Direct Participation and Employee Learning at Work Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Early Childhood

Early Childhood Education and Care

1. Learning opportunities for staff When it is discussed about the learning opportunities for staff or workplace, it is generally done to enhance and improve the working capabilities of the staff. It is generally done in the instructional or supervised activity based method. For creating a learning opportunity without the disturbance of privacy, mentoring is always prioritized. It is an informal kind of communication engulfed in learning. The staff can be easily guided and through communication, knowledge and experiences can be shared. During mentoring, a sort of gamifications task can also be added creating a virtual or imaginary situation where the staff can be asked to participate and share their views on it (Inanc,Zhou,Gallie & Felstead 2015).

2. Staff Qualifications According to the guidelines in NQF, the staff qualifications matter as it is all about taking care of children. The NQF has guidelines where it states that the person should hold a diploma approved by ACECQA. There has to be a department where the educators’ qualification can be scrutinized. If not manually then there can be an online checker provided where in the present staff and the interested candidates’ qualification level can be checked. The online mode of checking will be quite a hassle free thing. The checker itself will clarify and guide as well for the further process. The complete qualification list can be provided on the website so that it does not create confusion and the interested candidates and the present ones can easily access the information. The staffing arrangements should be done taking things in mind that they should grow warmth creating a safe and respectful environment(Young 2003).

3. Ratio of educators to children According to Early childhood and care(2018) it is 1:7 educator to child ratio,maximum of four children preschool age or under,Ratio includes the educator’s own children younger than 13 years of age if there is no other adult to care for them. For over preschool age 1:10 ratio is taken if kindergarten children are in attendance. Over 36 months up to and including preschool age 1:10 for centre-based services other than a preschool 1:10 for disadvantaged preschools,1:11 for preschools other than a disadvantaged preschool.

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5. Planning of areas accessible to physically disable The children with physical disability deal with a number of inferiority issues outside the education system. The place of care for them is a place of comfort. The Quality Area 3 is the physical environment where the child learns in a play way method promoting the all round development.The measures taken for the physically disabled child to have access to the elements present there. Making an aisle or pathway so that the children can move freely from ground to the rooms. The educators must help them to learn the use of the various adaptive equipment. It can definitely ensure active participation of the children in all sorts of activities. The educators have to be on their toes to help the children in this matter.

6. The child care organization strives to improve in all ways. There are few improvements that can be done in the different departments. They are:

6.1. Basic Care: addition of more toys, cleaning them often as babies tend to put them in mouth, display regular drills for an emergency exit plan in case of any natural or man made disaster. Use of portable play yards for toddlers and babies must be implemented.

6.2. Furnishing: Renovation of the rooms, better and more furniture, ground should be safe from any tools which can harm kids, adding more storage for keeping the belongings.

6.3. Learning materials and activities: language development kits such as language kits containing flash cards with alphabet and numbers, informative charts,engaging kids in dance and activities which will foster play way method learning.

6.4. Safety first: The employees must be aware of all the contact numbers. The parents contact number must also be accessible to the entire staff.At the same time the parents must also have the contact numbers of the staff and director as well.

6.5. Care of the children: portfolios of the kids must be done and have a brief history of any sort of health problems, disabilities and allergy such as food, dust, etc.

7. This work plan can be discussed with stakeholders so as to get complete cooperation and improve the quality of care of the children.

8. Preparation of the speech for the stakeholders In a child day care, the stakeholders comprise of families and parents of the children, peers and leaders within the childhood education , local educators and local government.The main pointers of evaluation comes on:

8.1. documentation and reports,internal regulations with the academic researchers and policymakers.

8.2. Regular meetings and interaction with parents to make them aware of the child's positives and negatives and how they will work on them outside child care.

8.3. Training and counselling visits by experts to the staff to help them understand and nurture children in better ways.

8.4. Focusing on group discussion with staff members, with the families, in order to collect relevant data about the perception of the service, the effective results and the needs for future development of the service.

8.5. Additional written questionnaires for several stakeholders on reviewing and critique the work and advice for future.

