Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Learning Frameworks in a
Nutshell
Presented by Children’s Services Central
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
About Children’s Services Central
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Children’s Services Central is the Professional
Support Coordinator in New South Wales and is
an initiative funded by the Australian Government
under the Inclusion and Professional Support
Program.
Children’s Services Central is managed by a
consortium of key organisations that resource
and support the sectors of children’s services in New
South Wales.
About Children’s Services Central
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
We offer professional development and support
through:
 A comprehensive website and online forum
 A free call number (1800) to answer any of your
questions
 Professional development sessions and training
 Individual Service Support
 Accreditation Support
About Children’s Services Central
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
 Mentoring and coaching
 Support for rural and remote services
 Bicultural Support Pool
 General Resource Library
 Specialist Equipment Pool
 Publications
About Children’s Services Central
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Further information about all of these services can be found at:
ccc.cscentral.org.au
or by calling:
1800 157 818
Learning Outcomes
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
 Participants will develop an understanding of the
frameworks in practice and gather ideas about methods
of documenting children’s learning and development.
 Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on:
 The Early Years Learning Framework
 (For Pre-school aged children)
 My Time, Our Place
 (The framework for school aged children)
Considerations
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
 How we reflect
 What we believe is important for children to learn
 How we believe children learn
 The type of environments we resource for children
 How we communicate with children
 How we communicate with families
 How we document
Belonging, Being And Becoming
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Holistic Approaches
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Play
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 Remember your own childhood and the type of
games that you played
 Write down your favourite experiences
 Where did they take place?
 Who did you play with?(neighbours children,
siblings)
 What materials did you use?
 What was it about the play that you enjoyed?
Reflect
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
 Reflect on the play experiences you engaged
in as a child
 What type of play did you engage in (solitary,
parallel, cooperative)?
 How imaginative were you?
 What sort of skills were developed such as
problem solving & investigating?
 How did you develop these skills?
Play and Learning
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
 What do you consider to be the difference between play
and work?
 What do you base your ideas on?
 Did you consider school classroom activities to be play
and/or work?
 Did different teachers have an impact on this
perception?
 Consider cultural ideas relating to work and play
 Do all children, from all cultures, play the same way?
Characteristics of ‘true’ play
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Play based learning
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Principles, Practices and Learning
Outcomes work together
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Documenting should reflect the Practice
and the Principles
 We can only achieve our aims if we believe in
what we are doing. Practice should reflect the
Principles of EYLF and MTOP.
 The Principles, Practices and Learning
Outcomes work together.
 Identifying your personal values and beliefs is
the first step in building knowledge based on
professional judgments.
 Making decisions based on professional
judgments enables educators to be equitable.
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Working together
 Working with the Early Years Learning
Framework and My Time, Our place
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Why document?
 To meet legislative requirements
 To gather information from variety of sources
 Provide documentary evidence if required
 Keep a record of events not reliant on memory
 To provide opportunities to revisit over time
 To see patterns emerging
 To assess growth over time
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Assessment for learning
 To many people the word assessment has
negative overtones. However in the context of
children’s learning the EYLF tells us that
assessment is;
“...the process of gathering and analysing
information as evidence about what children
know, can do and understand. It is part of an
ongoing cycle that includes planning,
documenting and evaluating children’s
learning.” (EYLF 2009, p.17)
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Evaluation for wellbeing and learning
 ‘Educators gather knowledge about children’s
wellbeing and learning as they reflect and
engage in processes such as scanning,
monitoring, gathering and analysing information
about how children feel and what children
know, can do and understand.’
(My Time our Place, p16)
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
How to document
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
How to document
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Video Clip
 Observe the video clip
 Using the ‘when?’ ‘where?’ ‘who?’ ‘what?’ &
‘how?’ describe what you see
 Using the terminology from the Learning
Outcomes handout, identify with the video clip
the learning that is occurring.
 Reflect on how you would change or extend
upon this experience
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Learning Stories (One method of writing)
 One method of documenting
 Place the writer in the picture
 Provide an opportunity to describe the scene in
more detail
 Learning is lifelong and the learning journey is
the most important part to document. In the
past we had focussed more on the destination.
 Each persons journey is unique
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
The environment
 Resources that show a respect for diversity.
 Natural materials
 Open ended materials
 Thoughtful planning of the spaces provided
 Place for children to be solitary
 Music used thoughtfully and not just constant
noise
 Outdoor spaces valued as much as the indoors
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
The Communication
 Educators using open ended questions
 Educators and children ‘attuned’
 Conversations that provide opportunities for
children to extend their thinking
 Educators supporting children to express their
feelings and relate to their peers
 Educators assisting children to problem solve
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
The Relationships
 Respectful and warm relationships with families
 Educators respectful of diversity in parenting
styles
 Educators supporting families and sharing
information about their child’s day

Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Intentional Teaching
 ‘Intentional teaching is deliberate, purposeful
and thoughtful.’ (EYLF, p15)
 Intentional teachers use strategies that support
children to solve their own problems.
 Intentional teaching requires educators to
‘document and monitor children’s learning’
(EYLF, p15)
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Intentionality
 Educators ‘ actively promote children’s learning
through worthwhile and challenging
experiences and interactions that foster highlevel thinking skills and they seize opportunities
in activities and conversations to extend or
affirm children’s learning.’ (My time our place,
p14)
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Learning Frameworks in action
 Look at the physical environment. What do you
see? Are there open ended materials,
representative of cultural diversity? Is the
environment thoughtfully planned?
 Listen to your communication. How many open
ended questions have you asked?
 Document what is meaningful.
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
Documenting
 Learning stories
 Anecdotal records
 Running records
 Photographs
 Jottings and ‘post it’ notes
 Mind maps
 Narratives
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Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators
Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these
texts
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Group discussion
 In small groups discuss the examples given
relating to outcome 5 in relation to your service.
 How do you facilitate learning in this outcome?
 Reflecting on these examples are there any
ideas that you may use or are currently using?
 Are there aspects you would like to improve?
 Question time
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services
References
– MacNaughton, G. 2003 Shaping Early Childhood. Library of
Congress. London
– Penn, H. (2000). Early childhood services theory, policy
and practice. Philadelphia, Open University Press.
– Siraj-Blatchford, I., K. Sylva, et al. (2002). Researching
Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY): DfES
Research Report 356. London, DfES, HMSO.
– The Early Years Learning Framework. Belonging, Being &
Becoming. Australian Government, Department Education,
Employment and Workplace Realtions. ACT
Supporting the provision of quality, inclusive children’s services