for strengthening resilience in children and young people.

Dr Ungar is a Killam Professor of Social Work at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is currently the Network Director of the Children and Youth in Challenging Contexts Network and Co-Chair of the Nova

Scotia Mental Health Addictions Strategy Advisory Committee.

He is also the founder and Co-Director of the Resilience Research Centre (RRC).

and

Thinker in Residence 2014

Dr Ungar has written 11 books and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on resilience. He also maintains a small family therapy practice in association with Phoenix Youth Programs, a prevention program for street youth and their families.

For more information go to the CCYP website at: http://www.ccyp.wa.gov.au or visit Dr Ungar’s website at: www.michaelungar.com

Dr Michael Ungar - 2014 Thinker in Residence

Professor Stuart Shanker Returns to WA Professor Stuart Shanker, international expert in self-regulation and author, will be returning to WA in early February 2014. Professor Shanker was a popular key note speaker at Child Australia’s 2011 ECEC conference which led to his appointment of the 2012 Thinker in Residence by the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Michelle Scott.

Dr Shanker made a profound impression on people across the ECEC sector so Child Australia, in partnership with a group of agencies are bringing Dr Shanker back to Perth to build on the work he initiated. He will have many speaking engagements 26

but the emphasis of this visit is to extend on his work in WA by developing a network of practitioners and to embed in the principles of self-regulation into selected education and community service sites.

Here is what the author of Calm, Alert, and Learning: Classroom Strategies for Self-Regulation says about this 21st century phenomenon: We are in the midst of a revolution in educational thinking and practice. Scientific advancement in a number of fields point to a similar argument--- that is; how well students do in school can be determined by how well they are able to self-regulate. Some theorists believe that self-regulation should now be considered a more important indicator of educational performance than IQ.” Child Australia will have more information on Dr Shanker’s visit early in the new year.

Play together, Learn together

CONFERENCE

29 MARCH 2014 • 8.30AM- 4.30PM WOLLASTON CONFERENCE CENTRE MOUNT CLAREMONT WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Child Australia is pleased to present the Play together, Learn together conference. This conference highlights the many reasons why we need to value the play of our children.

We invite you to join us as a participant in this conference; we have many inspiring speakers, including:

Toni Christie, co-founder of the Childspace Early Childhood Institute in Wellington, New Zealand

Niki Buchan, a leading expert on risk taking in children’s play

This conference has been built around three learning streams:

1 2 3

Theory Play is the behaviour that humans and animals engage in to explore and learn in their environments. How does this play take children to another level? How can we successfully support children to learn through play?

Practice Children can be powerful and successful in their own learning, we will explore and support the possibilities that remind us children have the right to play.

Reflection Children learn to live through play, so let’s challenge and stretch our thinking, we have benchmarks on quality, but how do we exceed these expectations?

Gillian McAuliffe from Bold Park Community School and, an Oceania Leader for the Nature Action Collaborative for Children World Forum on Early Childhood Education General Information Date: 29 March 2014 Time: 8.30am- 4.30pm, 8.00am registration opens.

Location: Wollaston Conference Centre, Wollaston Rd, Mount Claremont.

Cost: $130 Registration To register for this conference, visit the Child Australia website and follow the prompts to the online registration page. www.childaustralia.org.au In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior. In play it is as though he were a head taller than himself. - Lev Vygotsky

For more information visit the Child Australia website: www.childaustralia.org.au

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Australia

Child Australia Locations Nelson Mandela 1918-2013

Kids ‘n’ Kites As part of the Children’s Week celebrations in WA, Child Australia organised a kite making activity for the children to decorate and assemble their own kites.

The children got to choose their own colours and decorations and took great pride in their creations.

As the day progressed, the air was filled with glitter and the odd stray kite that unfortunately got away. It was a great day and lots of fun was had by children of all ages!

Head Office – WA

5 Carson Road Malaga WA 6090 PO Box 2562 Malaga WA 6944 Phone: (08) 9249 4333 Fax: (08) 9249 4366 Email: admin@childaustralia.org.au

Head Office – NT

13 Bishop Street Woolner NT 0820 PO Box: 37645 Winnellie NT 0821 Phone: (08) 8941 4966 Fax: (08) 8941 6433 Email: darwin@childaustralia.org.au

Geraldton

Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) Parent Pathways 75 Mitchell Street PO Box 2713, Geraldton WA 6530 Tel: 08 9923 2840 Fax: 08 9923 0277

Kalgoorlie

Lotteries House Cnr Wilson & McDonald Street PO Box 10381, Kalgoorlie WA 6433 Tel: 08 9270 6620 Fax: 08 9091 6211

West Pilbara Mobile Children’s Service

Welcome In September, Randall Cook joined us in the role as General Manager NT with responsibility for all of our programs across the Northern Territory. Randall is originally from Victoria and moved to the NT in 1985. He has lived and worked in both urban communities and very remote aboriginal communities across the NT. Randall has worked in the education sector for many years, primarily in the Northern Territory, as a teacher and School Principal and more recently, as a Director in the Education Department with a focus on Indigenous Education.

Randall holds a Dip Ed.(primary) a B. ED (teaching) and Grad. Dip. (Educational Management).

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Lotteries House Unit 10/2 Leake Street PO Box 2491, South Hedland WA 6722 Tel: 08 9172 1722 Fax: 08 9172 3098 Email: wpmcs@childaustralia.org.au

Bagot Community OSHC

Bagot Indigenous Community, Darwin PO Box: 37645 Winnellie NT 0821 Phone: 0450 460 423 Fax: (08) 8941 6433 Email: bagotoshc@childaustralia.org.au

Child Early Learning Centre Lockridge

36 Diana Crescent Lockridge WA 6054 Phone: (08) 9377 1676 Fax: (08) 9377 1676 Email: lockridgeelc@childaustralia.org.au

Child Lockridge OSHC

34 Diana Crescent Lockridge WA 6054 Phone: (08) 9377 1676 Fax: (08) 9377 1676 Email: lockridgeoshc@childaustralia.org.au

Farrar Early Learning Centre

3 Gurd St, Farrar NT 0830 Phone: (08) 8932 8472 Email: farrarelc@childaustralia.org.au