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NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency
The Australian Government funded Inclusion Agency is managed by KU Children’s Services, in partnership with Include Me and Gowrie NSW.
Artwork by Matilda, five years old, KU Ourimbah Preschool
Providing inclusion support to NSW/ACT early childhood and childcare services
June 2017 Page 2
In This Issue3. Celebrating NAIDOC Week
4. Learning About Inclusion
6. Yarnin Circles
7. Reconciliation
8. How will the NDIS impact your service
10. Supporting Rural and Remote Services
11. Make and Take Nights
12. Innovative Solutions
13. Valuing Diverse Cultures
14. Specialist Equipment Library
15. Inclusion Agency Team
16. Calendar and Contacts
KU Children’s Services, Include Me and Gowrie NSW are proud to deliver Inclusion Agency services across NSW/ACT as part of the new Inclusion Support Programme.
We hope you enjoy this edition of “Inclusion Matters” which aims to provide you with some themes for discussion at your service and ideas, useful resources and information to help you to improve the quality of your inclusive practice.
If you would like to be a part of the next edition of “Inclusion Matters” or have any ideas for themes or articles, please contact your local Inclusion Hub team.
Welcome to this edition of ‘Inclusion Matters’
How can we assist your service?The NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency has 14 regional Inclusion Hubs and five outreach spaces. We are funded by the Australian Government to provide free tailored support to all commonwealth funded services including Long Day Care, Family Day Care, Outside School Hours Care, Vacation Care, Mobile and Budget Based Funded services.
The NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency provides support through:
Teams of Inclusion Professionals who provide on the ground support to services
The Indigenous Cultural Hub team based in Mascot who provide cultural support and advice to Inclusion Professionals and services
The Specialist Equipment Library based in Port Macquarie which provides a free equipment loan service
The central response team based in Wollongong who man the 1800 number and central email
To access inclusion support for your service, please contact us (see back page for details).
Your Inclusion Professional can support you by: Visiting your service to observe and discuss your strengths, challenges and barriers to inclusion.
Providing you with practical advice, strategies, resources and possible solutions to inclusion barriers.
Supporting you to analyse policies, programs and practices and to reflect on changes that can be made to support inclusion.
Facilitating the development of a Strategic Inclusion Plan (SIP) that identifies strategies for change and growth.
Supporting you to learn about inclusion and access Inclusion Support Programme resources.
Contact your Inclusion Professional today on 1800 703 382 and begin to explore your thinking about inclusion and reflect on and change your practice. Ask your Inclusion Professional for a copy of the KU Service Inclusion Capacity Self-Assessment Tool.
June 2017 Page 3
NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
Michelle: Although NAIDOC week is an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, in early childhood environments I think it needs to be part of our everyday program. Think about what this could look like in your service. You could start with doing an Acknowledgment of Country – do some local research to find out what country you are situated on and the Acknowledgement can be displayed in your centre, a protocol you include in meetings/events etc. or implemented into your program with the children.
NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself. Find out more about the origins and history of NAIDOC Week.
Michelle: Many communities have “local NAIDOC committees” to work with their individual communities to celebrate this week’s events, from flag raisings, awards ceremonies and family and community days, see how you can get involved. Talk to someone at a local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation or an Aboriginal Education worker at schools to find out more at the local level.
Each year, a different city hosts the National NAIDOC Awards Ceremony. The host city, National NAIDOC Poster Competition and the NAIDOC Awards recipients are selected by the National NAIDOC Committee.
Michelle: This year Cairns will be hosting the award ceremony. Tickets this year have sold out, but for future reference tickets are available on the NAIDOC website and available to everyone.
Local community celebrations during NAIDOC Week are encouraged and often organised by communities, government agencies, local councils, schools and workplaces.
Michelle: Check your local council’s website, community hubs, NAIDOC website, Koori Mail newspaper or Facebook page for more information regarding events around NSW.
Wherever you live, you can take part in NAIDOC Week celebrations. Find out about NAIDOC Week activities in your area.
Michelle: It is a great idea to get involved in NAIDOC celebrations in a real way. Take the children to the Family and Community day celebrations – everyone is welcome. Start building relationships and further develop your knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
You can get your NAIDOC poster mailed out by calling 1800 079 098, until stock runs out!
