Planning and Implementing a Curriculum

Designing a curriculum and implementing experiences for children aims to progress each child’s learning and development.  This aligns with the ELYF and the NQS Element 1.1.1 and Element 1.1.2 and includes using the child’s current knowledge, ideas, culture, strengths, needs and interests as the foundation of the curriculum of a service.

Educators must engage in the principles and practices outlined in the approved learning frameworks. These principles and practices should reflect contemporary theories and evidence from research into children’s learning and early childhood pedagogy. They should also be used to guide relationships and assist with pedagogical thinking and curriculum design.

Important principles to keep in mind include: 

• Maintain secure, respectful, and reciprocal relationships. 
• Aim to develop partnerships with colleagues, families, and other relevant stakeholders. 
• Maintain high expectations and equity. 
• Demonstrate respect for diversity. 
• Apply ongoing learning and reflective practices. 

Frameworks’ principles and practices 

Review the principles and practices for the EYLF and the Framework for School Age Care in Australia: Belonging, Being & Becoming – The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia by the Australian Department of Education and Training.

My Time, Our Place (MTOP) – Framework for School Age Care in Australia by the Australian Department of Education and Training.

Choose a framework and write a summary for each principle and practice. Include THREE examples of how you could clearly communicate and demonstrate these principles and practices in a service.

Complete the activity and keep notes for your future reference, as this information will support you in your assessment and professional practice.

Curriculum Planning

Curriculum design uses observations and gathered information about children and regular communication with families to inform the design of the environments and experiences to engage children and encourage valuable learning outcomes. The design of the curriculum and learning environment supports holistic learning for children.  That is, learning encompasses all learning aspects, including physical, psychological, spiritual, social, and intellectual. This encourages integrated learning experiences to be designed that engage children’s learning as a whole.  

Within children’s services, educators use environments and experiences to assist children toward achieving planned goals or learning intent.  The planned experiences build on children’s interests, learning, and development and are reflected in all aspects of the day, for example, arrivals, settling, eating, resting, toileting, transitions, and groups.  The unplanned and spontaneous experiences are driven by the child and similarly promote learning opportunities. The experiences are also considered in both indoor and outdoor environments.

Curriculum planning involves children who are engaged and assisted in co-construct their learning. Co-construction is the process of the educator and the children working in partnership to develop learning experiences that are meaningful to the child. This provides opportunities to break down traditional roles to create an environment where the teaching and learning process merge.

Effective curriculums have:  

• flexible routines that adjust to children’s strengths, needs and interests
• transitions between activities are planned and considered to reduce anxiety and stress responses from children
• considered time planning, e.g., sufficient time to complete the activity or adjust if activities are left to run for too long
• activities that are appropriate to the children’s developmental level
• a degree of structure in the activity (including scheduling) to meet children’s needs
• activities that are accessible to all children.

Curriculum planning and design are underpinned by:

• adopting holistic approaches
• being responsive to children
• implementing play-based learning
• intentional teaching
• setting up positive learning environments
• inclusive learning environments 
• valuing the cultural and social contexts of the child
• continuity of learning and transitions 
• assessing and monitoring children’s learning.

The Learning Environment

A learning environment encompasses a large range of elements, including how it allows interactions to take place and relationships between the educators and children (and between the individual children) to be developed and maintained; the landscape and structure of the room and outdoor spaces; and the experiences and resources help to facilitate these. 

An environment can be under-stimulating or overstimulating and motivating or unmotivating, according to individual children's needs. The children’s engagement with the environment is key and can be influenced by context and each child’s previous experiences and preferred learning styles. Another consideration is that children’s physiological needs must be met and maintained to be motivated to learn and engage. For example, a lack of engagement and focus is often observed when a child has not slept well the night before. 

Service environments must be safe and designed to support the well-being of the children who use them, with adequate staffing, age-appropriate resources and learning experiences, and age-appropriate and relevant expectations of the children. 

The children's reactions to the environment will help you judge and analyse the space. You must observe and interpret the children’s reactions and critically reflect on them to understand how the space may be altered to improve learning experiences. 

The learning environment needs to be inclusive and accessible to all children. Accessible and inclusive curriculums make decisions to ensure that the activity is available to all children. This includes ensuring that the correct resources are available to all, that equipment is available to all children and that the correct support is in place. Making learning accessible means planning occurred to determine the specific requirements for access, aids, or specialised equipment when curriculum planning.

