EarlyEdition SUMMER 2020
Kids Alive: Let’s keep water safety top of mind Member in the Spotlight: Elephas Education inquiry-based approach to planning Upcoming Changes in the Early Childhood Training World
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EarlyEdition SUMMER 2020
ACA Qld
Contents
Location: 11/6 Vanessa Boulevard, Springwood Mailing: PO Box 137, Springwood QLD 4127 Telephone: (07) 3808 2366 Fax: (07) 3808 2466 Toll Free: 1300 365 325 (outside Brisbane) Web: www.qld.childcarealliance.org.au Email: qld@childcarealliance.org.au
ACA Qld President’s Report
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ACA National President’s Report
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Let’s keep water safety top of mind
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The ROSE Way discusses the Rights of Children
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Educator in Profile: Sarah Humphreys
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Why positive early childhood education is so important to me
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CAECE Congradulates
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Member in the Spotlight: Elephas Education inquiry-based approach to planning
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To solar or not to solar for your early learning service?
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Baby Give Back Charity: Ensuring every child has a safe and equal start to life
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Upcoming changes in the early childhood training world
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Now’s the time to reset and refocus on happy, engaged teams
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ACA Qld Year in Review
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Supporter Members Directory
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Disclaimer: Articles published in this magazine are published as a service to readers and should not be substituted for specific advice in relation to any issue. While advertising in this magazine is encouraged, ACA Qld accepts no responsibility for the contents of the advertisements. Advertisements are accepted in good faith and liability for advertising content, goods or services supplied is the responsibility of the advertiser.
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Executive
Committee Members
ACA Qld Office
President - Majella Fitzsimmons
Linda Davies
Rosa McDonald
CEO - Brent Stokes
Vice President - Jae Fraser
Nicole Fowler
Katy Mason
Office Manager - Jen Smyth
Treasurer - Doug Burns
Kerrie Lada
Louise Thomas
Office Admin Assistant - Letitia Berndt
Executive Secretary - Debra North
Pam Maclean
Brent Stokes
Marketing and Communications Officer - Brianna Salmond
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ACA Queensland President’s Report Over the past six months, the ACA Qld team has been actively involved in advocating for political reform to improve outcomes for children, families, workforce, and services. ACA Qld has been advocating for reform to improve outcomes for children, families, early childhood educators, and service providers. We met with over forty Ministers and candidates from all sides of politics to discuss our ACA Qld State election manifesto – What Queensland parents want. What our children need and numerous media engagements. I would like to thank ACA Qld Vice President Jae Fraser and CEO Brent Stokes for their assistance with this enormous task. We congratulate Labor for retaining government for the next four years. ACA will continue to advocate with all sides of the government to ensure children have the #BestStartInLife. Labor committed to supporting our advocacy for the long term (5 years) extension of the Universal Access (kindergarten) funding. We would like to acknowledge Queensland Greens who provided a written endorsement for all of our policy recommendations outlined in our manifesto. Our focus shifts to end of year celebrations as an important feature in the calendar for most services, in particular for children making the transition to Prep. As Queensland transitions to stage 5 and 6 restrictions over the coming months, subject to the results of the COVID Safe Check Points, social distancing requirements and other restrictions continue to remain in place. Services will need to continue to follow their COVID Safe plans and stay up to date with current Queensland Health advice in relation to gatherings. We were pleased to host another successful sponsor evening on Monday 16 November, thank you to all those who attended. ACA Qld is incredibly grateful for the support of our Supporter Members, in particular our foundation member, The Guild Group.
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All sectors have been impacted by COVID-19 however we were already experiencing workforce shortages, magnified by the additional requirement for many services to engage a second early childhood teacher from January. This places our sector in a unique position that when unemployment is at the highest levels experienced in many years, we are conservatively looking at recruiting more than 1000 Queenslanders now. ACA is exploring a range of options with Government to address these shortages and improve recruitment. While more needs to be done, we welcomed the $1.2 billion Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy, supporting service providers to take on new trainees and apprentices, to build a pipeline of skilled workers to support sustained economic recovery. With subsidies of 50% of wages paid between 5 October 2020 and 30 September 2021, to a maximum of $7,000 per quarter, now is a great time to put on a trainee at your service and what better way to train them but through your very own college, the College for Australian Early Childhood Educators (CAECE). A registered training organisation committed to delivering high quality and practical training to the early childhood education and care sector. CAECE currently offers the CHC30113 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care and CHC50113 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. For more information please contact the CAECE team at admin@ caece.com.au or phone 07 3299 5784. With 2021 just around the corner, now is the time to order any additional copies of the ACA Qld 2021 Diary! To attain this amazing resource please visit the shop located on our website or contact the office on 07 3808 2366 or qld@childcarealliance.org.au.
I hope many of you are aware of Brent’s difficult decision to depart ACA Qld and CAECE as your CEO at the end of 2020. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Brent for everything that he has achieved for our members and the sector during the past four years, his dedication and hard work never go unnoticed. It has been an absolute pleasure working with Brent and we wish him all the very best in his future endeavors. We are excited to announce that Brent has indicated his intention to remain on the ACA Qld Management Committee. So, we are pleased to say this will not be the last time we see Brent! We look forward to catching him at a member meeting or our 2021 conference. I would like to thank the amazing ACA Qld office team and committee for their ongoing support for the early learning sector, especially during this unprecedented year. We truly value your dedication and aspiration in working towards giving all children the #BestStartinLife. Lastly and most importantly I would like to thank you, our valued members and supporter members for your ongoing support, we value everything you do for our sector and we hope you all have a safe and enjoyable festive season. We look forward to an amazing year in 2021 and wish you all a Merry Christmas, happy and safe New Year!
Majella Fitzsimmons ACA Qld President
ACA President’s Report Taking stock of a difficult year & looking ahead to smoother sailing! It’s fair to say 2020 has been an incredibly challenging year with all of the changes that COVID-19 brought to the world. Following a tremendous effort from the entire Australian community, and more recently from the Victorian community (where my family and I live), Australia appears to be on track to keep the COVID-19 curve down and allow our devastated economy to rebuild and recover. As a sector, we can all be proud of the efforts we have made to stand by our families and our teams of staff, to keep the lights on and the doors open. Education Minister Dan Tehan has reported that the Australian Government’s ECEC Relief Package has succeeded in preventing the collapse of our sector, keeping 99 per cent of services open across Australia. This statement reflects ACA’s own observation of our sector’s survival, based on the regular engagement with our members via online surveys, phone calls and email contact. We are deeply gratified by the positive outcomes of our political engagement this year and we hope that the Transition measures that were put in place have allowed service providers to get back on their feet again. Whilst the Federal Budget announcement on 6 October did not reveal any surprises for our sector, we are heartened that the Federal Government has budgeted for further Transition Payments for Victorian service providers recovering from an extended lockdown period this year. From a national perspective, it is important to note that the Federal Government has made a commitment to consider further targeted support mechanisms in other geographic areas, should they also experience a second wave and return to
restrictions similar to those in Melbourne and Victoria. It is with enormous pride that our sector has been able to support Australian families through the most extreme circumstances this year. On that note, I would like to take this opportunity to commend all of our members on the astounding job you have done in working through the challenges of this difficult year and coming out the other side. The hard work and dedication to the families that each of our services support has very much been acknowledged privately by all levels of government, as well as publicly on Early Childhood Educators’ Day. On that note we hope that you and your team all had an amazing Early Childhood Educators’ Day, and that your educators enjoyed the thanks and recognition resulting from this year’s event. We were heartened to see so many photos of your celebrations, and also gratified to have the day recognised by government and the media, particularly in light of this year’s challenges.
social distancing, good hygiene and ongoing mask wearing for some time to come. We have commended the Australian Government for their ongoing support of our vital sector, and you can rest assured that we will continue to engage with the Federal and State Governments on the issues affecting our sector. As this is the last edition of Early Edition for 2020, on behalf of the ACA Executive Committee I would like to thank you all for your ongoing engagement and support during this difficult year. We wish you all a relaxing Christmas and New Year, and let’s all hope for a little less excitement and a little more stability in 2021!
