Topic: Critical Reflection about Partnerships
Research Question: Why is it imporant to engage in partnership with other professionals and how could this benefit stakeholders?
PowerPoint Presentation www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au ECTPP302A REFLECTIVE & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Week 6: Critical reflection about partnerships • Beginning, extending and deepening critical reflection about partnerships with professionals • Reflecting with children • Families - Reflecting on continuity • Community 1 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Partnerships Partnerships are based on the foundations of understanding each other’s expectations and attitudes, and build on the strength of each other’s knowledge. Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009, p.13) 2 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Partnerships with professionals ‘Multi-disciplinary teams draw on the skills and approaches of each professional to provide the best support for children and families to: • Work collaboratively to share information • Plan and develop holistic approaches to children’s learning and development • Understand each other’s practice, skills and expertise, and make referrals when appropriate • Acknowledge the significance of transitions within and across early childhood services and schools, and ensure that children understand the process and have an active role in preparing for these transitions • Build on children’s prior learning and experiences to build continuity for their learning and development’ (VEYLDF, 2009, p.10) 3 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au VEYLDF Practice Principles – Partnerships with Professionals Watch Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj3TuZMrw 4g The critical reflection questions on the following slides have been adapted from the resource that accompanies the Partnerships with Professionals videos: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.education.vic.gov. au%2FDocuments%2Fchildhood%2Fproviders%2Fedcare%2Fpartnershipsreflectiontool.doc x 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj3TuZMrw4g https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.education.vic.gov.au%2FDocuments%2Fchildhood%2Fproviders%2Fedcare%2Fpartnershipsreflectiontool.docx www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Beginning critical reflection about Partnerships with Professionals • Think about your local community. List the early childhood professionals in your community with whom you could potentially collaborate to promote children’s learning and wellbeing? What steps can you take to build connections leading to an effective partnership? 5 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Beginning critical reflection about Partnerships with Professionals • Can you think of examples when you share information and collaborate with other professionals to support a child’s or family’s wellbeing? 6 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Beginning critical reflection about Partnerships with Professionals • Why do you think partnerships with other professionals are important? How does collaboration benefit children and their families? • Do you need family consent to share information with other professionals? What do you know about NSW privacy laws? Where would you find them? 7 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au VEYLDF Practice Principles – Partnerships with Professionals Watch Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4BOPZple uQ The critical reflection questions on the following slides have been adapted from the resource that accompanies the Partnerships with Professionals videos: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.education.vic.gov.au%2 FDocuments%2Fchildhood%2Fproviders%2Fedcare%2Fpartnershipsreflectiontool.docx 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4BOPZpleuQ https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.education.vic.gov.au%2FDocuments%2Fchildhood%2Fproviders%2Fedcare%2Fpartnershipsreflectiontool.docx www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Extending critical reflection about Partnerships with Professionals • How would collaboration with other professional support services build relationships with every child at a service? • How can leadership and governance structures support collaborative partnerships with professionals? Are referral policies, practices and procedures in place? 9 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Extending critical reflection about Partnerships with Professionals • The transition to another environment is not just an event but a process. • Which professionals you could liaise with to support children through transitions? • What strategies would you use to orientate children and families into your service or when transitioning to another service? 10 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Extending critical reflection about Partnerships with Professionals • The United Nations Conventions on the rights of the Child (1989) advances an image of children as subjects of rights and full members of society, capable of participating in their social worlds through their relationships with others. VEYLDF - (DEECD, 2011, p. 52.) • What are the rights of children and families during transitions? • What can professionals do to support the rights of children and their families during transitions? 11 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Deepening critical reflection about Partnerships with Professionals • In the video, Anne Stonehouse asks the question, “What does collaboration mean for you as a professional”? • What is a professional network? What are the advantages of joining professional networks? 12 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Deepening critical reflection about Partnerships with Professionals • Is it the role of the leaders in the organisation to develop relationships with other professionals or is this a shared responsibility? • What are some of the barriers to establishing and building partnerships with professionals? 