Skills shortages and industry
renewal
rethinking work and occupational
knowledge when recognising prior
learning
Sue Shore: Charles Darwin University
Victoria Whitington and Carol Thompson: University of South Australia
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Context of the reform: early
childhood provision
• The need for a skilled and knowledgeable early
childhood workforce (OECD, 2006).
• The link between teacher qualifications/training and
outcomes for children (Kelley & Camilli, 2007; SirajBlatchford, 2003; Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, SirajBlatchford & Taggart, 2010)
Industry renewal – a good idea in theory, what happens
in practice ?
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The ECE COAG policy agenda
National Quality Framework
• Universal Access requirement – all four year olds will
have a 4 year early childhood degree qualified teacher
for 15 hours per week, including all long day childcare
services
• Preschools included in licensing and accreditation (>
2012)
• Approved early years learning framework, and
development of a national curriculum for children from 5
to 15 years of age
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The South Australian context
• Preschool teacher qualifications
 79% have an early childhood qualification
 21% have Junior Primary (children 5-8 years)
qualifications
• upgrade needed to provide two aspects of
occupational knowledge:
 4 year training; and
 early childhood occupational knowledge
4
The Department of Education and Children’s
Services (DECD) upgrade project goals
An upgrade program was negotiated with DECD to recognise :
 a ‘gap’ in knowledge associated with the older 3 year and
more recent 4 year awards in the field;
 the specialised knowledge associated with early childhood –
as distinct from primary and junior primary development;
 teachers’ prior (and lifelong) learning which had not always
provided seamless pathways to accredited learning;
 priority areas consolidated by DECD: early brain
development and working with Indigenous children and
families; and
 the need for flexible delivery, and opportunities necessary
to address rural and remote teachers PD needs.
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The program at UniSA
Three intakes over 3 semesters, 87 teachers in total:

Equivalent to 12 months full time study (8 courses), mostly taken
part time;

Adapted from an existing in-service early childhood education
degree program

Federally funded scholarships

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) for a maximum of three courses
in the award;

All external/online delivery with some intensive workshops;

Core course in ‘foundation skills’; early brain development; working
with diversity, including Indigenous children and families

Distinguish early childhood and primary school occupational
knowledge - see the following chart
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The Bachelor of Early Childhood
Education (In-service) program
Courses
Students without ECE Students with
qualifications
qualifications
Foundations for Professional Learning


Brain Development in the Early Years


Education, Change and Society


Developing a Play Curriculum Birth-8 Years

Children Developing in Context 2

ECE
A selection of electives to address participants No electives chosen if Three electives
professional interests and contexts individual interest 3 courses granted for available if granted 3
RPL
courses of RPL
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Foundations for Professional Learning
EDUC 5138
• Introductory course - recognised the transitions associated with
competent professional people, with busy working lives, returning
to graduate level university study – and so the differences in
associated occupational and academic literacies.
• Bridging a ‘gap’ between educators as learners and educators as
workers.
• Provided a supportive and interventionist approach to interrogate
teachers’ previous professional learning
• Assignment structure: two assignments, an RPL application and
an academic essay using their workplace (school, kindergarten,
child care centre) to synthesise the implications of professionally
learning and workplace learning literature for developing a
culture of learning at their site.
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‘Generous work’ (Smith 2005, 151-2)
Navigate tensions, responsibilities and outcomes of related but
different learning: professional learning; workplace learning (on-thejob), professional development, induction, informal learning and
mandatory updates by thinking about teachers’ work differently.
anything done by people that takes time and effort, that they mean to
do, that is done under definite conditions and with whatever means
and tools, and that they may have to think about. It means much
more than what is done on the job.
include[s] a whole range of activities that are unpaid, not by any
means done exclusively by women, …[an] underground of unpaid and
invisible work that people don’t recognise as work nor as a
contribution to the economy.
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Data sources
Assignment 1: a claim for RPL; Assignment 2: an essay. Both
assignments required demonstration of academic literacies
• Text responses about their sense of competence during the face-toface intensives, focussed on their learning and academic literacies).
• Evaluation activities at different points during the course: early on
when uncertainty was high and later, after receiving feedback on
assignments and talking with colleagues and staff about ideas
presented in the course.
• University course evaluations –institutionally de-identified
questions presented to students at the end of the course.
• A de-identified table of data extracted from the RPL applications.
• Transcribed semi-structured teaching team discussions exploring
the overall conceptualisation and management of the project and
reflective analyses of teaching and learning in EDUC5138.
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Profile of participants
• 64% indicated that they were experienced teachers, with ten or
more years in the field, and 33% had 20 or more years.
• 66% had a non-early childhood teacher qualification
• 34% had a 3 year early childhood teacher qualification
• Current roles: 36% preschool teachers, 48% directors/principals,
7% early childhood consultants, (9% did not indicate)
Group
1
Group
Group 3
2
Total
Metropolitan
9
14
13
36
Rural
18
8
15
41
Remote
5
2
3
10
32
24
31
87
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Structure of the discussion




