ECA Learning Hub

This course is suitable for all educators looking to build their confidence in supporting children and families who are experiencing vulnerability in an approved education and care setting. This is a foundation course that may be suitable for educators new to the sector or embarking on a formal early childhood qualification.

Learners will have the opportunity to develop an understanding of what vulnerability is, how to recognise it, and develop strategies to support vulnerable children and families. You will learn the importance of advocating for vulnerable children and families, engaging in reflective practice, and ways to create a community of support within your service to approach vulnerability with more confidence.

In this course, you will:

• develop an understanding of what vulnerability means in early childhood education and care
• learn strategies to support children and families in your service who are experiencing vulnerability
• learn about advocating for children's families and communities.

This course expands on the ideas and concepts outlined in the introductory course, ‘Documenting and assessing children’s learning with Dr Anne Kennedy’. It is highly recommended—though not essential—that you complete the introductory course before starting this course, which delves deeper into the topic. It will help you learn a variety of strategies and new ways to document and assess children’s learning. You will understand the importance of documentation and how it is essential to driving children’s learning and high-quality educational programs.

You will hear from services about the methods and strategies they use when documenting and assessing children’s learning, and you will be invited to reflect on and consider your own practice moving forward. You will also be encouraged to consider research, theory and practice in your work and how this underpins children’s learning and development. The planning cycle—which is the foundation of the educational program, future planning and each child’s learning and development—will also be explored in depth.

What does sustainability mean, and how can educators build sustainability within early childhood education and care services in meaningful ways?

Education for Sustainability, written by Deb and Julie of the NSW Early Childhood Environmental Education Network(ECEEN), looks at ways educators and families can promote sustainability within both their service and their community. When we engage in sustainability education in early childhood settings, we are aiming to create living and learning spaces that reflect and encourage sustainable practices now and into the future.

In this course, you will understand:

• the meaning of sustainability and its importance for young children, educators and early childhood education and care services
• how sustainability is viewed in the National Quality Standard and the EarlyYears Learning Framework, and
• the tools educators can use to assess and improve sustainability in everyday practices.

Discover and explore the principles of Reggio Emilia in this one-of-a-kind online professional learning series, developed by Early Childhood Australia (ECA) and the Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange (REAIE), in collaboration with Reggio Children, Italy.

The Encounter series contains four parts:

• Encounter 1—Not just any place
• Encounter 2—Seeing things differently
• Encounter 3—Teachers and children as researchers
• Encounter 4—Pedagogy, a context for research

Encounter 1—Not just any place

The first Encounter or part provides an overview of the educational project of Reggio Emilia and the context, culture and complexity of this educational approach. The next two Encounters will build on this initial information with an in-depth exploration of several of the important concepts of the project through interpretations from Australian educators.

In the first Encounter, entitled ‘Not just any place’, you will learn:

• information about the geographical, historical, social and cultural aspects of the city of Reggio Emilia
• insights into the educational project of Reggio Emilia’s pedagogical approach to learning and teaching, including some of the why, what and how of the project.

Encounter 2—Seeing things differently

In the second Encounter, ‘Seeing things differently’, you will be offered information about some of the pedagogical choices made by educators who work in the municipal early childhood centres in Reggio Emilia and Australian interpretations of this approach, including:

• the role of research and educational documentation
• the importance of the environment in learning
• the question of ‘What is knowledge?’
• the metaphor of the ‘Hundred Languages’
• progettazione.

You will also be given the opportunity to consider pedagogical research and will be invited to consider ways that these choices link to daily practice.

Encounter 3—Teachers and children as researchers

In the third Encounter, ‘Teachers and children as researchers’, we delve deeper into some of the strategies for designing and understanding the learning and teaching that the educators of the educational project of Reggio Emilia engage in as part of their day-to-day work with children.

In the third Encounter, you will build on previous understandings of:

• children as co-constructors of learning
• listening as the basis for all learning
• the possibility of seeing our use of time differently
• progettazione as a strategy for designing learning and teaching
• the role of collaboration, documentation and educational research.

Encounter 4—Pedagogy, a context for research

In this Encounter, ‘Pedagogy, a context for research’, some of the theoretical underpinnings, values, practices and language of the educational project of Reggio Emilia will be examined in greater depth, although it should be kept in mind that the educational project of Reggio Emilia is always evolving.

In the fourth Encounter, you will have the opportunity to:

• reflect deeply on your understanding of some of the terms used in the educational project of Reggio Emilia
• move away from common misunderstandings and stereotypes that have become synonymous with the educational project of Reggio Emilia
• construct new meanings and interpretations of the principles, practices and values of the educational project of Reggio Emilia.

Engineering creativity in loose parts play’ involves open-ended and easily manipulated materials that children can use to construct, deconstruct and transport, both to support them in developing working theories of the physical world and to augment their social and imaginative play.

Since Simon Nicholson first formally described this natural aspect of children’s play in 1971, understandings of loose parts play have widened and diversified. In contemporary research, it is considered to be completely without boundaries and mix easily with other kinds of learning.

This webcast will examine many practical examples of loose parts play using materials that are recovered, upcycled or drawn from nature. These include opportunities for loose parts play in infant and toddler spaces and in symbolic and imaginative play. Special emphasis will be placed on provisions that are environmentally responsible, encourage co-operation and problem-solving, and are cheap as chips!