Chapter 3 Leaders in Practice Profiles

Ros Cornish

Chief Executive Officer, Lady Gowrie Tasmania, Hobart (Tasmania)

My experience in the early childhood sector is broad and varied, having worked as an educator, tertiary teacher and active participant in professional organisations including Early Childhood Australia, being the current Deputy National President. I was also a member of the Accreditation Decisions Review Committee from 1998 until the committee was recently disbanded in view of the National Quality Framework (NQF). My current role is Chief Executive Officer Lady Gowrie Tasmania which is a leading community-based provider of early childhood education and care services in Tasmania as well as a provider of many other professional and support services for children, families and early childhood professionals.

What opportunities do you think the NQF presents leaders as they strive to provide quality early childhood education for young children?

Having worked in the sector for some 30 years, in these varied roles, and being responsible for over 30 services with 300 employees in Tasmania, the NQF presents a generational opportunity for early childhood services—to recognise the knowledge and professionalism of educators and the complexity of the role in the context of the child, the family and the broader community. Overall, the opportunity of improving outcomes for all children is at the heart of our chosen profession!

What challenges do you think intentional leaders will need to be mindful of, again as they strive to provide quality early childhood education for young children?

The challenge for intentional leaders is to ensure that they are confident and purposeful in their knowledge and understanding of the requirements of the NQF as they have the responsibility and challenge of leading their educators on the collaborative journey of changed or improved practice. This journey may highlight differing values and beliefs, question some assumptions about everyday practices and may require a commitment to changes necessary to respond to the aspirations of the framework. Therefore, leaders must engage with their colleagues to ensure shared understanding and the interrelationship with other aspects of the NQF including the Early Years Learning Framework and the Framework for School Age Care—My Time Our Place. This requires strong and courageous leaders!

Do you have any words of advice as to how leaders can approach the NQF to ensure that it benefits the children, families and staff at their centre?

Approaches adopted by leaders at Lady Gowrie Tasmania include:

• acknowledging that leaders cannot do it alone—delegation fosters a sense of ownership, responsibility and openness to new learning
• creating a climate where others feel confident to provide ways for views and thoughts to be expressed
• fostering a belief that what we are doing is creating something different and important for children
• building a sense of enthusiasm and excitement about the changes
• encouraging and supporting reflective action and ongoing professional learning.

An important aspect is that during this period of immense change, leaders should not overload educators with information but support their continual development by ‘snack learning’—educators receiving frequent, bite-sized chunks of information.

Lindy Farrant

Director, Parkes Early Childhood Centre (PECC), Parkes (NSW)

I am a four year qualified early childhood teacher with over 30 years’ experience working in the early childhood profession. I have experience teaching in long day care and preschool, as a Children’s Services Adviser with NSW Department of Community Services, and a Children’s Services Teacher with TAFE NSW.

In 1994, I took on a pilot project setting up a large rural multipurpose centre, a joint federal and state government initiative that involved seven early childhood services in rural settings. I have continued on in my role as the director of this service. The centre is licensed for 86 places, providing long day care, preschool and occasional care for children 0–5 years.

In addition, I have been a member of numerous local, regional and state advisory committees including the NSW pilot project for SCAN funding (Supporting Children with Additional Needs) and currently participate in the Early Childhood Workforce Capacity Project and the Birth to Kindergarten—Spread the Word early literacy project. I provide professional support and mentoring to colleagues, other directors, teacher students and other early childhood professionals within the region.

Why is the inclusion of children with additional needs an important aspect of quality at PECC?

I believe that our centre belongs to our local community. All families have a right to access our early childhood educational programs. I believe that our centre community is enhanced by the diversity that each individual brings to our setting; each child, their families, our staff and committee members, other professionals, visitors and the broader community. The inclusion of children with additional needs is an integral part of this diversity and adds to the rich tapestry that is created by all individuals coming together within our early learning environment.

How does your vision and philosophy, and the NQF, drive inclusion at your centre?

Collaborative partnerships with families and communities (Quality Area 6) are critical to inclusion. Our educational programs for children with additional needs are developed in close collaboration with parents/caregivers through ongoing formal and informal discussions. This process includes input from medical specialists, therapists, early intervention services and other professionals/organisations such as The Spastic Centre, Northcott Disability Services Autism Spectrum Australia (ASPECT) etc. These plans facilitate the learning and development of each child through planned and spontaneous experiences in large, small and individual groupings with educators constantly reflecting on the child’s confidence and readiness to participate in the particular setting or experience (Quality Area 5).

