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Wednesday, 06 October 2010

INDEPENDENT INDUSTRY ARTICLE

The Early Years Learning Framework - How ??

Are you looking into building a brand new Child Care Centre or perhaps you are looking at purchasing an existing child care centre. Well keep on reading as there are many aspects that required to be looked at to begin your new and very exciting journey into the Child Care Industry and for you to commence the wonderful satisfaction of owning your own childcare business, and Succeed Consultancy can help you in everyway right from the very beginning.

Change is inevitable and we all find it hard to make changes when we are comfortable in what we are doing and how we educate children?

The introduction of the Early Years Learning Framework (abbreviated to EYLF for short) has created many mixed emotions within the Early Childhood Industry. Throughout travelling to many centres across several states there has been the common response to the EYLF and that has been...

“Where do I start and what do I do” “I am confused”

As usual it is sound practical information for owner operators, investors and new buyers alike. You can contact Succeed Consultancy on the numbers provided below or visit the Succeed Consultancy website for more information at:

www.succeedconsultancy.com.au

So before we start we need to look at the background on the introduction of the Early Years Learning Framework.

The Early Years Learning Framework has been developed collaboratively by the State and Territory Governments with substantial input from the early childhood sector and early childhood academics. The Framework has incorporated feedback from an extensive consultation process, including two national symposiums, national public consultation forums, focus groups, an online forum and case-study trials.

This is Australia’s first national curriculum for Early Childhood services. The aim of this curriculum is to extend and enrich children’s learning from birth to five years and through the transition to school (The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia)

Throughout this article I will provide you with great tips and strategies on ways to assist with guiding, mentoring and teaching your staff about the EYLF and how to implement this into your centre.

First and foremost it is important that staff are provided with information on the EYLF to understand what is involved in and what foundations underpin the curriculum.

The EYLF document and a wide range of other relevant resources on EYLF can be found on the DEEWR website at www.deewr.gov.au

Downloading the fact sheets and the EYLF document is the first step in providing your staff with knowledge and information about the curriculum. The EYLF document clearly articulates the core aims and expected outcomes of the EYLF, you will find definitions of the learning outcomes, principles and practices.

Remember that you have time to train your staff and get them familiar with this which is exactly also the aim from DEEWR as stated on their website. You may need to read it two to three times to gain a clear understanding.

“At this introductory stage, early childhood services are expected to familiarise themselves with the Early Years Learning Framework and map their existing practice against the principles and practice outlined in the Framework. It is expected that, following a period of familiarisation, each early childhood service will develop their own strategy to implement the Framework, taking their own unique context into consideration”. http://www.deewr.gov.au/Earlychildhood/Policy_Agenda/Quality/
Pages/EarlyYearsLearningFramework.aspx

From here you can arrange a “discussion night” with your staff where staff can come back into the discussions and talk about what they have read, understood and their understanding of the EYLF. This is a great starting point as staff can share their ideas and this may assist other staff with areas that they might not understand. Openly discussing what staff have read creates an open and honest meaning to networking and sharing information.

Where to from here?

It is important to emphasise that there is lots of reading materials out there for everyone to read and become familiar with but the one missing link to this is that there is no supporting documentation for services to know how to implement this.

This has been left open for interpretation, there are no explicit details on how the Early Years Learning Framework needs to be implemented. This is up to you, your staff, your parents, your community and service. It’s about your interpretation and the needs of your service.
Again throughout working with many centres they have all been crying out for training that offers these real life examples and guidance to how they can implement this.

It is recommended that staff be booked into a training session for the Early Years Learning Framework but be mindful that there are going to many different versions of the Early Years Learning Framework and how this is documented. So when you are booking your training be sure that this training is not just a re-hash of the information that you can easily obtain from websites and government departments, hence one that will provide your centre and staff with real life and practical ideas on how to implement this.

Attending training with clear examples gives you and your service a basis to get started, with concrete examples you will have a base to start.

Succeed Consultancy have developed a step by step manual with formats, procedures and systems to meet the Early Years Learning Framework that is broken down into simplistic terms and provides many examples of child observations, planning and evaluation on a group and individual basis.

Succeed Consultancy has delivered the EYLF training to over 450 participants in over 80 sessions.

