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I think that what we could contribute to the world would be the creation of some new instruments of measurement that somehow capture some of the intangibles that make our work so powerful. When I hear assessment, I think of occasions where a child has made a breakthrough in being kind, in offering care to a friend, or in overcoming a fear, to try something new. My associations with 'assessment' are that they are more based on things that are easy to measure (like results of tests), but that really miss the point when describing whole human beings. How do you measure bravery? compassion and care? a willingness to make mistakes, and to keep going in the face of those mistakes? Why not highlight these things in our developing toolkit (and not just through daily photoblasts...).

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1. Do you believe that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being form part of our unique Australian pedagogy?

2. What are the practices that you are currently engaging in that will sustain us in terms of the future, so that we can take this talk and transform it into walk?

Join the conversation in the comments section below.

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05.23 ECA Podcast Series 3 Branding FB IG 1200x1200px 2

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Educator perspectives on embedding Acknowledgement to Country practices in early learning centres in Australia

This article explores the practices of ‘Acknowledgement to Country’ in Australian early childhood education contexts.
Twenty educators across six early learning centres participated in semi-structured interviews to explore the experience, processes and resources that supported the implementation of Acknowledgement practices.

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Reconciliation in Children's Education and Care―Taking the First Steps - Early Childhood Australia Learning Hub

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Reconciliation in Children's Education and Care - Taking the First Steps

This course will help you take your first steps towards embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and reconciliation into your daily practice. By referencing the truth about Australia’s history, this course explains how knowledge and personal beliefs may impact your experience of reconciliation and how they form the foundation for building reconciliation in education and care practice.

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COMING SOON: Reconciliation in Children's Education and Care―Taking the First Steps - Early Childhood Australia Learning Hub

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Exploring reconciliation in early childhood education and care settings can be an extremely powerful way of teaching children about culture and introducing them to concepts such as respect, equity and justice. This course will help you take your first steps towards embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and reconciliation into your daily practice....

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Early Childhood Australia's Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan 2023 - 2026 Winanggaay: Look, Listen and Learn

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Is there a unique Australian pedagogy that we can see through these platforms?

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05.23 ECA Podcast Series 3 Branding FB IG 1200x1200px 2

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1. What are you afraid of in terms of assessment?

2. How can we claim authentic assessment?

Join the conversation in the comments below.

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05.23 ECA Podcast Series 3 Branding FB IG 1200x1200px 2

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1. Does our relationships with families and community define our unique Australian pedagogy?

2. How are you engaging with children, families & community in relational pedagogy? Provide some examples.

Join the conversation in the comments section below.

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05.23 ECA Podcast Series 3 Branding FB IG 1200x1200px 2

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1. How courageous are you when it comes to introducing technology in your program? Tell us about that.

2. Where do you sit on the divide between nature play and technology play?

Join the conversation in the comments section below.

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05.23 ECA Podcast Series 3 Branding FB IG 1200x1200px 2

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1. How is it that we can claim nature pedagogy as uniquely Australian?

2. If we are going to define this as part of our pedagogy, how would we do so? What words and language are we using to define that?

Join the conversation in the comments section below.

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05.23 ECA Podcast Series 3 Branding FB IG 1200x1200px 2

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1. Where’s the joy in using equity to frame our work?

2. When have you been surprised by a child? When have your assumptions been blown out of the water and what happened?

Join the conversation in the comments section below.

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05.23 ECA Podcast Series 3 Branding FB IG 1200x1200px 2

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Define unique features of pedagogy here in Australia.

- Do you have any suggestions for new landings or alternatives to those discussed?
- What brings joy to your pedagogy? Does it have a unique Australian flavour?

Join the conversation in the comments section below.

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This resource is a curated collection of innovative online professional learning resources to support inclusive practices in early childhood education and care settings.

This collection of free resources aims to support increased knowledge, skills and confidence in the inclusion of children with a diagnosed disability, but also children with other factors that may affect their general wellbeing and engagement in early learning, such as:

cultural and linguistic diversity

dysregulation and maladaptive behaviours

anxiety and trauma

children experiencing diminished wellbeing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children

vulnerable or at-risk children.