Service programs and curriculums need continuity to be supportive to children. Routines need to be flexible and child-centred/child-led. Minimising a ‘stop/ start’ routine increases flexibility and helps manage the children’s emotions, leaving them better prepared for ongoing learning. Stop/start routines are evident when the children frequently have to stop their activity to begin a new routine (e.g., stopping play for morning tea, eating to go outdoors, stopping playing to come inside). Children manage an environment more easily when the transitions are fluid and almost invisible. Fluid programs may have food available over longer periods of time, so children come to the table when ready or indoor/outdoor programs to allow for choice throughout the day, for example.

Physical Environment

The NQS outlines in Quality Area 3: Physical Environment that it is safe and suitable and provides diverse experiences that promote children’s learning and development. Under standard 3.1, services must ensure that the design and location of the premises are appropriate for the operation of the service.

The physical set-up of the service will dictate how welcoming and engaging the space is for the children. It also influences how the children can move within and from one space to another to follow the curriculum of timetabled activities and routine events.

Key features of the physical environment will nurture positive relationships and a sense of belonging in children. 

Consider the following questions when assessing how welcoming an environment is: 

• Do educators use the names of the children and parents? 
• Does each child have their own space, such as a locker or hook, to place their things? 
• Are there photos of each child in the environment to help them feel like they are ‘part of the group’ and belong? 
• Does the environment feel familiar to children? (Does the environment reflect a particular setting, such as a home-like setting?) 
• Does the environment contain reminders of previous learning experiences the children had that interested them (e.g., a display board with artwork from a day where the children learned about different types of fish)? The conditions of an environment and how it is set up and organised can greatly impact how children feel in it. 

Considerations that should be made include: 

• noise and light levels 
• access to fresh air/ability to refresh air (e.g., access to windows that could be opened to refresh stale air) 
• temperature 
• access to water and food 
• access to toilets and resting/sleeping areas 
• capacity (e.g., enough space for children to be alone if they need or want to be and enough room for children to move around freely, without crowding) 
• design of play spaces 
• space or areas for noisy activities (e.g., music, movement, construction, or dramatic play) that are appropriately separated from spaces for quiet activities (e.g., book corners and investigation spaces) 
• furniture and storage (including the amount of clutter in a space and how furniture impacts the use of a space).

You will also need to consider differences in how indoor and outdoor spaces are used and whether the environment can be utilised to create natural learning opportunities without staff intervention? 

You may need to provide visual aids to help children remember limits, guidelines, and expectations of the room, supporting their understanding of boundaries and encouraging order, consistency, and responsibility. 

Ask yourself:

• How are routines and transition times used as a learning opportunity? 
• Are all experiences pre-planned, or is there ample opportunity for spontaneous learning in the moment? 
• How do you implement service philosophy, and how is this evident in the curriculum?
• How do you use pedagogy within the curriculum?

Children’s Health and Safety

Services must meet the requirements of NQS Quality Area 2: Children’s health and safety. This standard aims to promote children’s rights to a safe, educational experience. The service must provide for the child’s comfort, wellbeing, and protection from harm. The standard covers health practices and procedures, incident management, levels of supervision for children and activities, and promoting a healthy lifestyle. Children must be provided with safe experiences and environments.

Services will also ensure sufficient educators to adequately supervise the group. The educator-to-child ratio outlined in the National Quality Standard may not be suitable for this type of hands-on activity if there are more materials and activities to supervise than in a routine session.

When determining the correct level of supervision, you should take the following considerations into account:

• number of children involved
• age and ability level of the children
• skills and experience of educators
• educators’ knowledge of each child’s needs and abilities 
• the nature of the activity and the materials being used
• the location of the activity, including visibility and access
• potential risks and hazards of the activity.

Transitions and Continuity of Learning 

Planning needs to be in place to manage children’s transitions during the curriculum as they move from space to space/activity and when they move from one age grouping to another or move onto a school program. Continuity of learning refers to an uninterrupted flow of learning, which is essential to provide a sense of stability for the children.

Flexible and child-centred routines can assist with day-to-day transitions in programs and activities. This can mean extra time is allocated to an event, or adjustments are made in the timetable to accommodate an event that is extended to meet a child’s needs.