Paul Mondo ACA President
As 2021 comes closer into view, it is important to take stock and acknowledge the extraordinary journey that our sector has gone through this year. As individuals, as well as collectively, we have all experienced a lot of unexpected change, which can no doubt have a significant impact on life outlook and mental health. ACA is encouraging all of our members to ensure they have a staff wellbeing plan in place and remember that it has been a stressful year. Additionally, we must all be cautiously aware of the possibility of a second or third wave of the virus in our geographic area at any time. Sadly, Australia, along with the rest of the world, has to learn to live with COVID-19, which means maintaining
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Let’s keep water safety top of mind Emma Lawrence > Managing Director, Kids Alive
ACA Qld Patron Laurie Lawrence, founder of ‘Kids Alive Do the Five’ Drowning Prevention Campaign, is dedicated to the welfare of Australian children and educating the community on children’s water safety. Water Safety advocate and Managing Director of Kids Alive Emma Lawrence outlines the training program available to early childhood educators and encourages teachers to keep the water safety message alive.
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The Royal Lifesaving National Drowning Report 2020 included a promising statistic – that drowning deaths among children aged 0-4 have decreased by 52% compared with the 10-year average. However, we are still tragically losing children to drowning events.
Early childhood educators across Australia have an important role to play in helping teach children about water safety. This year Kids Alive is launching a new updated online training program for educators, which has separate components for children aged 0-3 years and 3-5 years.
In the one-year reporting period during 2019/20, twelve children in Australia aged 0-4 lost their lives to drowning. Swimming pools were the most common location for drowning events but children also drowned in lakes, dams, rivers, creeks, bathtubs and spa baths.
Emma said, “Each module takes 30 minutes to complete and our goal is to have every early childhood educator in Australia complete this training each and every year. We can’t become complacent, as we have seen in the past that drowning statistics in children under 5 jump again
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rapidly when education programs are not running.”
Kids Alive Resources
“I’d love to acknowledge the Teaching Team at Bright Buttons Currumbin and Banora Point for developing the lesson plans. Without their help this program would not have been possible.”
The Teachers Hub on the Kids Alive website includes posters, fun music games, songs, books, music videos, animations and safety tip videos that can be used as part of the water safety lessons.
New Professional Development Training The Kids Alive online training shows early childhood educators how to incorporate water safety into lessons, providing a step-by-step guide across four location-themed lesson plans, including Beach, Pool, Farm and Home. Each lesson plan includes: • An Activity Description and Intentional Teaching Strategy – including fun ways to bring the water safety messages to life through costumes, stories and videos. • Resources – the nitty gritty of what items might be needed for the lesson plan. • Link to National Quality Standards – how the lesson will enhance learning and development, health and physical activity, relationship building and collaborative partnerships. • Learning Outcomes x5 - including how the lesson will benefit identity, connecting, involved learning processes, physical learning and language and literacy. • Extension Ideas – suggested books and other activities to be incorporated following the lesson. • Children’s Ideas & Interests (Spontaneous) – a suggestion to note down ideas that come from the children throughout the lesson.
Another great resource is the Kids Alive Couch Concert series launched this year due to the restrictions imposed by COVID-19. The series is available on the Kids Alive website and includes book readings, a craft corner, dance routines and puppet shows. These are an easy way to share the water safety message with children. Once again this summer, Kids Alive will distribute over 10,000 free water safety packs to education services registered with the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority. This includes family day care, long day care and outside of school care operators. A further 50,000 packs will also be distributed to schools, home school networks, hospitals, remote education services and swim schools. Emma is calling on all early childhood Directors to get behind the new Kids Alive training initiative. Emma said, “Our work will not stop until there are zero child drownings and we are constantly seeking new ways to reach children and parents and developing new resources to meet this goal. We know that early, targeted water safety education programs can help save the lives of children under 5. We look forward to seeing more teachers take up the training in 2021.”
A snapshot of the Beach lesson plan Activity: Organise swim safety costumes to come in and help introduce beach safety to the children and discuss who keeps us safe at the beach, signs and symbols to look out for at the beach and things to take to the beach. Organise a teacher to be outside that is not being sun safe. Collaborate with the children and discuss what things the teacher is missing to be sun safe. E.g. - no hat, appropriate clothing for sun play, sun cream, sun glasses, seek shade. Children take these items to the teacher to help them be sun safe. Resources: Kids Alive characters, sun safety resources for children to give the teacher – sunglasses/hat/sun cream/ sun safe shirt, interactive whiteboard with signs and symbols on it. Extension Ideas: Literacy Extensions: No Hat Brigade – Miriam Airey and Sharon Dye/Grandpa and Thomas – Pamela Allen. Other Extension Ideas: Beach safety collage, boat safety, creating the flags, Life Saver community visit, investigate water animals and compare them to land animals (why can they stay under water without drowning), role play unsafe times at the beach e.g. if a child is caught in a rip and what to do.
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The ROSE Way discusses the Rights of Children The Rights of Children through the Eyes of Children Carrie Rose & Educators > Rosie’s Early Learning
To build a child’s self-identity, we must first see and understand how the child sees themselves - in the environment and their relationships. As children develop a deeper understanding of their rights as a contributing citizen, educators develop a clearer understanding of the critical importance of these environments and relationships. As the educational documentation builds a strong ‘Image of each child’ to the educators, it must be remembered that children are first and foremost a citizen in their own right. In Reggio Emilia, children are referred to as protagonists. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2013) defines a protagonist as “a leading actor, character or participant in a literary work or real event or a leader, proponent, or supporter of a cause” 1 (Krechevsky, Mardell and Romans, 2014). This is how we saw children in our community, but the challenge was: How could we give this lens to the community? The Rosie’s way is a collaborative way. As a team of Educators delving deep into these meaningful connections developing genuine partnerships with families and children was crucial. This was not only within individual groups but following on from 2015’s inter-woven group engagements, connections were furthermore inter-connected. As children explored their own identity through their understandings of families, challenging their self-perception and exploring who were they ‘under their skin’ questions around their rights began to emerge from the documentation. What do the children truly understand about ‘their rights as an active and contributing citizen and where are they making influence?’ The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) provides people with a common ground to work together to build and strengthen their community and help shape the future and wellbeing of Australian children. The results in physical health and wellbeing and social competence was increasing2 (Communities, 2020). • The percentage of children vulnerable on the physical health and wellbeing domain has increased from 9.3 per cent in 2009 and 2012 to 9.7 per cent in 2015. • The percentage of children vulnerable on the social competence domain has increased from 9.5 in 2009 to 9.9 per cent in 2015. Advocating for children’s competence is the underpinning of Rosie’s Educators, and as a service, we have been very proud of our achievements in the Logan area. In a local community where the AEDC (2012 & 2015) results identified one in three children in Logan to be in one-two vulnerable areas, shifting a community’s perception of young children
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can be a struggle. The commitment to advocating that all children can be contributing citizens regardless of the demographic of the community became our agenda. Children are citizens with inherent rights too. The United Nations Child Friendly Convention on the Rights of a Child - Article 12 states: Children have the right to say what they think should happen when adults are making decisions that affect them and have their opinions taken into account3 (A Simplified Version of The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child, 2020). Our intention was to find new ways for our Pedagogy. Our pedagogy of thinking, documenting and listening so we could ensure that the children of Rosie’s Early Learning would not only have a voice, but it was a voice that was being heard and enacted on. Although the children had been voicing their thoughts for many years in the community through letters and contributions to local governments etc, it was apparent that the concept that these opinions should be taken seriously was not yet one of the community. The Logan Together Initiative emerged in 2015 and is the first of its kind in Australia being funded by Federal, State and Local governments. Its premise is to address the AEDC results and to find better outcomes for children 0 – 8 years4 (Home - Logan Together, 2020). We knew this was an opportunity that could not be under-estimated, and we forged forward to give the children a voice. We found traction, and by August 2015 the children from Rosie’s Early Learning were engaged in three projects capable of influencing perceptions. What have been the outcomes? For children, we understood that if they viewed themselves as contributors capable of making a difference this would be lifelong. We hoped the overall outcome would be the long-term ripple effect on the children, parents, policy makers and community with a stigma of low achievers to see the potential to create new destinies. Our participation in the Child Engagement Project with Dr Barbara Piscitelli AM gave children this space:
Rosie’s children were part of the 100 Logan children selected to share their ideas about life in Logan and contributed those ideas as the children’s voice to the Logan Together Roadmap. “Between August and October 2015, we conducted a comprehensive community consultation so that as many people as possible had a say in our Foundation Roadmap. We spoke with parents, carers, the community services industry, government departments, churches, sporting clubs, ethnic leaders, and many more. Most importantly, we asked Logan children what they think about living in Logan now, as well as their hopes and dreams for the future” 5 (Logan Together Roadmap - Logan Together, 2020). Key concepts presented themselves including family as an integral component of the community.