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Inclusion in early childhood - free resources and professional learning - Early Childhood Australia Learning Hub

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Access, participation and positive outcomes: Inclusion in early childhood is a free resource for educators at every stage of their career. The collection includes: collection of online self-paced professional learning courses series of short animations in accessible language 12-episode podcast series set of downloadable e-books with practical approaches to supporting children's development.

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Adventures by the river
Every Child Vol. 27 No. 4 2021

A Western Australian school’s innovative nature-based program, led by early childhood educator Asha Rojahn, encourages young children to learn more about themselves and the wide world around them.

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Statement on the inclusion of children in early childhood education and care – October 2016
This statement explains inclusion. It outlines why inclusion is important, and it sets out what is required from everyone involved in the delivery of early childhood education and care to ensure inclusion of every child

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Claire Warden: Learning with nature – Complete package

The ten modules in this package are all about developing higher-order thinking using an inquiry-based learning approach within the context of natural sciences. The package is designed to raise the awareness and skill level of all staff working with children and families from Birth to 11 years.

Included courses in this package -

Introduction to nature pedagogy

Mud kitchens

Leaves

Light and shadow

Wind

Benefit risk assessment

Drips, drops and dribbles

Charcoal

Puddles

Rocks, stones and pebbles

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Claire Warden: Learning with nature – Complete package - Early Childhood Australia Shop

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Claire Warden: Learning with nature – Complete package - Early Childhood Australia Shop

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In order to work with nature, we need to re-awaken follow the examples of various custodians of the land around the world and learn the skills that they have maintained over time. There is a worldwide nature movement by embedding nature pedagogy into daily practice. It is not enough to just source b…

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The eSafety Professional Learning Modules are unique professional learning opportunities developed by the eSafety Commissioner and Early Childhood Australia.

There are 4 modules available:

eSafety Early Years: We WATCH and EXPLORE with technology

eSafety Early Years: We MAKE and DO with technology

eSafety Early years: We SAY and SHARE with technology

eSafety Early Years: Creating a safe online environment

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eSafety: Professional Learning Modules - Early Childhood Australia Shop

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$0.00

Description

eSafety Commissioner (eSafety)

eSafety is Australia's independent statutory office for online safety established under the Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015. The Act gives the Commissioner the power to investigate and act on complaints about serious cyber-bullying material targeted at an Australian child. In 2017, the Act was expanded to promote and enhance online safety for all Australians. eSafety resources include programs for schools, women, older Australians and new resources for early childhood.
More information about eSafety and the Early Years program can be found here.
If you're based in the ACT, this package is a 3-hourTQI Accredited professional learning program.

Additional information

eSafety Early Years: We WATCH and EXPLORE with technology

Course Duration

1 hour

Australian Qualifications Framework

Level 4

eSafety Early Years: We MAKE and DO with technology

Course Duration

1 hour

Australian Qualifications Framework

Level 4

eSafety Early Years: We SAY and SHARE with technology

Course Duration

1 hour

Australian Qualifications Framework

Level 4

eSafety Early Years: Creating a safe online environment

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eSafety: Professional Learning Modules - Early Childhood Australia Shop

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The eSafety Professional Learning Modules are unique professional learning opportunities developed by the eSafety Commissioner and Early Childhood Australia. If you are a Learning Hub subscriber, these modules are readily available on your Learning Hub account. Subscribe to the ECA Learning Hub and get twelve months of high-quality, flexible online learning!

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Partnerships with Communities
This module explores ways for educators to build and strengthen partnerships with the communities in which they work and live. The module includes written information, a three-part video interview with the nominated supervisor at an early childhood service, and self-reflection activities. The module specifically addresses community diversity and cultures, including Indigenous cultures.

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Partnerships with Communities - Early Childhood Australia Learning Hub

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This module explores ways for educators to build and strengthen partnerships with the communities in which they work and live.

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Documenting and assessing children’s learning professional learning package 

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This professional learning package is designed for those who are responsible for documenting and assessing children’s learning in an early childhood setting.

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Documenting and assessing children's learning professional learning package - Early Childhood Australia Shop

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To ensure prompt enrolment on the Learning Hub, please download and fill in the ECA Learning Hub Users form, located here.

Return form to customerservice@earlychildhood.org.au at your earliest convenience.

Thanks!

