Outlining the problem or issue

For many young children in Australia, child care has now become an ordinary incidence
of their everyday lives. Parents opt to utilize the services being offered by various
education and care centers for different reasons such as work, and illness. However,
there is uncertainty as to whether the care and attention which each infant/toddler/child
being taken in by such centers receive is sufficient for their proper and positive
development or simply put, whether all children receive the care and attention that they
need and deserve.

Central to the quality of care and services being provided by the centers to the children
are the relationships which the educators form and develop with the children (Cadima
2020). These relationships are warm, sensitive, meaningful and stimulating (Bjørnestad
& Os 2017; Pinto et al. 2019). However, in reality, such is not the case insomuch as the
educators fail to develop this kind of relationships with the children due to difficulty in
providing the individual care and attention that each of the children needs in a setting
where the former is expected to look after several children. In various studies, the
importance of providing supportive care for toddlers is highlighted as it is found to be
associated with children’s experiences and behavior in child care centers (Burger 2014)
and that it influences how the children perceive and experience things (Katsiada et al.
2018). Since these children are of very young and tender age, they are more dependent
on the educators’ or care providers’ sensitive and/or supportive care than those children
already in grade school. Emphasis must be put on the significance of incorporating
relationship-based practices in the context of child care. Such practices include the
provision of responsive and sensitive caregivers (Katsiada et al. 2018; Layland & Smith
2015) and continuous and sustained child-adult interactions (Bronfenbrenner & Morris
2007).

According to the attachment theory, responsive, warm and close relationships create
the basis for developing a secure foundation from which infants and toddlers explore
and perceive their environments and experiences and develop a sense of autonomy
(Ereky-Stevens et al. 2018). This is also among the many principles embodied in the
Early Years Learning Framework. It has been proved by various research that young
learners in early childhood education and care which develop meaningful relationships
with their educators are socially competent, more independent and exhibit increased
levels of play (Jamison et al. 2013). Quality interactions with toddlers and infants is
important to their development. However, developing warm and meaningful
relationships with the children is impossible if the educators are always busy doing other
things and thus lose focus on providing care centered on the children.

In addition, it has been said that early childhood pedagogy should be holistic in nature in
that it consists of interconnected factors and individuals which all contribute to achieving
the desired learning outcomes. Educators must establish healthy relationships with the
children and the latter’s families in order for them to work together in building an
effective curriculum and bringing the best learning experiences to the children (Council
of Australian Governments 2018). According to the EYLF, particularly Principle 1
(Secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships), educators who are aware of and
attentive to the feeling, opinion and thoughts of the children support the development of
a strong sense of well-being.

Taking into consideration the above discussions, this paragraph now incorporates it with
some of the concepts and principles taken from the Early Years Learning Framework
(EYLF). Learning Outcome 5 expects children to develop to be effective communicators
where they are able to interact with others, verbally or non-verbally, and express their
ideas and thoughts. This is not possible if the educators do not engage with the children
in developing their communication skills. Constant interaction and communication are
key to developing and improving such skills. This also finds connection with Learning
Outcomes 1 (Strong sense of identity), 3 (Children have a strong sense of wellbeing)
and 4 (Children are confident and involved learners). If the educators are able to have
quality interactions with the children and eventually create meaningful relationships with
them, then the children will feel more confident about themselves and will receive the
various supports that they need. They will be able to have an increased sense of
belonging and well-being as well. Babies (or infants or toddlers) maybe of tender age
but they are competent in their own ways. By enriching relationships and building larger
networks of healthy and warm connections, the children develop confidence because
they feel valued, accepted and respected (Council of Australian Governments 2018).
Through this, the children will be able to properly and better transition to school.

Background and context

The subject of this action plan is a large early childhood long day care that caters to 115
children every day. Children are grouped according to age in this manner: (a) from birth
to 12 months; (b) from 12 months to 2 years; (c) from 2 years to 3 years; (d) from 3
years to 4 years; and (e) 4 years. The vision and philosophy of the subject center
acknowledges the principles and practices of the Early Years Learning Framework
(EYLF) as well as the significance of incorporating them in the programs and methods
of the center.

