An introduction to programming and documentation by Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland

Kindergarten Advisory Support Service An introduction to programming and documentation

Foreword It is my pleasure to present An introduction to programming and documentation. Our task to meet the requirements of the National Quality Standard (NQS) using the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline (QKLG) is not small. We have produced a document that will provide clarity around the requirements of programming and documentation.

for children in their early years. Our aim is to improve outcomes for children, quality ratings, and to give you, the educator, confidence in recognising the value of your work and more time to enjoy your day.

The motivation of this resource is for us to sit down and reflect on our programming and documentation strategies, what works, what doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work and how we can streamline our current documentation requirements while accurately recording the journey of the children participating in our program. What we hope to achieve is for teachers and educators beginning to work with the frameworks to be guided in the development of programs in meeting the requirements of the NQS, EYLF and QKLG. It is important for teachers and educators to develop ways that work for their service, management, children and families. Therefore, this document is not prescriptive but more a guide in assisting to unpack the requirements in a clear and concise manner.

An introduction to programming and documentation is based on the successful Kindergarten Advisory Support Service (KASS) workshop called Taking a holistic approach to programming, documentation and kindergarten provided to all long day care services in Queensland free of charge. KASS is a service operated by Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland (ACA Qld) and is proudly funded and supported by the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments under the National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education.

Gwynn Bridge Chief Executive Officer Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland

I trust that you can apply this information to enhance the valuable work that you are doing An introduction to programming and documentation| 1

About the Authors Pam Maclean Pam Maclean, the Principal of Childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Play Consultancy Services, is renowned for her integrity and professional approach with over 30 years working in the early childhood education and care sector. Pam has expertise in service and playground design, professional development and mentoring of staff and auditing services to ensure optimum outcomes. She has a particular interest in arranging service space layouts to increase their appeal and positively affect childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s behaviour. Pam was the principal presenter in the three most recent Kindergarten Advisory Support Service (KASS) state-wide workshop series and has been engaged by Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland (ACA Qld) to provide professional development and mentoring to services in 2015. Pam holds a Master of Education (Educational Leadership). Further information is available at www.childsplayconsultancy.com.au

Linda McConville Linda McConville is the Operational Project Manager of Kindergarten Advisory Support Service (KASS) which is operated by Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland (ACA Qld). Linda is a registered teacher with a wealth of knowledge and experience from her 30 plus years in early childhood teaching which includes teaching in primary, pre-school and kindergarten, the long day care sector as Director of both rural, remote and metropolitan services and for many years as a validator with the National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC). As the project manager for KASS, Linda supports all long day care services and teachers across Queensland with the Queensland Kindergarten Funding Scheme (QKFS) and implementation of quality kindergarten programs.

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Contents Foreword 1 About the Authors

Introduction

Programming 5 Documentation 6 Learning stories

Programming cycle

Reflection 12 Activity 14 References 23

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Introduction The introduction to Quality Area 1 of the National Quality Standard (NQS) states that planning a program “involves observing, gathering and interpreting information about children to inform the preparation of environments and experiences that engage them and are meaningful for them.” “It also involves….documenting children’s experiences and learning.” When an educator understands the interests, concerns and aspirations of each child, they can provide relevant learning experiences and support children in their learning and development. Careful planning increases the value of children’s time in early education and care by ensuring that the educational program and practice responds to children’s interest and scaffolds their learning. The EYLF (page 46) defines scaffolding as “the educators’ decisions and actions that build on children’s existing knowledge and skills to enhance their learning.” Planning is also important in ensuring accountability to families and children, management and funding, and regulatory bodies. This guide explores programming and documentation that meets expectations of the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline (QKLG), Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and NQS. The perception in the community and expectations of parents is that kindergarten is a first step into more ‘formal’ learning.

