bedrock: november, 2011

PRINT POST No. PP255 003/02 117 ISSN 1326-7566

BEDROCKVol 16 #3, NOVEMBER 2011

The Independent Education Union early childhood education magazine

2011 ANNUAL ECS CONFERENCE EDITION

BEDROCK the IEU early childhood education magazine 2

EXECUTIVE EDITORSDICK SHEARMAN NSW/ACT Independent Education Unionand TERRY BURKEQueensland Independent Education Union

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ADVERTISING AND SUBSCRIPTIONSBEDROCK is published three times per year by the NSW/ACT and QLD Independent Education Unions and has a circulation of 4,000. Intending subscribers and advertisers are invited to direct enquiries to Kayla Skorupan at the IEU on (02) 9779 3200 or email: [email protected]

ADVERTISING DISCLAIMERAdvertising is carried in BEDROCK in order to minimise the costs to members. Members are advised that advertising is paid at commercial rates and does not in any way reflect endorsement or otherwise of the advertised products and/or services.

BEDROCK is a joint publication of the NSW/ACT Independent Education Union (NSW/ACT IEU) and the Queensland Independent Education Union (QIEU).

Vol 16 #3 November, 2011 BEDROCK

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The Buzz 4Latest news in early childhood education

Standing room only 6Introduction to the IEU’s Early Childhood Conference

Does childcare influence developmental outcomes? 7Keynote speaker Jake Najman reviews the research

Understanding generation X and Y parents 9Keynote speakers Michal Hough and Narottam Bhindi discuss the differences

Creating a positive picture 10Developing confidence with art

It will all come out in the wash 12Joy Lubawy on pedagogical leadership

Learn about yourself, teach others 14What’s your leadership style?

If we don’t fight, children lose 16Why we need advocacy

Following the beat makes the best music 18What makes a centre work?

Breaking down the barriers 20Introducing Indigenous perspectives

Giveaways 22

Greenover 23It’s a caring world – or is it?

Terry Burke

contents

Dick Shearman

6

16


the buzz

The Teachers are Teachers campaign is calling on the NSW Government to fund every community-based long day care service and preschool with an additional $20,000 per annum for each teacher they are required to employ under the Education and Care Services National Regulations.

Why is the Union only initially asking for money for community-based services?

The IEU believes we have the best chance of winning NSW Government funding for pay parity for the community-based sector initially. We can then act to ensure that pay increases to teachers in the private sector are appropriately funded. We will not rest until every early childhood teacher achieves pay parity.

Early childhood teachers earn up to 20% less than teachers in state government preschools and independent and Catholic primary schools. A full-time early childhood teacher can earn $18,000 less per annum than other teachers, despite having the same teaching degree.

Visit www.teachersareteachers.org.au to download petitions if you haven’t received one already. Collect as many signatures as possible on the petitions. (Photocopy more if you need them) and please send them to the IEU in the enclosed postage paid envelope to GPO Box 116, Sydney, 2001.

We need 10,000 signatures to get this issue debated in Parliament.

Petition to pressure Government

Are you here?

Here are some

of the early

childhood

teachers

waiting for a

pay rise.

Is this a sign of things to come? It may not be the best quality but we couldn’t resist showing you this pic of NSW Minister for Education pictured in front of the NSW Teachers are Teachers banner at a Funding Review Forum.


If early childhood teachers and directors around Australia and in NSW in particular, needed further proof of their plight, they received it in June 2011 with the Productivity Commission’s draft research report into The Early Childhood Development Workforce.

The report said:

“In order to attract and retain a sufficient number of early childhood teachers to achieve the National Quality Standard and the National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education, salary and conditions offered by long day care centres will need to be competitive with those offered to primary teachers in the school sector.

“Community and privately managed preschools in NSW will also need to offer similarly competitive salaries and conditions for their teachers, which is already the case in other jurisdictions.”

In its submission the IEUA commended the Productivity Commission on its detailed Draft Research Report and called for:

State and Federal Governments to commit to significantly increase the amount of funding not only to cover the early childhood education and care centres costs in implementing National Quality Reforms, but also to guarantee that teaching staff receive parity of salaries and conditions with those of their colleagues in schools.

Queensland Minister for Education and Training, Cameron Dick, considered early childhood education members concerns about the future of community kindergartens in a meeting with Union representatives in September.Concerns about increased fees

in community kindergartens, the requirement for teachers to work

Contact Lisa on (02) 9779 3200 or email [email protected]

What’s the future for community kindys?

Productivity commission recommends payrisesa commitment by the NSW government to double

the funding under the Teacher Costs Contribution Scheme to $12 000 for a 3 year trained teacher and $16 000 for each 4 year trained teacher and to direct this money to payment of wages, and

that government subsidies be provided to staff to cover the cost of HELP debts accrued by upgrading a three-year qualification.

Other report findings include:

additional ECE workers will be required to meet government targets

the average level of work qualifications will need to increase

the sector has a systemic deficiency in recruiting and retaining staff

professional development training is essential to ensure ECE staff can meet changing qualification standards, and

parents already under financial pressure will likely reduce their children’s participation in ECE programs if costs rise.

The draft report and submissions can be viewed online http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/education-workforce/early-childhood/draft while we wait for the final report to be presented to government – due 21 October.

“The Kindergarten Funding Scheme fails to take into account additional labour costs associated with the introduction of the 15-hour universal access model.”

additional hours and the duration of an educational kindergarten program were brought to the Minister’s attention.Mr Dick was informed that the

Queensland Kindergarten Funding Scheme (KFS) remains inadequate and could result in the closure of a number of kindergartens and a decrease in the affordability of community kindergarten education.

The Kindergarten Funding Scheme fails to take into account additional labour costs associated with the introduction of the 15-hour universal access model.A State Government funding

increase was needed to guarantee that early childhood education employees receive appropriate wages and conditions.


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2011 ECS CONFERENCE

KEYNOTE 1 KEYNOTE 2 WORKSHOPS

TEACHERS

TEACHERSARE

FUND EQUAL PAY FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS.

