Contribute to the effective operation
of the workgroup
Identify own job responsibilities and
their contribution to service delivery
Position specifications and role
responsibilities
Your position within a children’s service as a childcare worker is complex and varied. Each day
you will be required to interact with a diverse range of people—children, parents, staff,
management, and other community organisations. As we have already discussed, there are
several legal responsibilities and obligations expected of you. As well, there are policies,
procedures and protocols to be followed.
We will be discussing how these responsibilities are communicated to childcare workers—
through position specifications. We will also explore the various roles you may fulfil when
contributing to the delivery of a quality children’s service while also meeting the legal
responsibilities and obligations we have examined.
Identifying job responsibilities
When we were discussing the components of your duty of care, we said that a ‘reasonable
childcare worker’ does things according to ‘their skills, training, duties and job description’.
Your responsibilities or duties within a service will vary according to the type of service that is
being provided and the number, skills and experience of the people that you work with. The
services may range from a large council service with several qualified and unqualified staff
members to a small out-of-school hours service where you may be working with only a one
other person. Hence, your job responsibilities in contributing to the service will vary depending
on the range of different duties to be performed within the day by the service team members.
To enable you to identify your responsibilities and complete your duties as a childcare worker,
you will need to refer to a position specification for your job—commonly known as a job
description.
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Job descriptions
A job description describes what it is expected of you in completing your job satisfactorily—
what your role and responsibilities are.
Below are examples of varying expectations:
•
•
•
•
If you were employed as a cook in a service, your role and responsibilities would
be very different from those of an untrained worker whose primary role would
involve directly supervising and interacting with children.
If you were employed as a room or team leader, you would have a higher level of
responsibility than an ordinary childcare worker.
If you are a trained childcare worker, you would again have a greater level of
responsibility than an untrained childcare worker.
If you were employed as an out-of-school hours worker, you may have a different
role in supervising children’s travel to and from the service than a childcare worker
in a service for children under six years of age.
When seeking work in the industry it is important to read the job description thoroughly
before accepting a position and, once you do accept a position, you should follow that
description. There are several reasons for this.
•
•
•
•
Accountability to the people who use your organisation—A job description is a
way of trying to ensure parents and children receive a professional standard of
service
Accountability to your employer—A job description lets you know what is
expected of you by your employer (your role and responsibilities) and provides
guidelines that clarify those expectations. Your employer may use this to monitor
your work practices. They may also use it as a basis for negotiating changes to your
role and planning for other positions. Job descriptions are planned to ensure
professional service provision. Each position has different requirements. Unless
employees adhere to those requirements, the service cannot be sure it is achieving
its goals and/or adhering to its liabilities.
Accountability to yourself—A job description is a reminder to you of your limits
and provides a way of protecting yourself from exceeding those limits. It is a
means of protecting you and preventing employers from exploiting you as a
worker. It is also a way of checking that you are, in fact, fulfilling your
responsibilities.
Accountability to your colleagues and your profession—By accepting your job
description and working according to it, you are agreeing that it is a reasonable set
of expectations for all workers in that position. Therefore, if you accept an
unreasonable description or if you do not comply with a reasonable description,
you are letting down your fellow workers.
It is important that workers have a copy of their job description. This can guide them in
determining their role and level of responsibility and assist them in making decisions and
taking actions on a day-to-day basis.
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There is a sample of a job description for an unqualified childcare worker in
Appendix 1
Activity 1
Working in a team
Workers in the children’s services spend considerable time working in groups or teams, either
with children, parents, colleagues, community members or a combination of these people.
A team consists of two or more people, although it is more commonly thought of as three or
more. A work team is a group of people who work together with a common goal or purpose.
They may work together temporarily or permanently, on single or multiple issues. The
membership of a team can be stable or changing and often various people with different roles
are included in a team.
In order for teams to work effectively, individual members (including you!) and the team as a
whole, have a number of responsibilities which they need to maintain. Job specifications
outline the expectations for individual team members.
In addition to our individual job responsibilities, we also have team responsibilities. Within
children’s services there is a need for all members of the team to work collaboratively,
identifying and respecting the different roles and responsibilities that each individual team
member contributes to the service provision. In doing this, we make a positive work
atmosphere and model to children desired behaviours and skills that are important in
developing positive relationships throughout our lives.
The childcare worker’s responsibilities
As a childcare worker, you have these responsibilities:
•
•
•
•
•
Be clear and direct in your communication. Actively listen and respond to
communication.
Clarify your role within the team. Be aware of your own personal style. For
example, are you an ideas person? A leader? Do you focus more on the task at
hand or the relationships in the team? And what are your strengths and
weaknesses?