9. Things taken into account while scheduling meetings are as follows The mission and the main objectives of the service,the key principles of the organizations, beliefs and values on which the organizations stand firm,The general administration on how childcare works on a daily basis. The human resources i.e the staff responsible for smooth functioning of the child care.The assessment of educational and rehabilitation programs.The cooperation with parents in connection to the child. The quality of the premises, area and equipment used during the teaching and activity process. The safety and the health of the staff must also be taken seriously and must be given priority.

10. Hazards are basically a thing or situation which has potential to cause harm including death, injury, accident, disease and property or equipment damage. The first step for hazard management is to identify the possible risk factors present in the workplace. Then comes the likelihood or possibility of the damage or harm ie how much can it affect.In a nutshell it is about assuming how far the damage can affect the environment or the individual. After assessing the potential damage rate, it is now important to take up steps to control the hazards.Taking up steps to eliminate the hazards. If the elimination is not possible, most appropriate risk control measures must be applied to help control the hazards effects.The last and the final step is to monitor or review the steps that have been implemented. Risk control processes and monitoring has to be reviewed so that the plans implemented are running smoothly or not. It is an important responsibility and thus becomes a vital part for smooth running of the organization (Bolton & Kleinsteuber 2001).

11. The 2 legislation relevant to the child industry is Children’s Services Regulations 2020 and Children Service Act 1996.

12. There are several ways by which the organization can involve the stakeholders in participation of quality assurance.When it is about quality assurance, it means that the quality of the personnel, the instruments and methods. Starting from the parents, the organization can call up for a meeting and publish survey sheets which can have questionnaires regarding the infrastructure, quality of safety,child protection and hygiene.These surveys can provide appropriate reviews about the organization. On this basis the policy makers are subjected to change norms for betterment of the children.meetups should be organized with the educators where they can discuss and communicate their own reviews. Solo meetups can also be facilitated as many may not be comfortable saying things in group.Educators must also work with parents to understand the children so need is met.

13. The stakeholder’s involvement becomes important in quality assurance. The stakeholders in child care are mainly the parents,peers,researchers and staff themselves. The stakeholders must be aware of all the procedures undertaking visites.Their feedback, response and acquaintance is of great significance.For assessing the growth of the child away from home, parents and families are of best exposure. The feedback and suggestion can really be helpful in assessing the progress.There is always a scope of improvement in the form of suggestion. On behalf of these suggestions, the policy makers can make favourable quality improvement plans which will be beneficial for the children. The educators working the organization can again give ample information about the pros and cons of the policy applied. How much children are adaptive to those policies can easily be interpreted by the staff. Every child is different from the other. The responses of the implemented policies can be easily accessed by them (Ishimine,Tayler and Bennett 2010).

14. The best practice guidelines for children services The best practice guidelines for children services are to be done with utmost care. The cognition differs from child to child so the one who assesses them must assess them ethically.The child may be differently abled and hence inclusive assessment must be followed.The inclusive practice includes all kinds of children in the same environment. The routines help children understand their environment. When children feel safe, they are free to play, learn, and grow as members of society.The children depend on the adults for their safety. The environment must be provided by the educator. The educators must be conscious enough to show good behaviour. Children tend to imitate what they see. The good examples will help their social and behavioral development. Healthy social development makes them a better citizen. Child psychologists have always given importance to positive guidance and peer play. The peerplay helps in inculcating moral values and the value of sharing with caring.

15. Example to approach on work plans The work plans are basically the blueprints of the plans that are to be implemented.It helps manage the expectations of stakeholders and the staff, the chances of mistakes are lessened as well. The first step in the work plan is identifying the project and the timeline required to achieve the target.For example, there must be changes in the furnishings. The goal is taken up and time decided for the implementation is 1 week. Then comes the resource and the resource person from where the materials are to be bought and fitted in the respective rooms.The budget and the department from where the budget has to be acquired and the tools required for the work progress.understand the constraints and risk as well because it is a child care. Mechanical risk can have hazards on children. The well made work plan is always beneficial for progress in the work.

16. The assessment and ratings according to NQF are as follows: The ratings are done in 7 quality areas.It starts from Excellent where service provided excellent care and is awarded followed by Exceeding National Quality Standard where service goes beyond the quality of 4 out of 7 areas. Similarly the last one being Significant Improvement required where service does not meet any of quality out of 7 areas.The best part is there is always a scope of promoting the ratings of the services. The assessment and ratings are done on the basis of the visits by the supervisors.A template is made on the basis of observation and covering all the 7 quality areas with comments, ratings and evidence in support of the comments.

