A Thought To Ponder:

" A NATION'S GREATNESS IS MEASURED BY HOW IT TREATS ITS WEAKEST MEMBERS"



Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Research Around the World


Early Childhood Australia

What has impressed me the most about Australia is that they have an established Early Learning Framework for the country.  To me, that is impressive.  You can tell a lot about a country by the way they treat their most vulnerable.  For Australia to have an established early learning framework tells me that early childhood development is a priority for Australia.  

The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) is part of the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) reform agenda for early childhood education and care and is a key component of the Australian Government’s National Quality Framework for early childhood education and care. It underpins universal access to early childhood education and will be incorporated in the National Quality Standard in order to ensure delivery of nationally consistent and quality early childhood education across sectors and jurisdictions.
The Early Years Learning Framework describes the principles, practice and outcomes essential to support and enhance young children’s learning from birth to five years of age, as well as their transition to school.  The Framework has a strong emphasis on play-based learning as play is the best vehicle for young children’s learning providing the most appropriate stimulus for brain development. The Framework also recognises the importance of communication and language (including early literacy and numeracy) and social and emotional development (http://www.deewr.gov.au/earlychildhood/policy_agenda/quality/pages/earlyyearslearningframework.aspx).

Development of the Early Years Learning Framework

The Early Years Learning Framework has been developed collaboratively by the Australian and State and Territory Governments with substantial input from the early childhood sector and early childhood academics.  The Framework has incorporated feedback from an extensive consultation process, including two national symposiums, national public consultation forums, focus groups, an online forum and case-study trials(http://www.deewr.gov.au/earlychildhood/policy_agenda/quality/pages/earlyyearslearningframework.aspx).


Implementation

On 2 July 2009, COAG endorsed the Early Years Learning Framework. The Australian Government has provided copies of the Early Years Learning Framework and Families’ Guide to early childhood services across Australia.
It is expected that, following a period of familiarisation, each early childhood service will develop their own strategy to implement the Framework, taking their own unique context into consideration.
An Educators’ Guide to the Early Years Learning Framework, to support implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework, was released on 6 December 2010. Hard copies of the Educators’ Guide, along with a CD of resources, were delivered to early childhood services in February 2011.
Copies of the Educators’ Guide, the Early Years Learning Framework and the Families’ Guide, are now available for download.

EYLF support and training

The Professional Support Coordinators (PSC) and the Indigenous Professional Support Unit (IPSU) networks in each state and territory are delivering training and mentoring services to Australian Government funded services to support their implementation of the EYLF.
For enquiries about training on the Early Years Learning Framework the contact details for the PSC and IPSU in your region are listed below.



Australian Government-Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.  (2011).  Retrieved from: http://www.deewr.gov.au/earlychildhood/policy_agenda/quality/pages/earlyyearslearningframework.aspx.

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