Bigger transitions can be more challenging for children. Educators can follow the principles of collaboration and consultation to support children and families adopt a child-focused transition practice. Children can be supported to manage the changes. This can include effective planning consultation, information sharing, clarifying responsibilities and mindful actions and timing when a move occurs.  Effective transition supports the child’s continuity of learning. Services can be mindful of maintaining some consistency between rooms, such as having similar loose parts in all rooms, so when a child moves, they can easily continue learning with familiar resources. Ensuring children’s voice is prioritised and supporting children’s agency across all rooms can also assist with continuity of learning and effective transition.  

As part of the curriculum planning, the service will consider actions to monitor and assess the children’s learning. This will meet the requirements of the approved framework. Monitoring will consider both planned and unplanned experiences. Monitoring and assessing aim to provide information for future planning and support children’s learning and decisions made about their learning needs. Monitoring can include ongoing records of observations, records of discussions and examples of children’s work.

The planned curriculum and monitoring and assessment activities will be documented according to service guidelines and the requirements of the National Quality Framework. Services may have a template that is used. Educators must also follow the organisational style guide for presenting information, including using the correct template. The curriculum can be documented using digital technology and media. This can include recording information in a word processing program on a computer and using devices such as shared platforms or a database to ensure the records are accessible and saved for reference. 

The planning cycle provides visual and action-based guidance for reinforcing the planning process, which is an ongoing journey. The cycle includes gathering information from family, colleagues, the children themselves and/or observations; and interpreting and questioning what is known and how it can be used to further the child/children’s learning. The educator must then develop plans based on this information, adding elements to the program to meet the needs identified through previous experiences, information sources and the analysis of the child or group of children. 

Once an educator knows how to support the established goals (through selected pedagogy, principles, and practices), they will implement the experience planned for the child or group. 

The experience should be monitored and reflected upon by the educators and the children. As required appropriate changes to the program can be made.

The process should then be evaluated and critically reflected upon, and the cycle begins again, returning to gathering information (from reflections/evaluations) of the implemented experiences and amendments. The Planning Cycle by ACECQA¹¹ provides a thorough breakdown of the tasks and actions required when planning:

Observing and Collecting Information

Educators gather information from various sources, including children's records, the children, their families, other educators, and external service providers, to build a holistic understanding of a child or group of children and the social and cultural contexts of their world. Observing and collecting information involves collaboration. 

Collaborative partnerships are based on relationships with open communication, respect, and trust. These partnerships are critical when collecting information and agreeing on curriculum activities. Services will collaborate with all involved in decision-making about the child’s needs and support by inviting their input into planning, monitoring, and review. 

Analysing Learning

Educators use the gathered information to establish where a child is developmentally and where they are heading to support their ongoing development and learning. Educators consider how children learn most effectively (their preferred learning style[s]), how they like to play, and any developmental and theoretical insights. They use these considerations to inform the support for the child or children and to decide on the best ‘next move’ for them, influencing not only individual planning but also planning for the group as a whole and the curriculum design.

Planning

Educators use the gathered information and their analyses to assist them in making a plan for providing responsive and relevant support and learning experiences for the child or children. Educators decide what outcomes of working towards and how they connect to the approved learning frameworks. They will also consider the most appropriate pedagogical practices and principles that can assist and support the plan and will document them accordingly. (All services will have slightly different ways of structuring documentation.) 

The educator will then decide what experience will best support the learning outcomes. They may include the children in this process when possible and relevant. Planned experiences can occur at any time: during mealtimes, toileting, free play, group times, intentional teaching, or any other time the child is attending the service. Depending on the learning outcome or the skill to be developed, the planned experiences must be organised at the most suitable time and place. For example, if a child is learning to feed themselves unaided, obviously they will practise this at mealtimes. 

The environment and resources for learning are carefully considered to establish the most effective ways to engage the children and support the outcomes. 

Implementing 

Educators must create the ideal environment to execute the determined learning experiences when implementing a plan in the learning environment. They will consider where, when and how to get the best out of the planned experience to meet the needs of the child or children. The plan may be implemented in several ways throughout the curriculum, depending on the outcome or needs of the child. 

Educators will ensure that the learning materials required to implement the curriculum are in place and support the learning and development of the children. The learning material will be age-appropriate and foster different learning and development aspects. This includes physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual development in children. 

