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.

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 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? What is the ROSE Way and why does

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>