Key components of the National Quality Framework (NQF)
1.
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Key components of the National Quality Framework (NQF) |
How does each component influence educators practice in an education and care setting. |
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1. Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) |
The EYLF framework assists educators to appropriate learning opportunities to children to maximise their potential and make them successful in learning process. |
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2. National Quality Standards |
The National Quality Standard sets a national benchmark for early childhood education and care so that educators gets a better understanding about the requirements for quality service and build collaborative partnership with families and communities (The National Quality Standard, 2017). |
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3.The Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 |
This law system in NQF guides educators regarding the national standard for children’s education and care in Australia and makes them aware about relevant legislation in each states or territories (National Law, 2017). |
A. Duty of care- Duty of care is a legal obligation according to whichprofessionals need to adhere to national care standards while performing their duty and non-compliance with this standard is regarded as an act of negligence by the person.
B.
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Situation |
Description of ways to exercise duty of care in an education and care setting |
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1. when setting up the indoor environment |
In setting indoor environment, it is necessary to allow enough space for particular activities to promote safety of children and minimise interference during activities. Messy activities should be limited to particular species so that effect on other space is minimal. The arrangement should be made such that children are willing to engage and participate. |
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2. at snack and meal times |
The duty of care at meal time is to create an enjoyable experience for children so that they learn healthy habits as well as have positive attitude towards food. Children may be taught to set tables, serve themselves. It should also be social time where they should be engaged in positive conversation such as teaching them about the benefits of different foods and vegetables. |
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3. When supervising outdoor play. |
While supervising outdoor play, it is necessary for educators to ensure that outdoor environment is safe and secure for children. Educators should remain in close proximity with children to observe their activities and prevent them from getting injured. Their behaviour should be observed to ensure that they do not sustain any harm or injury. |
- It is important for educators to understand policies and procedures of their workplace in order to ensure smooth delivery of service and avoid any chaotic situations due to non-compliance. It makes them aware of their scope of practice and minimize any confusion in carrying out their work responsibilities.
- The policies and procedures are reviewed every year.
- Policies and procedures are reviewed by service educators, parents, community members, volunteers, management and community members of a child care center.
- Consultation with other stakeholders is important during reviewing policies to understand current limitation in the policies and identify areas of improvement. It also helps in getting innovative suggestion or ideas related to policy and procedures.
- The procedure for reviewing policies and procedures includes-
- Setting the timing of review process such as annually or every five years.
- A review panel should be made consisting of key stakeholders like educators, management staffs, parents and relevant child care authorities.
- Parents and staffs are given the opportunity to ask question and contribute to the review process.
- The policy feedback form is distributed to identify issues and ideas.
- Consultation with appropriate authorities is done to ensure policy contents are consistent with nature of work practice.
To make ethical decisions, the first step is to consult the Early Childhood Code of Ethics, relevant legislation and standards of practice at the organization. Secondly, there should be a commitment to uphold to professional standard of behavior. Ethical decision making should take place by identifying the dilemma and consequences of any action. All options should be evaluated to determine the best outcome.
The two source that can guide in making ethical decision as a child care educator includes-
- The Early Childhood Australia’s Code of Ethics (ECA Code of Ethics – Early Childhood Australia, 2017).
- The National Quality Standard Framework (The National Quality Standard, 2017).
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Situations |
Legal obligations |
Ethical responsibilities |
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A child with same sex parents |
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 |
· The educator has the responsibility to support the family culture · Enrich the child by not discriminating them from on the basis of family structure. |
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A child with severe disability |
Disability Discrimination Act 1992 |
· Such child should be treated equally. · Effort should be made to ensure to meet their eating, learning and toileting requirements. |
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A child whose family does not speaks English at home |
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 |
· Such child should be supported in communication by making hand gestures and drawings. · They should be made comfortable and safe at the premise |
Four behavioral indicators to identify whether child is being abused or mistreated includes-
- Changes in child’s action, attitude and emotions.
- Self-injurious behavior such as eating disorder
- Extreme mood changes and fear of going to particular place
- The child may become unusually aggressive or withdraw from peers and social gathering (Child Abuse Reporting, 2017).
Four strategies that I can take to manage a child with physical abuse and neglect are as follows:
- Intervene to lessen harm by compassionately interacting with child to make them comfortable.
- Communicate with them to identify the reason for abuse.
- Prevent harm to children by providing enriching environment to child at care center and enhanced primary care.
- Prevent future risk to child by giving behavioral training to parents regarding appropriate behavior with the child (Prevention Strategies|Child Abuse and Neglect|Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC, 2017)..
In case of dealing with child and family reporting of abuse situations, it is important for educators to maintain confidentiality to avoid emotional distress to children and family members. It ensures the protection of the affected person and the information collected from the child is not misused by others (McNamara, 2015).
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ensures that children are nurtured, protected and empowered by all means. The three approaches that I can take to uphold the rights of the child includes the following:
- To assess the child to ensure that he/she has access to basic nutritional needs and living standard.
- To provide them all developmental opportunities to have a balance between learning needs and play needs.
- To protect the child from any form of exploitation and take immediate actions in such situations.
Case study 1
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Legal obligations |
Ethical obligations |
Who to report to |
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According to the National Quality Standard (NQS), the legal obligation in this situation is to protect the three children from any harm or injury during the play (Children’s health and safety, 2017). |
Ethical obligations in care is to ensure that effective hygiene practice has been established to ensure the water is safe for skin of children and they do not sustain any harm due to sharp points in the toys. Continuous supervision is also required to identify hazardous behaviour in children. |
Child care supervisor and care staffs. |
Case study 2
The confidential information might be store in enrolment records of children. In this situation, I would review the enrolment plan of the children to ensure that the child’s father is responsible enough for the care of her baby. Next, I would advise the child’s mother to let her husband care for the child too as a the child needs loving relationship with both parents. This is also in relevance with standard 5.2 of the NQS which ensures that all children is supported to build and maintain responsive relationship with adults (Relationships with children, 2017). This is also in relevance with the Early Childhood Australia’s Code of Ethics as professional accountability is necessary to enhance relationship of the child with family members.
