Families - without them, early childhood educators would be lost. Children belong first to a family, and then to a community. Families are children’s first educators, and are the most important foundation in children’s lives.
Families - without them, early childhood educators would be lost. Children belong first to a family, and then to a community. Families are children’s first educators, and are the most important foundation in children’s lives.
Quality Area Six of the National Quality Standard asks educators and leaders to think deeply about how they can help families feel connected to the service, and how services can connect children to community.
As the saying goes “it takes a village to raise a child” - how can services show their village all the amazing things they have to offer, and make their village feel welcome?
The first elements of Quality Area Six talk about respecting parents views, involving parents in the day to day operations of the service, and supporting families to know what’s happening in their local community. Here are some “tips and tricks” from services around Australia about how they have “aced” Quality Area Six:
Coffee and a chat - we all know one thing parents have in common - little sleep! For many services, having facilities to make a coffee in the morning not only sets parents up for a great day, but also gives educators and leaders a chance to have an informal chat, and catch up on the news and views of families.
Know your tribe - by listening to what families are struggling with, services can “tailor make” solutions. For one inner city service, a complaint they heard over and over was about the challenges of securing a city park to do drop off in the morning. They introduced a valet service, where an educator could meet the child at the curb, and the frustrations dropped almost immediately.
Make it meaningful - when it comes to engagement, one size does NOT fit all! If you have a cohort of busy parents, they are unlikely to respond to a long survey - so why not make it easy? “Put a coloured dot on the image you like best” as a way of engaging in a playground redesign. This is also a great option for including children’s voices.
The other core component of Quality Area Six is about working hand in hand with families and the community, and making sure that partnerships enhance children’s inclusion, learning and wellbeing.
From small elements, like how information is communicated, all the way through to “milestone moments” like transitions between rooms, or moving off to school, there are so many opportunities for services to work in conjunction with families and communities to support children to have the best possible start in life.
The Exceeding rated Port Lincoln Children’s Centre has proudly shared the way in which they develop and maintain respectful and supportive relationships with families and caregivers.
A core element of their success has been recognising families as children’s first and most significant teachers, and respecting Aboriginal ways of being, right from the time of enrolment, where the director or assistant director assists the family’s orientation and can offer support if required to understand any forms and obligations and responsibilities such as the services policies.
Families are encouraged to become involved in the service “in whatever way they can,” and have the opportunity to review policies, service philosophy, budgets, staffing, professional learning, resources and arranging gatherings and events such as the family night held each term.
Individual learning plans are co-created with the children and families, and regular feedback on the plans is invited.
There is comprehensive information about the service available in several formats both at the service, in the foyer and on line. Information is also provided as part of the enrolment pack which includes the service philosophy an overview of policies, grievance information, food for PLCC with authorisations sought for regular outings, bus transport, health checks, photography and other elements of the program.
There’s lots of guidance and support for services about achieving success in Quality Area Six.
Check out this piece, on the role of community, by National Educational Leader, Rhonda Livingstone.
This policy might guide you in developing your own family participation guidelines, while this survey is an example of how one service invited feedback from their families about how they were progressing.
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