Holly (age 4) shared the importance of spending time together: I’m sitting on the sofa with Mum and Dad and Nana and Papa. My brother Max is asleep but me and Mum are still awake watching a movie and eating popcorn.
For educators, it was to think deeper, more critically about their own practice and that of their colleagues to create a space where challenging each other would lead to innovative pedagogy. This enhanced approach to our pedagogy would demonstrate value in children’s ‘interpretive theory’ as discussed by Carla Rinaldi in Reimagining Childhood – The inspiration of Reggio Emilia education principles in South Australia6 (Rinaldi, 2013). As part of this thinking, it was to make the children’ visible’ in the community. Our connections with local Aboriginal Elder Uncle Barry Watson gave us this opportunity at the Logan Together Community Forum Meeting. Aboriginal Elder Uncle Barry invited the children of Rosie’s to share their Acknowledgement of Country and Aboriginal Yuganbeh National Anthem to officially open the Logan Together Community Forum. This was a great honour for the children and educators. We knew this was an opportunity for the children to demonstrate their competence to an audience of 350 community members, politicians, and policy makers. The standing ovation received not only gave us and the children great pride; we knew we had impacted on how these people saw the ability of children in Logan and the strength of the connections these non-Aboriginal children were making to the culture and historical elements of Australia’s First people.
Elements of self-reflection from 3-year old’s:
At first, I did this drawing (pictured on left) and my brain said that it wasn’t right and to try again so I scribbled it out then I did try again. And then I did this drawing (pictured on right). Child aged 3 years.
Our work is never finished, rather documented as the perfume of history – leaving a scent of culture. 2017 has taken inspiration from the AEDC results and in particular, the increase over the past 6 years in the ‘percentage of children vulnerable on the physical health and wellbeing’. This had led educators research into ‘Landscapes of Individual Intelligence’. The focus being on the lens of Emotional Safety incorporating and understanding: Emotional Safety in a new environment, emotional intelligence and resilience, self-management, social awareness, and social skills (relationships with others). Emotional Intelligence is about the connection we feel between body, mind and spirit – how we make sense of thoughts and feelings – that is the critical aspect of social and emotional learning7 (Denham, Zinsser and Bailey, 2011). While social and emotional awareness continue to develop into adolescence, the greatest window of opportunity exists between birth to 8 years. In conclusion, we take inspiration from Professor Carla Rinaldi from the schools of Reggio Emilia and how she recalls how Loris Malaguzzi reflected on children’s self-identity: As Loris Malaguzzi wrote, it is the image of the child who, from the moment of birth, is so engaged in developing a relationship with the world, and intent on experiencing the world that he or she develops a complex system of abilities, learning strategies and ways of organizing relationships8 (Rinaldi, 2013). Bibliography [1] Krechevsky, M., Mardell, B. and Romans, A., 2014. Engaging City Hall: Children as Citizens. The New Educator, 10(1), p.11. [2] Aedc.gov.au. 2020. Communities. [online] Available at: <https://www. aedc.gov.au/communities> [3] 2020. A Simplified Version Of The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child.. [PDF] UNICEF. Available at: <https://www.unicef.org.au/ Upload/UNICEF/Media/Our%20work/childfriendlycrc.pdf> [4] Logan Together. 2020. Home - Logan Together. [online] Available at: <http://logantogether.org.au> [5] Logan Together. 2020. Logan Together Roadmap - Logan Together. [online] Available at: <https://logantogether.org.au/document/roadmap-ona-page/>
For families, sharing the work differently would further instil confidence in the future to continue advocating for their child in any learning setting.
[6] Rinaldi, C., 2013. Re-Imagining Childhood - The Inspiration of Reggio Emilia Education Principles In South Australia. [PDF] Government of South Australia. Available at: <https://www.education.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/ reimagining-childhood.pdf?acsf_files_redirect>
‘Rosie’s Exhibition of Work’. In September 2015 and again in July 2016 saw over 600 community members, local politicians, school teachers and family members attend the annual exhibition. Identifying the children’s commitment to ‘Being a Visible Citizen’ projects over the two years have been shared.
[7] Denham, S., Zinsser, K. and Bailey, C., 2011. Emotional Intelligence In The First Five Years Of Life. [PDF] Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. Available at: <http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/> [8] Rinaldi, C., 2013. Re-Imagining Childhood - The Inspiration of Reggio Emilia Education Principles In South Australia. [PDF] Government of South Australia. Available at: <https://www.education.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/ reimagining-childhood.pdf?acsf_files_redirect>
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Educator in Profile:
Sarah Humphreys
Meet Sarah Humphreys, who works at Cannon Hill Early Learning Centre.
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1. What is your role within your service and what do you want to achieve in the next five years?
kindergarten (preschool) aged children and preparing them for school.
My current role within my service is a lead educator in the 2-3-yearold room, I have worked across all age groups. I am also the assistant director stepping up into a leadership position when required. I am currently studying my bachelors in early childhood education and primary education at university, within the next 5 years I hope to have completed my studies and have moved into an ECT position as I am passionate about educating
2. What/who inspired you to forge a career in early learning?
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The children inspired me, I had signed up to study my Certificate III when I was in high school as I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure what I wanted to do when I graduated, and that way I thought I could go into childcare temporarily before discovering what I wanted to do long term. Once I went into services to complete my prac I fell in love with the children. The way that they see the world, the fact
that they can always put a smile on your face and helping them learn and grow became something I wanted to be a part of. As soon as I graduated I applied for jobs in childcare and I got one right away, needless to say I stayed and continued my studies in this field and have been in the same centre for almost 12 years. 3. What do you find rewarding about working in the early learning sector? The most rewarding part of my job is helping the children achieve their goals, watching them learn new and exciting skills and reach developmental milestones, and
knowing that I had a part in their learning journey. And all of the relationships I have formed with the children, getting big hugs in the morning as soon as I arrive is always heart-warming. 4. How would you describe your early learning philosophy? I believe that children are infinitely capable learners, and we should help scaffold their learning in all areas of development through social interactions with both their peers and educators. In helping children and showing them helpful instructions or guidance, this will help the children internalize the information and use it to guide and regulate their own sense of agency. I believe open collaboration with my colleagues helps to generate a culture of continual reflection and renewal of high-quality practices. 5. How do you engage the families in your service? We use the EDUCA platform to regularly update the families. On this app we can communicate with families via a message board, we upload daily stories about all the children, including photos of their day. Each child has individual profiles in which we upload observations, goals, and developmental plans of the children which the parents are able to add parent input to as well. We have a parent communication board which communicates daily occurrences and upcoming events, a blog site and Facebook page which keep all the parents up to date with everything happening within the service. We hold parent information evenings at the beginning of the year and offer parent teacher interviews
throughout the year to help keep open communication between educators and families as I believe it is important to create a strong relationship with all families within the service and often communicate to create a positive cohesive learning environment for the child that is consistent. 6. What is your biggest challenge as an educator and what strategies do you put in place to manage these challenges? The biggest challenge I have faced over the years is dealing with difficult behaviours, sometimes different behaviours in children can be overwhelming, confronting, and stressful. Managing these behaviours in a calm manner can sometimes be difficult, but I have learnt to remember that behaviours almost always stem from an underlying need that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t being met, and I make it my goal to discover how to help the child, rather than escalate with them in the moment. I try to implement strategies for individual children as they are all different and what may work for one child may not work for another. 7. How have the challenges you faced helped you grow as an educator? I feel that working across all age groups every year has helped me work with a diverse group of children, giving me a good understanding of childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s developmental needs. It has opened my eyes to how important social and emotional development is in young children, and how to manage difficult behaviours when they arise, and have a deeper understanding of why these behaviours may be occurring. It
helps to look at a difficult behaviour through an empathetic view and try your hardest to realise that the child is not doing it on purpose. 8. What is the most important skill you hope to develop in the children you educate and care for? I aim for the children in my class to feel a sense of belonging and feel safe and secure in their environment. The skills I hope they take away from my class is a strong sense of agency, sense of identity and for them to have resilience, and be confident, social, and involved learners. 9. What advice would you give to someone who wishes to start a career in early learning? My advice is to always come to work with a positive mindset and leave any negativity at the door. Do not be shy, create relationships with the families in your service as well as the children in your care. Always be interacting with the children, get down to their level, listen to their stories and play, if you are having fun they will be as well. Let them get messy and explore, do not stress about the clean up afterwards, messy play is one of the best ways children learn. And lastly invest in some good vitamins! 10. Finally, whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your fondest memory from your own childhood? My fondest memory of my childhood was playing with my pet dog, spending time with my cousins outdoors, going to the park and role playing superheros, going for swims and picnics at the waterfront, and going to theme parks, as an only child I enjoyed the social interaction with other children.