Be honest, open to new ideas and suggestions and respectful of all individuals.
Recognise what strengths/contributions they bring to the service.
Be willing to support other members of the team. Be flexible in the completion of
the daily tasks and job specifications for all members.
Participate in decision-making.
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•
•
Deal with any lingering misunderstandings or conflict you may have with other
team members. Don’t let resentments build up. Consider how others will react to
your actions. Be sensitive to the feelings and beliefs of others.
Notify your supervisor if you are having problems or have concerns within the
team.
The team’s responsibilities
The team has these responsibilities:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Clarify the team’s purpose or goals and prioritise these.
Clarify each member’s roles and responsibilities.
Recognise the strengths and contributions that each member brings to the team
situation.
Encourage a sharing of roles and knowledge.
Set aside regular meeting and discussion times.
Address any conflict that may arise.
Work at ways of developing decision-making and member participation.
Identify and resolve issues that may be impinging on teamwork (eg, lack of time or
lack of skills).
Within a children’s service, there will be roles that require different responsibilities due to the
training, experience, and knowledge. These will vary depending on the size and type of service.
In larger services, there will be a Director and an authorised supervisor or team leader. It
would be their role to facilitate the team morale, skills and strengths and they would
ultimately take responsibility for trying to ensure these responsibilities are fulfilled.
When all members of a children’s service team are comfortable in their knowledge of their
roles and responsibilities and can identify and respect the roles and responsibilities of the
other members of the team, a positive work environment develops that encourages
consistent, flexible and supportive team work. Working towards this also assists in meeting
your legal responsibilities and guidelines in regard to QIAS and FDCQA, anti-discrimination
legislation and regulations.
Activity 2
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Work within defined job role and
responsibilities
Statement of duties
When you apply for a position, the advertisement usually gives you an awareness of the skills
and qualifications the organisation requires of you. It will not, however, give you more than a
general idea of the actual duties you will be required to perform and how much time it is
expected you should spend on individual tasks. A ‘statement of duties’ or ‘job/position
description’ is a document that will give you specific information in this regard.
Knowing limits of roles and responsibilities
It is important to be clear and stick within the limits of your roles and responsibilities. This
means not working many unpaid hours and taking on tasks which are outside your area of
responsibility. In the long run, it is far more effective to advocate for adequate resources than
run around trying to do everything and burn yourself out in the process!
Always try to:
•
•
•
•
•
Be mindful of your job description and focus your energy on completing tasks that
are clearly defined as your responsibility.
Seek advice/clarification with your supervisor where necessary.
Adopt a team approach to completing complex tasks—two hands are better than
one!
Work within policies and procedures.
Use supervision as an opportunity to formally clarify your responsibilities and
identify your training and support needs.
Clarifying scope or practice in position
description
In a childcare centre, you may come across situations where you’d need to clarify the practices
and the scope of responsibility within your position description.
Clarification may be necessary in these situations:
•
•
staff changes occur
staff conflict arises
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•
•
•
working conditions change
regulations change
staff qualifications change.
It is also really important that you recognise your own limitations and seek assistance when
you are having trouble fulfilling your obligations and work role.
The first thing you should do is to discuss your concerns with your supervisor. Approach him or
her with a well prepared and logical reason as to what it is you are having difficulty with, what
you have done to try and achieve all the requirements and perhaps some suggestions as to
what might be done to remedy the situation.
The concern may need to be dealt with confidentially. Is the issue relevant to only one staff
member or does it affect everyone? Are you lacking some skills or resources that are required
to complete your tasks? If so, are there any staff development training or further learning you
could be involved in to increase these skills? Is there a possibility of purchasing particular
resources or making changes to the service to make resources more available?
Can the issue be resolved at a centre level or does it require other resources to be accurately
clarified? Perhaps it is necessary for consultation with relevant policies, regulations, industrial
awards and lawful instructions to ensure that whatever the issue is that requires clarification,
it is done so accurately and in a timely manner.
What is a supervisor’s role?
Your supervisor is the person who is responsible for ensuring that you understand your role
and responsibilities within the team. They are also responsible for supporting and guiding your
professional development through the provision of informal and formal feedback about your
work performance. In fulfilling their responsibilities, supervisors are developing a workplace
relationship with you that should encourage the use of open and honest communication.
Regular formal or informal supervisory sessions can help workers to clarify their role within the
service and to receive constructive feedback in regards to their performance. For example,
when I was working with a family service, I met monthly with my supervisor to discuss issues
and to set goals for the future. She also made it clear that I could discuss an issue when it
came up and didn’t have to wait until the monthly supervision meeting.
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Seek assistance and direction and
obtain as required
In a childcare centre, we find ourselves constantly seeking and obtaining assistance throughout
the day. The assistance we get enables us to meet the needs of children, families and staff.