2011 Annual ECS

Conference Edition

Participants at this year’s packed NSW/ACT IEU Early Childhood Conference were provoked, riveted and informed by an array of speakers ranging from pay equity advocates, to educational and health specialists and early childhood practitioners.

NSW/ ACT ECS Vice President Gabe Connell urged participants to get involved in the NSW Teachers are Teachers campaign, saying that a positive outcome was not guaranteed without committed support from those on the ground.

Professors Michael Hough and Narottam Bhindi from the University of Wollongong presented on generational differences and the push and pull factors impacting Generational X and Y parents, while Professor Jackob Najman, Director of Queensland’s Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre presented on an Australian longitudinal study which identified correlations between academic and life success and IQ.

Read on for articles by this years presenters.

Standing room only


Many in the community continue to express concern about whether the level of

childcare young children receive has long-term consequences, writes Professor Jake M Najman et al. At one extreme there is a belief that long hours of

childcare may weaken the bond of the mother with the child, and may have long-term impacts on the mental health of the child, its behaviour and even the child’s intellectual development.

Such concerns are reflected in some parents’ decisions to only seek childcare after the child has reached a specific age, or to limit childcare to a few days a week and/or limit childcare to a few hours on some days of the week.

By contrast, there is a substantial group of parents who commit to long hours of childcare and generally take the view that the harms attributed to childcare do not exist or that they have been greatly exaggerated and misrepresented.

Weak evidenceDespite the existence of some studies which may

suggest that children in childcare have more problems, the evidence is generally weak and does not resolve the question of whether the level of childcare harms or benefits the child.

Among the problems with the available evidence is the fact that children whose behaviour is more challenging may be more often sent to childcare, that the characteristics of parents who send their children to childcare may explain some of the observed developmental outcomes and that the follow-up of these children may be of too short term a duration to detect outcomes, and may involve a biased sample of all children using childcare.

In this article we report the results of a long-term study of the association between childcare and young adult developmental outcomes.

The Mater University of Queensland study of Pregnancy and its Outcomes (MUSP), involved recruiting more than 8000 pregnant women at their first obstetrical visit (gestation mean 18 weeks) and then following these women and their children periodically until the child was 21 years of age (Najman et al, 2005).

Some 7332 mothers gave birth to a live singleton child. These mothers and their children were reinterviewed five years after the birth, and again 14 and 21 years after the birth.

At the five-year follow-up mothers were asked how long after the birth it was before she looked for work, how many days per week and hours per day the child was in childcare.

There were also questions about the extent to which the father was involved in caring for the child. Of course, the mother returning to work and having a more involved father are associated with mothers who had returned to work earlier and who were using much longer hours of childcare.

2011 ECS CONFERENCE

KEYNOTE 1

KEYNOTE 2 WORKSHOPS

Does childcare influence developmental outcomes?

“While weaker studies have periodically

suggested that long hours of day care may have a negative impact on the child’s developmental

outcomes, we have found no differences.”


Standard measuresAt the 21-year follow-up the children were assessed

using standard measures of developmental outcomes including the Young Adult Self Report (Achenbach, 1991) to measure the level of anxiety/depression and aggression/delinquency which was characteristic of the person

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Dunn 1981) was used to measure child language and intelligence.

To deal with the problem that some groups could not easily be compared (for example the age of the mother was associated with her decision to return to work, and might also be an influence on child developmental outcomes) we adjusted all findings for sociodemographic differences between mothers using and not using childcare.

At five years of age (see table) we see that almost half the children had attended some ‘short’ day care four or five days per week, while only 5.6 % were involved in longer day care for four or five days a week.

We then examined the developmental outcomes for these children once they had reached 21 years of age. We found:

The amount of day care the child received was not related to the child’s level of anxiety/depression at 21 years of age

The amount of day care the child received was not related to the child’s level of aggressive or delinquent behaviour at the 21 year follow-up, and

The amount of day care the child received was not related to the child’s Peabody IQ at 21 years of age.

While weaker studies have periodically suggested that long hours of day care may have a negative impact on the child’s developmental outcomes, we have found no differences.

Indeed, it is almost impossible to find high quality studies which support the views of those who argue that children are exposed to higher levels of day care have more health and behavioural problems.

In our study we find that children who have no day care or only limited hours of day care, once they reach 21 years of age, are indistinguishable from children receiving long hours of day care.

By Jake M. Najman, Gail Williams, Alexandra Clavarino, Reza Hayatbakhsh (University of Queensland) and Michael O’Callaghan (University of Queensland and Mater Hospital)

References

Najman J, Bor W, O’Callaghan M, Williams G, Aird R and Shuttlewood G, 2005, Cohort profile: The Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy, International Journal of Epidemiology, 34(5), 992-997.

Achenbach T, 1991, Manual for the Child Behaviour Checklist/4-18 and Burlington, V, Profile, University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.

Dunn L, 1981, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Revised, American Guidance Service.

%

(N=4402)Nil childcare 42.51-5 hrs p/d; 1-3 days p/w 4.01-3 hrs p/d; 4+ days p/w 47.94+ hrs p/d; 4+ days p/w 5.6

100

Table: Hours per day and days per week child is in childcare – five years of age


Understanding Gen X Y& parents

2011 ECS CONFERENCE KEYNOTE 1

KEYNOTE 2

WORKSHOPScThere is little doubt that there is a large

disconnect between the attitudes, capabilities and learning styles of older Australians raised and educated in a pre-computer environment, and those raised with technology as a routine part of their upbringing, write Professors Michael Hough and Narottam Bhindi.

It is self evident that most Gen X and Gen Y parents (aged between 27-40) are increasingly concerned about the push and pull factors impacting the physical, material and mental wellbeing and welfare of their children, their access to quality education in a relentlessly competitive and turbulent environment.

In her sobering paper, Malone draws attention to the anxieties and stress of Generation X parents, labeling their children the “bubble wrap generation”. She remarks that Generation X parents “tend to be older parents who were born to baby boomers. They are parents who do not leave parenthood to chance”.