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Why Positive Early Childhood Education is So Important to Me Dr Shawna Lee > Academic
Canadian academic, Dr Shawna Lee, has spent many years researching child mental health, early education, and the links with the mental health of educators and family members. Here’s her story: We’ve all heard those flippant comments about how fun or easy it must be to ‘be paid to play all day’ when we know that being an early childhood educator is hard work. Given that 90% of a child’s brain development happens by age 5, every single interaction with children has the power to influence the child forever. We are literally building brains! I didn’t plan to work in early childhood education. In fact, I studied to be an air traffic controller (a similarly fastpaced, high stress, extremely demanding role, where you can’t let your attention wander for a minute, because people’s lives are in your hands)! So what happened? Well, I had a son who didn’t quite fit into the box at school. He was ‘that child’…you know the one: labelled as “difficult”, because he couldn’t seem to settle in a classroom. And I was “that parent”: the one who said, over and over, “but I don’t understand - we don’t see these things at home.” And we didn’t. But we also didn’t have 30 children in our living room, so it was much easier to tailor our interactions with him in a way that supported him to behave completely differently. What I really wanted was for someone at the school to get to know him and treat him as a worthwhile individual instead of a “troublemaker”.
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The final straw...and the turning point I can remember the exact moment that I knew I needed to change my approach. I had said to the principal what I’d observed at home: “If you don’t mind me saying so, what we’ve found at home is that if he feels valued, and respected, he’s fantastic! He’s happy to do anything, he’s considerate, he’s cooperative. But when he doesn’t feel this way - if he feels cornered, rejected, or like he isn’t welcome – he reacts badly.” The principal looked at me witheringly and said: “Well if you don’t mind me saying so, I’ve been in this field longer than you have been alive, and I think I know what I’m doing, thank you”. I left the office, and I cried. And it hit me: nobody listened to you if you were “just a mother”. To be fair, I didn’t have relevant experience at that time. I just knew my son. But what if I did know more about child development, so that I could explain what I’d observed in language that educators would understand? And what if I could help advocate, not just for my son, but for all the other children like him?
Starting on a new journey Working full-time and studying in the evenings, I completed my diploma in Early Childhood Education, then a Certificate in Inclusion Practices, a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services, a Masters in Early Childhood Studies, and then a PhD in Educational Psychology. I worked as an educator in early learning classrooms and the K-12 school system, and an early childhood education and care program supervisor. My doctoral thesis won an award from the Canadian Association for Educational Psychology and I continue to conduct Early Childhood Education research around the world. I also delivered children’s mental health support through the largest children’s mental health agency in Ontario, Canada, then moved into service management. And I stuck with my goal: to better understand and support mental health needs in educational settings, while also working to break down the stigma around them. But guess what I found out? It wasn’t just my child who seemed to react badly to the standard educational environment. This turned out to be a recognised issue, where children who had atypical needs, social-emotional problems, mental health issues, ADHD, developmental delays, or some other related problem, were just not able to regulate themselves in the way other children were. What really shocked me was that educators weren’t really being prepared for this common scenario.
The key to a successful future... that not enough people talk about Emotional well-being. Mental health. We know these are important – but why is it critical to think about these things in early learning environments? If we’re truly building brains, doesn’t that mean we should focus on academic performance? Well, yes, but quality early childhood experiences includes many things (e.g. child/ adult ratios, stimulating materials etc.), however ultimately the quality of the educator-child relationship provides the foundation for success, because: • Quality educator-child relationships provide a supportive environment that boosts emotional security and child confidence, even when difficulties arise • Quality educator-child relationships positively influence child behaviour Therefore, quality educator-child relationships offer a solid foundation for early learning environments that will best support children’s academic, mental health, and socialemotional development. You could be “that person who cared about me” Remember the wonderful, caring teacher in the Roald Dahl story Matilda? Researchers have found that highly sensitive educators may “buffer the effects of a negative family context for children who have insecure attachments with their mothers by reducing children’s risk for aggressive behaviour.”
I stuck with my goal: to better understand and support mental health needs in educational settings, while also working to break down the stigma around them. EARLY EDITION > SUMMER 2020
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In other words, if you’re that person who really helps a child who isn’t doing so well to understand their own worth, and to develop their skills and emotional selfregulation, you can help put them on a whole different life path. Incredible, right? So how do we create those high-quality educatorchild relationships: warm and respectful bi-directional interactions, strong emotional support, high levels of closeness and low levels of conflict…out there in the real world? Why the children who need the most help don’t always get it We’re not born with skills for reflecting on our own behaviour and stressors, and to understand how we may be accidentally contributing to a difficult interaction. When a child exhibits behaviours the educator finds challenging (such as disruptiveness, inattention, or aggression) and the educator doesn’t use effective strategies in response, this can put a real strain on everyone involved. Poorly trained or under-resourced educators may become frustrated with the children and engage in power struggles, negative reactions or even damaging behaviour. This can also lead to children being removed from programs, or staff experiencing burn-out and/or leaving their career all together. Of course, most educators who are highly stressed don’t engage in overtly negative interactions; however, they may become less engaged with the children in their class, have fewer individual interactions with children, or struggle to remain interested and responsive to each child’s particular needs. What’s really needed is more training and skill in child guidance techniques and in supporting socialemotional competency development for young children. Looking after yourself, too Child mental health, in many ways, is linked to the emotional well-being of the educator. If adults themselves are experiencing high levels of work or personal stress, it can be more difficult to be responsive to children.
It’s just as important to pay attention to educators’ mental health as to children’s 12
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Educators who say they’re more stressed also report being less likely to use effective child guidance strategies, AND spending less time developing positive relationships with children who have behaviours they find challenging. Struggling with mental health and/or emotional well-being can get in the way of them understanding how that’s potentially affecting children’s behaviour and mental health. And then that may create tension between all the adults (educators, managers, and parents) involved. This negative spiral can start to affect the overall quality of the early learning environment. In other words, it’s just as important to pay attention to educators’ mental health as to children’s. Prioritising everyone’s mental health - ours, too! So as educators, we must begin prioritising our own mental health, and taking the time to care for ourselves, too. As a result, children will do better, too. Ensuring the right support and skills are available to everyone – including ourselves – should be a top priority. So, that’s how I ended up where I am now. My work led to researching the effectiveness of a new program, (PECE) through trials in Canada and other countries, which I’ve been doing since 2013. And that’s helping me achieve the goal that I’ve been striving towards for two decades: to improve the well-being and mental health of children and their care providers. And my son? He’s nearly 30, has a career he loves in the creative industries, does yoga and dotes on his cat, is incredibly calm and peaceful, has terrific communication skills…and like me, is an advocate for greater understanding of those who are a little “different”.
The Positive Early Childhood Education (PECE) program is an evidence-based online program for professionals working in early childhood education. www.peceprogram.net
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Congradulates... RTO: 40933
CAECE congradulates highlights recent CAECE graduates having completed their Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care and Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. Over the last quarter we have had the opportunity to congratulate CAECE graduates from both our Diploma and Certificate III qualifications. With the ongoing support from our lovely CAECE trainers, students have been guided to achieve their goals in becoming fully qualified educators. If you or someone you know may be interested in studying and working towards their qualifications in early childhood education and care, our friendly staff and trainers are willing to guide and support your early learning journey! For more information please contact our team on 07 3299 5784 or email support@caece.com.au.