We ask for others to help us with things such as:
•
•
•
location of resources (eg, ‘Has anyone seen the rolling pins for the play dough?’)
choice of program ideas (eg, ‘Does anyone know of a good song about boa
constrictors to use with the children?’)
duties that need to be completed (eg, ‘Can I get someone to help me clean the
table tops after lunch, please?’).
This is effective teamwork. We trust our colleagues and supervisor to help us meet our job
responsibilities and the needs of the children and service. We need to ensure that our
communication is clear with a professional tone and body language. For example, if we
groaned and rolled our eyes before we asked for someone to help clean the tables, we are
giving the impression that we feel angry or frustrated that no one ever helps with the tables.
However, if we ask the same question in a polite tone with a smile on our face, it is more likely
that we will elicit a positive reaction from another staff member.
Activity 3
Clarifying instructions
When working as a team member in a children’s service, the need to communicate clear
instructions in both written and verbal forms is critical.
There are times that we may receive unclear instructions from a staff member, parent,
supervisor or member of the management team. If at any time you do not understand an
instruction, you would be well advised to ask the person concerned to repeat or clarify the
information in the instruction. Due to the nature of children’s services, there is usually little
time available for all team members to meet on a daily basis. Therefore, diary systems, notice
boards, newsletters and quick memos are all effective communication skills that will be
implemented to assist the day-to-day running of a service.
Sometimes in verbalising or writing an instruction or message, the person ‘telling’ has a
different understanding of the message than you do, or what it is interpreted to mean.
Therefore, it is important to gain understandings and clarification of any instructions that you
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may receive and may not understand from the person concerned. If this person is not available
or unapproachable, seek the support and assistance of your team leader or Director.
The importance of the need to have any unclear instructions clarified cannot be reinforced too
strongly, as the health, safety and welfare of children, staff, parents, and the community may
depend on the implementation of the instruction. By not clarifying instructions so that you
understand them, you may breech your duty of care or another of your legal responsibilities
and obligations.
Work in a manner that complements
that of others according to policies
and rules of workplace practice
Being consistent
When working within a team environment, there is a need for you to be consistently
responsible for meeting the requirements of your position specification due to the legal
responsibilities and obligations that are embedded within your role as a childcare worker.
Being consistent in the performance of your duties can mean:
•
•
•
•
•
•
avoiding favouritism or bias
sharing your attention and time equitably between all children, parents and
colleagues
keeping the principles of equal opportunity and inclusion in mind when working
with others and interacting with children
maintaining an even quality of mood
ensuring you have consistent expectations about appropriate behaviour for
children
consistently performing your duties to a satisfactory level.
By being a childcare worker who consistently performs their responsibilities, you are helping
build trust and respect between:
•
•
•
workers and their colleagues
workers and the children
workers and family members.
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You are also ensuring you are:
•
•
meeting the legal responsibilities and obligations expected of you on a daily basis
such as your ‘duty of care’
helping to provide a quality service for children.
Working cooperatively
To ‘work in a manner that complements that of others’ is not referring to giving others praise
or compliments (although they are always welcome!) but rather to working as part of a
complex machine where every component functions effectively in relation to the other
components. When working in children’s services, we need to be alert to where a staff
member is needed (for example, there is no one supervising play in the sandpit at the
moment), or when a task needs to be done (for example, there are bags left lying on the floor
around the locker area). As childcare workers, we can use our initiative to take on those tasks
that need to be done, provided they are within our job description. If we are not sure, then we
should check with our supervisor.
Complete activities to standard
expected in workplace
Maintaining knowledge and skills
There are several expectations for employees in a children’s service. These expectations
include being committed, responsible and accountable for your own actions and making
informed decisions. You should read any information given to you or provided at the
workplace. Many services subscribe to various magazines and journals or have staff resource
libraries to help staff stay up-to-date with their knowledge and skills.
Even as an untrained childcare worker or a person who is learning about child care, you have
some responsibility to use existing knowledge and skills you may have and to identify areas
where you need to develop knowledge and skills.
No one knows everything there is to know about child care and children’s services. This would
be an unrealistic goal. Government regulations and ideas about best practice change over
time. The best approach is to be flexible and be aware that there is always something new to
learn or a different way to do things that may be better. Maintaining knowledge and skills in
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order to ensure we are supporting the interests and rights of the child is an ongoing process
for all those involved in children’s services.
Activity 4
Carry out set tasks in a positive and
courteous manner
Staff need to demonstrate how a positive environment is provided for children through their
interactions and modelling of desired behaviours. Modelling respectful, positive and courteous
relationships to young children should encourage team members to do the same for one
another.
