Engagement is something we frequently talk about in early childhood education. Engaging families, parents, communities, children and engaging our educators. Not only does engagement help you on your centre’s path to an Excellent Rating, but engaged educators are happier, more fulfilled and do their very best work in giving children the best start in life.
One very simple strategy you can use to engage educators in your centre is by keeping alive their passion for early childhood education. How? Industry magazines, article recommendations, participation in industry forums and groups and regular professional development are all perfect to get your educators engaged.
Reading high-quality publications like an Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland’s quarterly magazine – ‘Early Edition’, is a simple way to engage educators on a regular basis. Articles in the latest ‘Early Edition’ include ‘The Magic of Nature Play’, ‘5 Top Tips for Settling Infants’ and ‘Toddlers’ Imaginative Play Project’. Send a link to the publication to your educators and encourage them to have a read and stay excited about their important work.
Early Edition tips for Excellent Rating
There is an article about Bonkers Beat in the latest issue of ‘Early Edition’ where you can discover the strategies on how centres can work towards gaining an Excellent Rating. We share our top four tips in the article – read it here.
As the tips for achieving an Excellent Rating are covered in ‘Early Edition’, we won’t go into great detail here, but if you have been wondering what it takes to reach Excellent Rating, these four tips are an honest insight:
1. Music every single day
Music engages the brain and enhances children’s development. It helps your educators to improve children’s social and emotional skills and overall wellbeing.
2. ‘7 Stones’ Philosophy links to the 7 Quality Areas of the NQF
Over many years we have developed the ‘7 Stones’ Philosophy, with each of these pillars of our philosophy directly connected to a quality area of the NQF.
3. Focus on wellbeing
It’s not a buzzword – wellbeing is crucial for development and we do yoga and meditation every day to improve outcomes for children. Resilience, focus, self-esteem – we achieve so much through our daily wellbeing program and it all ties back to the NQF areas.
4. Educational resources to use at home
The fun of our music and wellbeing programs extends to children’s homes through resources for families, such as music books, CDs, yoga cards. The parental engagement is easily achieved, contributing to a higher NQS Rating, but more importantly to giving children the best start in life.
Keep your educators engaged and excited about early childhood
Continue to encourage educators at your centre to read industry publications, participate in online forums and keep their love of early childhood education alive! You can even challenge educators to discuss things they’ve learned through reading and self-learning, or gather a range of articles each month to share with your team via email or in the staff room.
Head over to ‘Early Edition’s latest issue to read our Excellent Rating tips in depth and get a range of actionable suggestions on how you can work towards improving your NQS Rating at your centre.