If you want to find out more you can join in a Indigenous Cultural Hub Yarnin Circle, like us on Facebook or email [email protected]
Celebrating NAIDOC Week 2-9 July 2017 “Our languages matter”Michelle Hamilton from the NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency’s Indigenous Cultural Hub talks about what services can do to get involved in NAIDOC week.
Ask your Inclusion Professional for a copy of this postcard
June 2017 Page 4
Increasing our understanding about inclusion is a journey for all of us. Some key themes we have recently been discussing* are outlined below:
Inclusion: What are we really talking about?Inclusion for all children is the main focus of the Inclusion Support Programme. Although the word ‘inclusion’ is widely used, it is often misunderstood and used to describe thinking and practices that are sometimes the opposite of inclusion.
Inclusion starts with usInclusion starts with our attitudes and beliefs about children’s rights, their value and contribution to the community, as well as principles of equity and fairness. It is difficult for us to be truly inclusive if we don’t believe that all children, no matter what their needs, have the right to play, develop and learn alongside other children of their own age.
Inclusion isn’t ‘one size fits all’Inclusion practices should look and feel different for each child and care environment. This is because each child and care environment is unique and no one strategy is a magic solution for making inclusion work. What we do and how we teach children changes as we grow in our knowledge and understanding about each child’s individual strengths, interests and learning styles.
Inclusion is about diversity, not disabilityWe often think about children with disabilities first when we talk about inclusion, but it is much broader than that. Inclusion is about each and every child in the care environment. The family and cultural backgrounds of each child, their experience of advantage or disadvantage, individual temperaments as well as abilities all come into play when we plan for inclusion.
How can we be more inclusive?The following statements may guide your reflection and thinking about this:
Inclusion recognises the right of every child to participate meaningfully in all aspects of community life.
Active and meaningful participation is not just about being present.
Inclusion happens when everyone is viewed as a capable and valued contributor, as opposed to having deficits that need to be fixed.
An inclusive program benefits all children not just for now, but for the future, by changing the community’s understanding about the value and contribution of diversity in our society.
Learning About Inclusion: It’s a Journey
“Often unconsciously, we are all influenced by the idea that there is a ‘normal’ child, and thus buy the idea that we expect children in some ways be ‘the same’. Thus, if a child is way outside our unconscious beliefs about what is ‘normal’, then we will think that there is something ‘wrong’ with that child or something that we will need to change. Thus, square pegs in round holes.” – Amanda Niland, 2017
“Inclusion is an ongoing process – when a child enrols in a setting that is the beginning (not the end point) of inclusive education.”
(Booth & Ainscow, 2002; Cologon, 2014, Booth et al., 2006; Humphrey, 2008)
*With thanks to Dr Amanda Niland, from the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney who recently presented to us about inclusion and perspectives on impairment and disability. Thanks also to Dr Kathy Cologon, Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Early Childhood Education at the Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University who presented her research findings about inclusion at the national Inclusion Support Programme Provider conference in May.
June 2017 Page 5
Questions to consider: What does ‘active and meaningful participation’
for the child mean and look like in our service? How can I make sure that I focus on the strengths
of children rather than deficits, and value the contributions that all children can make?
Does our thinking reflect how we can include children rather than if we can include children?
Do all educators have the opportunity to build on their understanding and ability to be inclusive of all children?
Useful resources to support your inclusion journey include:
Cologon, K. (Ed.)(2014). Inclusive Education in the Early Years: Right from the Start, Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Cologon, K. (2013). Inclusion in Education: towards equality for students with a disability Issues paper http://www.cyda.org.au/inclusion-in-education
Early Childhood Australia (ECA). (2016). Statement on the inclusion of every child in early childhood education and care. www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au
Early Childhood Australia (ECA), & Early Childhood Intervention Australia (ECIA). (2012). Position statement on the inclusion of children with disability in early childhood education and care. www.ecia.org.au
WeblinksThese are great as discussion starters about inclusion in your team meetings.
Disability Town www.youtube.com/watch?v=4liF-zuwGxE
An animated video about what it would be like if our society was created around disabled people.