CAECE would like to congratulate the following graduates and wish them all the best for their future as an early learning educator! CAECE graduates for the last quarter: Danielle: Petit Early Learning Journey Burdell 1 - Diploma (Trainer Lainie) Lani: Little Scholars School of Early Learning Ashmore – Certificate III (Trainer Sonja) Emily: Greenslopes Child Care Centre - Diploma (Trainer Karla) Hannah: Petit Early Learning Journey Burdell 1 - Diploma (Trainer Lainie) Jade: POD Early School – Diploma (Trainer Karla) Karmjit: Petit Early Learning Journey Burdell 2 – Diploma (Trainer Lainie)
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Kaylee: A Country Garden Early Childhood Centre Willow House Diploma (Trainer Kellie)
Tamara: Coomera Clubhouse for Early Childhood Learning (1) - Diploma (Trainer Sonja)
Keeley: Greenslopes Child Care Centre - Diploma (Trainer Karla)
Taniesha: Educating Kids Childrens Centre Domain - Diploma (Trainer Lainie)
Laurali: Rising Stars Early Learning Centre Redbank - School based Trainee Certificate (Trainer Karla) Maddison: Petit Early Learning Journey Burdell 1 – Diploma (Trainer Lainie) Michaela: Little Bunya’s Early Education Centre of Excellence – Diploma (Trainer Sonja)
Victoria: Bright Start Childcare Centre Drewvale – Diploma (Trainer Karla)
DANIELLE
LANI
EMILY
HANNAH
JADE
KARMJIT
KAYLEE
KEELEY
LAURALI
MADDISON
TANIESHA
TAMARA
MICHAELA
VICTORIA
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Member in the Spotlight: Elephas Education inquiry-based approach to planning Boe Hasanovic > Development Manager at Elephas Education
At Elephas Education, we focus on supporting the in-depth development of each unique Elephas child and equip them with the knowledge, skills and experiences needed to support them in their next phase of education. We are also committed to supporting their growth and passion from dedicated, early childhood industry professionals. We firmly believe in order to give each child the best start to their learning, our educators must focus on preparing and nurturing children’s practical and developmental skills. We do this by focussing on intentional teaching and inquiry-based planning using The ROSE Way framework. What is the ROSE Way and why does it work? The ROSE Way is an action-based research planning tool to design and scaffold early education programs. The format is based on the current activities within the centre. It is so successful at assisting in achieving results because the framework is educator driven. It also aligns with current industry trends and philosophies and real-time
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research. Rather than just observing a child’s interests and then creating an individualised program, The ROSE Way focusses on a research and inquiry-based approach to planning and then blending this with the child’s emerging play ideas. How do we incorporate it at Elephas? This approach begins with our educators choosing a concept to research about their practice. This concept is directly related to how children learn or how they make their choices in the centre environment context. Once the concept has been selected, our educators engage in a brainstorming session with the intent to develop key inquiry questions that directly align with the children’s play and other core interests.
With the term concept at the forefront, our educators use journaling, notes and thoughts to plan and document meaningful learning and discovery experiences. To allow flexibility and fluid planning, prior to each week, our educators write key planning notes with scaffolding strategies for when they are engaging with children. It’s not so much planning ‘activities’, rather it’s understanding how to scaffold learning over time in relation to the core focus. Once the scaffolding learning notes have been developed, we can share with our valued families. We summarise the intentions of learning for each week and outline how this is going to support their child’s learning.
At Elephas Education, we chose to implement The ROSE Way framework as it offers in-depth insight into each unique child’s learning competencies in various environments. Upon completing and discussing with our families the proposed learning outcomes, our educators document this learning over the week in a style that suits their own observation and pedagogy. Using a mixed media approach our educators record through photographs, written observations, share children’s voice and dialogue and questions and reflections. This approach allows our educators to take a holistic view of the child’s learning over the whole week rather than daily documentation. At the end of each term, our educators compile their findings into an eBook which is a compilation of the entire term’s learning, including an analysis of the child’s development and particular learning outcomes. Our educators develop this final
documentation by also referencing the child’s learning with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), key elements of our centre philosophy and educational theorists. We felt that this framework also suited our centre as it focuses on the environment as the ‘third teacher’. As our centres are designed with various purpose-built environments, it ensures that the strengths and the competencies of our learners are catered to enable fluid learning. At Elephas Education, we chose to implement The ROSE Way framework as it offers in-depth insight into each unique child’s learning competencies in various environments. We also aimed to give our educators an opportunity to take the traditional idea of ‘planning’ activities, turning
it on its head and instead, observing, and guiding children in real time and reflecting and documenting post learning. As we have recently opened our first service in Loganholme and implemented The ROSE Way, the first research focus’ intention is to develop respectful relationships with children and families. This helps educators deepen their knowledge of each child’s strengths, ideas, culture, capabilities, and interests, whilst forming positive, responsive, respectful relationships. Source: Therosewayplanning.com. 2020. What Is The Planning Framework?. [online] Available at: <therosewayplanning.com/what-is-theplanning-framework>
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To Solar or Not to Solar for your Early Learning Service? Brian Mills > X-Alt Solar
Conjecture and uncertainty still seem to reign regarding the merits of solar for early learning (childcare) services. To understand its merits, one should understand the product itself. People are aware that solar is used to generate electricity. But what is it? Also called “Photovoltaics”, solar is the direct conversion of light into electricity at the atomic level. Solar panels comprise cells that take sunlight and convert it into electricity. These cells combined into one solar module (panel), have a notable electricity output. A number of modules combined into an array have a combined output that has a significant impact in powering a building like your childcare facility.
Electricity generated by solar panels is in the form of Direct Current (DC). The electricity your building uses is Alternating Current (AC), so it needs to be converted. To convert DC into AC, one needs an inverter. The more obvious items in a solar system are the panels (modules) and the inverter. Power generated by the solar system then partially replaces the electricity used from the grid. Benefit Does solar have benefit for the early learning sector? In most cases we analyze, yes! Solar provides noticeable electricity cost savings. In the below example, solar generated 1,317kWh of electricity in the reflected week. 834.2kWh was used in the building and 483kWh was exported to the grid. Instead of using 1,604.5kWh from the grid, the service used just 770.3kWh. Assuming 25c/kWh cost for electricity from their retailer, in the reflected week alone, they have saved $208.55 (834.2kWhx$0.25). Assuming they are getting 10c/kWh Feed in Tariff, they have also generated $48.30 in “revenue”.
Source: (How do Photovoltaics Work? | Science Mission Directorate, 2020)
Many solar panels have for example a 370w rating and comprise of 60 cells. Modern technology has found a way to cut these cells in half resulting in a split-cell panel, providing enhanced electricity generating benefit in the event of shading or parts of that panel becoming soiled. These panels are known as split-cell panels.
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The simplified summary is: Pre Solar: A $401 spend on electricity (1,604kWhx25c). Post Solar: They have saved $208.55, have paid $192.58 for grid imported electricity, but have generated $48.30 in “export” revenue. The net position now is a $144.28 spend. Net benefit in the reflected week is a $256.72 saving. This adds up considerably over the course of a year and over several years. With potentially a $0 down outlay and cash flow positive budget impact, it makes sound financial, economic and environmental sense. In the reflected week, the net benefit generated by the solar is close on the equivalent of about 10-hour wages for one of your staff members. Source: Solar Analytics readout on a system installed at a Child Care Centre by X-Alt Solar.
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Finance Finance options for solar are varied and relatively straightforward to obtain. Popular options are: i. Outright Purchase: The most capital intensive of all the options but the cheapest. Under the recently announced Federal Government Instant Asset Write Off (IAWO) extension, solar can be purchased and the full amount of that purchase can be written off as a depreciated expense, bringing a cash flow benefit in that financial year. It is my understanding too that should the business suffer a loss in the year the asset is purchased, the written off amount can be claimed against tax paid the previous year. ii. Chattel Mortgage: The borrower owns the system from day one and can claim the expense as a depreciated expense in full in the year of purchase under the IAWO. Interest payments are also usually tax-deductible. Repayment periods vary between 2 to 10 years and can be structured to be cashflow positive. I.e. the savings and inflow generated by the solar exceed the repayments. iii. Operating Lease: Typically, between 2 to 10 years, lease repayments are usually tax deductible in full. Ownership of the system passes to you at the end of the lease period. Again, a benefit of the lease option is it can be cashflow positive when structured so that the repayments are less than the savings. Any tax deductions claimed add to the cashflow positive nature of the lease.