As the educational leader, during the period spent for observation and monitoring of
some rooms, I have noted some areas that are lacking or that need some improvement
or changes. And the most noteworthy among these is the inattentiveness or
insufficiency of [individual] attention given by the educator to the older babies under
his/her care. Although they give much attention and effort to interacting warmly with the
infants and toddlers, such does not equate to sufficient compliance to the National
Quality Standard (NQS), particularly Quality Area 1 (Educational Program and Practice),
Quality Area 4 (Staffing Arrangements) and Quality Area 5 (Relationships with
Children). Also, Practice 2 of the EYLF is very specific on the matter of responsiveness
of the educators to children.

Given the above-discussed importance of developing warm and meaningful

relationships with the children and creating quality interactions with them, actions must
be made in order to directly address the issue as it runs counter to the said premise.

Contrary to family child care centers which offer smaller educator to child ratios in which
case, more individual interactions between the educators and the students can take
place, in long day care centers, there are more children being catered to which, as a
consequence, result to larger educator to child ratios. In the latter case, more children
are being put under the care of only one educator, hence, it is impossible that the
educator will be able to pay attention to the individual needs of each child.
As mentioned, and showed in the preceding section, it is important that the educators
pay close and constant attention and that they are responsive to the needs, feeling and
thoughts of the children under their care. In addition to this, it must be emphasized that
educators learn continuously as well as they practice their noble profession. In order to
support the educators, the institution itself should have in place some kind of system,
program or procedure in which the weaknesses and strengths of the methods and
practices of its educators and their attitudes can be regularly monitored, assessed and
eventually accordingly improved in order to provide better education and care services
to the children.

Proposed action/s

In order to address and possibly resolve the issues discussed above, I propose the
following:

1. Additional employment of staff members

The additional staff members will be assigned to doing work or activities that do not
involve direct interactions with the children so that the educators will be able to focus on
attending to the children’s various needs and interact/connect with them without any
interruptions and this is also to ensure that educators are allocated appropriately in
accordance to the needs and age of the children. It is important that the educators are
able to focus on the needs of the children and properly respond to them. In the noted
problems, the teachers perform other things instead of giving attention to the children.
Again, babies, infants and toddlers are young and they are more sensitive and
dependent to their care providers.

2. Induction and/or orientation for newly-hired educators; and trainings for existing
educators

Upon hiring of an educator, an induction and/or orientation must be conducted which

will introduce to them and familiarize them with the National Quality Framework and the
Early Years Learning Framework and will impress in their minds its relevance as among
the factors that greatly influence the philosophy, vision and principles of the center
towards child care and education. Emphasis will be put on the importance of
establishing quality interactions and healthy relationships with the children, and ways in
which this can be achieved will be shared with the newly-hired educators.

As for the existing educators, they should be provided with relevant trainings which will
help them improve their abilities to create warm and close relationships with the children
and trainings which will provide them with better understanding and perception of the
thoughts, behaviors and feelings of children.

3. Regular reflection by educators so as to realize the areas in which they need to

improve their practices and methods as well as the areas in which they are good
at so they can build on those strengths.

Educators will be encouraged to observe the students well, including their attitudes,
behavior and interactions as well as their responses to the practices and methods
employed by the former. Pertinent observations or changes shall be noted so that the
educator will be able to later reflect on what he/she needs to change and/or improve on.
The observations and findings will eventually be shared with other educators in the
regular meeting which will be discussed further in the next item.

4. Scheduling a weekly whole team reflection, meeting or discussion of educators

The main goal of this is for the educators to be able to discuss together the
observations and reflections each of them had during the week in order to keep track of
the various improvements, changes, and developments and to give feedback to the
methods and practices of each other. Their experiences, comments and perceptions
may vary from one other and such variations will contribute to a richer discussion. Also,
such regular weekly meetings will aid in establishing whether the individual pedagogy
and practices of each educator is in accordance with the principles of the EYLF.

5. Scheduling a one-on-one meeting with the parents of each child. This is to

ensure that consistent monitoring of the behavior and development of the
children is in place even on occasions when they are not under the care of the
center.
According to the EYLF, the educators (including the institution) must work in partnership
with families. Further, it is provided under the National Quality Standard Quality Area 1
(Educational program and practice) that the program and practice should be engaging,
motivating, interesting and one that enhances the learning and development of the
children. Therefore, this proposal aims to tap the families (parents) of the children in
order to gather as much information as needed in order to create a program that will
best promote the children’s learning and development. It will be useful to know the
respective expectations of the families about the center. This will also help in identifying
the matters which will best serve the interests of the children. The families are the ones
who know the children better in many aspects, including the latter’s needs, ways of
learning, behavior, and many others. By working and coordinating with the families, the
educators will know the children more. Consequently, they will be better at interacting
and communicating with the children.

