The Early Years LearningFramework for Australia

BELONGING,BEING &

BECOMING

Produced by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and WorkplaceRelations for the Council of Australian Governments.© Commonwealth of Australia 2009

A vision for children’s learning

A VISION FOR CHILDREN’S LEARNING

All children experience learning that is engaging

and builds success for life.

belonging, being and becoming.

• relationships - crucial to a sense of belonging

• a time to be, to seek and make meaning

• becoming reflects the process of rapid and significant change that occurs in the early years as young children learn and grow

Learning Outcomes:

• Children have a strong sense of identity • Children are connected with and

contribute to their world • Children have a strong sense of

wellbeing • Children are confident and involved

learners • Children are effective communicators.

ELEMENTS OF THE FRAMEWORK

• children’s learning at the core

• three inter-related elements:

• Principles,

• Practice

• Learning Outcomes

CHILDREN’S LEARNING

• dynamic, complex and holistic.

• Physical, social, emotional, personal, spiritual, creative, cognitive and linguistic aspects of learning are all intricately interwoven and interrelated.

• actively construct their own understandings and contribute to others’ learning.

• recognise their agency, capacity to initiate and lead learning

• right to participate in decisions

Play is a context for learning that:

• allows for the expression of personality and uniqueness

• enhances dispositions such as curiosity and creativity

• enables children to make connections between prior experiences and new learning

• assists children to develop relationships and concepts

• stimulates a sense of wellbeing.

Learning through play

• opportunities to learn

• discover, create, improvise and imagine

• create social groups, test ideas, challenge thinking, build new understandings.

• supportive environment - question, solve problems, think critically

• expand thinking, desire to know and learn

Play...• can promote positive dispositions towards

learning.

• enables them to simply enjoy being.

Early childhood educators• engage in sustained shared conversations

• extend their thinking 5

• provide a balance

• create learning environments that encourage children to explore, solve problems, create and construct

• interact to build attachment

• routines and play experiences

• spontaneous teachable moments

• promote and model positive ways to relate to others

• inclusion

• help children to recognise unfairness

• offer constructive ways to build caring, fair and inclusive learning community.

5 Siraj-Blatchford, I., & Sylva, K. (2004). Researching pedagogy in English pre-schools. British Educational Research Journal, 30(5), 712-730.

Children's Learning

• active participants and decision makers

• move beyond pre-conceived expectations

• respect and work with each child’s unique qualities and abilities.

• Children thrive when families and educators work together in partnership to support young children’s learning.

Our task

• To investigate how the EYLF impacts on children in the wider society, i.e. in childcare.

• To work with children in the wider society and the EYLF to promote child development through planning and implementing appropriate play activities.

• To promote family and education partnerships through communicating the children’s learning to parents

How will we do it?

• Group task - need to collaborate in decision making and on the task

• Use Google Docs 'Document' to collaborate on the group decision making

• Run the play activities, photograph them

• Use Google Docs to collaborate and create a group activity presentation page for the children’s learning folios.

• Write up an individual evaluation

Group Decision Making

P1 Identification and discussion of factors involved in problem-solving related to the health and well-being of children.

• types of play

• development & play –

• what does play do

• Mitchell St program –

• opportunities and restrictions

• EYLF – how will this be reflected in the task

Group Decision Making

P2 Decision-making about problem-solving and implementation strategies.

• what exactly will be done

• what will be included

• how it will be set out

• how information will be gathered

• what are the tasks

• what are the timelines

• who will do what