In the information age, most Gen X and Y parents are acutely aware of the opportunities and strengths as well as dangers, distractions and perils within our social institutions, especially the school.

Being more literate and better educated than their predecessors, they understand their rights as consumers and clients and expect the education system to be caring, transparent, and accountable for quality teaching and learning outcomes, and responsible for the welfare and wellbeing of their children.

More than ever, parents, teachers and leaders need a robust forum to discuss successes and challenges confronting them.

One of the biggest challenges/tensions confronting many Gen X grandparents and Gen Y parents at the family level is a lack of consensus on what constitutes healthy parenting, safe and secure socialisation, and the limits of freedom.

Let’s talk about itWe commend education unions and professional

associations and other kindred agencies and education systems, which regularly integrate information and critiques on intergenerational differences in their professional discussions and proceedings. This topic should also be incorporated in our teacher education and educational leadership preparation and development curricula.

Generational differences need to be studied from within these contexts. It is becoming clear from the emerging evidence that this ‘digital native’ younger generation are very different in their capacities as workers, consumers and parents.

Consequently, the challenges of developing and maintaining creativity, innovation and learning will be affected by these new characteristics. So to will schools and those who are leading them, as they meet these younger generations as parents, teachers and students.

In context: “it is not about who is right or wrong”, but “accepting that current generational differences are very strong at a time of skill shortages caused by both an ageing population, plus the slowdown in the Australian birthrate”.

We have to study the attitudes and values that both groups bring to the start of a learning relationship.

Reference

Malone K 2007, The bubble-wrap generation: children growing up in walled gardens. Environmental Education Research, Vol. 13, No. 4, September 2007, pp. 513-527.

The full paper delivered at the Conference by Professors Michael Hough and Narottam Bhindi, University of Wollongong, can be obtained via email from [email protected].

Y j


The Art Around project aims to increase visual arts knowledge and ability of early childhood

educators to have a positive affect on the visual arts programs they provide for children, writes artist Jan Downes.

Started two and a half years ago, it was funded by a grant from KU Children’s Services. The initial idea of the project came from Cherylanne Williams, area manager of KU Children’s Services in the Hunter region. She had tried to develop the visual arts by having an artist in residence in a centre where she had worked, but unsuccessfully, so was looking for other approaches.

Cherylanne and I worked on developing a new concept together. I’m a practicing and exhibiting artist with early childhood qualifications and experience. I’ve lectured art to the early childhood students at The University of Newcastle until recently.

Once the concept was established, two centres directors joined the team. Together the team researched literature to support the plan, the program was developed and questionnaires drawn up so that there could be pre and post project assessment.

The Art Around project was based on the premise that if early childhood staff were exposed to art experiences they would gain technical skills and knowledge which would translate to their provision of these activities for the children they teach.

Similarly, if they had more knowledge of the art world they would feel more comfortable with art and develop their language to talk about it and have dialogue with children about art.

Overall the aim was for staff to feel more confident to present art to children and for them to present new and non-conventional techniques and materials.

The first stage of the project involved the staff of four KU early childhood centers situated in the Hunter region. These included KU Bel Air, KU Wickham and KU Merewether preschools and KU Kooinda Workbased Child Care Centre.

It was facilitated in the workshop of Newcastle Studio Potters adjacent to Back to Back Galleries in inner city Newcastle.

Sharing experienceAll of the staff of the three-to-four-year-old children

attended, giving them the opportunity to work together, sharing experiences. It also ensured consistency of new knowledge and skills when they returned to their centres.

I lead 10 hands-on workshop sessions. The workshops included a wide range of two and three dimensional media and techniques, and an integration of different media.

2011 ECS CONFERENCE KEYNOTE 1 KEYNOTE 2

WORKSHOP


There was also a focus on art appreciation, through understanding the elements of art, facilitating the development of the language to discuss art, this included frequent visits to Back to Back Galleries to see the changing exhibitions.

Participants also visited Newcastle Regional Art Gallery for a talk by an education officer on Sacred Spaces, the then current exhibition.

The sessions were held over five months giving participants time to put into practice some of the ideas and skills they were learning. They were required to keep journals of their experiences and their responses to them.

In between sessions a few discussion evenings were held to get feedback and give support. As the local area manager regularly visited the four centres and gave support and Jan also made visits.

Finding inspirationEach workshop included hands-on experiences of

a different media. I spoke about and demonstrated techniques for using materials. This experiential approach was supported by art appreciation.

Each session included looking at and talking about established artists’ work who use a particular medium, which became an inspiration for their own making.

These discussions included the elements of art, line, colour, texture, shape, form and space. Depending on the artwork, they also discussed other artistic concepts such as transparency, patterns, positive and negative spaces and silhouettes.

To illustrate this, in one workshop participants focused on the art of Eric Carle, author and illustrator of many children’s books including The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

They looked at Carle’s books, and talked about his illustration techniques, they drew lines with crayons on tissue paper, then they mixed coloured inks and paints to make new colours.

These were applied over the crayon to resist the crayon lines. They made stamp pads out of recycled materials and printed onto the tissue, adding texture, layering the surfaces in the same way as Carle. They cut and tore out their collage papers to glue onto card to make patterns and pictures.

Miniature circusA miniature circus made by sculptor Alexander Calder

became an inspiration in making assemblages. In making masks, they looked at the papier mache masks made and used in festivals in Mexico and at Indonesian Wayang Kulit shadow puppets, before making their own puppets. All of the activities which participants did in the workshops were then presented to the children they taught.

In the post project survey participants felt that the exposure to a range of visual arts activities had increased their knowledge, skills and technical information of a range of media and they felt they had more competence in providing visual arts experiences for children.

The art subsequently made by the children was a testimony to this. Some of their artworks were collected and exhibited at Back to Back Galleries and then in the corridors of The John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.

This year there has been a second Art Around project, an alternative way of increasing the amount of visual art in early childhood centres. An artist has been working with children in two different centres, two hours a week for 10 weeks presenting clay to the children.