Some of our participant’s comments are;

“Wow, finally an ELYF training that I can walk away from feeling confident and empowered, rather than scared and confused”

“Finally, a training session that hasn’t regurgitated the document of the DEEWR website”

“I love the real life examples and seeing the samples of implementation, I now have a base to commence implementation in our Centre”.

“Not only did each participant get a copy of the training notes, we also received a FREE Succeed manual with step by step examples. This information is like gold and gives me something to take away to take back and revisit as many times I want or need to assist me with the implementation, thank you Succeed!”

To find out more about EYLF and Succeed Consultancy’s training packages please ring 1300 077 248. Training per participant can be as little as $30.00 per participant, or buy the EYLF manual on its own for $250.00 or soft copy per room (for laptop programs) $750.00. All training sessions receive an EYLF manual FREE

Once staff have been involved in a training session they will get a much clearer understanding of how the information that they have been reading can be implemented into their teaching and daily practices.

This also assists in building their confidence in implementing this as they have been given concrete samples and ideas on how to establish and incorporate this into their current practices.

From here continue to offer the training / discussion nights to further build staff’s knowledge and understanding of this. Great strategies as the ones below can be incorporated to extend on this.

Quiz staff at each meeting on what the 5 learning outcomes are. This does not have to be a test but can be made into a fun team building experience where teams are given points for correct answers and then a small prize at the end.
Throughout the month prior to the meeting have staff take a range of photos of children engaging in play and photos that they may normally use for their daily programs, observations and daily dairies. Then get butchers paper and write the 5 learning outcomes separately on the paper. Staff bring these to the meetings and together as a team staff place these photos next to the Learning Outcome that they feel the photo relates to.
(This will give the staff more confidence to know how the experiences that they are already implementing do not change; they will just come under the outcomes rather than developmental areas and how the outcomes can intertwine).
Once you feel confident that staff are becoming familiar with the learning outcomes then break this down further. Next to each learning outcome break down the key components to learning that outline this outcome. Then again with the photos have staff place them next to the actual key components of learning that the experience in the photo relates to.
You can also apply this strategy to the principles and practice within EYLF; staff become familiar with this- without the stress of having this in a formal program as of yet, but just simply building their confidence. We all know that when we are out of our comfort zone it is daunting, inhibiting and scary; but once we understand and start our confidence grows and we run with it.
Another fun learning experience for staff is what I like to call “EYLF spot find”. Here you will have 5 large circles places on the floor with the 5 learning outcomes written on them. Two at a time (depending on the size of your group) you provide staff with a photos (that you have prepared prior to this of children engaging in various play experiences) and then the staff are to then run and find the learning outcome that applies to this and explains to the group the photo and why they feel this relates to this experience. Extension for this is then have staff explain which key component to learning, principles and practice this relates to. As we often say “Children learn through fun and play”, well this same theory can apply to our staff too!

Use your imagination and ideas from your staff on how you can implement a range of experiences and training session, fun and serious that can assist your staff to become more confident and knowledgeable about the Early Years Learning Framework.

Another great strategy is take your current program and change your current terminology to the terminology in the EYLF, this way your staff continue to use their current program with EYLF terminology. Once they feel comfortable; continue to discuss and collaborate as a team to continue to implement the EYLF into your current program this will result in your service evolving into the EYLF at a pace they control whilst achieving a combination of the new and the old.
Once you have given your staff the confidence, knowledge and understanding of the Early Years Learning Framework they are ready to fly and commence putting this into practice. Remember that this will take them time to be confident with this and know that they are on the right path. Be sure that staff are provided with consistent feedback and guidance on this.

Staff will also then have the skills and the knowledge to then assist in educating your families in this. Great team work and collaboration to educating families will assist in families in feeling that they are an important part to the change and knowing what is involved in this change.

Remember to keep families up to date via signage and regular updates in your newsletter.

Remember there is no right or wrong way to implement the EYLF, it is up to your service to decide the best way to implement it!

The key is not to be afraid and to give this a go. There is only one way to conquer the changes and that is to START!!!!

Tanya Clayson
Operations Manager
September 2010

We hope you enjoyed a few simple tips to assist you to start EYLF. For more information on Succeed Consultancy and our 100% money back guarantee on our services please contact us on:

P: 1300 077 248

Or visit us at: www.succeedconsultancy.com.au

Proudly brought to you by industry expert; Tanya Clayson from Succeed Consultancy.
Email: enquiries@succeedconsultancy.com.au or visit www.succeedconsultancy.com.au

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