Frequently asked questions

I wanted to demonstrate to my fellow educators that stimulating evironments cannot be emphasised enough. The environment can have a large impact on children's learning. Children who feel engaged in their classroom are more receptive. We live in a very visual culture. All day long we are surrounded by advertisements and other images that are designed to catch and keep our attention. We can borrow some of these design strategies to make displays and environments more effective, imbedding elements of the natural world into the learning space so that children are connected to the earth and to develop an appreciation for our planet. An exciting environment makes for an excited child. The value of environments lies in it's ability to convey ideas and concepts in an attractive, effective and economical way.

The complex demands on teachers’ workloads have the potential to negatively impact the quality of teaching and learning. I found that teachers’ daily activities were dominated by work relating to getting to know students, planning and engaging in teaching and learning to meet the diverse needs of students. However, other frequent activities were more diverse and dominated by administrative duties, often involving paperwork, data and reporting. Data and paperwork for accountability has increased exponentially. The need for systemic change is urgent. It is abundantly clear that teachers as a whole are subject to new and overwhelming demands imposed by the current policy landscape. Teachers are calling out for more time within the school day to be dedicated to collaboration in core, teaching-related activities like lesson planning, getting to know students and adjusting classwork for students’ individual needs. The data collection requirements at the moment are intruding deeply upon their capacity to teach, so eliminating processes that are unnecessary, cumbersome, and time-consuming would set the sector on the right trajectory.

The Reggio Emilia Approach is considered an ‘alternative’ educational approach to early childhood learning, but it delivers very mainstream outcomes. Resilience, responsibility, self confidence, teamwork, problem-solving skills as well as creative and scientific thinking are just some of the benefits of this approach which, has grown to become a recognised global leader in innovative and highly effective childhood teaching. The great aspect of a Reggio Emilia school is that the child has rights when it comes to their learning. They are recognised as active participants in constructing their own knowledge and they have substantial control over the direction that their learning takes. The curriculum is adaptive and is driven by the child, with the emphasis on exploration, creative expression and active learning in a nurturing and relaxed environment. Reggio Emilia shouldn’t be seen as an educational method but rather as a learning process that evolves constantly. Educators and parents aren’t seen as being ‘in charge’ and having all the answers, but are rather seen as partners, collaborators, advocates for their children and co-learners, facilitating and supporting the children in the positive learning process. Adults help the children and children help the adults. This is the most engaging and thoughtful philosophy which places high value on children as active learners and global citizens.

As a fully qualified and experienced Early Childhood Teacher, I have used both the Early Years Leaning Framework and The National Quality Framework Curriculums in Melbourne Australia. I have a total of two years of work experience in my field. My last recent role was as a Kindergarten teacher, taking charge of a Reggio-based curriculum. Through my additional training, I was able to extend my professional knowledge in key areas such as Sustainability and Educational Leadership. I was able to apply theory into practice, inspire other educators to think of themselves as facilitators of learning, as well as to challenge or extend their practice and pedagogy. My previous role as a directive co-ordinator, involved mentoring educators through inquiry and reflection, to provide curriculum direction and to ensure children achieve the outcomes of the approved learning framework. I would like to find teaching opportunities on an international level to expand on my knowledge base and grow as an educator. I want to inspire the the next generation of leaders and innovators and feel that I have the necessary skills, dispositions, and passion to work with our youngest citizens to start them on the path to success.

Many people have reservations about the importance of Early Childhood education. No matter the differences in opinion about formal Early Childhood education, children benefit from receiving some type of education during their early developmental years. During the first three years of a child's life, essential brain and neural development occurs and this is where the most essential learning and lifelong habits are developed. It has been shown that children who receive education before school experience substantial brain development during these early years. Actually children start learning even before birth and can recognise their mother’s voice. A child’s brain grows faster during the first three years of life with more than a million new brain connections forming each second. From the moment children enter the world, they have started on their educational path. Children are born learners because it is how they survive, adapt, and succeed in life. Children’s foundational learning is based on warm reciprocal relationships with families and educators. Social and emotional interactions occur when basic needs for food, shelter and love are being met. Children connect emotionally with the most important adults in their lives first, and then add connections to other family members, teachers, and peers. Healthy social and emotional development is a critical factor in success in school and life. As an early childhood education teacher, you get to make a lifelong impression on countless young lives. Early childhood educators can ensure students get off to the best start in life. While attending an early childhood education program, children will improve their language and motor skills, while developing the learning and cognitive skills necessary to move on to primary school.

Even as a teacher, I am still prone to human flaws. I will say that I have a hard time fitting my entire agenda in for the day because there’s a lot that I have planned for students, so what I try to do when faced with this challenge is to prioritise what lessons that might benefit students the most in terms of their educational advancement, and set aside other activities for another time. It does on the flipside, reflect on my work ethic and planning ability so that I don’t run out of lesson plans. It also provides me with a sense of priority when it comes to educational assets for students. It also reveals that I have what it takes to keep students occupied.