6. Based on the discussions of the educators and the meetings with the parents,
the management shall provide the educators with appropriate trainings and
seminars on areas which need improvement and/or changes.

The goal of all these proposed actions is the creation of a child-focused long day care
center. It has always been the main consideration in matters relating to childcare and
education the best interest of the children.

Data and evidence

The data and evidence to be collected will mainly focus on the children—their
corresponding responses, behavior, attitude, or reactions to particular acts, statements
or practices of the educators.

Such data and evidence will be collected through the following:

a. Reflective journals for the educators to write down their own reflections and
realizations in his/her methods or practices
b. Log books for the educators to take note of significant observations from the
children. It can refer to sudden changes in children’s behavior when exposed to a
certain stimulus, responses of the children when asked to do an activity, etc.
 c. Photographs (or videos, if possible), with the consent and agreement of the
parents: The photographs (or videos) are the best method to capture the actual
and real responses, behaviors, and attitudes of the children because it cannot be
easily altered not faked. Unlike journals and logbooks which are very subjective
on the part of the educators, photographs of the children taken during their time
in the centers while they do certain activities capture the things that happen in
reality.
d. Feedback from families and children: In working in partnership with the families,
and in creating strong partnerships with the children in order to promote better
children learning and development, the opinions and perceptions of families and
children must be given weight as these matters are actually material in the
decision-making of the educators on matters that will affect the children.

How to engage the educator team

The educator team will be engaged by providing them with free professional
development trainings which will enrich their knowledge and experiences on early
childhood care, learning and development. In addition to this, taking into consideration
that educators are already loaded with activities with the children, non-contact time will
be provided in which the educators can do their reflections, write down their
observations, plan their methods, etc. If possible, personalized professional
development plans can be tailored for each educator in order to more effectively
address and target their specific weaknesses and areas for improvement.

It will also help engage the educators if an expert in positive psychology or a

experienced facilitator or psychologist will be invited so meet and talk to them and to
train them regarding their concerns, how to connect with and build on their strengths
and to have a more positive perception of the entire self-reflection and evaluation
process. Moreover, educators feel motivated and encouraged when they are given
opportunities to share their views, suggestions, ideas, experiences and opinions. This
will ensure that the educators feel valued and supported within the institution.

Changes and improvements in education is determined by educators. This is precisely

why the proposed actions mainly involve the participation of educators.
Proposed evaluation process

For items (a) (b) and (c), the tool so-called CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring
System) will be used in analyzing the data (See Figure 1). This tool will aid the
educators in furthering the effectiveness of their interaction with the children. In using
this tool, the educator-child interaction will be categorized into three: (1) emotional
support; (2) classroom organization; and (3) instructional support.

Figure 1. The CLASS Framework

(Jensen, Mejia-Arauz & Aguilar 2017)

In evaluating the data through the CLASS Framework, certified and trained observers
will be utilized, and they will rate each of the above dimensions on a 7-point scale (low
to high) as follows:

 1 to 2: educator-child interaction is low

  3 to 5: in rooms where there is a mix of quality interactions with some periods as
well of interactions that are not effective
 6 to 7: consistent effective educator-child interactions

All data will be collected and summed up. A meeting should be scheduled and held
where all the educators will be required to attend. In such meeting, the collected data
from the journals, logbooks and other sources above-mentioned initially discussed, and
opinions and views regarding the initial findings will be shared with one another and
possible recommendations and/or suggestions for future actions will be obtained as
well.

Reference list

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R’, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 111–127.

Bronfenbrenner, U & Morris, PA 2007, ‘The Bioecological Model of Human

Development’, Handbook of Child Psychology, vol. 1.

Burger, K 2014, ‘Effective early childhood care and education: Successful approaches
and didactic strategies for fostering child development’, European Early Childhood
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<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262142446_Effective_early_childhood_care_
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