When planning for the inclusion of a child, staffing ratios are assessed taking into consideration the playroom setting, age group and particular strengths and needs of the children in the group. If required, adult:child ratios that are stipulated in the NQS are exceeded. Applications are made to various funding bodies to enable us to do this (Quality Area 4).

Within the plan, consideration is also given to health and safety needs of the child which can include strategies to manage particular medical conditions or safety considerations, such as planning to manage behaviours that pose a risk to the child or others (Quality Area 2).

The physical environment is assessed with the support of therapists and other specialists and adjusted wherever possible to facilitate inclusion in the playroom and outdoors (Quality Area 3.1.3). This may include rearranging furniture and equipment to allow a child using a wheelchair ease of movement around the playroom to aid their access to the activities and experiences. The choices of toys, resources and activities are varied and adapted for individual children and available to all children within the playroom setting.

The selection, ongoing professional development and support of educators working in an inclusive environment is critical to best practice (Quality Area 4). Educators are selected with appropriate qualifications, demonstrating qualities such as professionalism, enthusiasm, empathy, excellent communication skills, a willingness to learn and a team focus in their approach to their work. Budget allocations are made by management to ensure all educators have opportunities to further develop their knowledge, understanding and skills to support our inclusion programs. Management also supports educators upgrading their qualifications with the allocation of study time during working hours (Quality Area 7).

Our practice of reciprocal visiting by our staff, therapists from the local early intervention services and teachers from local schools for transition to school programs also supports inclusion. This approach leads to increased opportunities for more effective communication between all parties to reflect on and review each child’s learning and development (Quality Area 6).

As inclusive educators we constantly strive to achieve the best possible learning outcomes for every child. We use the NQS to guide us in our daily practice. We also continually reflect, review and refine our practice with the belief that children are both our central focus point and our starting point.

Sylvia Turner

Director, Tigger’s Honeypot Childcare Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney (NSW)

I often wonder if growing up being different has not only built resilience within me but also the strong drive for inclusion, respect for diversity, and the importance for all to feel a sense of belonging and to have their voice acknowledged and represented.

Growing up I had to hide my cultural background—well, at least I thought I did. There was no space for being ‘other’. It was assumed, I guess, that all of the children at preschool celebrated Christmas. We were all light skinned and spoke English. My mum would take me in to preschool each day and collect me, so the teachers never met my dad, never heard his thick accent. I have never asked my mother, but I do wonder if there were questions on the enrolment forms back then asking about culture or language. Perhaps there were, and perhaps my centre just wasn’t sure about what to do with this knowledge—what to do about this ‘otherness’. So, as a young child, I sat and listened and learnt the language of Christmas and Santa. I found a way to fit in. Eventually we moved to a suburb with cultural diversity. It took some time but eventually I felt safe, and understood.

As a teacher, and as an adult generally, my vision is for a peaceful world, one where everyone is safe, where we all feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, where we are understood and respected for who we are. It is ambitious, I know, but visions after all are meant to be aspirational—why not go for gold! With this in mind I try to make decisions that work towards this dream. I try to humanise decisions that need to be made while at the same time ensuring that they fit within the many frameworks within which I, as an EC professional, need to work.

As the director of an ECEC centre, a thorough knowledge of the regulatory requirements for my work is not only critical to ensure compliance, but can be a great tool too for pushing boundaries and going beyond. While some components within the NQF are black and white, there are many that are grey— that can be interpreted to best meet the needs of all families and children to work with equitable practices. I am conscious that I am now in a position of power and that I have an incredible legal responsibility for other people’s children as well as for my own team of staff. My aim is to use my position to push boundaries so that there are better outcomes for all, and to ensure that I do my very best in relation to my responsibilities. This can only be done with an understanding of the frameworks within which I am required to work.

My centre’s philosophy is a useful tool for backing up inclusive practice, and I am often debating with others the rights of inclusion for many ‘othered’ families or children, whether it be family type, ability, cultural heritage and so on. I find that being open from the outset about inclusion provides a safe space for prospective new families or staff; it reduces the likelihood that they feel that they need to be silent.

