Task 1: Risk assessment, action and reporting
Description: To ensure the safety of all adults and children who enter our work places, we should be an active participant in identifying, reporting and reducing risk. This task covers basic Work Health and Safety (WHS) risk assessment, reporting and following safe work practice.
What you need to submit:
- Risk Assessment Template for Task 1, signed by your Workplace Supervisor (Appendix A).
Required Task
a. Read and discuss policies and procedures to protect yourself and others:
- To prepare yourself adequately for this task, you will need to read and discuss the WHS policies and procedures that apply at your service.
- You will need to follow safe work practices, which includes using appropriate manual handling and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in your actions.
- Identify the appropriate people that you may need to report incidents and concerns to.
- Identify how you would need to report the issue (i.e. verbally, in writing, etc), if applicable.
b. Identify WHS issues, take appropriate action and report as required.
- In your daily duties, identify five (5) WHS potential hazards to adults and/or children.
- Take the appropriate action to remedy/reduce the risk (ensuring your own safety)
- Report this, if applicable, to the appropriate person, in the required method
- Complete the ‘Risk assessment, action and reporting' template(Appendix A)and discuss incidents/concerns with your Workplace Supervisor.
Task 2: Emergency and evacuation practice drill
Description: The Education and Care Services National Regulation 97(3) requires all early childhood services to rehearse and document emergency and evacuation procedures every 3 months. All persons present at the service at the time of the rehearsal, are required to participate.In this task, you are required to consider the requirements of this, participate in a rehearsal, and to document this intentional teaching experience in the form of a learning story.
What you need to submit:
- 200-word emergency response procedure flyer/information sheet designed for parents/families
- 1 x A4 page Learning Story, describing the practice drill experience (including three (3) extension ideas)
- Emergency and evacuation participation sign-off by the Workplace Supervisor (at end of Task 2).
Required Task
a) Read and discuss emergency and evacuation policies and procedures as follows:
- To prepare yourself adequately for this task, you will need to read the Emergency and Evacuation policies and procedures that apply at your service, andread Regulation 97(3).
- Discuss the practice drill procedure, in advance, with your Workplace Supervisor.
- Discuss the requirements of this task with your Workplace Supervisor and ensure you can be present for, and actively participate in, at least one emergency practice drill.
- Identify the relevant responsibilities that would apply to you during this practice drill.
- Identify how parents/families would be advised to respond in the event of an actual emergency evacuation of the service (e.g. families follow service's emergency evacuation procedure, or pick up child from evacuation area if required).
b) Inform parents/families of the emergency procedure response
- Prepare a short flyer/information sheet (maximum 200 words) for parents/families that will be provided to at least two(2) families, to be prepared for a real emergencysituation.
- This should state:
o How the service will advise parents/families of the incident (email and/or phone, etc)
o What parents/families are required to do and where to collect their children
o What to do if they are unable to collect their children immediately
o How their children will be kept safe during this time (including collection of children)
o How parents/families can contact the service for more information during the emergency
o The importance of ensuring their contact details are up to date
o Other important contact details, etc, as required.
- It should also ask:
o For updated contact details
o For feedback on other questions that the families may have in relation to emergency procedures.
- Discuss your prepared statement with your Workplace Supervisor to ensure accuracy and ask your Workplace Supervisor for permission and assistance to provide this to at least two families from the service.
- Work with your Workplace Supervisor to respond appropriately to any questions that may be returned by the two (2) families.
c) Participate in an emergency and/or evacuation practice drill:
- Ensure you comply with your allocated responsibilities, participate in an emergency and/or evacuation procedure.
- When the practice drill is complete, document the process, including your role in the practice drill and the reactions/cooperation of the children.
- Present this documentation in the form of a one A4 page Learning Story, which could be displayed/provided to the families. Note: A photo is not required for this task.
- Consider extension ideas for intentional teaching experiences that link to this practice drill, and the children's strengths or interests.