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Documenting and assessing children's learning professional learning package - Early Childhood Australia Shop

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This professional learning package is designed for those who are responsible for documenting and assessing children's learning in an early childhood setting. Subscribe to the ECA Learning Hub and get twelve months of high-quality, flexible online learning!

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Box of Provocations for our Earth
$149.95
$134.96 Member Price

ECA’s Box of Provocations for Our Earth will help educators carefully embed sustainable practice into their early learning setting, teaching children to restore, preserve and nurture the natural world.

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Box of Provocations For Our Earth - Early Childhood Australia Shop

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$149.95 $134.96 Member Price

Written by Lisa Sonter, Sue Elliott, Julie Davis, Deb Watson, Wendy Gorman, Rebekah Garwood, Claire Warden, Judith McKay-Tempest and Fran Hughes.
ECA's Box of Provocations for Our Earth will help educators carefully embed sustainable practice into their early learning setting, teaching children to restore, preserve and nurture the natural world.

Early learning settings are well placed to set the foundations for this. As an educator, you might embrace contemporary concerns about the environment and have a strong desire to teach children to not only enjoy and value the natural world but also restore, preserve and nurture it. But how do you make this part of your practice?

The provocations in this box will help you do exactly that. They have been written by experts in the fields of sustainability and nature pedagogy, sharing multiple perspectives and multiple voices to provide rich perspectives. Some provocations are an explicit invitation to question and debate-they will prompt you to define and describe what you think-while others represent the writers' strongly held beliefs. They will help you invite alternative perspectives or reservations about the views expressed in these cards.
Themes:

theories and worldviews

engaging children in sustainability

nature pedagogy in Australia

nature play and intentional teaching

activism, advocacy and community engagement

beyond the basics

the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective

nature pedagogy internationally

Enhance Your Skills Today:
Buy one box, get a $25 Coupon for Online Professional Learning!
Limited time only, terms and conditions apply.

In stock

Description

Thinking about a sustainable future is the need of the hour. As we slowly come to terms with the environmental, social and economic issues that the world has been facing, we need to re-evaluate how we can live in harmony with the natural world and conserve resources for generations to come.

Early learning settings are well-placed to set the foundations for this. As an educator, you might embrace contemporary concerns about the environment and have a strong desire to teach children to not only enjoy and value the natural world but also restore, preserve and nurture it. But, how do you make this part of your practice?

The answer is gradually and with careful consideration. ECA's Box of Provocations for Our Earth will help you question your everyday professional doing and thinking. The provocations across eight different themes, written by experts from the fields of sustainability and nature pedagogy, will prompt you to find different ways of doing things; perhaps even undergo mind-shifts about what you value and how you see the world.

Additional information

Weight

1.1 kg

Dimensions

18 × 16 × 8 cm

ISBN

978-1-86323-085-8

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Box of Provocations For Our Earth - Early Childhood Australia Shop

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Written by Lisa Sonter, Sue Elliott, Julie Davis, Deb Watson, Wendy Gorman, Rebekah Garwood, Claire Warden, Judith McKay-Tempest and Fran Hughes. ECA's Box of Provocations for Our Earth will help educators carefully embed sustainable practice into their early learning setting, teaching children to restore, preserve and nurture the natural world.

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Every Child Magazine -Leading play-based pedagogies

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In this article, Lennie Barblett,
Sandra Cheeseman and Catharine Hydon
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Statement on young children and digital technologies

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Statement on young children and digital technologies

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The Statement, developed in consultation with the sector and under the guidance of ECA’s Digital Policy Group, provides an evidence base from which educators can make decisions regarding digital technologies that are relevant and sensitive to the digital contexts experienced by children and their families.

The Statement on young children and technologies supports the early childhood education and care sector, children, families, decision-makers and technology developers to understand technology use with and for young children.

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Partnerships with families
This course has been developed to help educators build and strengthen partnerships with families on an ongoing basis, taking into account different circumstances and settings. It includes video interviews with educators from three service types, including long day care, family day care and outside school hours care.

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Partnerships with families - Early Childhood Australia Learning Hub

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This module has been developed to help educators build and strengthen partnerships with families on an ongoing basis, taking into account different circumstances and settings.

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In this co-authored blog piece with Storypark, we pose questions for services to reflect on their approach to documentation.
As an educator your work is a balancing act and you may often feel a lot of pressure to meet the expectation of presenting observations that seem complete. Perhaps it is time to look at documentation with a new lens.