The artist was very carefully chosen, as a person who has an excellent manner and understanding of children as well as being an established ceramic artist. In this context staff were asked to document each session so that they would also learn. Purpose was that they would continue to provide clay after the duration of the project. Results of this are currently being assessed and an exhibition of the children’s clay work can be viewed at Wallsend Library this month.

“Exposure to a range of visual arts activities had increased their skills and competence in providing their experiences for children”


If we ask ourselves whether our education styles are more akin to a top loading or front

loading washing machine, what would come out in the wash at our workplaces, asks early childhood expert Joy Lubawy.A few years ago I was invited to an informal lunch to

celebrate my birthday at a friend’s home in Perth.

Gathered at the table were about a dozen early childhood teachers, and my friend and mentor Dr Yvonne Winer.

The conversation turned to the influences and challenges from Reggio Emilia in Italy.

Yvonne said: “It’s not so new really, their ideas have come from our rich history. We have to know our history so we can respond appropriately to every so-called new idea”.

This was certainly something I had never considered. Suzanne, one of the women sharing lunch that day said: “But I don’t know the history. I was a social worker and was given advanced standing when I began my early childhood education. I think I must have missed all that”.

I wondered, how many of us were given advanced standing? How many of us were taught about the theorists, our pedagogical giants, but we didn’t actually learn about them?

Today, with the Australian Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) well into the roll-out phase, we are being asked to become pedagogical leaders in each of our settings.

The strong foundations of the EYLF are found in our history. Each thinker/theorist has contributed to our current thinking. These are the ideas behind the EYLF principles and practices. They did not just come out of thin air. They are solidly grounded in theory.

It will all come out in the washPedagogical leadership

Let us just take a few examples connecting the theorist to the principles and practices and then to our own practice, and reflect on what happens every day in our centres.

Child or adult thinking?Fröbel, for example, understood the importance

of rhyme for a young child. He collected songs and rhymes and finger plays for a publication aimed at mothers. In your centre, do the staff intentionally use songs and rhymes and finger plays and stories with rhyme?

Fröbel and later Malaguzzi and Gardner, wrote about children using graphic languages to show their thinking, their feelings and their ideas and theories. In your centre, do you see manufactured goods, stencils and worksheets and adult models for children to copy? Are the wall displays all about the adults instead of being documentation that makes children’s thinking and learning visible in a respectful way?

Do you see items hanging all over the room so that adults have to duck and weave? Is there visual clutter everywhere? If the answer is yes, then we have to ask, what are you going to do? Are you going to sit idly by and try and find gentle ways to move people forward or are you going to be a real leader and make sure everyone really understands the reason behind the practices you are suggesting? If we never challenge, will change ever happen?


WORKSHOP


Can a visitor to your centre see you as the captain of the team?

base with recent research about play? Can we articulate this to parents? What do we know about language and literacy? What do we know about the development of maths and science language and literacy? Are we keeping our knowledge up to date and are we sharing this with everyone?

Trust the machineThe old style ‘education and medical’ model, with

checklists (Montessori tells us we should listen and observe children as they are — without judgement and without preconceived ideas), doing our ‘obs’ (like nurses), working out what children ‘need’ — is more like a top-loading washing machine where we, the adults are in full control. There is one answer to a question, and we know that answer. In fact, we know everything.

Modern education is about working with strengths and interests, to bring forth from the child what and who they are in a socially inclusive and just way. Our role is a helper, guide, facilitator; a wiser, more knowledgeable person yes, but still open to a child’s wonderful ideas and theories. We encourage investigation and exploration.

This is more like a front-loading washing machine, where we even approach with respect and at the machine’s level, and we negotiate how much we will put into the machine. Then, once we have selected the program, we leave the machine to get on with the task. We have no further control, we simply trust in excellent results. The machine is empowered.

What will come out in the wash at your centre? Can we all become the pedagogical leaders that we need to be?

“”

In the foyer, where you put all the photographs of the staff, can you, the pedagogical leader, be easily seen or are you blended into the team? Can a visitor to your centre see you as the captain of the team? You worked hard for your qualifications, don’t hide them.

Piaget built on Fröbel’s ideas about early childhood being a separate and important part of the human life cycle. Piaget defined what he called the ages and stages of human development, reminding us that we often try to move too far ahead of the child.

Montessori warned us to work with the child not ahead of them. Vygotsky added that when we are not within the child’s zone of proximal development, the child will become bored and disruptive. When we see toddlers making a three-stage rocket with pre-cut pieces of paper, does it occur to us to challenge the relevance of this activity? Are we recognising that a toddler is a toddler and not a small eight year old?

Dahlberg encourages us to see the child as a co-constructor, a powerful, creative and capable child. Are we seeing this in the programs that are running in our centre or are all the decisions being made by adults? Is it the adult stories we see displayed on the wall, is it the adult’s story we see in the daily journal, or are we working alongside children in a more democratic and just way?

Do we really understand the value of play and can we defend it as well as promote it? Have we touched


As leaders in early childhood we navigate our way through unchartered waters, in our jobs

and within ourselves, writes early childhood centre director and Challenge Busters Co-Director Dianne Miller.As we work in a nurturing profession, we often feel

the need to have all the answers and be able to fix things for everybody.

I have learnt in my 21 years as a Director that an effective leader does not have all the answers but keeps asking the questions and looking for solutions.

When we work with children we encourage their curious, adventurous spirit, seeing them as explorers of themselves and the world around them.

We ask them open ended questions, help them to problem solve, build their self esteem by extending a positive sense of self, teach them how to say no, develop resilience and relaxation techniques, and the list goes on. Are these not the same attributes we want to develop within ourselves as an effective leader?

I have always believed that next to parenthood, working in early childhood is the most important job in the world.

I also believe that if we develop a love of learning in young children, it will last a lifetime. The best leader is someone who wants to learn. Growth builds character, confidence, strength and most importantly resilience.

We need to find ways to build our resilience, to keep us going especially through these changing times.

