Autumn 2015

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2 Choose your professional support provider carefully 2 How can you make sure that the provider you are booking is able to deliver the professional learning that you need? A little bit of research goes a long way. The following list of questions will help you pick a reputable provider that can best meet your learning goals. • What professional learning work has the provider done in recent times? • Has anyone on your staff team or in your professional networks had experience working with them? • Have they delivered professional learning for one of the Professional Support Coordinators or any other reputable early and middle childhood organisations? • Can they provide you with a referee who has experienced working with them? • What qualifications does the person delivering the professional learning hold? Do they have appropriate early or middle childhood qualifications and experience or qualifications and experience relevant to the topic? Do they also have a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment? • Have they worked with education and care services before? • Are they trying to use the professional development opportunity to sell you products or a subscription for ongoing online resources or support? If so, proceed with caution and carefully evaluate the appropriateness of these products. • Do they have a working knowledge of the Early Years Learning Framework and Framework for School Aged Care and the National Quality Standards? • Are they willing to customise their delivery to match your learning needs? • Do they want to know about your context? Are they asking you lots of questions about how they can tailor their session to the participants from your service? • Can they offer ongoing learning opportunities? Involve the team in decision making and follow-up Learning only happens when the learner is engaged and open. Make sure that any decisions about individual or whole of service professional learning options are made with the staff who will be participating. Providing staff with time and resources to share and implement any new ideas is also an important element of planning professional learning. Consider factoring non-contact time for staff to put their professional learning into practice into professional development budgets. Although educators are often required to report back to a staff meeting about the professional development they have attended, if this is just a thumbnail sketch of the day, it can be of limited value. Consider a more targeted approach; ask staff to identify and share the following: • A current practice they feel inspired to continue with • A new practice they would like the team to consider implementing • A current practice they feel needs to stop or change • A new resource (article, website, community organisation) for the service to utilise. Depending on the topic, these ideas can form the basis of a professional conversation between the participant and the Educational Leader or Coordinator of the service, or a professional conversation with a small group of educators, families or children or the whole staff team. DIG DEEPLY Don’t rely only on workshop window shopping approaches to spending professional learning funds. Explore opportunities for professional learning that involve ongoing cycles of researching, reflecting, planning, and acting. Learners take time to absorb and contextualise new ideas and information. While there is a need and place for one-off professional learning sessions, investing in some ongoing professional learning experiences that include a process of follow-up and reflection is money well spent! HOW TO MAKE SURE THE SERVICE GETS THE MOST FROM PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES No matter how great professional learning opportunities are, they can easily be a waste of money if educators are not engaged or do not have opportunities to reflect on and apply their new knowledge. Use the following principles to help maximise the benefits of the time and money your service invests in professional learning. 1 Two is more than company and three is not a crowd Workforce Council can help you work through how any of these approaches can be best used in your setting. Please call 1800 112 585 to find out more about this or email ECEC@workforce.org.au Whenever possible, organise for educators to participate in professional learning together. Even when they are participating in external professional learning opportunities find a way for as many interested educators to attend as possible. The conversations between educators about the ideas they heard together and how they can be applied at their own services will support deeper understanding and will increase the likelihood of the learning triggering changes in practice. REFERENCES: PSC Alliance (2014?) Self-assessment Tool - Professional Learning Plan 6 IN THE LOOP
Workshop Opportunity EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AND PRACTICE. Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority, in partnership with the Queensland Department of Education and Training and the Health & Community Services Workforce Council, is running a series of free workshops focusing on Quality Area 1: Educational program and practice. Led by ACECQA’s National Education Leader, Rhonda Livingstone, the workshops will be practical, hands-on sessions supported by the Professional Support Coordinator in Queensland and the state regulatory authority staff. The workshops are open to all educators and providers, but are particularly targeted at services that have received a rating of Working towards National Quality Standard or have not yet been rated. Book on ACECQA’s events page www.acecqa.gov.au/events. You are encouraged to register early as registrations will close once the workshop has reached capacity. THE SESSIONS ARE PLANNED FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS: CAIRNS Monday 27 July 6.30pm – 9pm Pacific Hotel, Cairns TOWNSVILLE Tuesday 28 July 10am – 1pm and 6.30pm - 9pm The Mecure Townsville MACKAY Wednesday 29 July 6.30pm – 9pm Mackay Grande Suites BRISBANE (NORTHSIDE) Thursday 30 July 6.30pm – 9pm Aspley Memorial Bowls Club BRISBANE Friday 31 July 10am - 1pm The Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre ROCKHAMPTON Monday 3 August 6.30pm – 9pm The Leichhardt Hotel TOOWOOMBA Tuesday 4 August 6.30pm – 9pm Burke and Wills Hotel SUNSHINE COAST Monday 10 August 10am – 1pm and 6.30pm – 9pm Maroochy RSL MARYBOROUGH Tuesday 11 August 6.30pm – 9pm Maryborough Neighbourhood Centre GOLD COAST Monday 17 August 10am – 1pm and 6.30pm – 9pm Quality Hotel Mermaid Waters REGISTER NOW WORKFORCE.ORG.AU 7
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Autumn 2015

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