- Briefly state three (3) of these extension ideas at the end of your Learning Story.You will use one of these ideas in Task 3.
- Discuss your documented Learning Story and extension ideas with your Workplace Supervisor.
- Ask your Workplace Supervisor to sign-off on your completion of this task below.
Task 3: Plan and implement an experience about ‘keeping ourselves safe'
Description: This task requires you to extend on the emergency practice drillin Task 2, using one of the extension ideas you listed in that task.You will develop this into a plan that you will implement and evaluate.
What you need to submit:
- A planned learning experience about ‘Keeping ourselves safe' using the ‘Learning experience plan - example template' (Appendix B)
Holistic approach note
For Tasks 4 -6 in this Portfolio, you may work with the same three (3) children, or you can work with more than three (3) childreni.e. different children for the different tasks.You will need a signed ‘Permission to observe/photograph/record a child' (Appendix C) for each child that you develop observations for.To be prepared to plan an effective experience for a child, you should provide at least eight (8) previous observations on that child.
Required Task
a) Reflect on your experience in Task 2c above, and plan an experience for a group of children as follows:
- This experience should extend from the emergency rehearsal experience in Task 2c above, and relate to ‘Keeping ourselves safe'
- It should cater for three (3) or more children
- You should use the Learning experience plan - example template(Appendix B)
- Leave the last two sections (Evaluation/reflections, and Follow up Experiences) blank until part (c) of this task.
b) Discuss appropriateness of planned experience and prepare to implement it:
- Discuss this plan with your Workplace Supervisor
- Adjust the plan, if required
- Arrange when you can implement the experience with the children
- Gather your required resources.
c) Implement and then evaluate/reflect on the experience
- Implement your experience with the children
- Complete Evaluation/Reflection section of the Learning experience plan - example template (Appendix B)
- Consider at least two (2) possible extension/follow-up ideas and document these in the appropriate section.
d) Discuss with your Workplace Supervisor and sign-off
- Discuss what you have done in this task (a-c), with your Workplace Supervisor
- Ask your Workplace Supervisor to sign-off on your completion of this task below.
Task 4: Gather information about children
Description: Children, like adults,will react differently to situations, depending on their mood, current life situation and daily experiences. To get an overall picture of the child and their context, we should observe them on different days, at different times and in different situations.Information may come from the child (primary source) or from other sources such as families, other children, previous observations, or other agencies/specialists (secondary sources).Gathering and analysing information about children is the focus for this task.
What you need to submit:
- A signed ‘to observe/photograph/record a child' (Appendix C) for at least three (3) childrenof different ages and abilities
- For each selected child: eight (8) different observations using the eight (8) different information gathering techniques listed in b), i.e. each child has eight (8) different observations in total
- Each observation requires an analysis (this can be on the same page as the observation)
- Each analysis must refer to at least 2 sub-outcomes of the applicable Learning Framework
- A summary of each child using ‘Summary of observations, gathered information and analysis template'(Appendix D).
Required Task
a) Prepare to observe at least three (3) children
- Select at least three (3) children to observe and work with.Ensure each child will be available to be observed and to participate in later planned experiences over a period of time - you should preview the requirements for Tasks 4-6 of this Portfolio.
The selected children should be of different ages (preferably 6-12 months difference in age, where possible), and with varying individual abilities.
- You may select additional children to observe and work with, in case the original three (3) children are not always available - you will need follow the same requirements with all selected children.
- Discuss your selection of the children with your Workplace Supervisor, to ensure your choices are appropriate and meet the requirements of this task.
- Obtain a signed ‘to observe/photograph/record a child' (Appendix C) for each selected child, allowing you to observe and work with them.
b) Gather information about your selected children
- You will need to use a selection of ways to gather information and utilise a variety of observation methods.These should include all of the following information gathering techniques:
1. Questioning
2. Discussion with families
3. Anecdotal observations
4. Learning stories
5. Jottings
6. Digital images (i.e. photos)
7. Samples of children's work (i.e. paintings, or close-up photos of their beadwork or tower building)
8. At least one other type of observation (ABC Report, Event Sample, etc)
- Gather information about your selected children at different times, in different situations, and on different days.