Know yourselfLong before the EYLF I began reflecting. Reflecting

on myself, on others, on the children and our practices in our centre and beyond. I feel that before we can effectively lead others we need to know about our own inner self and who we are as an individual. It sounds like the eternal quest but there are tools that can help us to explore and understand ourselves as leaders and as people.

Do you know what your ‘learning style’ is? Are you an auditory, visual or tactile learner? I know that I am an auditory learner with tactile a secondary style. Being aware that people have different learning styles will help you as a leader when you are working with your team, particularly with training or learning new things.

What is your personality style? Gaining this knowledge changed my working life. Each year at our Centre I present training in this topic. As a team we know what our styles are and the best way to communicate with each other.

Being armed with this information creates understanding and generates respect for the differences of others in the team. It also shows us our own characteristics - how we appear to others and which areas we can work on to extend and grow.

What’s your style?Are you aware of your leadership style and the effect

it has on others and yourself? There are many websites where you can participate in a free quiz to find out. As


WORKSHOP

Learn about yourself, teach others

“Every one of us has in him a continent of undiscovered character. Blessed is he who acts the Columbus to his own soul.”

(author unknown)


Learn about yourself, teach others

a leader do you embrace your skills and make moves to tackle your challenge areas?

Do you have things in place for stress management? One of things that I have learnt and live by is a saying: ‘If you don’t like a situation, then take steps to change it. If you can’t change it then change the way you think about it’. Remember Einstein’s version of insanity – “to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”.

Muffle itHow well do you look after yourself at work

and outside of the work place.? We all have the responsibility for our own wellbeing. At work, there needs to be boundaries established for your time. Try wearing a pair of builder’s yellow earmuffs when you are at your desk working and you don’t want to be disturbed.

I do and they speak so much louder than words. Have a communication book on your desk where staff write their messages to you instead of telling you while you’re walking down a hallway. It takes time and practice but everyone in a service is responsible for effective communication.

We all know that success in leadership is based on walking the walk not just talking the talk. Successful leaders focus most strongly on relationships within the service. Focus on motivating, inspiring, developing and connecting people rather than establishing and maintaining systems and structure.

Mutual trustIt goes without saying that we have to do the

paperwork, however putting our focus on developing positive relationships within the team is the most effective form of management through collaboration, respect and trust.

A leader and team who have mutual trust can do great things together. So how do we go about this? I believe we need to understand what motivates people and be prepared to practice patience because it all takes time to build trust and respect.

What motivates people in the workforce?

Achievement

Recognition

Personal growth

Ownership of tasks

Team cohesion

Understanding

Accept that the best you can do at the time is enough and that you make a difference.

Challenge Busters is a training business running seminars for early childhood staff.

Dianne dons her yellow ear muffs

During my career there have been what I would call ‘light bulb moments’. You know the times when you come to a realisation and it changes the path you are on. These include:

Learn to say no. You cannot do everything for everybody and wearing yourself out doesn’t help anyone including yourself

It is a business. We all know that children are not for profit but if you are working in a not-for-profit organisation you are still managing a business. There is competition out there so learn to market, budget and retain valuable staff

What is your time worth? How much time do we spend doing jobs that could be delegated or outsourced?

Celebrate achievements

Train your staff as a whole team

Practice patience, tolerance and compassion

Share your passion

Be in the company of positive, motivated people

Seek advice from a professional or someone you admire on anything that is concerning you

Focus on the things you can change and let go of the rest

Fill up your love tank. Make time to do something that gives you that warm fuzzy feeling

Read inspirational books or passages from books, and

Set yourself small and achievable goals – reward yourself when you reach them.

Light bulb moments


8.45am - 4.00pmThink about what you would do as a teacher if

you were to receive an extra $5000, $10,000 $15,0000, or $20,000 per year, Teachers are Teachers Campaign Coordinator Lisa Bryant says.Would you use it for travel? Pay off your mortgage?

Use it on your family? Use it to undertake more study?

The Teachers are Teachers campaign is asking the NSW State Government to fund early education and care services to enable them to pay their teachers an extra $20,000 a year.

This is the annual salary gap you have if you chose to teach very young children. Your colleagues in schools and in Education Department preschools already enjoy that additional $20,000 per year.

If we are going to get that money we need to all work together to advocate for it.

What is advocacy? Every teacher practices advocacy in their working life.

It is advocacy when you intervene to stop a bigger child bullying a weaker one.

It is advocacy when you urge a parent to hold back their child from school for another year, because you don’t think they are developmentally ready for the transition.

It is advocacy when you try and get the parking fixed at the front of your service to make it safer. Most of the advocacy we do is for children. And that is the way it should be because children have so few rights. As adults who educate and care for them, we have to advocate for young children.

Sometimes it is easier to advocate for another group, rather than one’s own. But we all have rights. Professional advocacy is advocating for our rights as professionals; advocating for your rights as a teacher.

The definition of advocacy that I most like is that advocacy represents a series of actions taken, and issues highlighted, to change the ‘what is’ into a ‘what should be’, considering that this ‘what should be’ is a more decent and a more just society.

The issue we are advocating for in this setting is the right of early childhood teachers to the same pay as other teachers.

The ‘what is’ is that early childhood teachers receive substantially less income than other teachers.

The ‘what should be’ is pay parity. When we get pay parity for early childhood teachers we will have a more decent and just NSW.

The Union is youThe Union is spearheading and funding this campaign.

But the Union is not a nebulous ‘other’.

It is not the employees or consultants who work for the Union.

The Union is not a ‘them’. A Union is its members. You. It’s you who have to do the advocating. You who have to do the work to make the sure we achieve the ‘what should be’.

Children’s services are going through a more rapid period of change right now than they ever have before.

I know that teachers and directors are stressed with what they have to do already.

I hear a constant litany of how hard the work is for early childhood teachers at the moment. The EYLF, the NQF, OHS, review after review – I truly ‘get’ that your work is hard. I know that it sounds like a lot of work that each of you have to do right now, even though I have never worked as a teacher.