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The Spoke - Early Childhood Australia's Blog

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ECA recently launched a new series of Learning Hub modules on Digital Documentation and Technology in collaboration with Storypark. We note here that there is no requirement to use digital documentation and if settings choose to engage in digital documentation ECA encourages thoughtful reflection as they chose the appropriate platform for their setting, staff, families and children. ECA also notes that documentation and particularly digital documentation are areas where educators are seeking assistance. To that end, in this co-authored blog piece we pose questions for services to reflect on their approach to documentation.

Without any checklists or strict guidelines, the requirements of documenting children's learning are largely open to interpretation. What's certain is that documentation must show progression and reflection, it must include parents' perspectives where possible and show how educators have supported a child's learning as well as how they intend to further enrich or extend children's learning experiences. Documentation also needs to guide the learning programs and have clear links to the curriculum or standards. In short, it needs to tick a lot of boxes!

As an educator, you know that your work is a balancing act and you may often feel a lot of pressure to meet the expectation of presenting observations that seem complete. Perhaps it is time to look at documentation with a new lens. Consider the following ideas and the accompanying reflective questions as a starting point for discussion with your team about the way you document and why.
Is your documentation too long?
Consider how long your learning stories are. How long does it take you to find images, write, reflect, search for links to prior learning or recall conversations you had with family members, children or other educators? Could sharing shorter examples of learning show the depth and breadth of children's learning experiences in a better way?

Perhaps your reason for creating in-depth and long observations is simply because it has always been done that way. But is it the best use of your time and what do you miss out on if you try to capture too many details? Considering this will support you in telling a richer story about children's learning.

If you try to document too much, ask yourself the following questions:

Does every piece of documentation need to be expansive and lengthy?

Do I need to include an analysis of learning and next steps for every learning story?

Do I need more evidence before sharing this?

Are you documenting too late?
Why do you wait to share your observations? One of the advantages of using digital documentation is the ability to share information sooner. If you wait too long, you might miss the opportunity to invite families to be a part of the learning. A child's interests may sometimes only last a day or two. If these fleeting passions are not shared as soon as possible, families may miss out on engaging and exploring them with their child at home.

Do you wait because you want to gain a better understanding of what is driving children's interests? Waiting for things to unfold can take time and may lead to missed opportunities. It is okay to share your observations and thoughts without truly knowing what learning is happening for children.

If you usually wait too long to record your observations, reflect on the following questions:

Why do I feel uncomfortable documenting and sharing only a part of the story?

Is there any value lost by not sharing a snippet or snapshot of children engaged in play?

How might certain snapshots or moments of learning be quickly pulled together to paint a richer picture of the learning that is happening for children?

What new opportunities would I create if I frequently share photos or videos with short captions?

Do I need to analyse, discuss, reflect on and link every piece of documentation to the curriculum?

Shorter, more frequent documentation may be the key

Your workload is already immense, so the thought of documenting more often might seem impossible. It might be a contentious suggestion, but consider it for a minute.

As already discussed, the idea of waiting to documenting too much and too late is often driven by the feeling that there's a need to wait until the learning is complete. You may want to understand, unpack and describe the learning in your stories and planning. But, what would happen if you shared shorter snapshots of learning more often, or if you shared your observations as you are working with children? Sharing more in this way can provide a deeper understanding of what is driving, engaging and holding children's interests and passions. It can also be an opportunity to involve the children in the documentation and reflection process.

In short, this may be a very effective way to document and support children's learning. The shorter threads of learning can be pulled together and reflected upon, and they can further help you support children's learning journeys in meaningful and authentic ways. Remember, you CAN document the unknown. You don't need to know all of the answers all of the time. The answers can be discovered as you eventually pull individual 'artefacts' of learning together. If in doubt, consider the following questions:

Are shorter observations still relevant and meaningful? If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth?

How do I document while working with children? Could they take photographs or videos of their own work? Could I ask them about their play and record what they say?

What are some other ways in which I can involve children and give them opportunities to be part of the sharing process?

Stand aside for a while and leave room for learning. Observe carefully what children do, and then, if you have understood well, perhaps teaching will be different from before.

