Module 4Collaborative relationships

with colleagues to plan for children

Module overview
Module 4 begins by discussing the importance of open and
respectful relationships between educators and colleagues in a
service. These relationships are critical to allow efficient and
effective delivery of educational programs, professional growth of
each member and continuing staff wellbeing. Within the Self-
access content we will also introduce the planning cycle as the basis
for implementing child centred learning programs based on the
individual needs of each child.

Module purpose
By the end of this module you will be able to:

 Describe the importance and benefits of establishing

collaborative partnerships with colleagues
 Identify elements of the planning cycle and how they inform
practice
 Assess and monitor children's learning to inform planning and
achieving children's learning outcomes.

Introduction
The partnership educators have with their colleagues is as important
as all other relationships in the service.

1
A successful EC setting must have staff who truly collaborate. Teams
that work together well, aim to improve their practice; focus intently
on the children and families in their care; and support management
to meet legal obligations under the NQF (ACECQA, 2021) to
implement policies and procedures that reflect values under the
NQS (ACECQA, 2018) and EYLF (AGDE, 2022). Being an EC educator
is a complex role and having supportive team members is critical to
the not only for the success of the service but for educator's own
wellbeing. Whether you are in family day care or long day care,
Preschool or other service types, having team members you can
trust and rely on is imperative for your success in this career.

The team create an atmosphere, each member responsible for the

harmony created, and sense of purpose. When staff have underlying
grievances between each other, it is felt not only by the staff but the
children and the parents. What type of environment do you want to
work in, a service full of laughter and excitement; music playing
with colourful fabrics hanging from the ceiling; quiet children sitting
at tables; hungry sad children waiting for lunch; raised voices; or
loud groups running around banging on tambourines? Staff create
the purposeful environments - each member is responsible for input
into the ambiance and flow of the day for children and the team
working in that environment. It is critical staff work together
cohesively in a service for everyone's wellbeing.

Effective communication and teamwork is key and it takes skill,

effort, openness and a desire to be the best you can be. However
you do this every day as an EC educator with children and families,
and we should think of our team in a similar way as it is exactly the
same style of interaction - we are all human after all.

Team members work together to create learning plans for each child
and utilising the planning cycle allows this to occur in an ongoing
continuum. This cycle informs all you do and often it occurs in an
incidental way where you observe a child playing and decide to
implement an activity, or it may be planned and intentional after
assessing a child who has struggled to climb over the A frame
equipment and you encourage them by adding a lower piece of
equipment to the outdoor environment. The planning can be a few
seconds or be for a long term outcome such as practising correct
pencil grip or building new friendships. This module will introduce

2
the cycle however you will spend a great deal of time during your
course covering the use of this approach.

Educators not only plan and deliver quality education programs,

they have a wider responsibility to their colleagues as mentors; to
the service playing an important role in the assessment and rating
process; to families in providing support; to other professional
involved in the lives of the children; to themselves to ensure your
own values and beliefs are respected; and the wider society as an
advocate for the importance of emphasising the benefits of quality
early childhood education services. We will bring some of these
obligations to the discussion and encourage you to continue to
reflect on these personally, and extend this with your colleagues,
other professionals and wider communities.

Lets get started!

Readings
ACECQA, (2018). National quality standard: Quality areas 4 & 7.
Retrieved from [Link]
The ECA (2016) Code of Ethics particularly "In relation to colleagues" section and "In relation to the
profession".
[Link]

NQS QA 7 Governance and leadership

It is imperative the team including management and organisational
leaders collaborate for successful operations of the service. This is
outlined below in the NQS QA 7 (ACECQA, 2018). Look over each of
the Standard 7 elements so you are familiar with the governance
and leadersip requirements.

NQS QA 4 Staffing arrangements

The NQS (ACECQA, 2018) specifically refers to staffing in QA 4
Staffing arrangements.

3
4.1 Organisation of staff supports children as the staff become
familiar with the children and the children feel comfortable with the
staff. Arrangements are based on specific ratios of numbers of staff
with particular qualifications as well as experience with the children.
As a new staff member becoming familiar with the children will
become your first important task, as well as learning policies,
understanding the children's routines, family members names and
service responsibilities and many other daily duties.

4.2 What does being a professional mean to you? Start with knowing
your professional requirements like the NQS, the EYLF Practices,
Principles and Learning Outcomes; then consider how you work with
children, families and colleagues; how you portray yourself in your
profession as an 'expert' who tells everyone what you know or
someone who approaches people through asking questions,
listening and adding to conversations after people have had the
chance to try out their own ideas. Professional interactions and
relationships are the same for all humans you meet. I challenge you
to consider that statement's validity for your personal values and
philosophy. Remember when using the H5P Documentation tool
below, it saves your response as a word doc for you to save and
keep to take to the Tutorials. When you record points however, you
cannot save a progress copy as you will not be allowed back into the
same document. This means you can keep saving as you progress
but each save will create a new word doc. A solution is to copy/cut
and paste the old comments into your new live screen; keep
multiple word docs; or try to do all your notes at once then save it
as one (sometimes BB times out so this may not be a wise option
unless the comment tasks are short).

