There is something magical that happens when like-minded professional early childhood educators come together. The ideas, thoughts and perspectives that take place inspire growth and challenge perseptions and perspectives alike.
October 30, 2023 saw STEPPING STONES Professional Development roll out a new workshop around Exceeding the Expectations: Using the Language of the Exceeding Themes. This workshop is open internatonally to all educators and teachers and it is based around the Austalian National Quality Standards (NQS)and using the professional language found within.
We sat together and reflected on what "key practices" where around all areas of early learning. From the educational program, to safety, our relationships with children, the environment and how we bridge a connection between the service and our community. All important aspects of early learning for young children.
"Reporting outbreaks to local health departments and then following on their advice and recommondations demonstrates the service's commitment to reaching out to local bodies within the community to guide and support. This continues to build different forms of relationships with our community in order to best support children, families and educators."
This one paragraph, using the professional language found within the Exceeding Themes of Australia's NQS, is just one way that we can advocate for our secotor, our profession.
The result of this workshop, was a desire to meet again in a more informal gathering, for an evening of networking. Once again this cohort, met up, bounced ideas on ensuring all stakeholders were included in reflecting on the "key practices" of the service and what that looked like from all different educators perspectives.
It was a great night that brought many ideas to the table, cleared up some previous ways of thinking and doing and began to show how to break down the creation of key practices into simple steps.
We also saw a sneak peck video of our latest project that Kristel and I have been working on, where we break down the 7 different quality areas of Austalia's Quality Areas, show potential key practices, how to gather evidence and how to be prepared for an Assessment and Rating visit.
It was so successful in fact, that we will be hosting another networking night in the end of Novemeber, each educator bringing to the table something they have worked on to share and reflect on.
Challenging perspectives, putting change into action and reflecting on the outcome is all about growth. Not just in the educational program we are providing young people and their families, but in us as professional educators and our professional.
Janine Kelly
