ECA Learning Hub

Leading others is a sophisticated process and leaders often have to straddle two worlds. They have to nurture their team’s sense of belonging and security while inviting them to leap into new arenas and take on previously unimaginable practice challenges. They also have to consider different perspectives and encourage a lively exchange of ideas but, when necessary, make clear and non-negotiable decisions. In the landscape of children’s education and care, effective leaders are indispensable and play a pivotal role in delivering outcomes for children, families and educators.

If this held true for the ordinary practice of children’s service delivery during the Black Summer bushfires, then what more is required of leaders in the current turbulent times? As the leader of an early learning setting, you might not have imagined having to navigate the uncharted territory of a global pandemic, but it is exactly what you find yourself doing—adopting a day-by-day approach and trying to focus on your purpose. It is timely then to pause and reflect on the art of leading others in challenging times.

This webinar will help you refine the practice of guiding and inspiring others when the going gets tough. By looking at emerging literature, ECA’s Leadership Capability Framework and the ECA Code of Ethics, it will unpack key elements contributing to effective leadership and explore their use in challenging times. It will also invite you to consider practice that continually strengthens your team while maintaining a focus on your core role: enhancing children’s learning. The webinar’s online format will allow you time to reflect on your challenges, strengths and vulnerabilities so you can plan a new and responsive approach for the future.

Play offers children opportunities to engage with the world around them. Being intrinsically motivated and freely chosen, it allows children control over their actions and their learning. Play also helps children develop their self-regulation and problem-solving capacity, and it enriches their vocabulary and language skills. Today, nearly 200 years after Froebel first argued for its importance in children’s lives, play remains an essential part of effective early childhood learning. This is reflected in the Early Years Learning Framework when it describes play as a ‘context for learning through which children organise and make sense of their social worlds, as they actively engage with people, objects and representations’.

This course will examine:

• what play is and why it is important in early childhood
• how significant play is for children’s learning and development
• the role of educators in supporting effective play-based learning
• how educators can balance intentional teaching with play-based approaches in a variety of early childhood settings
• the characteristics of play as well as the many aspects of play to be considered and planned for
• how to develop an argument in support of play-based programs.

This series is suitable for all educators currently working in an approved education and care setting across Australia. This is a foundation course that focuses on essential knowledge to guide children’s behaviour and may be suitable for educators who are new to the sector or embarking on a formal early childhood qualification.

To effectively support and guide young children’s behaviour, it is essential that educators develop an understanding of the form and function of children’s behaviour. Developing an understanding of the meaning of children’s behaviour will in turn support educators in developing strategies and teaching techniques unique for each individual child, with the overall aim of empowering children to take control.

In part 1 of this series, you will:

• understand why behaviour is a form of communication that can help educators to develop a better understanding of each individual child
• learn how children regulate their emotions, thoughts and behaviours.

In part 2 of this series, you will:

• develop strategies to support children in times of stress, frustration or anger
• discover and recognise the signs and meanings behind children’s behaviours and strategies to support young children
• uncover how to understand children’s triggers and what these can look like.

This webcast will get you thinking about ‘listening to hear’ vs ‘listening to respond’, being present during conversations with others while building a greater sense of wellbeing for yourself, your team and the children. This course is designed for leaders, either of teams, services or within an organisation or scheme.

In this course you will:

• examine the importance of play
• understand the importance of listening
• learn skills to give feedback
• look at ways to know your team.

Coming from the Greek word ethos meaning ‘character’, the word ethics describes ways of being, thinking and acting based on one’s values and virtues. A code of ethics, by extension, is a set of clearly defined and distinctive values and virtues collectively regarded as important by members of a profession. It includes key statements and commitments that guide professionals on how to act in relation to their work and those they work with.

This course, presented by Catharine Hydon, delves into the ECA Code of Ethics and examines what it means to be ethical. It also explores how early childhood educators can use the code to strengthen relationships with children, families, colleagues, communities and the profession. The course includes interviews with various early childhood educators, showing how they apply the ECA Code of Ethics in everyday situations.

In this course you will:

• be introduced to the key elements of the ECA Code of Ethics
• examine how the code can help you with ethical challenges in your work
• unpack each principle of the code
• reflect on how to consider ethical decision making as a part of your everyday practice with children.