In this contemporary Australian society, working parents are gradually becoming a commonality. In the same way, the demand of childcare centres are increasing to meet the needs. An educator has the role and responsibility to provide a high quality of service and care to children that are left under their care, as children are parents’ most valuable treasure. The policy of a childcare centre acts as a guide towards professional educators’ daily practices and decision making with children (National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC), 2009, p.6). This essay will review and discuss the policies of childcare centres, and mainly focus on policies directed towards children from birth to two years old. The three policies to be raised in this essay are taken from Goodstart (Appendix 1), LifeStreamers (Appendix 2) and CentralPark Childcare Centre (Appendix 3). These policies will be reviewed in regards to the best practice pedagogies that promotes neurological development, attachment based practices, collaborative partnership, play-based learning practices, multi-age settings, and the safety practices for the specified age group of zero to two.
Providing toddlers and infants with the best practice pedagogies that promotes neurological development is important. According to Regalado and Halfon (2001, p.1311), the first three years of a child’s life are an important time frame for the child’s neurological development in enhancing his or her potential in various areas. During the first two years of human life, the brain produces a large amount of neurones that help to store and transfer information they receive (Berk, 2013, p.185). These neurones in the brain have unique functions as they connect themselves with other neurones through the tiny gaps known as synapses (Berk, 2013, p.185). At this stage, constant stimulation is needed to assist the establishment of synapse that would help a child achieve their social, cognitive, and physical motor skills (Berk, 2013, p.185). A high quality learning experience for younger children forms stable neural paths (Gonzalez & Widmeyer, 2011, p. 97). Therefore, educators are required to provide children with a high quality learning experience that would stimulate and enhance their development. Children from the age of zero to two years old organize their learning through direct manipulation of their environment and materials, using their senses such as listening, smelling, tasting and visual (Medina , 2008 as cited in Kostelnik, Soderman & Whiren, 2014, p.19). In the Educational Programs policy (Appendix 2, p.), “The educational program will be child centred and will allow children to experience a variety of materials”. As mentioned before, children in this age group need extra stimulation to enhance their neurological development. Although the above statement in the policy is not specified for classes of children from birth to two years old, it clearly supports that children’s neurological development should be stimulated by allowing them to manipulate and explore a variety of materials that stimulate their senses. According to Piaget theory, young children in their prime two years of life are at the sensorimotor stage where they learn best through their five senses (Berk, 2013, p.20). Hence, the best practice for children of this age group is the play based practice, in which they are able to freely explore their surrounding environment and materials provided.
The attachment based practice is also essential in enhancing the development of children from birth to two years old. Bowlby explains that children start to recognise their primary caregiver from six weeks old; at 6 months to 2 years old, they would display separation anxiety (Berk, 2013, p.429). Admittedly, although it is important for infants to develop a secure attachment with their primary caregiver, when a child is placed under the care of a childcare centre during infancy, the secondary attachment would also become important (Gonzalez & Widmeyer, 2011, p.98). It can be said that the ‘basic trust’ in a child from zero to two years old plays an important part in encouraging children to play and explore their environment (Gonzalez & Widmeyer, 2011, p.75). Thus, the interaction and response from educators are important in building children’s security in the childcare centre. The ‘Interaction with child policy’ (Appendix 2, p.2) states that “Educators will be supportive and encouraging and engage in one to one and small group communications with children in a friendly, positive and respectful manner. They will form warm relationship with each child in their care”. This policy statement shows that educators of the centre are dedicated in building a secure relationship with children in their class. It is vital for educators to build a secure attachment with each and every child in their class, as it does not only enhance the child’s emotional and well-being development but also their neurological development (Kolstenik et al., 2014, p.19). Furthermore, a sense of security helps the child to focus their attention and energy in exploring their environment, interacting and socialising with other people (Al-Yogan & Mikulincer, 2004, p. 113). To summarise, a child’s security and attachment are mandatory for the enhancement of an infant’s cognitive development (Gonzalez & Widmeyer, 2011, p.173).
Collaborative partnerships between educators and families are also an essential factor in enhancing children’s neurological development. A family-like environment in the centre can be created when there is a collaborative partnership between educators and families (Epstein, 1995). Being in such an environment acknowledges each child’s individuality, making the children feel ‘special’ and ‘included’ (Epstein, 1995). According to the Early Years Learning Framework of Australia (EYLF), early childhood educators are most likely to achieve the learning outcomes when there is collaboration between parents and educators (DEEWR, 2009, p.12). In the Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities policy (Appendix 1, p.1), “Goodstart recognise that every child belongs within their family, their cultural group, neighbourhood and wider community”. The recognition of a child belonging to their family is important, as it is equivalent to the understanding that a child’s identity is shaped by his or her community. With knowledge of a child’s interest and needs, an educator would be able to make children’s learning experiences meaningful.