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However, we are aware that learning begins much younger (i.e. at birth) and so all ages gain enormous value through early learning. It is seen as an opportunity to build foundations for each child before more formal schooling begins. The benefits from kindergarten programs can filter through the whole service, leading to a holistic approach across the service – not only for children, but for teachers and educators as well. Services are reporting how beneficial the kindergarten program has been for all age groups. This is due to the fact that it offers some new ideas and approaches, it complements the great things that were already happening in the service, and it offers a benchmark for other educators to aspire to. Kindergarten is an opportunity to develop strong parent and teacher relationships and can lead to increased parent understanding of their ongoing role in their child’s formal education.

Programming What is programming?

Why is programming important?

Programming refers to the process involved in planning and facilitating experiences for children. The program provides links with teachers and service philosophies and the learning outcomes of the QKLG and EYLF. The approved provider and nominated supervisor of an education and care service are responsible for ensuring that a suitable program based on an approved learning framework is delivered to all children (QA 1 NQS).

The program needs to offer evidence that it complies with the requirements of the NQS. Programming is a very important part of early childhood learning as it is where we demonstrate our knowledge of each individual child, their needs, abilities and strengths. The growing knowledge and understanding of children continues to inform our programs, and is evident as we interact with children and their families. An ongoing cycle of planning, documenting and evaluating childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning underpins the educational program and involves educators in thinking critically about what is offered and why (QA 1 NQS).

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Documentation What is documentation? Documentation is a vital, assessable tool that involves the recording of a number of elements that inform and make up a program. It records individual and group achievements and progress, and provides evidence of program evolution and development. In addition to their family backgrounds, influences and their strengths, information about each child should be documented as we observe them experiencing and understanding many activities and concepts each day. Our documentation also records daily information about small or whole group activity and learning, our routine, safety and other care issues, ideas for future learning for individual, small groups or whole group learning.

Why is documentation important? Without documentation we cannot implement our program and we cannot meet the requirements of the QKLG, EYLF, and NQS. Written plans, as well as records of child assessment and evaluations underpin our practice with children and families, and enhance the accountability and professionalism of the service (QA 1 NQS). The goal of documentation is to build an overall picture of each child by taking a holistic approach. Our documentation records will celebrate children’s attempts, achievements and learning over a period of time.

How do I document? The documentation process involves recording significant events for each child. Knowing what a significant event is depends on our knowledge of each child. It is important to tailor the methods of observation that we use for each child, as every child is different. It is also important to use a variety of documentation 6 | Kindergarten Advisory Support Service

methods, as each method has its own merits. Using a combination of approaches will help to clearly identify our program’s links to QKLG, EYLF and NQS. The process of documenting helps clarify the purpose of decisions and makes plans visible to children, families, colleagues, assessors and other partners who support children’s learning (QKLG page 10).

What do I document? Our documentation for each child may be different – we can apply varying methods to suit each child’s needs, developmental requirements and interests in a strengths-based curriculum. It will record recent program events and inform future program development. There will be times when we need to document concerns about a child in a particular developmental area or other related issue. These may be filed separately as the content may not be suitable for public display. When recording this type of information, remember that it may need to be shared with the child’s family at some point in time so it is important to record strengths and not deficits and to maintain professionalism when documenting.

How much documentation is required? There is no specific number of documentation elements recommended for each child or the group as a whole. We use our professional judgment to focus on quality, not quantity. We do not record every event for each child – only significant incidents that impact on their learning or achievements. This is where being attuned to, and building knowledge of, each child is vital – we will recognise when something happens that is significant for each child and worth recording.

Learning stories What is a learning story? A learning story is one form of documentation that is written in narrative form. It uses storytelling to recognise and describe the learning that is taking place through a child’s play. It is a way for educators to observe, document and interpret children’s learning habits. The narrative format presents the information in a family-friendly way that is easy to read.

Are learning stories required? Learning stories are not a requirement. While learning stories do offer many elements that support the requirements of the QKLG, EYLF and NQS, they are not the only way to document children’s learning and achievements. If we do use learning stories as a form of documentation, it is important to incorporate other methods as well.