‘I’m not your inspiration thank you very much’ Stella Young www.ted.com/talks/stella_young_i_m_not_your_inspiration_thank_you_very_much
Not Special Needs: World Down Syndrome Day Campaign www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNMJaXuFuWQ
Ask yourself: what “special needs” does a person with Down syndrome really have?
Team Meetings about InclusionExploring educators’ understanding about inclusion through whole team meetings can be a great way to plan together and develop common goals for inclusive practice. Team commitment and a team approach to inclusion have a direct impact on how inclusion works in your service. Inclusion Professionals have been facilitating many of these team meetings and educators have reported some real shifts in thinking and growth in understanding about inclusion.
Team Meeting at Little Beaver Preschool, ForsterUnpacking the true barriers to inclusion resonated with the team at Little Beaver Preschool. Facilitated by their Inclusion Professional, educators were able to consider the challenges they were experiencing in different ways by identifying barriers to inclusion that they felt were impacting on their program and practices. They engaged in small group discussions to unpack their thoughts and ideas and recorded these for sharing with the whole team. Amy, the Educational Leader, identified that it would take time for them to work through the strategies and solutions to address the barriers, but the team agreed that they had taken the first step in their refreshed inclusion journey.
Inclusion Professionals are available to facilitate meetings free of charge, and the content and structure of the meetings can be tailored to your team’s interests, needs and timeframes.
We hope to engage Dr Niland to facilitate some focus groups on inclusion later in the year. Contact your Inclusion Professional or call our toll-free number 1800 703 382 if you would like to participate in these forums.
June 2017 Page 6
Yarnin Circles Update
The Indigenous Cultural Hub has 14 Yarnin circles established across NSW, including two in the ACT. These Yarnin Circles include hundreds of ECEC Services and educators talking about what inclusion can look like in their educational environments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families and how they can continue to provide that inclusive service on an ongoing basis.
The Indigenous Cultural Hub is walking the walk around the state to ensure we yarn with as many services as we can to support their cultural inclusive practices. We are about taking away the fear of those who feel what they are doing can be tokenistic or disrespectful; we are about having real conversations about what cultural competency is. We are hoping to continue these conversations in more regions and hope educators will engage and walk with us.
Feedback from the Broken Hill Yarnin Circle:
‘Staff returned to services feeling positive and empowered.’
‘I truly believe that because of the Yarnin circle we had the most services attend the Early Years Discussion Group meeting for over a year. Thank you so much for your commitment and support. It is having a flow on affect in so many areas.’Lesley Harvey, Maari Ma Health, Aboriginal Corporation
June 2017 Page 7
Reconciliation
A large number of the NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency team were fortunate to attend the ECA Reconciliation Symposium held in May 2017. We returned with renewed commitment to reconciliation and to supporting services to embark or continue on their own journey of reconciliation.
Talking about Reconciliation with Children
Talk about Friendships, Harmony, Difference, Respect, Acceptance, Understanding.
Reflect on friends and family.
Questions that can promote thinking: What is a good relationship? What is respect? How do you feel when someone
disrespects you? What should we do?
Create a Reconciliation Action PlanNarragunnawali is an initiative from Reconciliation Australia which supports all schools and early learning services in Australia to develop environments that foster a higher level of knowledge and pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and contributions.
Narragunnawali (pronounced narra-gunna-wally) is a word from the language of the Ngunnawal people, Traditional Owners of the land on which Reconciliation Australia’s Canberra office is located, meaning alive, wellbeing, coming together and peace.
The Narragunnawali platform is free to access, and has a range of features – including an extensive suite of professional learning and curriculum resources – to support the development, implementation and management of Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs).
www.narragunnawali.org.au
Resources:The Narragunnawali website provides a range of curriculum resources for early learning settings www.narragunnawali.org.au/curriculum-resource
KU’s Innovate RAP was launched by the Minister for Early Childhood Education and Aboriginal Affairs, the Hon Lesley Williams MP and Caitlyn Maxwell from Reconciliation Australia in October 2016.