- Loris Malaguzzi, Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach
https://www.storypark.com/pages/pedagogical-documentation-guide ECA Recommends
Engaging with digital documentation and technology
Storypark

What is digital documentation and why is it widely seen as a valuable innovation for the early childhood sector? This three-part series will take you on a journey through multiple perspectives-that of the child and family, the educator and the leadership team-to consider how best to implement documentation through a digital medium. Find out more and purchase on the ECA Learning Hub.

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Documentation: Do you document too much, too little or too late?

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ECA recently launched a new series of Learning Hub modules on Digital Documentation and Technology in collaboration with Storypark.

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Knowing you, knowing me: Maintaining relationships

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In this article on The Spoke, Susan Jones, preschool teacher at Hughes Preschool in Canberra explores how her educators and children maintained relationships during lockdown and what that looks like now that they are back to face to face learning.

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The Spoke - Early Childhood Australia's Blog

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After an enviable COVID-free stretch, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was suddenly plunged into lockdown. Overnight, Hughes Preschool was off-limits to children and families, except those deemed essential workers, and learning from home began. The educator team created physical resources, such as home learning packs, and a virtual classroom. We used the knowledge gained in 2020 to ensure experiences and resources promoted play and investigations. Additionally, this time we focused on children's relationships to ensure that they continued to:

feel valued and connected in the relationships they had developed before the lockdown

maintain a sense of belonging to the preschool learning environment, each other, staff and the local community

view themselves as resilient and resourceful learners regardless of the learning space

value their at-home learning.

We documented and shared aspects of the preschool that enabled children to see themselves and their learning at home and in the preschool environment. We gave value to the range of home learning experiences, deepening the exchange between home and preschool. We shared photographs of the preschool, resources from around our learning environments, symbols representing the groups and virtual visits to places we used to frequently explore together. This helped maintain children's connection to-and ownership of-the preschool space and their relationships with each other, staff and the local environment. This also encouraged children's enthusiasm for sharing experiences through their posts and comments and in our small-group virtual meetings.

Despite this rich engagement, we were concerned that after ten weeks of not seeing their educators, peers and the setting in person, children's passion for preschool might be negatively impacted. We used a relational lens to support their transition back to preschool. This approach was further guided by a Community of Practice based on the relational curriculum described in Ann Pelo's book, From Teaching to Thinking.

When the children returned to learning at preschool, they were thrilled to see the documentation of the creations and photos they had shared online. They brought their home learning into the preschool and acknowledged that they missed seeing each other daily. This delight and the depth of their understanding about the importance of relationships in their physical and virtual worlds is evident in the way they have continued maintaining and extending the fantastic relationships they developed as engaged online learners.

This prompted the preschool team to explore, along with other ACT educators, social relationships and identity through the question of how children understand themselves in relation to one another. We are now more mindful of what we observe and hear and how we reflect, interpret, respond, resource and interact through children's relationships. It also highlighted the centrality of relationships to intentionality of practice, reinforced important beliefs about children, and contributed to our continued growth as educators.

Despite the changing landscape and the stresses of the unknown, we discovered a lot about our own and children's capability, resilience, flexibility and adaptability. We have been back together now for a few months and the children have been connecting in different ways, learning things with and from others they may not have otherwise. They have continued acknowledging their relationships and have worked out each other's strengths to help each other. They still value collaborative learning experiences and have been demonstrating independence and autonomy through our new COVID-safe routines and procedures.

Shifting between learning spaces has confirmed that play, relationships and communication-principles that underpin our pedagogy-are foundational to a successful and engaging preschool experience. At the centre of any child's early childhood education experience is their unique personality and the relationships they develop.
Reflection questions:

What differences have you noticed in your service since returning to face-to-face learning?

What learnings have you implemented into practice this time and how did it go?

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Knowing you, knowing me: Maintaining relationships

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The educator team created physical resources, such as home learning packs, and a virtual classroom...

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Play-based learning is a cornerstone of early childhood education. In recent years, the concept of intentional teaching has also gained momentum. This on-demand webinar discusses a new approach to balancing open-ended play with intentional teaching, using the Pedagogical Play-framework. According to the framework, three main types of play—open-ended, modelled and purposefully framed—can be used in multiple combinations to support young children’s learning.

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Play-based learning: using the Pedagogical Play-framework