Resources and interactions will provide opportunities for children’s collaborative learning. This can be fostered by having various resources encouraging children to work and play together in groups. Collaborative learning contributes to children understanding who they are and how they can contribute to the world. Children should be encouraged to share toys and take turns. Children also need to learn how to self-regulate, which can be developed when playing with other children.

The learning experience will encourage participation, interaction and working together whilst promoting opportunities for collaborative learning.

Collaborative learning can be fostered by, for example:

• invite children to create a group picture or a group mural 
• support children to work in groups 
• group problem solving
• imaginative play opportunities with others. 

Educators will utilise interactions with children as opportunities to build rapport. Rapport is fostered through genuine and trust-based relationships. These aid in relationship building. To build rapport, educators will explore children’s preferences and interests and find common interests to establish common ground. Establishing trusting relationships is the basis for building future play and education experiences. 

Scaffolding

During implementation, educators ensure that learning is scaffolded to support children’s development over time. Scaffolding in an educational context refers to the way educators extend and build on the children’s current knowledge, providing extra information and adding to the children’s existing skills. The term ‘scaffolding’ has been influenced by theorists Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner and is heavily utilised in such approaches as Reggio Emilia.

Educators will provide appropriate support for children as they learn new and unfamiliar skills and reduce support as skills are established. Educators will build on existing skills and use opportunities to keep learning processes moving forward. Learning from scaffold experiences will occur over time and support the goals and outcomes for the children’s learning.

Consider how an educator can scaffold learning and support the acquisition of knowledge and ongoing learning of children? 

When thinking about scaffolding, you may ask the following questions:

• Is scaffolding verbal, non-verbal or both? Or does it include action- and facilitation-based prompts (e.g., experiences, learning spaces, resources)?
• Do I ask the right questions and give the right suggestions?
• Do I need to provide more visual cues or active learning and discovery to aid extension, or is verbal discussion proving successful?
• How do I know when to involve myself, when to ask a question or make a comment or suggestion, and when I should just observe an experience or learning moment?

Child-Initiated (-led) vs. Directed Learning

Early childhood education promotes child-led learning by observing children’s interests and emerging skills and knowledge along with their ideas to engage with the curriculum. Educators promote sustained shared thinking, where children investigate and solve problems together and, if required, with the support of educators, who scaffold thinking, learning and knowledge when the moment calls for such intentions. 

There will be plenty of opportunities to promote learning led by educators (directed learning) to support milestone progression and school readiness in line with areas the educator knows the children are interested in and will benefit from. Finding the balance between child-initiated and directed learning can be challenging and takes practice. You will need to take the time to reflect on how to best support, guide and scaffold learning without taking over. An obvious form of directed learning may be the beginning of literacy, such as singing the Jolly Phonics Songs at group time or encouraging the children to participate in a giant group collage. 

Learning Through Play

Over the years, the benefits of play have been researched and have been found to greatly support children's ongoing development. Play is a child’s communication, relaxation, motivation and learning method. Children learn skills needed for life, such as problem-solving, mathematical and scientific skills, social skills, and reasoning, through play, and it helps them understand their world. Through pretend play alone, children learn such skills as narration and storytelling, social cooperation, negotiation, and language skills. They also gain a deep understanding of their identities, who they are as individuals and different concepts in the world around them. 

Educators who value play and understand its many benefits will use pedagogical practices to create opportunities for extensive play sessions and provide the tools necessary to promote play skills. As play is a precursor for academic success, it is a necessity that play is advocated for by educators and a curriculum is built around play. Research and predictions based on the technological advances demonstrate that the successful adults will need to be adaptive, creative, and complex cognitive and communication abilities. Imaginative play can be used to promote innovative, individualised and interactive domains for children.

Educators will promote opportunities during implementation to foster and use spontaneous teachable moments to build on children’s learning. Unplanned experiences are usually a by-product of other experiences and can occur without specific learning goals or outcomes. An educator can use interactions and exploration to trigger teachable moments. 

Educators understand that their role is to support children’s learning and development. When implementing learning opportunities especially related to creative pursuits, they will have basic knowledge and skill to facilitate children’s learning. Educators have techniques and skills in the creative areas at a level sufficient to assist children in implementing their ideas and fostering creativity. For example, an educator needs to know about various artistic approaches and provide creative opportunities for children. This includes sourcing different resources and guiding children when they are being creative.