June 2017 Page 8
What is the NDIS?The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a new way for people with disabilities to get the care and support they need to live a better life, giving them choice and control over the supports they receive. It is the biggest change in Australian Government support since the introduction of Medicare. NDIS participants will have an individualised plan that is tailored to their goals and support needs.
NDIS Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) Approach (NSW/ACT)As the NDIS rolls out across NSW/ACT, a different approach is being implemented to provide early childhood intervention support for children aged 0-6 yrs. Families will link with Early Childhood Early Intervention Transition partners who will either provide short term early intervention supports to children or assist them to access the NDIS depending on their needs. If a child receives an NDIS plan, the family will then choose which early intervention provider, e.g. speech therapist, they want to provide support to their child and how these supports are provided.
The NSW ECEI partners list can be found at www.ndis.gov.au/ecei/NSWeceiproviders
In the ACT ‘EACH’ is the organisation that will provide ECEI support. Contact 1300 00 EACH
The impact of NDIS for Early Childhood Education and Care Services might include:
Changes to referral pathways for children.
An increase of requests for therapy and other supports to be conducted within ECCC services.
Expectations that therapy and other interventions are conducted in a withdrawal situation due to the rapid growth of the Early Childhood Intervention workforce.
Confusion for families and for educators about where NDIS and the service philosophy, policies and practices intersect.
Confusion and misunderstanding for families:
Expectations of what is provided in the early childhood service; for example, expecting that children can and will be withdrawn for therapy and other early intervention services.
Expectation of one to one support throughout the whole day that their children attend.
Concern that they are “wasting their money” if supports are conducted with other children.
Lack of understanding about the benefits of inclusion for their child and for other children.
Sometimes educators:
Believe that they have to do whatever parents ask them to do, without considering how that impacts on their philosophy and program.
Believe that therapists are the experts – even in their service environment.
Have a lack of understanding about or confidence in talking with families and therapists about inclusion.
What can educators do?
Recognise the knowledge and expertise they have about how children learn, their interests, play preferences and social connections with peers.
Build their skills in explaining to families and to other early intervention practitioners about their service philosophy and policies about inclusion and about how children learn.
Where possible, take the lead role in collaborating with other professionals who want to work with specific children within your service.
National Disability Insurance Scheme
June 2017 Page 9
Develop the confidence to determine how, when and if external early childhood intervention supports are provided in your service
Monitor the impact of the number of visitors and negotiate changes to visit schedules if necessary.
Early Childhood Intervention Australia (ECIA) NSW/ACT formed a working group of relevant stakeholders to develop a resource to support educators in ECCC services and early childhood intervention practitioners to work collaboratively to include children with developmental delay and disability.
The Working Together Agreement Package provides a way to initiate conversations and formalise the way intervention is provided in inclusive ECCC settings. This package can be used to support ECCCs, ECIs and families to collaboratively plan how their partnership will work.
Contents of the Working Together Agreement:
A wall poster with a diagram of the process (included as an insert in this newsletter)
The Agreement
How to use the Working Together Agreement
Definition of terms used across ECCC and ECI sectors
Shared practice standards and guidelines
Sample meeting agenda and letters which can readily be individualised
The Working Together Agreement was trialled in a range of ECCC services who found it to be an extremely useful tool to manage some of the challenges that have occurred for services. The Agreement is based on the ECIA’s ‘National Guidelines for Best Practice’ which were released in 2016.
Download the free Working Together Agreement package here: http://www.ecia-nsw.org.au/projects/working-together-agreement
A copy of the Working Together Agreement Poster is included as an insert in this edition of the newsletter. For more information about the resources, please contact your Inclusion Professional.
How can we find out more about the NDIS?
www.ndis.gov.au
www.ecia-nsw.org.au
Contact your local Inclusion Hub:Our Inclusion Professionals can support you to understand the changes and empower you to meet the challenges (details on the back page).
June 2017 Page 10
The NSW SW Inclusion Hub supports over 200 services that are spread over a large geographical area. To ensure we can visit each service face to face, our team plans ‘road trips’ to rural and regional areas.
During our last trip, we travelled over 1700km to visit two services in Buronga, a service in Balranald and then four hours across the notorious, dead flat “Hay Plains” to visit Hay Early Learning Centre.
