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Teaching Early Years
Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
By Donna Pendergast, Susanne Garvis Allen & Unwin
Copyright © 2013 Donna Pendergast and Susanne Garvis
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-74237-995-1
CHAPTER 1
Early years in Australia
Donna Pendergast and Susanne Garvis
Introduction
In recent years, there has been a trend towards the increased use of early childhood formal education and care settings, including in Australia. With this trend, the importance of acceptable standards of provision of services has come to the forefront of policy interest. Federal, state and territory governments have responded with agendas designed to improve the quality of early childhood education and care. The current agendas apply to children from birth to eight years, and aim to both achieve consistency and improve the health, safety, early learning and well-being of all children, as well as to provide better support for disadvantaged children in order to reduce inequalities.
This chapter provides an overview of the current agendas in the early years, and explores national and state initiatives. It is linked to a change model that was developed some years ago to provide a realistic insight into the time and sequencing necessary to undertake successful change. The implementation of the early years agenda is discussed, and the chapter outlines how systems in Australia are currently moving from the early stages of understanding the need for and nature of the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care, to widespread implementation. It is argued that the current Australian early years agenda will take some seven to ten years to reach the point of full and sustainable implementation with the opportunity for ongoing refinement.
The early years: What are we talking about?
Early childhood education and care has been a concern of many countries in recent times. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) describes the growing consensus in OECD countries that 'care' and 'education' are inseparable concepts, defining early childhood education and care (ECEC) as:
an integrated and coherent approach to policy and provision which is inclusive of all children and all parents regardless of their employment status or socioeconomic status. This approach recognizes that such arrangements may fulfill a wide range of objectives including care, learning and social support. (OECD, 2001, p. 14)
At a practical level, this definition of ECEC includes both child-care centres and other 'care' services like family day care, and programs with the primary purpose of 'early childhood education' like kindergartens and child care. These programs are all intended to enhance child development and well-being, and to support parents in a variety of ways, both within and outside the paid workforce.
In Australia, there are various early childhood education and care facilities for children prior to the formal years of schooling. These include:
• long day care
• family day care
• occasional care
• kindergarten/preschool (the year prior to formal schooling).
Children can enter into some of the settings listed above at six weeks of age. The end of the early years in schooling is considered to be age eight. Early years is therefore defined as children from birth to eight years of age.
Over the past decade, there has been a growth in early childhood formal education and care settings in most countries around the world. This growth has occurred largely in the prior to formal schooling child-care sector, especially in OECD countries (children aged from birth to six years). On average across OECD countries, 30 per cent of children under the age of two used child-care facilities in 2008 (OECD, 2011). However, whereas enrolment rates of young children were less than 10 per cent in Chile, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Poland and the Slovak Republic, more than 50 per cent of children in this age group were enrolled in formal childcare in Denmark, Iceland, The Netherlands and Norway (OECD, 2011). For children aged three to five years, the rate was significantly higher, with 77 per cent on average in early childhood programs.
In Australia, 9 per cent of children under one year of age attended formal care during 2008 (ABS, 2008). Some 35 per cent of children at one year of age attended formal care, with the number growing to 48 per cent at two years of age and 50 per cent at three years of age (ABS, 2008). Early years education in Australia also includes the early years of formal schooling (children aged five to eight years). This period in primary school is recognised as a distinct sub-set of early years education.
As the participation of children in formal early childhood, education and care settings continues to grow around the world, greater interest is focused on improving the quality of services for young children. Many governments are interested in how to enhance child development and potential in these formalised settings.
Quality of early childhood education and care
The quality of early childhood education and care can be considered in terms of structural and process quality. The structural aspects of quality are relatively fixed and easily measured, such as the adult:child ratio, staff qualifications and group size. Process quality is the nature of the daily interactions and experiences of children and is not so easily measured, but techniques are available. International research shows that ECEC of high quality can affect child outcomes in a short and long time perspective (e.g. OECD, 2010; Dalli et al., 2011).
Melhuish (2004) concludes that research indicates the following factors are most important for enhancing children's development:
• adult-child interaction that is responsive, affectionate and readily available
• well-trained staff who are committed to their work with children
• facilities that are safe and sanitary, and accessible to parents
• ratios and group sizes that allow staff to interact appropriately with children
• supervision that maintains consistency
• staff development that ensures continuity, stability and improving quality
• a developmentally appropriate curriculum with educational content.
Similar conclusions are reached in a number of reviews, including a recent study of quality early childhood education for children aged under two in New Zealand (Dalli et al., 2011). Some aspects are particularly important — for instance, teaching style, educational ideology, and teacher competence (NAEYC, 1991; Sheridan et al., 2009). The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project in the United Kingdom found that persistent long-term interactions with a teacher supporting 'shared sustained thinking' was a particularly important context of learning for children. It means that child and teacher focus and communicate on common content (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2003). In Swedish studies, being aware of how to challenge children's meaning-making, creativity and playfulness, and the integration of play and learning, were found to be important (Johansson & Pramling Samuelsson, 2009; Pramling Samuelsson & Asplund Carlsson, 2009). The role of the educator is to stimulate learning, as well as cognitive and communicative development, and to ensure activities are related to development and experiences (Johansson, 2004). Consequently, early childhood services need clear goals and intentions that result in a progression in child learning (Alvestad, 2004).