ower Purchase Agreements (PPA’s): The PPA provider iv. P installs and retains ownership of the solar for a predetermined term (usually 10 or 15 years). Power from the solar is sold to the building owner or tenant at a discounted rate off their retail electricity price after discounts. Maintenance is the responsibility of the PPA provider over the PPA term. At term end, ownership of the solar usually reverts to the building owner. PPA’s are either consumption based, or production based. Disclaimer: Please verify the above information and its suitability to your organization with your accountant prior to making any decisions. A big benefit of utilizing a finance option is the ability to obtain solar with no capex and experience an immediate cashflow positive benefit to your budget. Most solar finance options do not require company financials. In summary, solar does benefit and we have little hesitation in advocating it for almost every early learning service we assess. Tread carefully and use a trusted provider (like X-Alt Solar) in assessing what benefit your service may derive and ensuring you obtain a system of sufficient quality to provide ongoing benefit for years to come. Brian Mills can be contacted on cutcosts@x-altsolar.com. au for any questions relating to solar in general, or for your service. Source: Science.nasa.gov. 2020. How Do Photovoltaics Work? | Science Mission Directorate. [online] Available at: <https://science.nasa.gov/ science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/solarcells>
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Baby Give Back Charity:
Ensuring every child has a safe and equal start to life Baby Give Back Charity
For most expectant mums, the impending arrival of their bundle of joy is a feeling of pure excitement. Time is spent celebrating with family and friends, buying baby clothes and other essentials like a car seat, pram and making the final touches to the nursery. The reality for the families we support could not be more different. Many of the Mums we help are only weeks away from giving birth, but they have no support and no one to celebrate with. There is no room where they live to set up a nursery and no money to secure essential items such as a cot, linen, clothing, books, pram and even nappies. It leaves an expectant mother anxious and stressed wondering where will the baby sleep, maybe a drawer, a clothes basket or even on a couch? No children should go without the basic essentials for them to grow, live and be safe. No parent should
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feel they do not have access to items for their children or have to choose between purchasing food for the children or the whole family. Baby Give Back exists to help the most vulnerable babies, children, and families in our community. We believe that every baby deserves an equal start in life – a safe start. This is why we are committed to improving the welfare and safety of children in our community. Baby Give Back started on the Gold Coast in 2016 after our founder and CEO, Carly Fradgley, wanted to give her children’s pre-loved baby items to members in the community who
needed them more. Unable to find such a place, inspiration was taken from our sisterhood charity St Kilda Mums in Victoria and Baby Give Back was born. After learning that 1 in 6 Australian children are living in poverty, a massive local community effort was put in place to secure the funding and support that will help break the cycle of poverty in the lives of vulnerable babies and children. Baby Give Back was initially operated from Carly’s home, but due to the service’s high demand and growing community support, it now operates from a warehouse in Varsity Lakes.
“I had nothing, completely nothing ready for the baby and three days later she had clothes, a cot, nappies, everything … they were in a really good, usable condition,” - Egenie
The warehouse acts as a community hub for like-minded, passionate individuals who like to give back. It is predominantly volunteer powered, with over 200 registered volunteers. The volunteers are the backbone of our service, by choosing to give their time to sort, clean and ensure all items meet our safety requirements. Items are then packed and prepared for individual families distributed to them via their caseworker or social worker. One of the first mums that was helped by Baby Give Back was Egenie. Egenie arrived in Australia
as a refugee from Botswana, alone and isolated from her family, she fell pregnant and was left with no support. In her final days of pregnancy, Egenie moved into InSync Youth Services with nothing for her baby. Her caseworkers reached out to Baby Give Back and within days we had everything Egenie and her newborn needed. “I had nothing, completely nothing ready for the baby and three days later she had clothes, a cot, nappies, everything … they were in a really good, usable condition,” Egenie said.
“These are things people gave me from the bottom of their hearts.” Egenie went on to complete her university degree and is now working as a support worker herself, to help others in their time of need. Over the past four impactful years, Baby Give Back has grown across several locations including Gold Coast, Logan, Brisbane, Ipswich and Northern NSW, through partnerships with over 200 social service caseworks, midwives and health professionals. Through these partnerships we
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have provided tens of thousands of preloved cots, prams, clothes, car seats as well as donated toiletries, nappies, formula, toys and books. Over this time, we have been able to help over 6,000 children and their families. Families affected by a range of challenges including family violence, mental illness, lifecontrolling addictions, homelessness and refugees whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve escaped unimaginable horrors. Some families, particularly since COVID-19, find themselves suddenly needing our support after a job loss, an illness, accident or natural disaster.
COVID-19 saw the beginning of increases in requests for our services which was managed with complexity due to the forced closure of our warehouse to donated items and volunteers. Concerned for the child and their families who needed our support, a small team worked around the clock to ensure all orders were provided. The impact from COVID-19 will be lasting for many years with families we support unsure of the road ahead for them. Baby Give Back is committed to ensuring every baby has a safe and equal start to life and through the
We have been able to help over 6,000 children and their families.
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ongoing support of our volunteers and supporters we will continue until we have achieved this. There are many ways to get involved and support vulnerable children and their families through Baby Give Back. Visit our website www.babygiveback. org to donate and learn more about how you can change the lives of vulnerable children.
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Upcoming Changes in the Early Childhood Training World Amanda Walker > CAECE Training Operations Manager RTO: 40933
Have you heard the news? The Early Childhood training package is changing in 2021. CHC30120 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care and the CHC50120 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care are on their way!
Have you heard the rumours? • There will be no Certificate III • Everyone must do their Diploma • If an educator has completed their Certificate III and wants to do their Diploma, their Certificate III won’t be valid under the new training package and they will have to do it all again… so they have to do their Diploma NOW None of the above is true. Well, yes, the Early Childhood Education and Care training package is changing but the rumours are not true. Skills IQ along with stakeholders from early childhood (and other community services areas) and the training sector have been working over the last 3 years to develop a new training package that meets the needs of the early childhood sector and the broader community services sector. This has been a long process and the timing was impacted by COVID-19. It was aimed to be released early 2020 but due to concerns from all stakeholders involved, Draft 2 was pushed into Draft 3. Draft 3 saw lots of positive changes that CAECE welcomes and supports. These changes will support more realistic and suitable outcomes for graduates and will enforce RTOs to be more regulated in their assessment judgements as there are direct observation requirements for most of the units. The biggest and most welcomed change is the reintroduction of Certificate III being a prerequisite to the Diploma. Educators will not be able to enrol in the Diploma unless they have completed an approved Certificate III level qualification (CHC30113 or CHC30120). CHC30120 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care will have 17 units, 15 core and 2 electives and CHC50120 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care will have 15 units, 12 core and 3 electives. So, what does this mean for you and your educators? Nothing at the moment, there is no need to rush everyone into doing their Diploma (unless that’s what you want for your service).
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Any educators who have completed CHC30113 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care will be able to enrol in the new CHC50120 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care, they may need to do 2 additional units, as there are units that are prerequisites in the new Diploma (and not included in the current Certificate III qualification). Once the new package is released (predicted end of 2020/ early 2021) RTOs can start to deliver it. At CAECE we aim to commence delivery 1-2 months after the package is released. There will be a period where you may have educators in all 4 courses. This is called a teach out period, which is usually 12-18 months. This will give everyone who is enrolled in the CHC30113 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care or the CHC50113 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care to finish their studies. If they do not finish in time (before the end of the teach out period), they may be required to complete the new qualification. This is the last thing that anyone wants to happen, and at CAECE, we will work with students to give them realistic options and time frames. The consultation period is now closed, however, once the new package is released CAECE will be aiming to engage with services and stakeholders to consult on the electives that we choose and to ensure our assessment and learning materials are meeting the sector expectations. You can view the draft training package and comments by following the link below. Please remember the timeframe for comment has now closed, however at CAECE we are open to your feedback and suggestions and welcome any questions you may have for you and your team. You are welcome to email or call me, Mandy, CAECE Training Operations Manager on manager@caece.com.au or 0413 392 115 for more information. www.skillsiq.com.au/FeedbackForum/TrainingPackages1/ CHCCommunityServices/ChildrensEducationandCareDraft3 For information on the entire project go to: www.skillsiq.com.au/CurrentProjectsandCaseStudies/ ChildrensEducationandCareTPD
Now’s the time to reset and refocus on happy, engaged teams Barry Lehrer > Founder & CEO, ChildHR
Change in the workplace may be inevitable in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, but for early learning (childcare) services it’s the people who will continue to ensure a business is set up for success, and that’s not changing. So, it is timely now to refocus on building employee happiness and genuine loyalty, both during the performance management process and throughout the year. At many times during 2020 I have heard colleagues, friends and family members reflect on how they have reassessed what is important to them, in both their personal and professional lives. Basic habits once taken for granted have become muchlonged-for experiences, and the desire for belonging and certainty is everpresent at home and in the workplace. For early learning leaders, looking after our educators has never been more important, and it is a great opportunity to take time for your own reflection, reinvest in your people and build happier teams. Recognise and value your most precious resource The HR trends emerging out of 2020 point to the importance of the holistic employee experience, from onboarding to team communications and throughout the formal performance management process. We need to be investing in improving satisfaction and generating greater employee loyalty. We should be encouraging buy-in to the company’s vision, fostering support of one another within the team and boosting productivity with processes that work the way your people do. Jae Fraser is a passionate early learning leader and Founder of The Scholars Group, which includes nine Little Scholars centres in Queensland. Jae joined ChildHR’s podcast The Early Word recently, and he reinforced the link between strong teams and effective centres. “That’s a sign of success - surrounding yourself with really quality people
that are almost better than you. Every single centre is different. No one knows these communities better than the people living in them, so use your people because they’re the best resource you have.” - Jae Fraser, Founder - The Scholars Group Let your teams shine Jae also spoke about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the people in his centres stepped up to the challenge. “What we had to deal with very quickly was fear, and reassurance. So many people were relying on us to tell them what was happening next, but the reality was we were learning at the same time as everyone else. And we needed to make sure that our staff firstly were comfortable and confident in what we were doing and that we were across it, and that they had their jobs, and they were safe. But then make them comfortable enough to keep the parents comfortable and reassure them.” - Jae Fraser, Founder - The Scholars Group Use team building to increase centre efficiency A happy educator will be a great contributor to your business, and regular feedback can be incredibly powerful. When you tell your educators, they have done something wonderful, make sure you share it with the broader team and capture that positive feedback for a future appraisal.
