In Quality Area 1, early learning services are focused on providing a rich, engaging, and inclusive educational program that supports children's learning and development. An "Exceeding" service ensures that the program is shaped by both the individual needs of children and the perspectives and values of families and the community.
August 2024 - Based on feedback and reflections from educators we have decided to reflect and implement on an educational approach called 'Slow Pedagogy' which will heavily influence the way we program and our implementation and practice. Our goals for each of the Quality Area 1 areas remain the same, the approach we take will be different as we reflect and take on aspects of this approach.
What are we trying to achieve?
Programs allow children to facilitate their own learning. The program reflects children's knowledge, strengths, interests, voices and cultures. Educators maximise the learning potential of routines and transitions through programming meaningful care moments.
What are we doing?
Adapting and changing programming methods to explore programming options that allow the facilitation of child input.
Using the environment as the third educator to promote the creation of stimulating and engaging room environments.
What are we trying to achieve?
Critical Reflection is the main driver for program and quality improvement within the service and within the rooms. Educators are able to contribute to, conduct and follow actions as part of critical reflections within their rooms and the service.
What are we doing?
Identifying barriers in Critical Reflection method.
Staff Meeting to educate on Critical Reflection
Create a culture of reflection beginning with the leadership team.
What are we trying to achieve?
Educators are intentional, deliberate and purposeful with their actions.
Experiences and learning have clear cut explanations and reasoning.
Care moments and transitions are utilised as meaningful educational moments.
What are we doing?
Intention focused provocation challenges.
Environments are updates and changed to reflect child interests to offer an engaging and stimulating environment.
Programming intentional moments during embedded care routines and transitions.
Professional development - exploring learning methods and theories.
Embedding transition and routine songs that are universal across the service.
Critical reflections on room routines, encouraging rooms to adjust the routines to meet the needs of the children.
1.1.1 Approved Learning Framework - Curriculum decision-making contributes to each child's learning and development outcomes in relation to their identity, connection with community, wellbeing, confidence as learners and effectiveness as communicators.
Our Centre Philosophy guides curriculum planning and decision making.
Educators consult families and children to gain information about each child’s strengths and interests.
Children are offered long periods of uninterrupted play across indoor/outdoor environments.
Flexible routines foster the needs and interests of children and allows for long periods of uninterrupted play across the indoor and outdoor environments.
Children’s learning and development is supported with educators building relationships with children and families in order to know children better and provide them with a program that will provide them with the best possible outcomes.
Educators carry out observations and reflections to analyse and understand children ensure learning through opportunities that are intentional, meaningful and individualised.
Educators complete 2 summative assessments for each child, assessing the child's learning and development against the developmental milestones and the Early Years Learning Framework or Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline. Educators recognise and inform parents that these reports aren't to measure children against each other but to assess where each child is at in their individual development and to help educators identify areas where the child may need support. We approach our summative assessment with a strength based lens, addressing the personal attribute that contribute to children's learning and development.
1.1.2 Child-centered - Each child's current knowledge, strengths, ideas, culture, abilities and interests are the foundation of the program
Upon enrolment, information is gathered about each child via documents and conversations.
Stay and play days are offered to all families, providing further opportunities for families to gather information about the child, this information is used to support curriculum planning and decision making.
Room programs are created based on family input, children’s interest/voices and developmental needs. Parent Input is evident on the program and has been documented in planners, in reflections, and children’s profiles.
Cultural Diversity is incorporated into our rooms and programs in collaboration with families.
1.1.3 Program Learning Opportunities - All aspects of the program, including routines, are organised in ways that maximise opportunities for each child's learning
Our curriculum provides children with a variety of experiences to extend their learning.
Routines are flexible, promoting learning and independence.
Educators incorporate Abecedarian Learning Games into the day to day of the room to promote language development through routines and transitions.
1.2.1 Intentional Teaching - Educators are deliberate, purposeful, and thoughtful in their decisions and actions
Educators use and reflect on a variety of teaching strategies to support children in their learning and development such as scaffolding, intentional teaching and modelling.
Educators use communication strategies relevant to the individual children in consultation with families and other professionals, specific to age groups including sign language, pictures/images, and text. This information is shared with families through emails, OWNA, observations, and face-to-face discussions.
Educators utilise the Abecedarian Approach to support children's language development. They prioritise language learning and enriched caregiving in an intentional and purposeful way, supporting children's learning and development.
1.2.2 Responsive teaching and scaffolding - Educators respond to children's ideas and play and extend children's learning through open-ended questions, interactions and feedback
The educators respond to children’s ideas, gathering this information through conversations, observations, group discussions, children’s choice, and family input. In doing so the educators are creating learning environments that enable children to freely access resources of interest, explore nature, be curious, more resilient while building children’s confidence. We also challenge children’s current skills and abilities.
Educators observe and extend children's emerging and spontaneous interests throughout the day, recording them on the program and then extending through planned experiences and in the moment responsive teaching.
1.2.3 Child Directed Learning - Each child's agency is promoted, enabling them to make choice and decisions that influence events and their world.
Educators engage in discussions with children to plan learning experiences and extend on children’s learning and development. Educators involve younger children in making decisions by following their learning cues and gathering information from families. Children are empowered to voice their opinions and have their say. Children are also involved in setting up the daily environments and future projects.
Children's voices are used to shape decisions that affect them. We consult the children in regards to menu formation and resources for indoor and outdoor environments as well as their contributions to the daily program and their learning environments.