Components of learning stories If we do decide to use a learning story for documentation, we need to be aware that learning stories should have:

about the child’s approach to learning – use educational language, incorporating the terminology of QKLG and EYLF in our documentation and demonstrate it within our practices. Potentially include ideas to extend the child’s learning in this section. • The links between service philosophy, QKLG and EYLF learning outcomes – use some of these outcomes – we don’t need to use all of them every time. • A space for families and children to add their thoughts and comments in response to the story – this is a valuable opportunity to obtain input from families and get them involved in the exciting experience for their child. It is important to jot down what they say as soon as they say it. This means our notes are more likely to accurately capture feedback from parents or children as it is recorded in their own words. Learning stories are family-friendly and eyecatching; however, they must be correct and not our only source of observations on children.

• A title and date – It can be useful to ask the child featured in the image for a title because they will know what they were thinking about at the time • Images or photographs to illustrate the point of the story – use 1-4 photos • A story told subjectively, not objectively – learning stories are different to objective observations so it is important to include our own conjecture about what the child was thinking, doing or feeling at the time. • A section to explain what happened for the child – we might start this by saying ‘I noticed you...’ or ‘I saw...’ or ‘Today you...’ • A section in which we include information

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Programming cycle The Programming Cycle – sometimes referred to as the Planning Cycle – is the order in which a series of steps are performed in developing and implementing a program. As we work our way through the cycle, we can document each step using a variety of recording methods. Our knowledge and understanding of the children, families and community grows during each cycle and informs the next cycle. The important thing to understand is that there is no ‘right way’ to plan a program; however, there are common steps. We may organise our system quite differently to the example shown below (Figure 1), of a programming cycle. Throughout this process, our knowledge and understanding of each child grows, deepens and informs the next cycle of planning.

Observe There are many types of documentation which can be used to record information about children. Examples of documentation methods include (but are not limited to): • anecdotal records • jottings • checklists • photo observations • learning stories • work samples • sociograms • movement tracking sheets • conversations with children • video/audio recordings • strength tree • web chart.

Figure 1 - The Programming Cycle

Extend

Observe

The Programming Cycle

Evaluate

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Plan

Implement

We should use each type of documentation when it is best suited for a given situation or event, or for a particular child we may have specific concerns about. Each child’s individual records will develop quite differently over time as we use our knowledge to record their progress in the ways that are most appropriate for them. This is the holistic approach, which relies on knowing and understanding each child. There are no rules about how many or which methods we should use. We may revisit the same method many times for each child or across the group if it works well. We need to use a variety of methods so we can demonstrate and talk about how we are capturing information across a range of developmental areas, children’s achievements and gathering evidence of progress for each child. Sharing ideas, observations and plans with colleagues is an important part of effective programming. Each person brings their own experience, understandings and perspective to their observations of each child which can be invaluable. Someone else may know more about a particular child than we do, and their insights could be very helpful. We are also resources; and should be collaborative and share the education and care commitment with colleagues and families. When we are assessed, we may be asked about our programs, routines and procedures. It is important that we can confidently speak about the steps we take, how we work with children, strategies we use, how we implement them, and demonstrate that we understand how we work towards helping children to achieve the learning outcomes. We need to use the correct terminology for the way in which we work. If we scaffold, we need to say so. If we intentionally teach or coconstruct events, we need to say that as well. It is important that we are familiar with the words and use them daily. We will be expected to be able to explain these concepts and how we implement them.

Plan Planning is an essential part of programming and documentation. It is our responsibility to ensure we always plan ahead. We should record our plan to set out our thoughts, ideas and intentional teaching plans for children based on our knowledge. We should start each day with items on our planning sheet that reflect our previous observations of children, and should include our ideas to extend and build on earlier achievements, discussions with colleagues and parents, and any notes we have made previously. Likewise, we should include intentional teaching items that we have planned based on our understanding of which stage the children are at and their interests. As the day progresses, we can add items to the plan based on children’s ideas and interests, as well as our own observations and the input of colleagues and families. We will spot moments when children’s eyes light up. It is important that we are responsive when they become interested in something they see, hear, or do to ensure that we facilitate children’s exploration.