A new Australian longitudinal funded study, 'E4Kids Effective Early Educational Experiences' (see www.e4kids.org.au), is currently assessing the impact of participation in child care and kindergarten on 2600 young children's outcomes over five years. The E4Kids research program has been developed to provide an evidence base to determine the best ways to support higher quality in our child-care and kindergarten settings — an essential element in providing young children with a good start in life. This study is one of the first longitudinal studies for early childhood education and care in Australia, and there is much anticipation about the contribution the findings will make to better understanding the sector.
The early years in Australia
Over the past decade and a half, rapid growth has occurred in early childhood education and care provisions in Australia. There has also been increased attention from governments around the world to investing in the years before compulsory schooling, based on research claims that increased spending in the before-school sector reduces later costs to society. In 2007, the Commonwealth government responded with a higher level commitment (Australian Government, 2009) to improve quality and provision. Following are some key elements of the National Early Childhood Development Strategy: Investing in the Early Years.
National Early Childhood Development Strategy: Investing in the Early Years
A key initiative was the endorsement of the National Early Childhood Development Strategy: Investing in the Early Years by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2009. The strategy is a 'collaborative effort between the Commonwealth and the state and territory governments to ensure that by 2020 all children have the best start in life to create a better future for themselves and for the nation' (COAG, 2009). The strategy proposed six priority areas for change to be further developed for COAG in 2010, recognising the different starting points of states and territories as resources allow (DEEWR, 2011):
• strengthening universal maternal, child and family health services
• supporting vulnerable children
• engaging parents and the community in understanding the importance of early childhood development
• improving early childhood infrastructure
• strengthening the workforce across early childhood development and family-support services, and
• building better information and a solid evidence base.
National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care
The Council of Australian Governments also agreed to a National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care in 2010. It puts in place a National Quality Standard from 2012 to ensure a high quality that is consistent across all states and territories. The National Quality Standard will improve quality through (DEEWR, 2011):
• improved staff to child ratios to ensure each child gets more individual care and attention
• new staff qualification requirements to ensure staff have the skills to help children learn and develop
• a new quality rating system to ensure Australian families have access to transparent information relating to the quality of early childhood education and care services
• the establishment of a new national body, known as the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), to ensure early childhood education and care are of a high quality.
A new rating system is being implemented as part of the National Quality Standard. Each early years service will be assessed on its performance across seven quality areas. All services will need to display their approval and rating information.
Ratings will also be available online. The five-point rating scale is represented below in Table 1.1 (DEEWR, 2011).
Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia
Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (the Framework) is part of the Council of Australian Government's (COAG's) agenda for early childhood education and care, and is a key component of the Australian government's National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care for early childhood education and care. It underpins universal access to early childhood education, and will be incorporated in the National Quality Standard. Universal access means all children.
The Framework describes the principles, practices and outcomes essential to support and enhance young children's learning from birth to five years of age. It has a strong emphasis on play-based learning as the best vehicle for children's learning and development. The Framework also recognises the importance of communication and language, and of social and emotional development.
Universal access ensures that every child in Australia has access to a quality early childhood education program. The program is to be delivered by a four-year university-trained early childhood teacher for fifteen hours a week, 40 weeks of the year, in the year before formal schooling (often referred to as 'preschool' or 'kindergarten'). The commitment is to be fully implemented by mid-2013. Each state and territory has different arrangements for regulating, funding and delivering early childhood education services.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Universal Access Strategy
To help increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children participating in preschool, the Australian, state and territory governments have developed and endorsed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Universal Access Strategy (DEEWR, 2011). This strategy outlines the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in early childhood education in urban, regional and remote locations. Four key focus areas for the development of strategies and actions for improvement have been identified:
• increasing access to early childhood education
• positive community awareness and engagement
• quality early childhood programs and activities
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural awareness of teachers and support staff.
My Time, Our Place: Framework for School Age Care in Australia
My Time, Our Place: Framework for School Age Care in Australia will also be part of the National Quality Standard. This framework is intended to ensure that all children in school-age care have opportunities to engage in leisure and play-based experiences that are responsive to their needs and interests.
The framework is designed to support educators working with school-age children in outside school hours care, long day care, and family day care settings. It builds on the Early Years Learning Framework, and extends on the outcomes and principles to accommodate the age range of children in school-age care.
Early childhood workforce
An important area for change in the early years has been raising the standards of qualifications of early childhood educators. This was formalised in the National Quality Framework (2009). The requirements (to be implemented by 2014) are explicit:
• Half of all staff at every long day care centre or preschool must have (or be working towards) a diploma-level early childhood qualification. The remaining staff will all be required to have (or be working towards) a Certificate III-level early childhood education and care qualification.
• An early childhood teacher will be required in long day care and preschool services for 25 children or more. Additional early childhood teachers will be required for larger services by 2020.
• Family day care coordinators will need to have a diploma-level early childhood education and care qualification, and family day carers must have (or be working towards) a Certificate III.
A crucial component of the changes in the early years are the improved staff-to-child ratios, which are consistent nationally for the first time. Research has shown that improving staff-to-child ratios improves the quality of interactions with the child, improving the understanding of the child's learning and development. In a US Department of Health and Human Services-commissioned literature review (Fiene, 2002), findings showed that in centres where there were lower child:staff ratios:
• there was a reduction in the transmission of disease because caregivers were better able to monitor and promote healthy practices and behaviours
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Teaching Early Years by Donna Pendergast, Susanne Garvis. Copyright © 2013 Donna Pendergast and Susanne Garvis. Excerpted by permission of Allen & Unwin.
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