Blog Posts

What can you do when your child who is usually very happy at their childcare centre, becomes increasingly unsettled?

In their early years, young children are still developing the skills, resilience, and strategies for coping with life’s ups and downs. I like to remind parents that young children are in an apprenticeship - they are still learning (so many things!) and need a LOT of practice, guidance, and loving support to work stuff out.

In their early years, young children are still developing the skills, resilience, and strategies for coping with life’s ups and downs. I like to remind parents that young children are in an apprenticeship - they are still learning (so many things!) and need a LOT of practice, guidance, and loving support to work stuff out.

Biting has to be one of the most highly emotive and frequently discussed topics in early years education. This is because biting can really hurt, cause damage to others, and it can create a world of difficulty for educators having to answer to parents when their child has been bitten.

Biting has to be one of the most highly emotive and frequently discussed topics in early years education. This is because biting can really hurt, cause damage to others, and it can create a world of difficulty for educators having to answer to parents when their child has been bitten.

After working in a RIE based centre as a mentor for around 7 years, one thing I often find that gets a little lost in translation is the concept of “respectful care.” When I first learnt about respectful care I found it to be quite confronting as I considered myself a fairly respectful person but I had developed this lense of children needing to be taught wrong from right and as a young parent was very strict. I was impatient and inflexible. Before I had children of my own I was certain of my abilities and confident about the parenting style I had chosen. When my eldest, strong willed daughter was around 3 years old I was introduced to RIE and my values were challenged in a way I was not prepared for.

As early years educators we have all experienced those moments when a child absolutely loses control, and rages. This can be quite an alarming experience for us as educators, as we wrestle with how to understand and support this child, while also keeping them and others safe, and preventing them from damaging themselves, furniture or resources.

To be used as a base for all blogs going forward from Dec 2022

Increasingly early childhood educators are feeling an overload of expectations to meet compliance and the increasing expectations for assessment documentation. Producing children's portfolios has become a tick box exercise rather than a valued opportunity to document and share children's learning with families. In this blog, experienced ECE leader Sheryl Dale shares the journey she has taken with her team to get off the spinning wheel of documentation doom.

In a world where expectations are for things to be faster, smarter, and instantly responsive, this can easily flow into our relationships with young children. No matter which corner of the world we practice in, the desire for children to be empowered and self-determining in their learning is at the heart of every early childhood curriculum.

When we notice, recognise, and respond to children, we make judgements about what and why children are doing what they are doing. These judgements are naturally, and often unconsciously, based on our experiences, knowledge, skills, and biases.

Early childhood educators across the globe are required to work in culturally competent ways. Whether outlined in our curriculum documents or job descriptions, we all commit to catering for children in ways that acknowledge and enhance their cultures, languages, and identities. But are our own beliefs and values getting in the way of becoming as culturally aware and responsive as we should be