International Contact Introduction and... So much more!

Who and I and What do I do?

I'm Jenny Kable, an Early Childhood Teacher in Sydney Australia.  I graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Early Childhood in 1998 which enables me to teach children in the 0-8 age range.

Throughout university I worked part-time as a child care assistant in a Long Day Care centre in the city and when I graduated I became the teacher in the Toddler room of a different Long Day Care Centre.  Several years later I took the big step of opening my own long day care centre in an inner city suburb of Sydney with a friend I went to university with.  I was a teacher / director / owner up until I had my first child, when having a family and running my own business was all too much to handle.

I am currently working in my dream postion.  I teach part time at a small progressive preschool called Kinma, which is a part of a school community from playgroup (0-3) preschool (3-5) and primary (5-12).  The progressive approach to education fits really well with early childhood education, and having the committment to the approach behind us from the school we are fully supported in offerring a play based program with a free flow indoor / outdoor program.  You can find out more about the program here on our website. 

Part of Kinma's committment to progressive education means that our class sizes are kept smaller than the average Sydney preschool, and we have more staff - and more qualified staff.  We have 25 3-5 year olds per day, from  9am to 3pm Monday to Friday staffed by 3 early childhood trained teachers (one of whom is our Director), with a relief child care worker from 1230 -3 to cover our lunch hours

There are a range of different models of early education and care services in New South Wales. Most of these services are licensed by Community Services NSW. Children’s services can be:

• centre-based services such as preschools, long day care and occasional care;
• home-based services such as family day care or in-home care;
• mobile children’s services; and
• specific services for children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
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The main difference between preschools and long day care centres are hours of operation.  Preschools traditionally operate during school terms only and from 9-3.  Long Day Care Centres operate up to 50 weeks per year, and the hours are usually 7 to 6pm.  They tend to cater more for families where both parents are working.

Preschools
These services are primarily for children in the two years before they commence full-time schooling. Children generally may attend a number of days per week. Most services operate between 9am–3pm during school terms only. Some preschools offer extended hours, which consists of the preschool program plus additional care before and after the program; for example, from 8am–9am or 3pm–4pm. Some preschools are run from specific dedicated centres, while others operate out of church buildings or community halls. Some preschools are mobile preschools which come to specific towns or suburbs on set days and provide preschool in often isolated communities.
Long Day Care Centres
Long day care centres (also known as childcare centres) are primarily children from birth–to–5 year olds, and are provided in a centre-based environment, usually by a mix of qualified and other staff. Long day care centres generally open for at least eight hours per day and run for 48 weeks a year.
Long day care centres also provide educational programs. Some long day care centres use the word kindergarten or preschool in their names so sometimes it is confusing to identify what sort of service a centre is, particularly as long day care centres are a mix of not-for-profit and for profit operators. The easiest way to tell if a centre is a preschool or a long day care centre is by the number of hours they operate and the number of weeks open per year. Generally, preschool hours are shorter.

Issues relating to excellence and equity:
It is an exciting time of change in early childhood education in Australia, with 2 new national schemes in place to ensure quality and uniformity across states in early childhood settings.
1.  Being, Belonging, Becoming - Early Years Learning Framework
Was endorsed by the Council of Australia Governments (COAG) in July 2009. It is the first early years learning framework to be nationally endorsed for use by educators in a range of early childhood settings.   We were a little freaked before it came out, worried that it would be very outcomes based with emphasis on skills etc but instead it is beautifully child centred and play based.  It actually meshes very well with our progressive approach.  The biggest change for us is linking our documentation on individual children back to the areas in the EYLF document.  You can find the document and info http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/eylfplp/
2.  National Quality Framework

The National Quality Framework aims to raise quality and drive continuous improvement and consistency in education and care services through:

• a national legislative framework
• a National Quality Standard
• a national quality rating and assessment process
• a new national body called the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority.

The National Quality Framework took effect on 1 January 2012 with key requirements being phased in overtime. Requirements such as qualification, educator-to-child ratios and other key staffing arrangements will be phased in between 2012 and 2020.
Previously,  quality standards across early childhood education and care services varied across Australia.
The National Quality Framework aims to raise the quality of education and care across Australian services by introducing a National Quality Standard - this is a standard that all services will have to work to. Other changes include increasing educator to child ratio's, introducing qualification requirements and a national assessment and rating process.
These changes will provide families with information on the quality of care to help them make informed choices about which service will best meet their needs.

National Quality Standard

The National Quality Standard is divided into seven Quality Areas:

1. Educational program and practice
2. Children's health and safety
3. Physical environment
4. Staffing arrangements
5. Relationships with children
6. Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
7. Leadership and service management.

The National Quality Standard aims to promote:

• the safety, health and wellbeing of children
• a focus on achieving outcomes for children through high-quality educational programs
• families' understanding of what distinguishes a quality service.

Assessments for this process start mid this year, so centres are working towards it madly.

There is a link to it here http://www.gowrievictoria.org.au/News/NationalQualityFramework/tabid/127/language/en-AU/Default.aspx

We are working towards the NQF each staff meeting by looking at the requirements and seeing what we need to do to meet them.  So far so good - the only problem is that like most government things you end up drowning in paperwork.  Lots of what they require are already happeneing but you need to document it so they have evidence which can be a pain in the neck when you are alreay up to your ears in paper work!

I am so happy to have found this person to collaborate with.  I found this weeks information very helpful and interesting.