Many of the services we visit are located in small rural or regional towns with populations of just over 1000 people. These services are often the only early childhood service in the town.
Their remoteness presents many challenges for educators including:
Limited opportunities for networking
Limited availability of face to face Professional Development opportunities
Difficulty recruiting qualified educators
How do we support services?Our visits are planned to provide services with the opportunity to talk about their inclusion journey, reflect on their current practice and identify possibilities for change. We offer opportunities to facilitate team meetings, and use this to bring more than one service together where possible. We think that it is important that our rural and remote services have the same opportunities for face to face visits as other more regional services so that their distance and isolation is not compounded by limited opportunities for support.
We also support educators to: Access webinars
Plan combined team meetings
Utilise their strengths and experience to mentor other educators
Reflect on changing environments to better reflect the local community
Facilitate access to Inclusion Support resources, such as Innovative solutions.
The Inclusion Agency is dedicated to ensuring all Australian Government Funded services have access to the support they require to implement quality inclusive practices. So please contact us if your service would like to arrange a visit and your service could be a part of our next road trip.
Supporting Rural and Remote Services
Road trip to Buronga, Balranald, Hay and Griffith.
“It can be challenging working in small rural towns, as we are isolated and don’t have access to a lot of support, so we value our visit from the Inclusion Professional as it allows us time to discuss and work together to reflect on our practices.”
– Balranald Early Learning Centre
June 2017 Page 11
Several of our Inclusion Hub teams have hosted ‘Make and Take’ sessions, where educators have had an opportunity to learn about using visual supports within their daily programme.
In most sessions, educators viewed a DVD titled ‘Using Visuals to Support Children’s Learning’ as part of the session, and also made a visual resource to take back to their service to use the next day with children.
Two Speech Pathologists attended the session at the Illawarra Inclusion Hub to share their experience and insight into using visuals to support children’s language development. Twenty-nine participants from a variety of service types attended the session in Corrimal.
Thirty-nine educators from Penrith City Council recently participated in a Make and Take session hosted by the Sydney Metro West Inclusion Hub.
A recent session hosted by the Sydney Metro North team included the team putting up a range of visuals in the car park, lift and around the office to illustrate how helpful visuals are even for adults.
Thirty-eight educators representing 28 services and three types (23 Long Day Cares, three Outside School Hours Cares and two Family Day Cares) participated in two ‘Make and Take’ sessions in the Sydney Metro South Inclusion Hub
Further opportunities to participate in ‘Make and Take’ sessions will be offered in different Inclusion Hubs across the State and Territory and will be advertised through e-newsletters and emails. If you are interested in having a session in your region, contact your local Inclusion Hub or call the toll-free number on: 1800 703 382
‘Make and Take’ Nights
Practical sessions for learning about how to make and use visual supports
Participant feedback
“This session increased our understanding of the importance of using visuals with all children, to help them with changes in routines, to participate throughout the day, to make choices and take turns. Great practical session, informative and helpful.”
“The session made us realise that our thinking and understanding about inclusion needs to be more flexible – something we are keen to further explore with our educator team.”
“I can’t wait to share these resources with my colleagues.”
“I feel confident to share my knowledge with other colleagues.”
“Visuals are good inclusive practice for all children.”
“I will definitely be using more visuals in our service.”
June 2017 Page 12
In the new Inclusion Support Programme there are four different types of funding available to assist services. Each stream has different eligibility criteria and application processes. A new and exciting addition is the ‘Inclusion Development Fund Innovative Solutions Support.’ This funding is to help you find a solution to the challenge of including children with additional needs where the needs are complex and employing an additional educator is not the best solution.
Services sometimes think that the term ‘additional needs’ refers only to children with a disability or undergoing assessment for disability. However, this is not the case. The programme is also to support services to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children; children from a culturally and linguistically diverse background; children from a refugee or humanitarian background; children with a serious medical condition; children presenting with language and speech delays; and those with disruptive behaviour.
Through an Innovative Solutions application, you and your Inclusion Professional consider your service’s challenges and actively explore a range of options that may offer a solution, which will enable you to implement quality inclusive practices that make a real difference.