13 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Reflecting with children Educators spend time reflecting about children but do they reflect with children? • Ask children the big questions and listen to their perspectives • Don’t make assumptions about children’s thinking • Consider how children’s ideas and voices can be heard – at all ages and stages of development 14 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Reflecting with children • Reflection in action with children – Listen to their questions, discoveries and solutions in the moment • Reflection on action with children – What happened? What did we learn? What did we remember? • Reflection for action with children – What would we like to find out? What should we change? What do we do next? 15 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Reflecting with children ‘Through whatever means children use, it is children’s voices that matter when consulting with them about issues affecting them. It is important not to impose our adult frames of reference or put words in children’s mouths. Children are insightful human beings, as anyone who has had the privilege of really tuning into children knows. To listen to a child with all our senses is to wholly encounter the child in all their fullness of being and richness of thought. ‘ (Harris & Manatakis, 2013, p. 12). 16 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Reflecting with children • Provide provocations and questions to stimulate reflection • Allow time and be prepared to go back an revisit reflections • Document by video/audio recording or writing but don’t let the act of recording get in the way of listening and speaking (have another educator scribe or video) 17 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Reflecting with children • When recording and analysing children’s thoughts and ideas ensure they are true to the meaning the child intended • Value and respect all thoughts and ideas • Allow them to take the lead in discussions and ask the questions of one another • Are you the ‘knowledgeable other’ or is it the child/children? 18 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Partnerships with families and communities Links to the National Quality Standard: Quality Area 6: Collaborative partnerships with families and communities 19 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Families – Reflecting on Continuity Based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory is an assumption that a child’s transitions between home and early childhood settings will be more successful, and the developmental potential of each setting will be enhanced, when there is ‘continuity’ and support between the two settings. 20 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Families – Reflecting on Continuity • The time children spend in early years settings is only part of their whole day. • Family members and other people who have the responsibility for the ongoing care of the child must be consulted and involved in developing the child’s care routine, so that consistency is ensured and culturally sensitive caregiving is implemented. 21 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Families – Reflecting on Continuity • A mismatch between the dominant Anglo- Australian discourse and norms that shape provision of care in Australia, and the values and attitudes of families from non-Anglo cultural backgrounds could create issues in regard to continuity. • Successful partnerships require trust, mutual respect, time, empathy and honesty 22 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Families – Reflecting on Continuity Potential barriers: • Time - for both families and staff • Families reluctant to share home practices for fear of being judged • Language differences • Difficulties in engaging families • Differing expectations between staff and families • Family silence treated as acceptance 23 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Families – Reflecting on Continuity Building a collaborative approach: • mutually agreed upon goals and priorities • shared planning and decision-making is also important especially to ensure that families retain some sense of control • true partnerships require educators to view families as key decision-makers rather than simply consumers or clients of a service (Rouse & O’Brien, (2017) 24 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Families – Reflecting on Continuity Ways to establish a welcoming relationship: • develop a philosophy and policies that acknowledge the important of the partnerships • Provide comfortable spaces for adults as well as children • Provide opportunities for various forms of communication • Share information about the child’s day in an open and honest manner • Share positive information on an ongoing basis - avoid only • discussing problems • Invite parents and families to participate and share information about their family but respect decisions not to • Provide information in home languages 25 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Families – Reflecting on Continuity Benefits for children: • Using similar routines across both the home and service settings helps create a sense of security for the child • Consistent approaches to reinforcing positive behaviour are more effective for developing successful social and emotional skills which are linked to mental health and wellbeing later in life • Social stories are an example of approaches to supporting children that work best when used consistently both at home and the service 26 www.tafensw.edu.au/degrees Moodle: courses.highered.tafensw.edu.au Families – Reflecting on Continuity Consider: • children’s sense of self and self esteem is tied in with their family and ethnic identity • the ‘family systems’ perspective – each child is a member of a larger, interacting system called the family • how we value family diversity, show respect for cultural traditions and be open to different ideas of family members, including extended families,