This is a tough one since the way of disciplining classrooms or students vary according to each teacher. It’s important that I stay apprised of on-going discourses regarding effective classroom disciplining in order to keep my teaching methods up to date. It is important to be fair, positive and consistent. I like to begin each class period with a positive attitude and high expectations. It'll helps create a positive learning environment. I would also minimise disruptions by making class transitions run smoothly and quickly. With younger children, I like to use humor when appropriate to diffuse touchy situations while keeping a positive tone. It still important for children to still feel safe and secure but also understand boundaries. Consistency and fairness are essential for effective classroom management. I found that if disruptions are ignored one day and we as educators come down hard on them the next, our students won't take us seriously. It is the easist way to lose respect and disruptions will probably increase. If we appear unfair in how we enforce the boundaries, our children will learn to resent us. It's best to address disruptions with in-kind responses. In other words, don't elevate disruptions above their current significance. I also find that remaining as calm as possible and having a sound demeanor can sometimes diffuse the situation. In addition, if I find that certain behaviours continue in a pattern, I like to keep an anecdotal record (ABC observation) of major issues that arise in my class. This can then support other documentation that may lead to a dignosis of an additional need.

Yes I certainly had conflicts with people in the past. Never major ones but there have been disagreements that needed to be resolved. I've found that when conflict occurs, it helps to fully understand the person's perspective, so I take time to listen to their point of view, and then I seek to work out a collaborative solution. I get along with most types of people but get fustrated when working with those who don't share my work ethic. In these situations, I find that by developing a good rapport with the person, letting them know how important their contribution is to getting the job done, and appealing to their better nature...things get done.

I have a real genuine interest in and love for children. I also have a bundle of energy, and creativity. I am nurturing, sensitive to varying needs and demands of children. I deal with most situations with a good sense of humour, patience and understanding. Most of all I think my interpersonal skills are great because I am able to communicate appropriately with different ages.

I believe that there are a few appropriate behaviours when interacting with families. It is important to speak to the parent privately away from the children, listening closely to the parents concerns, asking the right questions and ensuring that I understand the situation before I explain or discuss possible solutions, showing genuine concern and empathy and remaining calm and professional.

My role in Early Childhood is bound to be busy and having pressure is what attracts me to the role as I usually thrive and come alive with it. I actually prefer working under some pressure. When I work, I focus all of my attention to the work at hand. Thanks to that I am able to complete my work very quickly and efficently. I am an organising person and this helps in pressured environments. I can organise my work very effectively and that's why my record has proven my efficency in dealing with multi-tasks.

When communicating complex ideas, you have to keep your message simple and straightforward, avoiding technical jargon and overusing statistics. I don't expect people to have the same background knowledge as me and I'm careful to indroduce my idea in clear and concise terms. I find that by giving examples, using pictures and graphs helps clarify difficult concepts and can be useful as people have different learning styles. With my team, i would always encourage questions to gather if somebody is having difficulty understanding so that I'm quick to adapt my style.

I can work well individually and within a team setting. Much of my teaching thus far involves team teaching while taking the lead in programing. In an Early childhood role, I do believe that we all learn as much as children do through socialisation skills. A lot of skills in the role require team work while others require individual skills to complete.

Yes there have been many instances. I like people who challenge my decisions instead of simply following in blindly. I have had such a great experience working with my collegues who have challenged me to become a better leader and perofessional by questioning my choices and providing me with an alternative perspective. This keeps me ensured that I'm surrounded by active thinkers and this really opens my eyes and grow with more knowledge. When someone challenges your decisions, you are bound to rethink over it and the chances of reaching the best option are brighter.

Our field is very revoluntionary and it is extremely important to myself abreast with new technological developments and this means that I need to take some time away from my work schedule on the weekends to build this website and look at journal articles and my favouite links. Early Childhood Australia was a great website to use to gain a bit more knowledge as well as numerious Ted Talks.

I believe there are two things that are most important for a manager to succeed in her role. Firstly, I believe the team should be happy and engaging and have the motivation to perform. Secondly, the project we work on as a team is sucessfully finished and that we could view the planning process from the idea, the plan itself, the implementation of that plan to how well we reflect on the project. Reflection is an important aspect of leadership. I believe my role was to help guide my educators to thinking in new ways about their practice to ask, what? where? why? and how? and reflect on what happened, what went wrong and what we can do to improve.

I focused on my educator's strengths and what they are good at and the subjects that they passionate about. I work in collaboration with my educators to raise their standards and challenge them a little. I would delegate more challenging tasks to educators who perhaps were more experienced and provided new challeges for newer educators who needed more expose to a particular task to gain their confidence and feel that they are in some way contributing to the groups goals and aspirations.

My last role placed strong emphasis on working with additional needs as ten out of 25 children had a range of needs that included: ASD, ADHD, hearing impairment, PTSD and emotional anxiety. I have learnt to deal with each child individually and with sensitivity. I would observe the child's behaviour and write a series of anecdotal oberservations and running reccords to gather enough data to make a decision on how best to differentiate my teaching and relationship with the child. I have had the experience of informing families of my findings and helping them come to terms with what may be occuring. I was fortunate enough to refer these families to speech pathologists, health practitioners and other therapists to help with their journey and to become more informed and reassured. I become quite emotional about the subject because I could see the difference in my children's overall development and how happier they are by identifying these needs early on and taking action in creating a plan to help my children flourish. The changes I have witnessed have been quite drastic and it really helped that I had already established strong relationships with my families prior to diagnosis. They became more open to feedback and took my observations into consideration. I would change the environment to help my children adapt to the routine and program. Children are quite visual in their learning. I created labelled photographs of items, a picture schedule, a sensory basket, established a quiet corner, focus tools for children distracted by background noises. I played music to create a calm feel to the room and changed the harsh lighting to reduce over stimulation. We changed our program to also include more music and movement throughout the day as my children responded best to this style of communication.