Bartlett (2010) states that through ‘play,’ children would be able to participate in active exploration that could help build up and strengthen their brain neuro-pathways. Thus, play is an appropriate stimulation for children aged zero to two years old to enhance their neurological development. Vygotsky (1966, as cited in Fleer, 2008, p4) says that play provides children “a space for conscious realisations of concepts.” For instance, a child develops an understanding that the harder they hit on a drum, the louder the sound of the drum will be. Hence, the role of the educator is to facilitate a learning environment that consists of manipulative tools and materials for children to play and explore. In the Program and practice policy (Appendix 1, p.2), it states that “Educators facilitates play based curriculum and acts as guides, coaches, facilitators and mentors children’s social interaction, thinking and communication capacities”. Providing freedom and space for children to move around during play is essential, as physical movement is the main focus in infant and toddler’s play (Gonzalez & Widmeyer, 2011, p.74). In short, play assists in the shaping of a child’s emotional and motivational area in their brain (Lester & Russell, 2008, p.13).
Children learn through interaction with others, thus, a multi age grou
p setting offers the opportunity for children to engage in interactions with older peers (Gonzalez & Widmeyer, 2011, p.78). Being in a mixed age group setting means being in a classroom where children are at least a year apart (Katz, Evangelou & Hartman, 1990, p.15). Multi-age group setting on the other hand, is mixing children of more than one year apart in the same classroom (The State of Queensland, 2006, p.2). Both of the settings are similar to family groupings where children are given the opportunity to learn from both older and younger peers (Katz et al, 1990, p.7; The State of Queensland, 2006, p.2). To illustrate, younger children may learn and imitate the older children, while the older children will take leadership in guiding their younger peers (Kats et al., 1990, p.16). Being in a multi age group setting benefits the children in their learning experiences as Vygotsky suggested that peer collaboration and teacher guidance could assist a child to go beyond ‘individual discovery’ to ‘assisted discovery’ (Berk, 2013, p.269). Moreover, children in a multi-age group setting are given the opportunity to work at their own pace and development (Briggs & Potter, 1999 as cited in Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett, & Farmer, 2015, p.334). On top of that, children will be able to build a strong secure attachment with their educators, as children and educators of a multi age setting stay longer with each other since they were ‘babies’ till they reach the age of four to five years old (Arthur et al. 2015, p.334). A statement in the parents’ handbook of the appendix 3 childcare centre states that “Central Park Childcare operates using a multi-age grouping format, where children from all age group are grouped together for the duration of the session.” Still, there is no clear outlined statement in the policy 3 statement regarding their multi-age setting. For example, “we follow a play based learning philosophy which means we provide play and routine experiences based on your children’s current knowledge and interest” (p.72).
As mentioned before, infant and toddler’s play revolves around movement. Hence, educators are responsible in providing an environment free from hazards in order to encourage children’s free play (Gonzalez & Widmeyer, 2011, p.77). The centre must first take into consideration of the development of children from birth to two years old to ensure their safety. For instance, toddlers are at the developmental stage where they start to move about independently and start to develop curiosity with their surroundings (Water, Natora & Stokes, 2009, p.14). Therefore, there are risks that toddlers will attempt to engage in hazardous activities such as opening cupboards and playing with switches. Under the Health and Safety policy (Appendix 3), there is a statement that shows awareness of the danger of such activities: “power points, power boards and other electrical equipment and electrical cords are secured and protective caps are placed on all unused power points that are accessible to children.” (p.53). The Supervision policy (Appendix 2) states that “educators will engage in active supervision of children by actively watching and monitoring the learning and leisure environment, observing children’s play and anticipating potential dangers.” It must be noted that when an infant explores his or her surrounding, it does not include only the manipulation of objects but also their interaction with people (Gonzalez & Widmeyer, 2011, p.77). Clearly, it is best that educators avoid interrupting children’s play amongst themselves, however, it is undeniable that there are risks that may cause children to be harmed. In that case, it is the educator’s responsibility to step in to prevent a foreseeable risk. Erik Erikson explains that children from birth to 1 year old are at the stage of “trust and mistrust,” where they require warmth and responsive care to develop the sense of security and confidence in the world (Berk, 2013, p.16). Teachers should be always available to intervene in children’s play when there is a possibility of harm. By doing so, children will then develop trust in the people around them and the environment, which would then free them from the restriction of fear to explore the learning environment facilitated for them.
Lastly, as neurological development is at its peak in the first three years of an individual’s life, a high quality education in the first two years of an individual is vital for their future learning life. Through these studies of childcare policies, it has been apparent that many childcare centres’ policies have not been classified according to age group. This may be a concern as each child at a certain age has different developmental stage and each stage has different need. Thus, the need to have a specific policy statement for each age group is important, as policies also serves as a guide to teachers’ daily practices.