- Ensure each piece of gathered information gives you sufficient information to assist you to better understand the child.
- Using an appropriate method/template, document your findings. You may use your own templates or templates provided by Open Colleges.
- You will need to supply at least 8 different types of information gathering techniques per child i.e. one each of the 8 information gathering techniques above, per child.
- Ensure all documentation is recorded accurately and respectfully and in accordance with the service policy and procedure.
Refer to Chapter 16 Use information about children to inform practice, from your textbook to assist with observation techniques.
c) Analyse each piece of gathered information
- For each piece of gathered information, you will need to analyse it to determine some, or all of the following:
1. Knowledge and ideas
2. Abilities
3. Interests
4. Social interactions
5. Reactions to play environments
6. Different aspects of the child's development
Note: It may not be possible to cover all six (6) areas above, so you may only cover 2 or 3 of these points.However, try to cover as many of these areas across the eight(8) gathered information pieces listed above in b).
d) Refer to at least two (2)sub-outcomes of the relevant Learning Framework (i.e. EYLF) in each analysis.
- You may do this by specifically referring to the sub-outcome of the Learning Framework i.e. ‘1.1: Children feel safe, secure and supported'. Alternatively, you may simply use the language of the Learning Framework in your analysis i.e.‘Rakesh is demonstrating that he feels safe, secure and supported in his play'.(These examples provided are from the EYLF.)
Note: The EYLF has 5 main outcomes and 19sub-outcomes.
e) Summarise what you have learnt about each child
- Use Appendix D ‘Summary of observations, gathered information and analysis template'.
- You will need to complete one table for each selected child.
f) Discuss and reflect on your practice
- Discuss this task (a-e) with your Workplace Supervisor
- Reflect verbally on your own practice
- Ask your Workplace Supervisor to complete the sign-off below for this task.
Task 5: Plan three (3) learning experiences for three (3) children
Description: In task 5 you are required to plan three (3) experiences for three (3) of your selected focuschildren as follows:
- In total, you will plan nine (9) experiences and these should be holistic and relevant for the children, combining multiple developmental areas.
- You will need to implement one (1) experience for each child (three experiences out of the nine planned experiences) and evaluate these afterwards.
- You should include the use of natural and/or recycled materials in at least four (4) of the planned experiences.
In planning the experiences for children, it is advisable to include one goal/learning opportunity, and at least one strength/ability and/or interest to ensure the experience will be an enjoyable one for them.Although we often plan, based on one child (at a time), other children will usually join the experience. We should also consider sustainable practices when using resources.
What you need to submit:
- Nine (9) planned learning experiences, each using the ‘Learning experience plan - example template' (Appendix B)
- Demonstrate respect for the environment
- These experiences should cover each of the six specified developmental areas, at least twice within the 9 experiences. These should be relevant for the selected focus children (i.e. relate to the summaries in Task 4)
Required Task
a) Plan three (3) learning experiences for each of your three (3) focus children as follows:
- Plan three experiences for each of your three selected focus children; (9) experiences in total
- Ensure you cover the following six (6) development areas at least twice (or more) each, within those nine (9) experiences:
1) Physical
2) Creative
3) Social
4) Emotional
5) Language
6) Cognition
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- Combine areas to ensure holistic experiences wherever possiblei.e.one experience plan could cover cognition and creative development areas in a bridge-building experience; or physical, emotional and social development areas could be combined in a game of soccer.
- Ensure you include natural materialsi.e. shells, sand, leaves, sticks, rocks, etc, in at least 2 of the experiences.
- Ensure you include recycled materialsi.e. re-use items such as bottles, paper, magazines, etc, in at least 2 of the experiences.