Reflecting and Evaluating

In the final stage, educators reflect on the practices used, any relevant interactions, the environment created and the plan itself, centring around the child or children for whom the plan was developed and what occurred throughout the implementation. Educators will examine whether children engaged with changes or new experience; what happened during the engagement (what the child or children said and did, and who was involved); and how the engagement links to the intended outcome. This evaluation assists educators in knowing what to do or focus on going forwards. The learning process is a cycle, and educators are always thinking about what to support next and how to do it. 

Curriculum-related environments for learning

Complete the following activity.

Ensure you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessment and professional practice.

Find items around your home you could use to create spaces for children based on the intended outcomes from the approved learning framework ¹² for different age groups provided here:

Take a photo of each space that you have created and reflect on the environment you created for learning. For each space, ask yourself:

• What would you change about the space?
• What do you like about the space?
• Why is the experience relevant to the child or group?
• Is the experience engaging?
• Did you enjoy the experience?
• How would you change the experience (or would you not need to?) if you were to use it for one of the other age groups?

Whether planned or unplanned, teaching and learning will be evaluated. Evaluation is a key stage of curriculum development and can assist with the identification of how effective the teaching/learning process has been.

Evaluation of the curriculum is concerned with:

• the content and design compared with recent advances and changes
• the impact on the children
• the process through which it was developed
• directions for future learning opportunities.

Evaluation is a regular ongoing process in which you use evidence and observations to analyse teaching and learning. It should also include interpreting children’s learning against the learning outcomes. This will be collaborative by providing opportunities for feedback to families and seeking their input in planning further learning. 

When evaluating the teaching and learning within the service, feedback is sought from the children and their families. 

Collaborating with families

Services are in partnerships with families when evaluating the curriculum and learning experiences. They are a valuable source of feedback to share and exchange knowledge and insight about the child and gather feedback about the curriculum. This is an underpinning practice required by NQS – Quality Area 6 – Collaborative partnerships with families and communities where information is shared with families. Services will follow the service standards, policies, and procedures that support collaborative partnerships with families and the community. 

Service will gather feedback from the family and welcome their opinions, ideas, and suggestions to improve children’s learning experiences and support curriculum planning. To facilitate sharing of information, services seek feedback from the families by: 

• inviting the family to engage in the process and contribute to planning 
• asking the family open and closed questions 
• listening to the family to seek information and confirm understanding
• using respectful language
• observing the cultural requirements of the family
• providing accurate information about the planned experiences.

Methods to promote collaboration and the exchange of information by the service can include:

• welcome different perspectives that families can bring to planning for the child’s learning and development
• Invite insights into the child’s routines, likes and interests
• provide timely and regular information to families.

Collaborating with Colleagues

When reviewing and evaluating experiences in the curriculum, it is useful to obtain input from colleagues. They will bring a range of views and perspectives. The education team will implement the curriculum and be included in the partnership to ensure commitment and consistent application. It is recognised that increased diversity in ideas positively impacts decision-making and generating more innovative ideas. This involves inviting colleagues’ feedback and tapping into their knowledge and experience to ensure a good outcome from the curriculum. Collaboration with colleagues can occur through conversations and communication during the working day or at team meetings and reflection sessions. 

Collaborating with Children 

The children involved in the experiences and the curriculum are key contributors during evaluation. Children can be provided with the increased agency over their world by inviting their participation and feedback. This practice supports NQS 5 – Relationships with children and supports the learning outcomes for the EYLF and MTOP of children being able to contribute to their world and children confident and involved learners.

Educators build collaborative relationships with children by engaging with them. This includes actions that build rapport, invite input and value contributions. Even young children can be invited to express likes and dislikes.

Educators can collaborate with children by:

• inviting the child to express feelings, likes, dislikes and suggestions
• encouraging children to participate in planning
• trying children’s suggestions to show their input is valued
• affirming the efforts of the child to raise their ideas and contribute to the evaluation.

Educators will use and expand children’s ideas and skills to refine the curriculum. Educators will respond to the children’s interests and ideas to provide further support and learning. Children will contribute questions, ideas, and interests and express their feelings and opinions regarding their learning experiences. 