But guess what? Our society has come up with a way of compensating people for work. It is called pay!

Generally in our society the amount of pay you get corresponds to the effort, skill and training you bring to your work (with perhaps the exception of corporate executives). Yours, however, doesn’t.

30-minute planSo what are we going to do about it? How are we

going to make sure you get the pay you deserve?

The last thing you need to hear is that it is going to involve more work. That is why we have come up with the 30-minute activist plan. If each person reading this article can devote just 30 minutes a week, a fortnight or a month, then together that adds up to a lot of time focusing on the task of getting teachers more pay.


WORKSHOP

If we

children

lose


The 30-minute activist puts in:

10 minutes of action

10 minutes of self-education, and

10 minutes of talking.

The 10 minutes of action is simple. Every fortnight the Union is sending an email with an easy 10-minute action for you to do. It may be writing a submission, sending a photo, putting up a poster.

If you haven’t been doing these things, go back and use your first 10 minutes taking one of these actions. These are are all archived on the www.teachersareteachers.org.au website.

The 10 minutes of education is vital. Find out how many early childhood teachers there are in NSW. Find out what their wages are. Learn about the impact of public policy, learn about the nature of government, learn about the actions of government and make sure you know which level of government we are appealing to.

Research who can change our problem. Who can fix it. Find out how early childhood teachers fare in other states. Have a well-researched body of knowledge on the issue. Self-education or research allows you to speak about an issue confidently.

Talk to someoneSpend 10 minutes talking about the issue. Tell your

mother, your neighbour, and other teachers who are not members of the Union. Tell primary school teachers. Tell your MP. Tell your parents at the service where you work. First person accounts are powerful. Talk about your story. Your service. Talk about the importance of early childhood teachers in children’s services.

I have many favourite quotes about the power of advocacy and the need for it. One that I have used throughout my life is “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty”.

Another I like is from Martin Luther King: “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent”.

Straighten up, and join the fight against wage injustice for early childhood teachers. This issue is not just important for you as an individual, this is an important issue for all of us in NSW. We know that children’s services that employ university educated teachers offer higher quality education and care than other services. Teachers are vital for children in the early years. We will lose teachers from our services unless we pay them adequately.

And then what will happen to the children of NSW? If we don’t fight for our rights it is the children of NSW who will lose.


In 2009-2010 a team of researchers from Charles Sturt and Macquarie Universities

explored what contributed to six centres’ consistent high quality ratings. Marianne Fenech, Lecturer in Early Childhood, Macquarie University, discusses the findings.Specifically, we were interested in the perspectives

of teachers and educators: what did they consider contributed to their provision of high quality education, and were their perspectives consistent with research?

Research suggests that structural contributors — the measurable and regulatory aspects of a centre’s environment — provide the foundation for quality education.

These include: staff qualifications, staff:child ratios, group sizes, adequate indoor and outdoor space and health and safety provisions.

The presence of these structural elements is said to facilitate process contributors of quality. Process indicators pertain to the quality of a child’s experience and include: the presence of stimulating, developmentally appropriate programs; warm, frequent, responsive interactions between staff and children and parental involvement.

This hierarchy of contributors, with process contributors building on the foundational structural elements, is said to enable quality ECE that enhances children’s developmental outcomes.

Shared vision

Additionally, a small but accumulating body of evidence has demonstrated the value added benefit of effective leadership in early childhood settings.

This research has shown that effective leadership manifests in: a clear vision and philosophy that is shared by all staff; curriculum development and a strong educational focus; opportunities for professional growth and ongoing staff development; clear policies and

procedures and program innovativeness. These aspects of a centre affect the provision of quality directly, but also indirectly through retention of staff and enhanced job satisfaction.

Participants in our study affirmed the importance of these structural, process and leadership contributors. Notably, centres exceeded requirements regarding ratios and the employment of early childhood teachers. Moreover, consistent with the transformational model of leadership, these directors were perceived to be committed to excellence, motivating, mentors, caring and approachable, effective networkers, and visionary in their thinking.

Participants also highlighted the important role other contributors played in the provision of quality education, contributors that are paid limited attention in the research literature. These contributors included:

philosophy: while some components of the centres’ philosophies differed (eg some highlighted creating authentic real life experiences for children, lifelong learning, social justice, and sustainability) the respective philosophies were integral to all centre practices

adult work environment: many aspects of the workplace were conducive to job satisfaction and low staff turnover. For example: opportunities for staff to exercise professional autonomy; above award wages; working conditions that demonstrated an ethic of care for staff (eg substantial programming time and paid support to upgrade qualifications); strong sense of staff belonging; active learning community; support of professional development

effective governance and management: Active involvement and expertise of board or management committee members; effective management practices that were perceived by staff as important and useful eg weekly staff meetings, comprehensive and ‘lived’ policies, and the employment only of staff who strongly aligned with the centre’s philosophy

Following the beat makes the best music


WORKSHOP


“Each centre’s lived philosophy provided the glue that connected all quality contributors.”

a community based, not-for-profit status: enabled valuable resources to be reinvested into the centre and fostered strong links with parents and the local community, and

the staff: committed, diverse (in terms of gender, age, cultural background, strengths) yet work as a cohesive and a team, genuinely love the children, core of experienced staff.

Aspects of centre leadership not commonly cited in the research literature were identified by participants as contributors to their provision of quality education.

First was directors’ exercising of professional autonomy and decision-making in keeping with the perceived best interests of the child and consistent with the centre’s vision and philosophy.

Second was the undertaking of advocacy and activism as an integral part of their role. This work included advocating for the centre, for the children, for the staff and for the sector.

Everyone counts

Interesting and surprising was the consistent view across all six centres that the leader was neither the most important contributor to quality education nor a more important contributor than some other factors.

Participants in the study, including centre directors, considered that no one contributor was more important than others. They viewed quality education as the outcome of multiple interconnected and philosophically aligned contributors.

How does your garden grow?