- You should allow for at least 3-5 additional children to join your planned experience when you implement it (i.e.: plan for sufficient resources)
- Ensure you use the summaries that you prepared for each selected child, and any knowledge gained from working with the children and their families. This is to ensure the planned experience will be of interest to the children.
- Ensure all experiences and environments used,are safe for all participants.
- You should use the ‘Learning experience plan - example template' (Appendix B)
- Leave the last two sections (Evaluation/reflections, and Follow up Experiences) blank until part (b) of this task.
b) Implement and evaluate/reflect on the experience
- Implement each of your three (3) experiences (at different times) with the children, ensuringthe safety of all participants
- Complete the Evaluation/Reflection sections of the ‘Learning experience plan - example template' (Appendix B)
- Consider at least two (2) possible extension/follow-up ideas after each experience and document these in the appropriate sections.
c) Discuss with Workplace Supervisor and sign-off
- Discuss what you have done in this task (a-b), with your Workplace Supervisor
- Ask your Workplace Supervisor to complete the sign-off below for this task.
Task 6: Plan, implement and reflect on two (2) environmental/sustainable experiences
Description: The National Quality Standards (2018) Quality Area 3.2.3 requires that services support children to be environmentally responsible. This involves role-modelling sustainable behaviours and encouraging children to develop an awareness/understanding of their natural environment. In this taskyou are required to plan, implement and discuss 2 experiences to support children and other adults, to show respect for the environment and be environmentally responsible.You will also need to consider alternative sustainable practices and discuss these with your Workplace Supervisor.
What you need to submit:
- 2 planned, implemented and evaluated sustainable learning experiences, each using Appendix B template.
- Suggestions for possible improvements to the service's sustainable cleaning/maintenance practices and systems (200 - 400 words).
Required Task
a) Plan a cleaning experience using natural resources (Experience 1 of 2)
- Research options for sustainable cleaning practices that you could use with the children - you will need to ensure that the experience is safe for all participants, especially the children.Where appropriate, participants should use personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Where possible, encourage the children to assist you in the planning and preparation
- Using the provided Learning Experience Plan Template, plan an experience for the children that uses natural resources i.e. lemon, salt, etc to clean equipment i.e. walls, tables, etc
- Ensure you include an opportunity to discuss sustainable practices with the children, during this experience
- Demonstrate your respect for the environment by modelling sustainable behaviours2 plannned.
b) Implement, and then reflect on the experience
- Ensuring safety for all participants, implement the experience with the children
- Complete the Evaluation/Reflection sections of the Learning Experience Plan Templates
- Consider at least 2 possible extension/follow-up ideas after each experience and document these in the appropriate sections.
c) Using natural/recycled resources, create a new game (Experience 2 of 2)
- Research/consider how you could use predominantly natural/recycled resources to create an age appropriate game for the children to play (i.e.: matching stones, leaf sizing, tic-tac-toe, etc)
- Where possible, encourage the children to assist you in the planning and preparation
- Using the provided Learning Experience Plan Template, plan an experience for the children that uses predominantly natural/recycled resources to create your chosen game
- Ensure you include an opportunity to discuss sustainable practices with the children, during this experience
- Demonstrate your respect for the environment by modelling sustainable behaviours
d) Implement and reflect on the experience
- Ensuring safety for all participants, implement the experience with the children
- Complete the Evaluation/Reflection sections of the Learning Experience Plan
- Consider at least 2 possible extension/follow-up ideas after each experience and document these in the appropriate sections.
e) Reflect on this task and then discuss with Workplace Supervisor, before sign-off
- Reflect on the tasks 5a-d above and consider options that the service could use to improve on their sustainable cleaning/maintenance practices and systems.
- Document your ideas for discussion with your Workplace Supervisor (200 - 400 words).
- Discuss what you have done in this task (a-d) and your suggestions for improved sustainable cleaning/maintenance practices and systems, with your Workplace Supervisor
- Ask your Workplace Supervisor to complete the sign-off below for this task.