When questioned about our centre practices around inclusion, I always respond by saying how important it is to us that no child is silenced into pretending that they are anyone but who they are, or their family is anything other than what they are. I respond that we want children to grow up confident and proud of who they are. I love that I can also use the NQF to back up such practice to say that we are actually required to ensure inclusion and respect.

I am required to use the guiding principles of the NQF to inform my practice. My vision reflects these principles and I am grateful for their existence to support my practice. One of my favourite guiding principles is ‘to ensure equity and inclusion’. I believe we are only limited by our own vision and commitment to social justice as to how we can use this principle to support decision-making. I can choose to use the NQF as a ‘tick the box’ or can truly and deeply engage within the requirements to work towards a vision of inclusion and respect. I will continue to use the NQF as a tool to challenge biases and break down stereotypes within the curriculum and whole-of-centre practice.

Sarah Woods

Director, Port Hedland Early Learning Centre (WA)

Originally from the UK, my passion and enthusiasm for driving quality outcomes for children led to 13 years’ experience working across Education, Inclusion, Community and Early Years settings in three different countries. My professional philosophy helps me in my approach to lead staff teams and work collaboratively with families and communities to improve quality outcomes for children. It now finds me as director of YMCAWA Port Hedland Early Learning Centre, a not-for-profit remote LDC facility in WA for children aged six weeks to five years. We believe every child is unique, capable and curious and work together to create safe and inclusive environments which are based on child interests. We conduct ourselves alongside the four core values of Honesty, Respect, Responsibility and Caring to promote Early Years Education and Care, resulting in a successful transition to school.

For me, international treaties such as the UNCROC and legislative requirements such as the NQF are not tools to be only referred to in the event of an impending assessment and rating process, or tools to be used only by management. Practitioners who are truly passionate and dedicated to improving quality outcomes for children should know, live and breathe these documents. All children, regardless of background, age, disability, nationality, religion or gender are uniquely capable, and as educators we should continually strive to improve quality with them. The EYLF and NQS are requirements to be celebrated in early education and care settings as they support quality improvement and in several cases help identify practices we all do effectively every day as strengths!

Inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to learning, I use the NQF to support and encourage educators to drive their own quality practices, enabling them to be co-learners and collaborators with each child. Educators are supported with their professional development and practice in a number of ways, such as the provision of access to online PDs, training sessions, ongoing role modelling and daily communication around quality practice, and an in-depth probation/appraisal process. Observation of practice and professional development reviews alongside the educators are conducted by myself and the pedagogical leader, where clear targets are mutually agreed and set to ensure quality provision is a continuing practice. Educators in turn then role model these practices to their colleagues and to children, which in turn creates a number of positive outcomes. For example, our respectful, reciprocal and responsive dialogues with children and families help us form collaborative partnerships which enable children to self-direct their own learning!

The development and review of our Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) helps us to further drive quality practice. We share our QIP with families and ask for their feedback on our practices through a range of different media, taking into account barriers such as English as an additional language and family access to technology. The regular meetings which take place between the director and educators to celebrate what is working well and to strategise ideas for further quality improvement and our monthly staff meetings enable the EYLF to be explored on a regular basis. For example, the agenda at staff meetings is broken down into the seven National Quality Standards. These then become open topics for review and reflection, and the improvements are then added to our QIP. Most importantly, however, we ask children to share their thoughts and feelings with us on a daily basis to promote the principles, practices and learning outcomes in the EYLF and to continually drive child-led quality!

The underlying values of the NQF are supported by the principles underpinning the EYLF and the five Learning Outcomes. These provide educators with valuable resources against which children’s development can be identified. Supporting the educators to use the EYLF and to follow our own YMCA approach to learning then enables them to document this development through observations. The critical reflection of these observations enables extension of learning and supports each child’s future development. The EYLF planning cycle is broken down into Question, Plan, Act and Reflect. It’s designed to show programming doesn’t have to be difficult and can be so rewarding—keep it simple, make it effective—and basing it on the expressed needs of the child is the key!

Rome was not built in a day! Quality practices take time and effort to build. However, there is a lot of support to help drive Quality. The support I gained from understanding all aspects of the NQF has helped drive my own professional and quality practice. My own experience of the assessment and ratings process was really positive and I found it to be an excellent opportunity to celebrate strengths within the centre and also focus on areas and formulate exciting plans for continuing quality improvement. I was delighted when our centre recently achieved an overall rating of ‘exceeding’ the National Quality Standards.

Published 2017