Educators use information and feedback gathered from children, including:

• watching and listening to their play
• inviting feedback from small groups
• one-to-one discussions whilst working with children.

The feedback will provide insight into what is working and what is not. This information is used to refine the curriculum. Areas of improvement may include:

• teaching strategies
• types of play
• learning areas.

Assessment 

Educators need to assess children’s learning. Educators will consider the purpose of the assessment. Information is collected to further promote learning and development, guide milestones and support children in becoming ready for school. Still, most of all, assessment is used to support their wellbeing and to build a love of learning. When educators assess children, they need to be able to plan effectively and make progress clear and continual.

Ensuring the assessment is completed sensitively and positively is essential. When you are assessing a curriculum, educators should ask questions such as:

• What are the child’s strengths?
• What are we working towards?
• What developmental milestones or skills are emerging?
• What is working well and what is not working?

When assessing a curriculum, educators reflect on questions such as:

• How have practices demonstrated pedagogical theory?
• What learning experiences are the children receiving?
• Are they positive and engaging? What have we done this week to enhance the experiences for the children?
• What else could we be doing to extend this learning?
• Are we engaging in teaching practices such as intentional teaching and scaffolding?
• Are these practices actually benefiting the children’s learning?
• Do we have a healthy mix of directed and child-initiated learning?
• Has the team worked functionally this week? Has communication been a two-way street? Are we practising active listening?
• Is the physical environment aiding the children?
• Have we covered all areas of development effectively?
• Do we have a maths-, science- and literacy-enriched environment?
• How have routines been educational?
• What decision-making opportunities are we providing for the children?
• How might someone else evaluate the curriculum if we were to ask them to? What would they see?
• Which aspects of the day should children have input into?
• What aspects of the curriculum might we change based on this assessment?
• Am I willing to change my thinking or the way I do things?

This style of posing critical questioning supports reflective practices that aim to improve outcomes for children.

Evaluation Informs Future Practice

The approved national frameworks state that evaluation is part of the learning cycle. It is a tool to systematically assess programs and practices to measure the extent of children’s learning from the creative development experiences that have been implemented. It is a way that educators can gather the information that tells them the extent to which each knows and understands based on the child’s progress. The information is used to plan future activities based on the individual needs of each child.

Two different aspects of the child’s learning and development should be assessed:

• The development of the child’s needs, interests, experiences, and level of participation in the educational program, or simply the level of engagement they demonstrate
• The child’s academic progress is measured against the learning outcomes of the educational program.

After assessing and evaluating all aspects of your service, you will be able to identify areas that need improvement. This can help to design the future curriculum and learning experiences. Decisions might be made about implementing further support for some children in future experiences. Evaluation might identify emerging skills that can be built on. The experiences may focus on a child's continuity of learning or next stage of learning. Planning for future experiences may include repeating, refining or extending learning.

Documenting Curriculums and Outcomes 

Educators will develop a practice documenting each planned and implemented curriculum. The approved learning frameworks, the National Quality Standard (NQS), and related regulatory standards state that documentation must be maintained. Still, they allow each service to have policies and templates that suit their needs around documentation and recording. Documentation is a key aspect of the planning cycle. Documentation aims to capture meaningful information used in planning and to communicate about children’s learning, development, and progress.

The actions and outcomes of information gathering, curriculum planning, and assessment and evaluation are recorded and documented according to service guidelines. This includes keeping records, placing the records on the child’s file, and observing the confidentiality of the record. 

Documentation can use:

• service style guidelines
• electronic or paper-based formats
• templates to guide educators on the information they need to record
• service's confidentiality of records policies
• safe storage options.

Reflective practice is one of the principles within the Early Years Learning Framework.  It is an ongoing process where educators think and challenge their practices to continually develop their skills, build their pedagogy and aim for the best outcomes for children.  By combining reflection of practices with the reflection of the children’s learning, educators can gain a clearer picture of areas working well and areas where further development is required.  It allows educators to reflect on possible unfairness and inequities in their practice and continually develop their skills and approaches more responsive to children’s needs.