impact and a trickle-down effect on productivity and children’s development. Use tools to keep teams - and yourself - on the right track Get your team in order before 2020 ends by working towards streamlining your HR management. Remember to that policy updates in accordance with COVID-19 and legislative changes are a must-do for early learning service operators, and performance review tools will help capture praise for your educators’ efforts. As we move closer towards a fresh start in 2021, remember the investment you put into our staff during the challenges of COVID-19 to build strong, resilient teams and make sure they are rested, enthused and ready to return to hopefully a more normalised position in the new year. Barry Lehrer has built successful tech companies from the ground up, including DiffuzeHR and ChildHR. After two decades of experience running small businesses, he combines extensive business marketing and HR experience with a passion for thought-leadership and innovative tech products that solve everyday problems for businesses. To listen to the full interview with Jae Fraser of The Scholars Group go to childhr.org.au/aca/podcast/
Acknowledging your educators’ performance and openly rewarding behaviours that show initiative and accountability can have a significant
EARLY EDITION > SUMMER 2020 25
2020 in review Brent Stokes > CEO ACA Qld
Unprecedented is one of the more commonly used words to describe 2020. The unpredictable nature of this year including one of Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worst droughts, bushfire seasons, and coronavirus resulted in communities working alongside health authorities and Governments like never before to respond accordingly. This year has undoubtedly drawn the curtain back on the pivotal role that the early learning sector plays in supporting Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workforce participation. At the same time, never has it been more important to celebrate the evidence-based positive and important long-term outcomes for those children attending high-quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and our essential workforce. Australian Childcare Alliance is extremely proud of the trust shown by our members when advocating and collaborating with Government and departments to deliver the $1.6b ECEC Relief Package in response to the COVID-19 health pandemic. This package successfully secured the sector from imminent collapse on 6 April. As it turned out, the swift response taken in Australia resulted in significantly reduced health impacts that many of us feared, expected, and experienced in many other countries around the world. As such the demand for early learning exceeded the relief subsidy model for funding that was designed to hibernate and protect the ECEC sector for families, early childhood educators/teachers, and providers. Our subsequent submission to the four-week review was influential to the Transition back to CCS from 13 July until 27 September. Criticism about the exclusive removal of JobKeeper from the ECEC sector was understandably high and while we appreciate this, the miscommunication led to misunderstanding (40% of the workforce ineligible) and political point scoring. In our belief it was the correct move, allowing services to welcome back more families and our workforce in full. As we continue to experience recovery our focus will remain on our more vulnerable families and women in the workforce. Vulnerable families with difficulties including socio-economic, disadvantaged, geographic location, cultural backgrounds, and more are often the most negatively affected by situations like this.
26
EARLY EDITION > SUMMER 2020
Women have once again suffered disproportionately to men as a result of COVID-19 due to the types of industries that are gender dominated, and we will continue to advocate for equal opportunity to access high quality early learning for ALL children. Like many of our valued members, ACA Qld implemented risk mitigation strategies while delivering unprecedented levels of communication. Understanding complex new subsidy systems in record time resulted in our new landscape where we operate, resulting in us taking swift action to understand and then react prudently and pragmatically to achieve the most sustainable outcomes for our members and your association. We are very proud of the work we did to remain financially independent throughout this period.
The Federal Budget announcement on 6 October did not reveal any surprises for our sector, however, we are heartened that the Australian Government has budgeted for further Transition Payments for Victorian service providers recovering from an extended lockdown period this year. This commitment to consider further targeted support mechanisms in other geographic areas, should we experience a second wave and return to restrictions provides confidence. We welcomed the Australian Labor Party’s budget response including the proposal to increase investment in Australian families by increasing the subsidy rate to 90%, and we called on all parties to fully embrace the evidence-based recommendations of the recent KPMG report (You can read the media release on the ACA Qld website). We continue to urge both major parties to commit to waiving the CCS annual cap and relaxations of the Activity Test to provide all families with a minimum of two days a week of early learning. The Queensland election has dominated much of our advocacy over the past couple of months. We undertook nearly forty political engagements with our election manifesto - What Queensland parents want. What our children need. This was well received by all sides and levels of Government in the pursuit of four key policy recommendations being; KindyLinQ – the extension of this program to include all of the ECEC sector, QKFS / PLUS – long term (5 year block) funding extension, Supply – ensuring demonstratable needs analysis be conducted before new services are approved and funded, and Payroll tax – to be redistributed to employing more Queenslanders and improving pay and conditions for our existing workforce. We congratulate Labor for retaining government for the next four years; regardless of the election outcome, ACA will continue our bi partisan approach to work with all sides of government in the best interests of the sector.
All member services should now have their copy of the 2021 Diary. For those who have not yet ordered or would like to order additional copies you still have time! Only $20 for members and $30 for others the ACA Qld Diary is made by the sector for the sector and is the diary for everyone operating in an early learning service. A reminder that ACA Qld members must be signed into the ACA Qld website to receive member-only rates. Order your diary today by visiting qld.childcarealliance. org.au/shop. We are excited about the launch of our 2021 conference. The 2021 conference theme is Early Education…An endless adventure. Early Bird registrations will be opening soon so make sure to visit our website and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter to stay up to date with all things conference. The immediate issue facing our sector is the difficulties many services are experiencing when recruiting new staff. We highly value our professional workforce, and this is potentially a good news story that when unemployment is at record highs, the early learning sector is currently looking to recruit over 1,000 people in Queensland alone. Over the past four years, membership has grown by 25% to 880 early learning services, our training college, CAECE has increased by two trainers, 125 student learners (50%), and nearly 300% improvement in financials resulting in a financially independent entity. Our quest to support our valued members remains, therefore if there is anything further that we can do to continually improve and support you better, please let our office know by contacting us at qld@childcarealliance. org.au or on 07 3808 2366.
Industrial Relations activity has returned to a more manageable level with a high court decision fixing the paid personal leave issue and the substantiative claims varying our awards. Early Childhood Educators Day was yet another success! This day was all about the recognition of our amazing professional workforce. We hope all early childhood educators across Australia had a wonderful day with their team and families. We cannot thank early childhood educators enough for the difference made every day to the children in care. It was lovely to read all the stories and see the amazing photographs of how you celebrated Early Childhood Educators’ Day 2020.