17. Project Work:

17.1. As a staff member of the small early education provider, the things which are to be looked out for are the quality areas. There are 7 quality areas which are to be looked for in assessing the organization and its working.The first area is education program and practice.The teaching practices must include intentional teaching, scaffolding, all round development of the learners. The educators must be benevolent and maximise students' learning. This can help in all round development of the learner. Assessment should be done with planning and the results must be discussed with the parents. The learning should always be child centred. The quality area 2 is children’s health and safety. The safety of the child should always be of utmost importance. Rough drills are to be done in case of emergency. Precautions must be taken to ensure the safety of the child from hazards. Eduactors and staff must be aware of the precautions to be taken against any child abuse. Well being and child comfort must be kept in mind along with the individual hygiene. The 3rd quality area is the physical environment .

The environment has to be well maintained. Outdoors and indoors must be well maintained.It must be organized in such a way that it is easily accessible to children and he/she has the natural experiences out of it. The furnishing must be constructed keeping children safety in mind. Materials used should be sufficient in numbers and improvise the child's way of learning. The 4th quality area is staffing arrangements. The one thing to look out for is the educators with compassion and warmth which is needed in child care. The educators must understand the needs of the child. They must help them develop in a positive and healthy way. Children must feel comfortable to express themselves.The professionals and educators must work in cooperation. The professional standards must be maintained. The 5th is relationship with children.The educators must pose positivity towards the children. This helps them to express and they feel safe. The relationship between them has to be healthy.Collaborative learning should be promoted. They must learn to help each other. The dignity and rights of the child must be maintained. Positive child interactions is the demand of the time.

Meaningful interactions build trust and relations between the child and the educator improves. The 6th being collaboration with staff and families of the children. Supportive parents and relationships are expected from their end. The culture and the background of the families must be kept in mind.Collaborative partnerships within educators nad service enhance children’s inclusive learning and wellbeing.The service must build relationships and engages with community.Continuity of learning for each child are supported by sharing information and clarifying responsibilities.Current information must be availed to families about the service and resources to support parenting and family wellbeing. The seventh area to assess is governance and leadership. The governance handles the working of the organization. The policy and the implementation is highly dependent on the governing bodies. Into this the management part needs to be scrutinized. The risk management and effective functioning and providing quality service. Effective leadership builds a healthy work environment for the staff and creates a learning atmosphere where all can flourish effectively and help in providing top services.Positive atmosphere provides scope of improvement and self assessment. There must be continuous performance evaluation of the educators, coordinators and staff members. These are the above pointers which are to be taken in view while assessment is in process.

17.2. For facilitating the quality improvement , the procedures have to be started with going through the infrastructure and working of the organization. Scope Of improvement in the infrastructure which will enable the safety and provide a better environment. The qualification bar of the educators must be assessed. The educators must be skilled and groomed enough to tackle and handle children's needs. The interactions between parents and the organization must be done in short intervals of time to ensure the continuous feedback. This will help in building the community stronger. The safety measure must be improved. The children are clumsy and they need support from an adult. The educators must have helpers with them to make sure that the no child gets harmed. There must be continuous evaluation of the educators.training must be provided to them as well for their growth in the field.

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17.4. For monitoring the quality improvement plan, a weekly assessment can be done. The mentors or the leaders can be assigned to report to their heads regarding the improvement of quality. A sort of survey can be connected by the parents to know the plan implemented has been successful or not and if yes how much has it been.

17.5. The work plan that is to be presented to relevant parties will be based on the practical changes. The changes in physical environment, changes made in policies, changes made in terms of teaching learning methods etc. All must be kept in record as a plan mentioning the time taken as well. After the implementation, the progress and the advantages that are received must also be mentioned in the work plan. The inclusion of collaborative learning, providing a playway environment to the kids by adding numerous furnishings and so on.Regardless of all these, safety and hygiene must be ensured. The budget and funding from the government bodies or the shareholders can be mentioned in the work plan to ensure transparency of the working of the organization.