This view was reflected in metaphors participants chose to reflect their provision of quality. One metaphor was a garden. While the director in this centre was perceived to be the head gardener, participants noted that her effectiveness would be limited without other key contributors, such as the staff (expert gardeners);

love and care (compost); investment in professional development and participation in research (worm farm); strategic selection of equipment and resources such as committee members and program materials (garden shed); accessing and critically utilising government policies and funding in ways considered to meet the best interests of the children (sun shades); and the centre’s community not-for-profit status (community garden).

Another metaphor was that of an orchestra. Similar to the garden metaphor, while the director was considered to be the conductor, in this centre her contribution to quality education was considered to be interconnected with other critical elements that included the expertise and passion of the staff (skilled musicians who ‘play from the heart’); the children and parents (also acted as musicians at times); and the exercising of professional autonomy (allowing the musicians to create light and shade in their music).

Significantly, these metaphors attested to the significant role the centres’ respective philosophies played in the provision of quality early childhood education (ECE).

These centres’ philosophies were respectively represented by the ‘blueprint or master plan of the garden’, and the ‘beat’ that ‘everyone plays to’. In other words, each centre’s lived philosophy provided the glue that connected all quality contributors. This lived philosophy produced a synergy where multiple quality contributors intersected to produce early childhood education that was of high quality. The director or leader was not only a component of this synergy, but an enabler of it as well.

Quality ECE will look different in various contexts, as it did in our study. While all six case study centres had consistently high ratings on external measures of quality, what ‘quality’ looked like varied from centre to centre. Being a ‘head gardener’ or ‘conductor’ figure requires early childhood leaders to intentionally apply a considered vision and philosophy in ways that will foster high quality education in their specific context.


Cultural competence has become a professional imperative, writes Melinda

Miller, Lecturer, School of Early Childhood at Queensland University of Technology.Early childhood curriculum frameworks place strong

emphasis on the building of cultural competence, and educators are required to articulate and provide evidence of culturally inclusive practices.

The work of embedding Indigenous perspectives is imperative, but can be seen to be outside the professional capacities of non-Indigenous educators who do not “own, belong to, or live inside” Indigenous cultures (Smith 2010).

Educators may question the relevance of their approach, their knowledge base, and the right to teach about cultural ways of being, knowing and doing different to their own (Lampert 2005).

Despite these concerns, non-Indigenous educators play a pivotal role in this work, particularly as they comprise the majority of the Australian teaching force.

Working through the barriersIn my communication with non-Indigenous educators,

I have noted five reasons common to educators’ reluctance to embed Indigenous perspectives in classroom practices and broader service activities. These are:

fear of causing offence

a lack of understanding about the relevance of Indigenous perspectives

issues with accessing the support of Indigenous people

viewing the work as too political for early childhood, and

a lack of time and support to do the work well.

Educators speak of these points as barriers to embedding Indigenous perspectives. While there are challenges, reasons for inaction can be countered with the building of knowledge and new understanding. In discussion with fellow non-Indigenous educators, I respond to the above concerns in the following ways.

Fear of causing offenceIt is accepted generally that doing something (of

value) is better than doing nothing. When educators make attempts to embed Indigenous perspectives, they create a base from which to improve and refine

practice. The key to this work is commitment to ongoing reflection and critique of one’s own thinking and practices, both individually and in collaboration with others.

Relevance of Indigenous perspectivesSome educators make reference to Australia’s

multicultural society when questioning a specific focus on Indigenous perspectives. Indigenous peoples have histories in Australia dating back some 60,000 years, and there is much diversity within and across Indigenous cultures. Indigenous peoples have sovereignty rights to this country because they are recognised as the first Australians. Indigenous perspectives should be present in the curriculum at all times.

Accessing support of Indigenous peopleNon-Indigenous educators sometimes use the

unavailability of Indigenous people and organisations to justify inaction within their own service. While the involvement of Indigenous people and organisations in curriculum design and delivery is ideal, it is important to consider that Indigenous people have responsibilities and commitments in their own communities.

Non-Indigenous educators should question what it is they are asking Indigenous people to do. Preconceived ideas about how Indigenous people will represent themselves and participate within service activities may be inappropriate.

Breaking down the barriers


Breaking down the barriers

Viewing the work as ‘too political’ All teaching activity is inherently political (Friere,

1972). Children enter early childhood settings with established ideas about their place in the world and the place of others. Silences about diversity in the early childhood curriculum can reinforce biased messages children are exposed to in mainstream media and other socialisation channels.

Early childhood institutions play a critical role in providing balanced representations of diversity so that all children develop positive social and cultural identities.

Lack of time and support to do the work wellNon-Indigenous educators need time to learn about

perspectives different to their own and to develop confidence to introduce untried concepts and activities to children (Derman-Sparks and Ramsey, 2006).

Support from management is critical to this process. Embedding Indigenous perspectives involves intellectual as well as practical considerations. To demonstrate preparedness for this work, educators need to think critically about the influence of their own cultural background on their thinking and practices, as well as develop appropriate curriculum activities. Time and support are central to processes of critical thinking.

Practices of non-Indigenous educators Many non-Indigenous educators are working to

embed Indigenous perspectives in early childhood

curricula in appropriate ways. In working alongside educators in before-school settings, I have observed different ways educators approach this work.

A useful framework for speaking about and evaluating educators’ practices is outlined in the work of Burridge (2009). Burridge draws comparisons between educators’ responses to questions about reconciliation practices in schools and broader reconciliation frameworks to determine the effectiveness of particular practices and ways of thinking.

It is important for educators to consider if particular approaches to embedding Indigenous perspectives are absent from their professional practice and why.

Educators may be willing to include culturally appropriate materials, but may not actively seek the engagement of Indigenous people in curriculum design and implementation. Although all three approaches offer rich opportunities for learning and discussion, more substantive approaches to embedding Indigenous perspectives make space for the sustained involvement of Indigenous people.

Pivotal RoleNon-Indigenous educators play a pivotal role in

embedding Indigenous perspectives in the early childhood curriculum. How well they engage in this work is dependent on intellectual and practical preparedness. While preparedness for cultural competence can present challenges, it also offers clear benefits for non-Indigenous and Indigenous children, families and communities.