Case study 3
In this case scenario, the main complaint of the father was that child care service just engage in play and do not provide any form of learning to his child. In this scenario, I would seat with the child’s father and explain him that play-based learning is an opportunity to encourage child to participate in learning and easily grasp complex information through plays. Different play activities may make them dirty, but play-based learning develops their sense of identity, make them a confident learner, learn social skills and also get connected with the world. It helps them to enhance not just their cognitive skills, but also spiritual, emotional and physical needs of children (BELONGING, BEING & BECOMING, 2017).
Case study 4
How each component influences educators’ practice in an education and care setting
In the situation of disagreement with my co-worker, I try to resolve the issue with my co-worker by negotiation and effective interaction with him. This is also important as part ethical responsibility in early child education and care as effective partnership with staffs is needed to support shared responsibility children’s well-being and development. It will try to clear the misunderstanding with my colleagues to promote shared and responsive relationship with him to perform our responsibilities in a professional manner (ECA Code of Ethics, 2017).
Case study 5
- I would approach my co-worker and explain him that making inappropriate derogatory comment about work staffs is not right in a social networking platform and he should refrain from such acts. It is also an important competency for workers to show respect to co-workers and engage in professional relationship. If the people still continue with the act, I will report it to senior authority (Margolis, L., Rosenberg, A., & Umble, 2015).
- I would advise my team member never to comment about professional work detail or performance of staff in social media platform. I will also tell them to not to post anything that would be derogatory for their co-worker or employer.
Case study 6
Considering my inability to attend the training program as I have to take my child to school that day, I have been given permission to catch up on the training later this week. However, this is an ethical dilemma for me as training is important for me however not attending the training will also give wrong notion to other employees. Hence, to ensure that I catch up with the training updates, I will tell my co-workers about the issue I face in attending the training program and request them to update me with training materials and other learning. This would help me to overcome the dilemma as well as catch up with my professional development in Early Childhood Programs. This form of professional development training is also important to bring meaningful change in my skill, behavior and responsibilities (Gordon & Browne, 2013).
Case study 7
I will try to explain Ghani’s mother that she needs to take part in such games so that he understands the dignity of risk and meet his developmental needs. This dignity of risk is important for children with disability as it gives them the chance to make mistakes as well as learn from it. Dignity of risk means avoiding discriminatory attitudes against children and giving them equal opportunity to participate in learning activities. This opportunity will be beneficial for the child as it will help them to become confident as well as active learners (McCall, Groark, & Rygaard, 2014).
Case study 8
After getting to know about Alyssa’s habit of biting others, I would monitor the child so that she does not bite other children. I will also plan some solution for her so that she leaves the habit of biting others. I will also ensure that Alyssa does not get irritated during play so that she does not bite. I would also pay extra attention to avoid any altercations of Alyssa with other children.
Case study 9
While attending to the toileting need of Barry, I noticed bruises on his back and torso. In order to confirm whether he is victim of physical abuse, I will further examine the bruises for signs of lacerations, scars and abrasion. As bruises were of similar shape and size, it is clear that child was subjected to physical abuse. I will further investigate about the person involved in such act and take strict action to protect the child from any such risk in the future.
Reference
BELONGING, BEING & BECOMING. (2017). www.dss.gov.au. Retrieved 9 March 2017, from https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2015/belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf
Checklist of Possible Indicators of Abuse and Neglect — Child Abuse Reporting. (2017). Dorightbykids.org. Retrieved 9 March 2017, from https://www.dorightbykids.org/how-do-i-recognize-child-abuse-and-neglect/checklist-of-possible-indicators-of-abuse-and-neglect-1
Children’s health and safety. (2017). Acecqa.gov.au. Retrieved 9 March 2017, from https://www.acecqa.gov.au/Childrens-health-and-safety
ECA Code of Ethics – Early Childhood Australia. (2017). Early Childhood Australia. Retrieved 9 March 2017, from https://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/eca-code-ethics/
ECA Code of Ethics (2017). Earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 9 March 2017, from https://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/eca-code-ethics/code-of-ethics-core-principles/
Gordon, A. M., & Browne, K. W. (2013). Beginnings & beyond: Foundations in early childhood education. Cengage Learning.
Margolis, L., Rosenberg, A., & Umble, K. (2015). The Relationship between Interprofessional Leadership Education and Interprofessional Practice: How Intensive Personal Leadership Education Makes a Difference. Health and Interprofessional Practice, 2(3), 1.
McCall, R. B., Groark, C. J., & Rygaard, N. P. (2014). Global research, practice, and policy issues on the care of infants and young children at risk: the articles in context. Infant mental health journal, 35(2), 87-93.
McNamara, J. G. (2015). Confidentiality Conflicts: A Practical Solution to a Persistent Problem. J. Legal Prof., 40, 105.
National Law. (2017). Acecqa.gov.au. Retrieved 9 March 2017, from https://www.acecqa.gov.au/national-law
Prevention Strategies|Child Abuse and Neglect|Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC. (2017). Cdc.gov. Retrieved 9 March 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childmaltreatment/prevention.html
Relationships with children. (2017). Acecqa.gov.au. Retrieved 9 March 2017, from https://www.acecqa.gov.au/Relationships-with-children
The National Quality Standard. (2017). Acecqa.gov.au. Retrieved 9 March 2017, from https://acecqa.gov.au/national-quality-framework/the-national-quality-standard
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