Occupational knowledge documented
Reflections on generous work
Negotiating academic literacies
Navigating home/study/life balances
Two emergent tensions

Splitting words: voluntary and mandatory
workplace renewal

Time, choices and new learning experiences
Further issues: skills shortages and industry renewal
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Professional knowledge documented in RPL applications
Domain
Frequencies/percentages
Research and inquiry-based practice
14 (5.9%)
Indigenous teaching and education
13 (5.5%)
Curriculum
49 (20.7%)
Pedagogy
56 (23.6%)
Leadership
59 (24.9%)
Children’s development
9 (3.8%)
Community and family engagement
22 (9.3%
Other
15 (6.3%)
Total
237 (100%)
Summary of domains of RPL claims including frequencies
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Reflections: ‘generous work’ and RPL
• Obvious curriculum areas identified PLUS wide range of
expertise.
• Open design and creation of ‘work’ boundaries presented
challenges:







Appreciation of cyclic approach
I prefer working in defined framework
the total package was important in order to create the context for
future learning
I learned to think about myself in a different way
I have a vast range of skills and I often don’t stop and appreciate it
Chip away at it... do the readings... do the activities/tasks and in
time all the elements will fall into place – do more, panic less. Trust
the process, enjoy the process
I have gained the ability to articulate the work I do
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Negotiating academic literacies
The usual challenges:


How do I meld my ideas with current research without plagiarising?
Some big words – trajectories in ECE; epitimology (can’t even spell it!)
The ICT environment:



ICT skills not great. Had trouble unloading my appendices
How to read effectively, quicker
I had to [learn to] negotiate around the UniSA website
Collaborative learning with colleagues


The collaborative approach to my learning – affirmation,
networking/discussing ideas with the cohort who is on common ground
The opportunity to listen to others identify their skills: it made me rethink mine
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Managing competing demands
 It was hard to calm my head to take on board the
course requirements when other things at work
were screaming at me
 I need to make time to study on my one day off
instead of going into work to catch up on
paperwork!
 I passed the first assignment under great duress of
juggling three jobs and working more than full
time
and also
 I found myself talking about the World Bank at the
breakfast table
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Pressures and in/voluntary
participation
Some were very optimistic and embraced the learning – albeit were still challenged:
 I’m focussed on me (and what I can get out of the process) rather than feel
frustrated about “what is imposed”. It’s really about perception, at the end this
was my choice.
 I have learned to get on with the task (not procrastinate) and to time manage –
this requires discipline
Others, however, were less optimistic and were more bruised by the experience:
 I thought I was a competent teacher, but found out I was an incompetent student’
 I have experience that should be recognised at graduate level
 I am incredibly anxious about many things – getting my readings read, answering
the questions, writing the assignments (especially and finally the results)
There were also thoughtful reflections about learning:
 I am equipped to complete this course despite a few concerns initially
 I still have a lot to learn about EC methodologies
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Just show me vs pedagogical advice vs
make it easier to submit a claim
 I prefer working within a defined, specific framework. The RPL very
difficult. The head work required to define my own topic
 Show a claim, how it is done … still feel confused/very unsure
 Questions could be placed on sticky notes so that thread of input
can be maintained rather than the jumping everywhere and
responding to one group of people
 Learning and Teaching Unit input – clear digestible, useful, linked
well with where I am at as a student
 Presenting concepts then revisiting based on participants’
needs/feedback
 Logical sequence to material, the pace of the workshop
 Time to ponder, question, receive answers and re-ask the same
questions for more clarification
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Making time for lifelong
professional learning
Previous limited professional development
opportunities in the past are likely to have informed
teachers’ initial responses to, and capacity to
engage in university study:
• professional development becomes a pragmatic
exercise of attendance.
• balancing a culture of lifelong learning against
mandatory completion of a minimum five day
professional development requirement.
• time needed to balance work, family and study;
to reflect on new learning rather than just ‘doing’.
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Making ‘slow time’ for learning
• Teacher acceptance of participation in learning
that takes time and deep engagement as an
ongoing part of their professional role
 Excellent opportunity to audit my teaching and learning history and
present findings to a critical audience. I have increased my
professional articulation. My thinking skills are now working at a
more sophisticated level which is happily stimulating
 I enjoy the readings. They encourage me to think about my practice
and the learning journey I have travelled
 The program has made me more argumentative in defence of
children’s rights.
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The future: structural and career directions
• Federal Government agenda is towards the horizontal integration
of services and education in the early childhood years and this will
require advanced professionalism as teachers will be in sites with
social, community and health workers who need to reach into each
other’s knowledge bases as well as maintaining their own
professional area.
• Vertical integration is also underway so that children are more likely
to be on the same site as both older and younger children, birth to
12 or 18 years in some cases.
There is a need for early childhood professionals to have the capacity
to meet, operate effectively within, and also be creative and lead in
this new education and care context. Recognition of ECE ‘work’ needs
substantial rethinking for this complex context .
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