1.3.1 Assessment and Planning Cycle - each child's learning and development is assessed or evaluated as part of an ongoing cycle of observation, analysing learning, documentation, planning, , implementation and reflection
Educators use the ongoing cycle of observation to document children’s learning, achievements and goals. Educators evaluate the learning experience, reflect on the learning experience then plan to extend ensuring children’ learning and development is being supported. Educators undertake monthly observations of each child which get shared to parents for feedback. We use tracking milestones to assist guiding children’s individual goals.
1.3.2 Critical Reflection - Critical reflection on children's learning and development, both as individuals and in groups, drives program planning and implementation.
Educators reflect daily in relation to their program and monthly on their routines & practices. Educators daily conversations with children, families and stakeholders also provides opportunities for critical reflection. The Educational Leader and Director regularly reviews these reflections and able to prompt further reflective questions to ensure improvement is ongoing
1.3.3 Information for Families - families are informed about the program and their child's progress
The service collaborates, involves and invite parents into every aspect of the curriculum. Through close communication with families, we regularly receive parent input and information ranging from activities on the weekend to personal family details and general information on development and interests.
On arrival and departure educators discuss children’s day with them. We share information using a variety of platforms, books, emails, face to face, parent information desk.
In children’s rooms we have the weekly program on display and the learning framework relevant to our centre.
Transition Statements are shared and discussed with the families ahead of transitions.
Educators encourage and facilitate meetings with families to offer support and information in regards to their child's learning and development.
Practice is embedded in service operations
Approved Learning framework - Educator utilise the Butler Weekly Programming Diaries which outline the Approved Learning framework for our service (The Early Years Learning Framework and Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline). Educators use codes and colour coding for every experience outlined within the program to identify what learning is taking place in accordance with Approved Learning Frameworks. Educators tick which outcomes they are utilizing throughout the week to make it easier to identify which outcomes go regularly unmet. This aids educators to make curriculum decisions based on the approved learning frameworks in order to meet the learning needs of the children.
Child-centred - Educators identify emerging interests on the program through recording their spontaneous play choices, educators also include children'd voices on the program and tailor the program to their needs and interests. Educators use the code CI to identify experiences that have come directly from the children. Our centre reflects with the children in 'The Jarjum Meeting Book' to reflect on our environments, menus, programming and incursions.
Flow Theory - Educators use 'Flow Theory' by Csikszentmihalyi (1990) when considering program and provide resources and experiences that are challenging enough to stimulate the children but aren't so hard that they're impossible. This is how children achieve flow which is the brain's optimal state. EVIDENCE: FLOW THEORY NOTES
Individual Learning Goals - Educators collaborate with the children, other educators and families to set individual learning goals. Educators use a range of documentation methods to record children's progress towards these goals. Planning for individual children's learning needs is written on the program.
Program learning opportunities - Educators use Abecedarian learning games, phoenix cups, rituals and rhythms to maximise the learning opportunities throughout the entire day.
1.2 Practice
Intentional teaching - our centre has reformed our practice through adopting slow pedagogy. This has changed our educators practice to be no longer clock driven and educators focus on fostering strong and meaningful relationships with children.
Rhythms and rituals - influenced by slow pedagogy we have adapted our daily rhythms throughout the room. All the clocks were removed from the rooms to prevent educators from being clock driven. We have noticed that the energy within the service has shifted into a calm flow throughout the rooms. Educators are calm and relaxed throughout the day and a re more present with the children during routine times. We are critically reflecting on our rhythms to introduce more rituals which will add a deeper level of intention and meaning.
Responsive teaching - all educators undertook Phoenix Cups training which is influenced by modern behavioural theorists such as Glasser (1998) and Maslow (1954). This training influenced educators approach to programming and practice as the educators are informed of children needs. Educators are responsive to the needs and interests of the children using this framework to identify 'cups' that need filling and any physiological needs that need attending to first. Educators also attend to children's learning needs throughout the day and identify learning needs through assessment and observations.
1.3 Assessment and Planning
Assessment and Planning Cycle - we updated our observation cycle to be shorter and more impactful. Our educators were spending lots of time away from children to complete long observations but when we really examined the cycle we found that the long observations were unnecessary as educators were just writing to fill a word count rather than writing to demonstrate the children's learning. We also noticed that long periods away from the children was having an impact on the children's day. We reduced the size of the observations to give educators more time to foster relationships with the children and to make the observations.
Practice is informed by critical reflection
Slow Pedagogy (for more information about our progress through this goal see QA5 - Slow Pedagogy)
From July 2024 our educators presented concerns around 'not having enough time' for building strong relationships with children based on the amount of paperwork, children's routines and cleaning the job entails. We began critically reflecting on our values as a service and found slow pedagogy through our research. This approach values the present moment and matching our pace to the energy of the room. We began by researching and coming together with our findings before we began to implement our research. We have noticed a large shift and positive impact across our whole service.
Room Leader Meetings
We hold fortnightly room leader meetings and a junior/senior room leader meeting
Programs are marked with linking stickers to Phoenix Cups, 8 Ways of Aboriginal Learning and the centre philosophy, so they actively engage with multiple frameworks and perspectives of learning.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives are included via the use of stickers linking to the 8 Ways of Aboriginal Learning.
Practice is shaped by meaningful engagement with families and/or community
Family Yarning Circles - Our Educational Leader has regular meetings with families members to recognise their right as stakeholders within our service and to ensure that they are a part of large service decisions and to gain their feedback and input. Together with the Educational Leader we discussed slow pedagogy and why we were adopting this pedagogical framework and opened to floor to suggestions and input. The families agreed with the approach and suggested that the daily posts be reduced from three to one with quality videos and photos to relieve some of the paperwork and allow more time for quality connections between educators and children.