EARLY EDITION > SUMMER 2020 27
Supporter Members Directory Service
Contact
Phone
Web
Elston
Kelly Stubberfield
Kelly.Stubberfield@elston.com.au
1300 357 866
www.elston.com.au
Ezidebit
Kim Fazzolari
kim.fazzolari@ezidebit.com.au
07 3124 5500
www.ezidebit.com.au
Make it Cheaper
Lucy Block
lucyblock@makeitcheaper.com.au
02 8077 0005
www.makeitcheaper.com.au
Peter Price & Associates
Peter Price
peter@peterprice.com.au
07 3376 3411
www.peterprice.com.au
ShineWing Australia
Jeremy Wicht
jwicht@shinewing.com.au
07 3085 0888
www.shinewing.com.au
Felix Sekulla
Felix.Sekulla2@anz.com
07 3947 5326
www.anz.com
Childcare4Sale
Lincoln Bridge
lincoln@childcare4sale.com.au
0424 370 025
www.childcare4sale.com.au
JDS Childcare Sales
Jason Stephenson
info@jdschildcaresales.com.au
1300 537 227
www.jdschildcaresales.com.au
Bunnings
Rob Walton
rwalton@bunnings.com.au
07 3452 5677
www.bunnings.com.au
Jardine Architects
Greg Jardine
greg@jardinearchitects.com.au
07 3229 9322
www.jardinearchitects.com.au
Jorgensens
Tim Cox
info@jorgensens.com.au
07 5597 6620
www.jorgensens.com.au
Mathiou Services
Jamie Mathiou
connect@mathiouservices.com.au
1300 363 423
www.mathiouservices.com.au
Mollard Property Group
Wendy Mollard
wendy@mollard.com.au
03 9225 525
www.mollard.com.au
Plumbing Bros Group
Rhet Brierley
national@plumbingbros.com.au
1300 057 827
www.plumbingbros.com.au
Scope Protective & Data Solutions
Peter Karadimas
peter@spds.com.au
1300 172 673
www.spds.com.au
Stoddart
David Richardson
drichardson@stoddart.com.au
07 3440 7600
www.stoddart.com.au
Accounting, Bookkeeping & Financial
Banking Services ANZ Business Bank Brokers
Building & Property
Surface Pro
Janet Osbourne
admin@surfacepro.net.au
0418 741 507
www.surfacepro.net.au
Timberplay
Sally Alderton
info@timberplay.com.au
07 5563 3755
www.timberplay.com.au
Wearthy
Caitlin Murphy
hello@wearthy.co
0456 780 201
www.wearthy.co
X-Alt Solar
Brian Mills
brian@x-altsolar.com.au
0402 658 313
www.x-altsolar.com.au
Absolute Support Training & Resources
Darlene Wadham
darlene@absolutesupport.com.au
0488 666 455
www.absolutesupport.com.au
Elite Childcare Management
Debbie Thompson
enquiries@elitechildcaremanagement.com.au
07 3054 5999
www.elitechildcaremanagement.com.au
G8 Education
G8 Education Team
07 5581 5336
www.g8education.edu.au
samantha@giggletree.com.au
07 3482 2490
www.giggletree.com.au
contact@guardian.edu.au
07 3832 7933
www.guardian.edu.au
Consultants & Management
Giggletree Guardian Early Learning Group
Samantha Ahearn Guardian Early Learning Team
Harmonise Solutions
Michellena Shelton
michellena@harmonisesolutions.com.au
0410 569 195
Kids and Adults Learning
KAL Admin Team
info@kal.net.au
1300 783 880
www.kal.net.au
QLECS - Qld Lutheran Early Childhood Services
QLECS Admin Team
admin@qlecs.org.au
07 3511 4079
www.qlecs.org.au
Ready Now Resources
Louise Thomas
Louise@readynowresources.com.au
0410 456 607
www.readynowresources.com.au
Scholars Consulting
Jae Fraser
jae@thescholarsgroup.com.au
0408 872 492
www.thescholarsgroup.com.au
Deb Blakley
deb@kidsdigfood.com.au
1300 971 609
www.kidsdigfood.com.au
Peter Jarrett
pjarrett@guildinsurance.com.au
07 3230 8501
www.guildgroup.com.au
Giovanni Porta
giovanni@portalawyers.com.au
07 3265 3888
www.portalawyers.com.au
Rostaboss
Angie Cooper
info@rostaboss.com.au
0403 795 577
www.rostaboss.com.au
Expect A Star
Amanda Lawson
amanda@expectastar.com.au
1300 669 653
www.expectastar.com.au
Food & Nutrition Kids Dig Food Insurance Services Guild Insurance Legal Porta Lawyers Staff Recruitment
28
EARLY EDITION > SUMMER 2020
Service
Contact
Phone
Web
1Place Childcare
Martin Bing
support@1placeonline.com
1800 416 431
www.1placechildcare.com
Child Care Central
Melissa Hurley
support@childcarecentral.com.au
1300 733 667
www.childcarecentral.com.au
ChildCareCRM
Chuck Gibbs
cgibbs@childcarecrm.com
02 8880 0404
www.childcarecrm.com
ChildHR
Barry Lehrer
barryl@diffuze.com.au
03 9098 4317
www.childhr.org.au
Info-Organiser Software
Dianne Filipenko
info@info-organiser.com.au
1300 651 014
www.info-organiser.com.au
Intellikid Systems
Jamie McVeigh
jamie@intellikidsystem.com
0458 034 402
www.intellikidsystems.com
Kangarootime
Sharyn Fewster
aus@kangarootime.com
1300 993 226
www.kangarootime.com
Kidsoft
Kidsoft Team
di@kidsoft.com.au
1800 827 234
www.kidsoft.com.auÂ
Penelope QIP
Steve Collier
steve.collier@penelope.com.au
1300 435 962
www.penelope.com.au
Software & IT Support
PTC Phone Tech & Comm
Brodin Dalglish
brodin.dalglish@ptc.net.au
0476 668 889
www.ptc.net.au/business
QK Technologies - QikKids
QikKids Team
sales@qktech.com.au
1300 367 770
www.qikkids.com.au
Rubiks iT
Andre Campbell
support@rubiksit.com.au
07 5613 7889
www.rubiksit.com.au
Xap Technologies
Sean Murphy
sean@xap.com.au
1300 543 792
www.xap.net.au
Kayleen Tolley
info@physikids.com.au
0414 559 997
www.physikids.com.au
Child Care Super
Kylie Hancock
khancock@guildtrusteeservices.com.au
1800 810 213
www.childcaresuper.com.au
HESTA Super Fund
Joanne Fenton
jfenton@hesta.com.au
07 3223 4906
www.hesta.com.au
QIEC Super
Kate Graham
Kgraham@ngssuper.com.au
0437 516 830
www.qiec.com.au
ABC School Supplies
Graham Bone
info@abcschoolsupplies.com.au
07 3823 2999
www.abcschoolsupplies.com.au
MTA - Modern Teaching Aids
MTA Team
sales@teaching.com.au
02 9938 0411
www.teaching.com.au
Officeworks
John Rizk
grizk@officeworks.com.au
0439 284 173
www.officeworks.com.au
Pre-School Equipment
Karen Clark
info@preschoolequipment.com.au
1300 555 972
www.preschoolequipment.com.au
Think Education Supplies
David Knibbe
david@thinkeducation.com.au
07 3376 3497
www.thinkeducation.com.au
Sports and Fitness Physi Kids Superannuation
Toys, Resources & Suppliers
Training Providers ACE Community College
Robyn Keenan
Robyn.k@acecolleges.edu.au
07 5520 3026
www.acecolleges.edu.au
ACTAC - Australian College of Teacher Aides and Childcare
Erin Winsbury
enquiries@actac.com.au
1300 511 455
www.actac.com.au
Australian Compliance Management
Michael Demicoli
michael@auscm.com.au
1300 206 006
www.auscm.com.au
Child Wise
Paola Piccinno
paola.piccinno@childwise.org.au
03 9079 0427
www.childwise.org.au
CAECE - College for Australian Early Childhood Educators
CAECE Team
info@caece.com.au
07 3299 5784
www.caece.com.au
ECTARC - Early Childhood Training and Resource Centre
Melissa Moutia
info@ectarc.com.au
02 4223 1111
www.ectarc.com.au
Fluid First Aid
Gayle Guthrie
gayle@fluidlearning.com.au
1300 976 276
www.fluidfirstaid.com.au
In Safe Hands Educators in Safety
Michael Pecic
enquiries@insafehands.net.au
1300 794 644
www.insafehands.net.au
Inspire Education
Kirsten George
ECE.Trainers@inspireeducation.net.au
1800 506 509
www.inspireeducation.net.au
NFTI - National First Aid Institute
Liz Bryant
liz@nfti.com.au
07 5443 1966
www.nfti.edu.au
ParentTV
Sam Jockel
sam@parenttv.com
0401 198 625
www.parenttv.com
Phoenix Support
Sandi Phoenix
admin@phoenix-support.com.au
1300 361 243
www.phoenix-support.com.au
PST Training Store
Danielle Peters
danielle@thetrainingstore.com.au
1300 399 665
www.thetrainingstore.com.au
Triple P
Nikki Rassalski
contact@triplep.net
07 3636 1212
www.triplep.net
Herron Todd White
Simon Fox
simon.fox@htw.com.au
07 3002 0900
www.htw.com.au
Trivett Childcare Valuations
Darren Trivett
dtrivett@trivettchildcare.com.au
0419 776 008
www.trivett.net.au
Valuers
EARLY EDITION > SUMMER 2020 29
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