Staff input into the Quality

Improvement Plan
A big part of the assessment and rating process is the Quality
Improvement Plan (QIP). At its heart the QIP asks services to
continue to strive for best practice encouraging teams to reflect on
all that they do in their service.

4
Go to the following ACECQA website to see what your role as an
educator is when creating the QIP and answer the quick quiz
questions!

[Link]
process

Watch: Your role as an educator in the

QIP
This is a short video to help you become familiar with how the
Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) requires the team of educators
input.

Educators planning for children

Educators planning for children

After considering the importance of forming collaborative and

respectful teams with our colleagues, we then need to consider
what is the purpose of our teamwork, that is creating our programs.
Services will have their own unique educational programs and
practices based on the legal requirements, service philosophy, staff
beliefs and the needs of the children and families. We will now look
at why and how services meet these needs.

The NQS (ACECQA, 2018) Quality Area 1 outlines requirements when

designing the EC service educational program for children.

1.1 The program: Decisions are made for the program based on
the needs of the child and the learning outcomes from the EYLF in
EC services. The program must focus on each child their knowledge,
abilities, strengths, interests, and take into account family and
cultural perspectives. Educators work together to create cohesive
plans and include all aspects of the day (see Early childhood
curriculum definition). Basic everyday routines must be used as
opportunities for learning such as washing hands, getting dressed,
having lunch and even nappy change time.
5
1.2 Practices: Intentional teaching is one of the EYLF's Practices
and involves the educator being "deliberate, purposeful and
thoughtful in their decisions and action" (DET, 2019, p. 18). This is
not formal teaching sitting in a chair and rote learning, it is an
educator knowing when they need to add to a child's learning,
clarify a concept, include information that supports and extends the
child's learning. This will be discussed in greater detail in the next
module. Scaffolding is an approach where an educator acts as a
entor to help construct an environment that uses the children's
ideas to build on these with added questions, perhaps prompts.
additional resources and wider information. The goal in directed
learning is to put the child in the centre where they control the
environment, acting as the director in their play, making decisions
to drive the events around them. Educators faclitate and support
with the child in the forefront.
1.3 Assessment and planning: This Element is unpacked futher
in detail below under the 'Planning cycle'.

The planning cycle

The diagram of the Early Years Planning Cycle below, comes directly
from the Educators Guide to the EYLF (DEEWR, 2010, p. 11). For
now we will introduce some of the relevant components as more
comprehensive details will be unpacked across your course.

Click on the hotspots to find out more.

Collecting evidence from children for use in your program is a

continuous process. Observations gathered and documented, form
the basis of your plans and help you see if children have enjoyed
your planned experiences or not, have gained skills and knowledge
from them and understand how you might adapt them for future
planned experiences. The data collected also takes into account the
broader needs of contexts such as each child's family goals, how we
can extend the child's relationships, utilising play and ensuring we
meet the EYLF requirements.
The planning cycle is a complex, consistent and based on
collaboration with your colleagues. It forms the basis of all you do as
an educator. Working with your teams and educational leaders will

6
allow you to understand, improve on, and streamline all aspects of
the cycle.

Summary
During this module we looked at the partnership educators have
with their colleagues, other professionals, within their service and
the wider community. Educators have an obligation to their own well
being, and to contribute to the wellbeing and success of the other
team mebers within the service. Educators support management to
meet legal obligations under the NQF (ACECQA, 2021) to implement
policies and procedures that reflect values under the NQS (ACECQA,
2018) and EYLF (DoE, 2022). Being an EC educator is a complex role
that requires effective, respectful communication skills and having
supportive, honest and open team members is critical in such a busy
ever changing environment.

References
Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority
[ACECQA]. (2019). Continuous improvement in
practice. [Link]
Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority
[ACECQA]. (2019). Critical reflection in
practice. [Link]
Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority
[ACECQA]. (2019). Perspectives [Link]
Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority
[ACECQA]. (2019). What do teachers and educators enjoy most
about their work? [Link]

Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority

[ACECQA]. (2022). National Quality

Framework. [Link]

Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority [ACECQA]

(2018). National Quality

Standards. [Link]

7
Australian Government Department of Education. (2022). Belonging,
being and becoming: Early Years Learning Framework for
Australia. Commonwealth of Australia
Boyd, W., Green, N. & Jovanovic, J. (2021). Learning and Teaching in
early childhood: Pedagogies of inquiry and relationships. Cambridge
University Press.

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

[DEEWR]. (2010). Educators Guide to the Early Years Learning
Framework of Australia. Commonwealth of Australia.

Early Childhood Australia (ECA). (2016). Code of

Ethics. [Link]
Pantonwas, E. (2017). Case study: Adult interactions Carterhatch
Infants School. Quality Interactions Early
Years. [Link]