Implement The implementation stage of the planning cycle is where we ensure that we continually facilitate children’s thinking by offering a range of items and ideas to promote their interests in a learning partnership. As we work with children throughout the day, we should note their interests and offer guidance when needed. We should remain purposeful and thoughtful as we work, using intentional teaching strategies like scaffolding, modelling, explaining, investigating or co-constructing events. We may also wish to add provocations to encourage the children and to achieve certain goals we have set for them. Throughout the day, we need to record significant events as they occur based on our knowledge of each child and what is significant for them. It is only necessary to record

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significant events - not everything that happens. Throughout this process, our knowledge and understanding of each child grows, deepens and informs the next planning cycle.

Intentional teaching Using intentional teaching strategies helps teachers to be purposeful and think on their feet. It is important to demonstrate your intentional teaching skills by making sure you: encourage, explain, instruct, listen, model, offer choice, challenge, co-construct, collaborate, identify, imagine, make connections, negotiate, question, research, revisit and scaffold. Further information and explanations regarding intentional teaching practices can be found on page 63 of the QKLG.

Example Imagine that a child arrives at your service and excitedly tells you that on the way they had to pull over to the side of the road to let a big fast fire engine g0 past . An intentional teacher would take note of this snippet of information and make sure that they talk about and explore it with the child. There are a number of ways that the teacher could explore this interest, as fire engines relate to many different curriculum areas. Some of the related subject areas include: colours, transport, community helpers, safety, signs and uniforms. An intentional teacher would mentally note the possible avenues for exploring this interest and would think on their feet when discussing it with the child. It is important to remain flexible, as the child may take it to another area you hadn’t thought of or they may mention something you had already considered.

Evaluate Evaluation refers to the analysis of specific events and goals we have set in our education program. Do not confuse evaluation with reflective practice. It is more specific than reflective practice, which broadly reflects upon a range of issues. When we evaluate, we should 10 | Kindergarten Advisory Support Service

assess how the program or a specific event is performing in relation to our objectives. It is important that we think about, and record our thoughts on how the event or program has progressed. This includes recording what worked well, what we may try differently and how the learning outcomes are being achieved (or not achieved). We should also ensure that we refer to the QKLG and ELYF learning outcomes to measure and record achievements for individual children, small groups and whole groups. We might evaluate how we managed a particular event or experience, or how our team worked together to accomplish the outcomes we wished to achieve for the group. If needed, we can record notes about individual children, ensuring that we file these notes appropriately within that child’s records. Such documentation may cover evaluation of an intentional teaching experience for an individual child, how they managed a new experience, as well as any other items that are relevant and appropriate for that child over time. It is important to record the child’s voice in your documentation.

Extend The extension step in the cycle is where we record ideas that will enhance and build on what we already know about the children’s learning. We need to discuss with our colleagues what we have observed about individual children or the group as a whole. Whenever and wherever possible it is important for experiences to be extended upon immediately. Other experiences might be used to develop ideas for the future. We need to document these ideas and use them to inform our future program cycles. To extend the learning experiences and interests of children, small groups and whole groups, some extension ideas we may act on in the very next programming cycle, whereas others we may not use until we have agreed upon the appropriate timing, resources, and implementation strategy. It is important to incorporate parent and child input, and include the ideas they may offer you to enrich the program. If you do implement their

ideas, provide feedback to encourage them to offer more ideas in the future. Encouraging family input also helps meet QA6 of the NQS and develops relationships with families in the service to a higher level. Element 6.1.2 states that “families have opportunities to be involved in the service and contribute to service decisions.” In genuine partnerships, families and educators value each other’s knowledge and roles, communicate freely and respectfully, and engage in shared decision making (ELYF page 12). “When all partners have a voice and share in decision making, they begin to feel empowered and connected with others. Engaged teachers purposefully create opportunities for partners to contribute to children’s learning in a variety of ways, such as…….involving parents in the program….” (QKLG page 22)

Programming cycle considerations As we complete each stage of the programming cycle, it is important to remember to include links to the teacher and service philosophy, as well as the NQS, QKLG, and EYLF learning outcomes as we document the steps. Demonstrating our knowledge of these areas ensures we are meeting all documentation requirements. Document the steps as we go and store the documentation in the appropriate places, such as a child’s individual folio, our planning folder or service archives. Make copies if something needs to go in more than one place to create a complete record. We can save time by being creative in how we record and utilise our documentation.