17.6. During the external evaluation, the thing must be kept in mind that the organisation must have fulfilled the criteria of quality assurance.The stakeholders keep in mind the areas and the pointers that are to be improved to increase the ratings of quality. The educators will cover the academics and room wise maintenance. The staff will make sure of the outdoors and indoors maintenance. The educators will also make a point to interact with the parents regarding the improvement of their children. They can also take reviews on the effect of the newly allotted improvements in the organizations.the changes made is drafted by the policy makers. They can easily show up the credentials. The health, hygiene and safety of the children's service can easily be seen by the evaluators. By this way, the departments can be divided for smooth functioning and proper evaluation.

17.7. If taking up personally the evaluation procedure, I will see through the changes made in the policies and to what extent they are beneficial. In a children care service, the care of children and their needs have to be fulfilled. Whether the furnishings and equipment provided is safe or not. The educators have to be compassionate towards the kids. They must love them. They must have warmth that is required for the all round development. The children must be away from any sort of abuse which may defame the organisation. The furnishings must be child friendly and safe so that they don't even accidentally hurt themselves. The play way method is implemented or not. They must learn and play as well. Childhood is all about love and exploring the world. Kids must be given that chance in all possible ways.

17.8. An example of non compliance is hygiene practices which may include incomplete handwashing, empty of dirty soap dispensers, lack of toilet papers, leaving then sheet mats dirty and without cover, wiping the nose of children without tissue or not wiping at all . This noncompliance can be infectious and spread disease among the educators, children and their families. The company’s good name and the trust of stakeholders are two most important assets. There can be many non compliance occurring.While dealing with the non compliance issues, communication must be clear so that the misunderstanding does not create any non compliance.The organization must have warm relation with the parents so that matters can be easily negotiated to them.Any risk related to child or his family must be taken into account. If there is any risk regarding the workplace or the staff, has to be resolved on an urgent basis. The agency can also take help from local authorities in knowing information about the child’s family or background to avoid problems in future. The company should make sure that it is providing a safe environment to their staff. The parents must be informed of any changes and progress if their child and hence planned meetings must be organised. A professional strategy discussion must be done where the child protection policy must be reviewed and discussed (Robson & Kuczynski 2018).

17.9. The staff and educators are the asset of the organization. Weekly meetings and individual call ups can help get feedback from the staff. A set of doubts or questions can be set up and must be probed by the staff. Their problems are to be heard. Suggestions must be entertained if acceptable and possible. They must be mentored and groomed. Simulated situations can be put forward to extract their views and ideas as well. This can prove helpful to the organisation in any possible way. Reviews about parents and outside communities can also be gathered through staff as they are in communication with the parents.

Reference List for Early Childhood Education and Care

Bolton N F. and Kleinsteuber, F.J. (2001). A Perspective on the Effectiveness of Risk Assessment by First-Line Workers and Supervisors in a Safety Management System, Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 7:7, 1777-1786, DOI: 10.1080/20018091095384).

Early Childhood Education and Care. (2018). Educator-to-child ratios. [online] Available at: https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/legislation-and-guidelines/staffing-requirements-and-leadership/educator-to-child-ratio [Accessed 27 Aug. 2020].

Inanc, H., Zhou, Y., Gallie, D., Felstead, A. and Green, F. (2015). Direct Participation and Employee Learning at Work. Work and Occupations, [online] 42(4), pp.447–475. Available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/809296/1/Direct%20participation%20and%20employee%20learning%20at%20work.pdf [Accessed 27 Aug. 2020].

Ishimine, K., Tayler, C. and Bennett, J. (2010). Quality and Early Childhood Education and Care: A Policy Initiative for the 21st Century. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, [online] 4(2), pp.67-80. Available at: <https://ijccep.springeropen.com/articles/10.1007/2288-6729-4-2-67> [Accessed 13 August 2020].

Robson, J. and Kuczynski, L. (2018). Deconstructing noncompliance: parental experiences of children’s challenging behaviours in a clinical sample.International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, [online] 13(sup1), p.1563432. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17482631.2018.1563432> [Accessed 17 August 2020].

Young, M.F.D. (2003). National Qualifications Frameworks as a Global Phenomenon: A comparative perspective. Journal of Education and Work, [online] 16(3), pp.223–237. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1363908032000099412 [Accessed 20 Dec. 2019].

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