As we discussed previously, verbal and non-verbal communication needs to be consistent to
assist the development of genuine understandings and relationships—our behaviour with
children and team members also need to be consistent. The consistent demonstration of
respectful, positive and courteous relationships between children, staff, parents and
management will facilitate the development of genuine and respectful relationships. To
achieve this consistency, team members need to be able to recognise and discuss the need
and value of these professional behaviours and develop strategies that will be implemented
throughout the service to facilitate the use of these behaviours.
When working with parents, team members, management and the community, there will be
times when our emotions will be challenged. As with all people, children’s services staff have
days when they feel frustrated, angry or grief-stricken. It is important in the development of
working relationships that we are able to express our feelings in an open, real and honest way
that is also respectful of people’s feelings. This can be achieved through the use of ‘I
messages’, which will be discussed later in this topic area.
Activity 5
Ultimately, within a children’s service team there is a need to carry out tasks in a positive and
courteous manner due to the industry being people-orientated and based on developing
trusting relationships with all stakeholders (ie, parents, children, staff, management and the
community). At the same time, this does not mean that we need to spend every day working
within the children’s services industry being ‘nice’ and ‘super happy’, as this is unrealistic and
unreal. Children, parents and staff need to be able to respect one another’s individual feelings
and encourage a positive atmosphere of professional support and understanding.
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When working with parents, team members, management and the community, there will be
times when our emotions will be challenged. As with all people, children’s services staff will
have days when they feel frustrated, angry or grief-stricken. It is important in the development
of working relationships that we are able to express our feelings in an open, real and honest
way that is also respectful of people’s feelings. This can be achieved through the use of
positive ‘I messages’ where we talk about our feelings in a way that avoids accusations but
seeks to clarify why we are feeling this way. The format for an ‘I message’ is as follows:
‘I feel ……………………when…………………………………………..because……………………………………………….’
For example, “’ feel frustrated when I can’t find the playdough because I always put it back in
the fridge’
Activity 6
Identify resources needed to carry
out own work duties
Some of the resources we need to carry out our work duties will be related to health and
safety such as disposable gloves or tissues. Other resources will be related to setting up the
children’s learning environment according to the service’s program such as paints, brushes or
flour for playdough.
We should become familiar with where these resources are stored so that we can access them
readily. Each morning we should check what we will need for the day so that we can fetch
more resources from the storage areas ahead of time.
Activity 7
Australian child care resources: http://www.australianchildcarers.com.au/resources/
Family day care AUstralia: http://www.familydaycare.com.au/products.html
Childcare resources: http://www.childcareresources.com.au/
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Deal with shortages of resources
according to organisation practices
We need resources to be able to carry out our responsibilities safely and in a hygienic manner,
or to provide a stimulating learning environment for children. Therefore, it is important that
we identify any shortages of resources before they actually run out. We should do this
according to the system our services uses. Some of the methods could be:



memo to supervisor
listing on a whiteboard in staff room or office
writing in a staff communication book
Find out from our supervisor what system the service uses and take responsibility for
identifying any shortages when you notice them.
Keep work area well organised and
safe in accordance with relevant
standards/policies
Not only are you legally responsible for the children, but your duty of care also extends to
being legally responsible for the injury of other people.
Reflect on what other people (apart from children) your duty of care would extend to if you
are working in a childcare centre. The duty of care includes anyone who comes to the centre—
eg, visitors, parents, other staff and tradespeople.
Suppose a visitor to your service cuts himself on some broken glass. You had swept this glass
into the hallway away from the children but had briefly forgotten about it in the lunchtime
hubbub. This could be considered to be a breech of duty of care to that person.
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Furthermore, injury does not just mean a physical injury like a cut finger, a broken arm or a
bumped head. There are actually four types of injury or damage that can associated with
breach of duty of care:
•
•
•
•
physical
psychological
emotional
financial.
Although all of this may sound worrying, it is important to realise that a sound understanding
of your legal and ethical obligations will help you make the right decisions and act
appropriately to avoid injury to others.
We should be mindful of the OHS legislation and the Children’s Services Regulations applicable
to our state or territory. We also need to have an understanding of the health and safety
policies of our workplace.
‘Housekeeping’ is an important part of occupational health and safety. It means keeping our
work area clean and tidy, without obstructions to walkways or exits. This is an ongoing process
that involves individual workers taking responsibility as well as cooperation between workers.
Activity 8
You come into the room after your morning tea break and almost trip over several toys near
the door. What would you do?
Feedback
You should pick up the toys and return them to the appropriate shelf or container. Under the
service’s OHS policy, it may be appropriate to report the hazard to your supervisor.
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Appendix 1
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