The support can, but does not have to, relate to an individual child. It may be a project that you are wanting to implement that will support the inclusion of any of the cohorts of children with additional needs.
Examples of projects may include, but are not limited to:
1 Facilitating connections and relationships with the local community, with educators
aiming to increase their cultural competency to enable the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres trait Islander Children. Case study example:A number of Aboriginal children were accessing a service where the educators felt that they were lacking knowledge and confidence in regards to incorporating their culture and practices into the program. This impacted on their ability to effectively include the children and in making connections with local families and the community. An Innovative Solutions Application enabled the service to employ an Aboriginal Elder to build educator knowledge by
exploring Aboriginal culture through discussion and research. The learning was further enhanced through incorporating traditional activities including weaving, storytelling and art into the program. Throughout, the educators’ goal was to increase their own knowledge and capacity to include children of Aboriginal heritage and embed their culture into the program, making meaningful connections with the Aboriginal community and families who may or may not be accessing the service.
2 Provision of bicultural support
Case study example:A new child enrolled from China, who spoke and understood only Mandarin. This was the child’s first experience in an early childhood setting. The language barrier affected the child’s understanding of the routine, active participation and meaningful social interactions. The request for a Mandarin Bicultural support worker was both to assist the educators to develop language and communication supports to enhance the child’s engagement and by including meaningful cultural experiences. Further, educators would be able to communicate more effectively with parents regarding expectations, home routines and cultural practices.
3 Specialist advice and support to assist educators to include a particular child
or childrenCase study example:Educators of a 3-4 years care environment identified that several children were presenting with speech difficulties and delays. The support of a speech therapist was requested to assist speech development with the children, and to work in collaboration with the educators to implement a range of strategies and further increase their capacity to include these children, beyond the expertise of their IA. The speech therapist would enable educators to build and strengthen their skills, establish a program and develop resources around language development, which would support the overall inclusion of all children into the care environment.
The Inclusion Development FundInnovative Solutions
For more information about Innovative Solutions please talk to your Inclusion Professional or visit www.idfm.org.au
June 2017 Page 13
Valuing Diverse Cultures
Culture is the fundamental building block of identity and the development of a strong cultural identity is essential to children’s healthy sense of who they are and where they belong. (The Educators’ Guide to the EYLF p. 21) (DEEWR, 2010)
What is Culture? Everyone at your service was born into a culture. It is the traditions, beliefs, values, behaviour and language that are instilled in us from the time we enter the family unit. It is this culture that helps us communicate and understand the world around us. It shapes who we are and what we see as important. Our culture influences how we parent, how we understand children, how we help them grow up and how we teach them new skills. Belonging to a culture creates a sense of identity and community (Why culture matters for children’s development and wellbeing, Kids Matter).
Why Culture? The Early Years Learning Framework is based on the view of children’s lives as characterised by Belonging, Being and Becoming. Belonging is central to being and becoming in that it shapes who children are and who they can become (Belonging, Being and Becoming, 2009). Valuing that sense of belonging means educators need to acknowledge and respect each child’s culture. The culture from which the child comes may bring different ideas and attitudes towards child rearing practices, a child’s needs and how those needs are to be met in your care environment.
How can we value culture? Valuing other cultures is more than an awareness of cultural difference. It is the ability to understand, communicate with and effectively interact with people across cultures. It includes being aware of one’s own world view, developing positive attitudes towards
cultural differences, gaining knowledge of different cultural practices and world views and developing skills for communication and interaction across cultures (EYLFPLP e-newsletter No. 7 2011).
Food for Thought… What is your view of other cultures in Australia?
How does this view affect the relationships you have with children and families?
What cultures are present in your service? How do you reflect a genuine knowledge about the cultures of the children at your service?
Some services only think about Indigenous Cultural participation at times of identified celebration i.e. NAIDOC; Close the Gap Day; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day. How do you embed Indigenous culture into your daily program and practice?
What are some of the different child rearing practices evident within the families at your service? How do you embed these practices into your service practices?