References

Burridge N 2009, Perspectives on reconciliation and Indigenous rights Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Journal, http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/ojs/index.php/mcs/article/view/1046.

Chalmers G 2005, The repercussions of representation, Introductory Indigenous studies in education: the importance of knowing, Pearson, NSW.

Derman-Sparks L and Ramsey PG, 2006, What if all the kids are white? Anti-bias multicultural education with young children and families, Teachers College Press, New York.

Freire P 1972, Pedagogy of the oppressed, Harmondsworth, Penguin.

Lampert J 2005, The teaching that matters: merging our beliefs with our professional practice in the classroom’, Introductory Indigenous studies in education: the importance of knowing, Pearson, NSW.

Miller M Tricarico A, & Harvey B 2002, ‘Partnership’, Practically Primary, vol. 7, no. 2.

Smith J 2010, Teaching about Indigenous forms of knowledge: Insights from non-Indigenous teachers of visual arts education in New Zealand, Teachers as learners: critical discourse on challenges and opportunities, Springer, Hong Kong.


GIVE AWAYSTo win one of these books, put your name, membership number and address on

the back of an envelope addressed to Bedrock Giveaway 1, 2 or 3, NSW/ACT Independent Education Union, GPO Box 116, Sydney NSW 2001. Entries

close Friday 25 November, 2011. Please note: Envelopes that have not been clearly marked with which giveaway they are entering will be disqualified.

GIVEAWAY 1Social Inclusion and the Early Years Learning Framework: A way of workingAuthor: Margaret Sims

Publisher: Pademelon Press

ISBN: 9781876 138332

Three copies to giveaway

How is social inclusion best achieved? This new title honours “the principles of the Early Years Learning Framework” and argues that “social inclusion is best achieved in the way we work with children”.

“This book is unique among other books on the EYLF as it addresses the question of inclusion and challenges readers to reflect on their own views about child development and social justice”. The author will be familiar to many – she is currently Professor of Early Childhood at the University of New England.

GIVEAWAY 2Various titles: Grug ABC and Grug 123, Bugs that Go! The ABC Book of Dinosaurs, Playschool AlphabetPublisher: Various

ISBN: 9781406328967

One collection to giveaway

Increase your early reader books without going shopping. This collection will inspire and entertain the children in your service.

GIVEAWAY 3Kids Count: Better Early Childhood Education and Care in AustraliaEdited by: Elizabeth Hill, Barbara Pocock and Alison Elliot

Publisher: Sydney University Press

ISBN: 978-1-920898700

Three copies to giveaway

Standing the test of time since this book was published in 2007, it remains a valuable tool to reflect on the goals of a good national system, what quality care is and who should pay. Chapter contributors include Deborah Brennan, Margaret Sims and Frances Press.


What is empathy? Most agree that empathy is the ability to share another’s feelings by drawing on your own. But what happens if our ability to empathise nosedives? One recent study found that the self reported empathy levels of American college students had dropped dramatically. Bedrock Journalist Suzanne KOWALSKI-ROTH explores the connection between empathy, reading and the natural environment.

When data analysed from 14,000 college students showed that 75% rated themselves as less empathetic than students of 30 years ago, alarm bells began to go off. (Konrath, 2010)

Despite research showing empathy is hardwired —six-month-old babies display empathetic behaviour by choosing dolls they have seen helping others over those ‘visually similar dolls’ they have seen bullying others (Zaki, 2011) — there is increasing concern about decreasing empathy levels in America.

Although no one knows what the definitive answer is to declining empathy levels, there are theories, reports the Zaki. These include the fact that Americans are more likely now to live alone and less likely to join groups.

The effect of this on people’s attitudes towards others show that “socially isolated, as compared with integrated, individuals evaluate others less generously after interacting with them”.

greenover

Less people reading for pleasure is also a potential answer says Zaki. Only 50% of adults read for pleasure with the biggest decrease among college-aged students.

A recent study also cited showed that the number of stories preschoolers read predicted “their ability to understand the emotions of others”. (Mullina, 2010)

If the levels of human empathy decline significantly, this is a problem not only for human relations but potentially also for the wider environment.

Empathy has been pivotal in igniting pro-environment attitudes and behaviours and has been “a useful and powerful technique for creating attitudes of environmental responsibility and encouraging environmental behaviours”. (Sobel, 2010)

Presenting children with the woes of climate change may do little to encourage empathy for it but rather overwhelm them to the point where children feel “hopeless and disempowered” says Sobel.

Instead the solution is to build on children’s interest in and fascination for the natural world through direct experience in their own communities.

This can be consolidated through the use of picture and narrative books. Not only can this approach foster empathy about other people but also about the natural world, without inducing fear of the future.

References

Konrath S, O’Brien E and Hsing C 2010, Changes in Dispositional Empathy in American College Students over Time: A meta-analysis in Personality and Social Psychology review. Published online.

Zaki J 2011, Jan/Feb pg 15, Scientific American ‘What, Me Care?’ 2011

Mara R A, Oatley K, Djikicb M, Mullina J 2010, Emotion and Narrative Fiction: Interactive influences before, during, and after reading, York University, Canada.

Berenguer J, 2008, The Effect of Empathy in Environmental Moral Reasoning. Published online http://eab.sagepub.com/content/42/1/110 2 December 2008.

McKnight D M 2010, Overcoming Ecophobia: fostering environmental empathy through narrative in children’s science literature. Frontier Ecology Environment citing D Sobel, 1996, ‘Beyond Ecophobia: reclaiming the heart in nature education’, the Ecological Society of America.

It’s a caring world – or is it? Empathy, books and the environment

Every year, over two million

men and women lose their lives

from unsafe work.*

Is it fair?

*Source ICFTU

Call 1800 888 674or visit apheda.org.au

MAKE LIFE FAIREVERYWHERE,

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Union Aid Abroad APHEDAThe overseas humanitarian aid agency of the ACTU

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