Reflection is a critical tool in evaluation. Educators can consider, ‘how can I adapt my practices and strategies to benefit the children?’ Without reflection, educators may continue doing things the same way they always have. They need to make thoughtful decisions in the best interests of the children and families using the service. Reflection reminds us to stay up to date with current research and theories and to consider each child and moment in time within the context of the role and skills, understanding and perspectives. It also allows us to become aware of areas requiring more understanding, for example, cultural customs, supporting trauma, interactions with children who have a visual impairment or how to implement science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics (STEAM) in the early years.

Asking yourself reflective questions and answering them honestly and critically will support how the curriculum performs and ensure it is suitable for the children at your service. 

Some example reflective questions that you may like to consider include:

• How do I present my intention (purpose) to children?
• Do I need to be more spontaneous in seeking learning opportunities and aha moments?
• Do I provide a variety of learning opportunities?
• Do I have intentions for everything I do? Do I need to? (The purpose of having intention, or conducting intentional teaching, is to have a goal or a purpose in mind – why do I do what I do?)

Types of Reflection 

Individual Reflection

Individual reflection occurs on your own when the educator plans or takes time to reflect on their practices and the outcomes. Individual reflection can become lost in the day-to-day busyness but is a useful action to build capacity and improve individual practice. 

Individual reflection can be facilitated by:

• timetabling space in the day (or at the end of the day) to carry out critical reflection
• posing questions and raising concerns about your practice
• posing questions and raising concerns about the services practices and policies 
• writing in a journal or diary about your analysis practices 
• recording key learnings that arose from the reflection
• implementing new ideas to improve practices.

Formal Reflection

Formal methods of reflection are usually planned opportunities to reflect. They are timetabled or scheduled to ensure they occur. They can also be part of performance-based discussions with a supervisor. 

Formal reflections can include:

• a planned process with a set of reflection questions and a recording sheet that has an action plan
• occur on a schedule (e.g., monthly) with an area of focus determined
• reflection meetings for the team on a topic or an experience
• team meetings with other staff with a set agenda item for critical reflection where planned questions are asked
• booked sessions that occur after an incident or critical event to gain learnings and prevent issues from re-occurring
• documented crucial learnings and any decisions made.

Informal Reflection 

Informal critical reflection can occur during any situation where you can ask questions about your practice and performance. Opportunities may also arise in discussions with others without you formally asking them when they provide feedback and insight into your practices from their perspective. This can also be referred to as spontaneous reflection, as educators reflect and make decisions to improve practices as they occur. This is reflection-in-action and can occur throughout the working day. Educators can reflect as they experiment with alternatives and question approaches that have not achieved the planned outcome or aim of the activity.

Informal critical reflection is:

• an organic process
• it arises naturally during the day and interactions with others
• documented and goals set from the learnings.

Questions that can be asked to activate informal critical reflection include:

• asking other staff how they would have handled a situation
• other staff for their thoughts or ideas so that you can check whether this matches up with the approaches that you are taking
• asking others what they would change or improve about practice or process that you have just used
• listening to advice or feedback that others offer during your work duties.

Using Journals and Diaries 

An educator can use a reflective journal or a diary to record completed critical reflection. The written record may also include images, graphs, photos, and sketches that enhance the information recorded. Images allow a visual illustration of the words and feelings generated during the reflection. The images used can mirror the written words to confirm meaning. They also provide another medium to record information that can quickly reveal the themes arising from the reflection. Methods such as scrapbooking can be adapted to be included in diaries and journals to extend meaning. These recordings match the aim of all critical reflection, which is to build the educator’s knowledge, skills, and competence to improve their practice. 

It can be a running record that might be completed daily (or at least regularly) to analyse activities and question and review practices. It can be used to set goals and then reflect on the actions taken to achieve those goals to improve and develop the educators’ practices.

Group Reflection

Group reflection uses dialogue with others and invites diverse thoughts to build unified practices for a service.  Different points of view and experiences can be used to inform an educator’s practice. Group critical reflection can collect a wide range of perspectives and insight about the quality and practices of the information gathering, analysis and curriculum development. Group reflection occurs with the educator and other staff to gain different opinions and share experiences and insights to improve practices.

Group critical reflection on the analysis of information can occur by:

• holding a meeting as a group to reflect on practices
• asking questions that lead to meaningful reflection and discussion
• asking for or giving feedback, offering ideas and suggestions, sharing similar experiences and discussing the methods used and outcomes achieved
• debating and disagreeing (respectfully)  
• documenting the critical reflection, key learnings and any decisions that were made.