Resources:
Why Culture matters for children’s development and wellbeing www.kidsmatter.edu.au
‘Building Belonging’ is a comprehensive toolkit of early education resources which includes an ebook, song with actions, educator guide, posters and lesson plans. It is focussed on encouraging respect for cultural diversity and tackling racial prejudice in early childhood settings. Available from the Australian Human Rights Commission: www.humanrights.gov.au
Ethnic Community Services Co-operative, through the Multicultural Children’s Services Program, have developed an extensive series of resources that promote respect for cultural diversity and inclusive practice in early childhood: www.ecsc.org.au. These include:
Survival Words in Children’s Services Booklet (and CD) covering over 65 languages
The Cultural Treasure Chest DVD: Examines ways that services can work with their CALD families to create an environment that is genuinely inclusive of a multicultural perspective.
Inclusion Professionals from Sydney Metro North Hub attending the Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai Multicultural Network Lunch for Refugee Week.
June 2017 Page 14
Voices and Visions
Michelle Hamilton, NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency Indigenous Cultural Hub Manager is a key contributor to Voices and Visions: Aboriginal early childhood education in Australia.
The book, launched by the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Aboriginal Affairs, the Hon. Leslie Williams MP in November 2016, contains contributions from Aboriginal women from all over Australia, and reflects the professional and personal stories of practitioners in Aboriginal early childhood education.
Stay Calm and Dance
In the 0-3 care environment at a Child Care Centre in Campbelltown, educators were finding it difficult to facilitate meaningful participation for a child with significant high physical support needs. Educators were spending a lot of time sitting next to the child to ensure her safety as she would be lying on the floor to engage in play.
To fully connect with the child, educators would lie on the floor to maintain eye contact and provide encouragement. This level of support impacted on the educator’s ability to support all children to engage in the early learning program. The director and room educators reached out to the Inclusion Support Programme to access specialist equipment that was recommended by the local Occupational Therapist who regularly visits the service. A standing frame was recommended so that the child could be at the same height level as her peers in order to participate in activities independently
In December 2016, the service received a Monkey Standing Frame for the child to use to support opportunities to engage with her peers in the care environment. Her face lit up and she was excited to be at the same height level as everyone else and was now seeing the care environment from an upright position.
By March 2017, the child had outgrown the Monkey Standing Frame and new equipment was delivered to cater for her changing social and emotional needs. Her view of the care environment and opportunities to engage with peers needed to be continued. The director commented that “The child is smiling, babbling and excited at being at the same level as everybody else”.
The educators in the care environment have increased their capacity to positively include children with physical support needs and promote inclusion throughout their service.
By accessing the Specialist Equipment Library via the Inclusion Support Programme, the director and other educators have made a significant impact supporting the child’s participation in the care environment curriculum, enabling her to be included alongside her typically developing peers and enjoy music and in particular dancing, which is one of her favourite experiences.
Specialist Equipment Library
The Inclusion Agency’s Specialist Equipment Library loans equipment to eligible early childhood and child care services free of charge. Please visit our website for more information at:http://www.inclusionagencynswact.org.au/specialist-equipment-libraryor contact your local Inclusion Hub team to discuss your needs.
June 2017 Page 15
Meet some of our Inclusion Agency TeamElisa Higgs- Inclusion Professional, Sydney South Inclusion HubWhat is your background? I have worked with young children and families in many roles since the late 90’s. I started with casual work in Vacation Care and home tutoring and then moved into working in Long Day Care. Most of my experience concentrates on the pre-school years. However I have worked with toddlers, and as a Director I would move between all care environments and found the babies room a welcoming place. I have worked as a casual teacher in the school system in Australia and in the UK where my experience was rich in exposure to cultures and various teaching styles as well as being able to support families who had a refugee background. I have volunteered in an Art Gallery to support preschool groups and worked as a Validator for the National Childcare Accreditation Council. Most recently I worked as a Key Worker in the Early Childhood Links Program. All of this history has led me to my current role as an Inclusion Professional, where I am constantly learning and gaining more insight into the possibilities of inclusion.
What does Inclusion mean to you?Inclusion is a word to help all of us realise that by making a choice to respect all, welcome all and understand all we are creating a community that includes everyone to their fullest potential. When this starts with young children and extends to the primary school years, we are raising children to be accepting, understanding, resourceful and flexible. Inclusion makes me question ‘what can the future look like?’