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Reflection Reflective practice (also known as critical reflection) is an important element of working with young children. Meaningful reflection is expected of professional teachers and educators, and should be embedded in our thinking, planning and practices. Element 1.2.3 of NQS states that “reflective practice is a form of ongoing learning that involves engaging with questions of philosophy, ethics and practice. Its intention is to gather information and gain insights that support, inform and enrich decision making about children’s learning. As professionals, educators examine what happens in their settings and reflect on what they might change or develop.” Reflective practice is different to evaluation which focuses on the outcome of specific events. Reflection, on the other hand, involves a detailed assessment of a range of issues throughout the programming cycle. It is about considering our role in the practice. This includes asking questions, which often start with ‘how do we...’ or ‘have we...’. Probing questions such as these look at such issues as how we’ve managed our time, how our team works together, and how efficient our protocols are. We should reflect on the cycle, the various elements and how we manage and work through them with our colleagues, children and families. The reflective process is necessary to assess the performance of ourselves and our team in providing effective care. The purpose of reflecting is to bring about needed change, or to explain why we do not need to change our practices. The process can identify broader issues which need to be discussed with the whole team. Holding reflective staff meetings helps to develop a group consensus about how best to change or update procedures. Discussing issues with colleagues can also lead to creative solutions that we may not have considered individually. Reflection helps with being self-aware as 12 | Kindergarten Advisory Support Service

professionals in order to develop our own goals, and to identify and address areas we need to extend and develop further. It also helps build stronger teams, particularly when teachers and educators can offer acceptance, support and assistance to each other as we all develop professionally. The reflective process should be documented carefully. It is important that we record these reflections in an appropriate place. It is preferable that we store these reflections in a place where we can refer to them in future, as we will need to revisit these documents.

Example An example of reflective practice is asking yourself: ‘How do we make sure our hand washing procedures align with best practice expectations?’ To answer this question you should look at the recommendations for hand washing procedures and compare that to what you do. If needed, you should update your policy and procedures to ensure they align with the national standard. If it is not necessary, you should still document the reflective process, noting that your current hand washing procedures are sufficient.

Making links between QKLG, EYLF, NQS and philosophy There are various ways that we can make links between the EYLF, QKLG, NQS and philosophy. For example, we can: • include them in our daily/weekly ‘What we did sheet’ • record direct links to the QKLG, EYLF, NQS and philosophy on our program sheet • display them on a parent information board with images to illustrate the content • not document the links at all. Some department offices prefer to see the links and some don’t mind if we simply explain them

verbally or in writing. It is advisable to discuss this with our local department representative before assessment to establish their preference. There are no shortcuts to this â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it is essential to know and appreciate the links and outcomes of the QKLG and EYLF. It is important to keep a copy of the learning outcomes for QKLG and EYLF available at planning time so we can refer to them frequently. Over time, we will learn them and find it increasingly easy to relate the outcomes to our program and more importantly demonstrate this in our practice every day. Once we are familiar with the links, we might choose to demonstrate that we understand them verbally and, consequently, less often in our documentation.

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Activity The following are activities for you to practice making the links using the QKLG, EYLF and NQS.

A. 2 Boys with cars Two boys discussed how to make roads for the vehicles in the town they had created. They wondered if they should have traffic lights to keep everyone safe and if there should be roundabouts like the one near their local shops. Your task is to identify links to the following three documents. What are the links to: EYLF

QKLG