What is the best thing about being part of the Inclusion Agency?Team work. It is wonderful being a part of a team, at the Hub level, the organisational level and at the state level, where every person involved has unique experience and knowledge to contribute to our journey as an agency, in supporting services in their own inclusion journey.
What is one piece of advice you can give to educators?Reflect - when we stop and reflect on a situation in our working lives and consider options, what is or isn’t working and where to go to for further learning we can find a way forward in supporting children, their families and the wider community.
NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency 1800 number team
Here at the Inclusion Agency 1800 telephone response service and the central email help desk, we provide information and support to anyone who makes an enquiry about the Inclusion Support Programme. Every day we chat with or email eligible services, families and other community stakeholders about their inclusion support enquiry providing them with the relevant information.
We connect them to their local NSW/ACT Inclusion Hub and provide them with a direct link to additional supports available through the Specialist Equipment Library, Indigenous Cultural Hub and Inclusion Development Fund Manager.
Since the commencement of the Inclusion Support Programme in July 2016, over 1,200 phone calls and 1,100 emails have been responded to.
Can’t remember contact details of your Inclusion Professional? Just give us a call as we have the details at our finger tips!
Toll Free: 1800 703 382 or at [email protected]
Looking forward to helping you, Lucy (left) and Kate (right).
Inclusion is...WORKING AS A TEAM
How might this look?All educators develop inclusion goals and implement inclusion strategies. What might we see?Children are understood and have their needs met by all educators. Parents and children do not know who the additional educator is.
NSW/ACT Inclusion AgencyT 1800 703 382E [email protected]
Regional Inclusion HubsACTT 02 6188 6930
BathurstT 02 8571 9752
Coffs HarbourT 02 8571 9788
DubboT 02 8571 9755
Gosford WyongT 02 4340 5300
HunterT 02 4952 2788
Illawarra T 02 4283 9936
NSW South EastT 02 6188 6935
NSW South WestT 02 6926 5982
Port MacquarieT 02 8571 9767
Richmond TweedT 07 5524 8711
Sydney Metro North T 02 9498 8339
Sydney Metro SouthT 02 9717 5444
Sydney Metro WestT 02 4645 7400
Sydney SouthT 02 8578 8603
Contact Details
1 Coming of the Light Festival (Torres Strait Islander)2 NAIDOC Week 15 Asalha Puja Day (Buddhist)
© KU Children’s Services 2017 www.ku.com.au
7-9 Asia Pacific Autism Conference 2017 (Sydney) www.apac17.org.au12-14 SNAICC National Conference 2017 (Canberra) www.snaicc.org.au21 Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) 22 Al-Hijra/Muharram (Islamic New Year) 27-29 Early Start Conference 2017 (Wollongong) www.earlystart.uow.edu.au30 Yom Kippur (Jewish)
September
July
2-3 ACEL 2017 Early Childhood Conference (Brisbane) www.acel.org.au4 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Childrens Day9 International Day of the World’s Indigenous People15 Krishna Janmashtami (Hindu)
August
Dates for your Diary
4 Mid Autumn (Moon) Festival4 World Cerebral Palsy Day19 Diwali (Hindu)21-29 National Children’s Week 21 KU Annual Conference www.ku.com.au24 United Nations Day
October
3 International Day of People with Disabilities10 International Human Rights Day13-20 Hanukkah (Jewish)25 Christmas Day26 Boxing Day
December
The NSW/ACT Inclusion Agency team would love to meet you. We try to participate in all local inclusion related events. In addition, we will be presenting workshops and having information stalls at the following larger events. We hope to see you there.
NAIDOC Week – National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (Redfern, Sydney) – 7 July (info stall only)
SNAICC Conference (Canberra) 12-14 Sept
Early Start Conference (Wollongong) 27-29 Sept
KU Conference (Darling Harbour, Sydney) 21 Oct
KU Children’s Services
129 York Street Sydney NSW 2000Box Q132 QVB Post Office NSW 1230
T 02 9264 8366F 02 9267 6653ABN: 89 000 006 137ACN: 000 006 137
