Preschool Field Officer Program

Preschool Field Officer Program

Published by the
Communications Division
for Wellbeing Health and Engagement Division
Department of Education and
Training

Melbourne
December 2015

©State of Victoria (Department of Education
and Training) 2015

The copyright in this document is owned by the State of Victoria (Department of Education and Training), or in
the case of some materials, by third parties (third party materials). No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, the National Education Access Licence for Schools (NEALS) (see below) or with permission.

Authorised by the Department of Education
and Training,
2 Treasury Place, East Melbourne, Victoria, 3002.
ISBN This document is also available on the internet at
www.education.vic.gov.au

Contents continued

Introduction3

Preschool Field Officer Program3

Purpose of the Preschool Field Officer Guide4

Background5

Contemporary Frameworks for Children's Learning and Development 5

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion6

The PSFO Program8

Who is Eligible for the PSFO service?8

Who are Children with Additonal Needs?8

The PSFO Role8

Capacity Building Support to Kindergarten Educators 10

Working with Families11

The VEYLDF Principles and the PSFO Program12

Qualifications and Capabilities of the PSFO14

Monitoring15

References17

Introduction

The first years of life are crucial to lifelong learning, wellbeing and success – we are making Victoria the Education State by strengthening early childhood services for children and families.

With over 70,000 children attending Victorian Government funded kindergarten programs each year, Victoria has a strong and vibrant early childhood education system and is committed to supporting the personalised learning and development of all young children.

Kindergarten programs aim to engage each child in effective learning; promoting communication, learning, thinking, positive relationships, identity, health and wellbeing.

Engaging children in high quality programs and services benefits all children and their families and improves a child’s learning and development outcomes, emotional wellbeing, longer term educational and social outcomes and overall life experience.

Research shows that providing high quality early childhood services that support the diverse needs of children, extra support for families and appropriate early intervention are effective ways to break the cycle of disadvantage.

The Department of Education and Training (the Department) provides a range of policies, programs, supports and resources for early childhood education and care services to support the delivery of high quality kindergarten programs for the diverse needs of all children, including children with disabilities, developmental delays and additional needs.

The Preschool Field Officer (PSFO) program assists educators in funded kindergarten programs to plan and deliver a kindergarten program that provides for the access, learning and development, and meaningful participation of children with additional needs.

The PSFO program also assists kindergartens to link families into the range of available supports and services in relation to children with developmental concerns and broader child and family supports.

The PSFO program complements other universal and specialist services that are available to support children’s learning, development and wellbeing in the kindergarten program.

Preschool Field Officer Program

The PSFO program is a locally responsive approach to providing kindergarten services with practical advice, support and professional services to enhance service capacity to provide for the access and participation of children with additional needs. The PSFO’s role is to support early childhood teachers and educators to build their skills, knowledge and confidence to plan for and include all children.

Children with additional needs attending a Victorian state government funded kindergarten program are the target group for PSFO support.

The Department funds community service organisations and local councils to provide PSFO services across the state. The service utilises an outreach model, enabling the PSFO to provide services within the kindergarten program and environment.

There is no cost to the kindergarten program or families for the PSFO service and it is accessible within the universal service system.

Purpose of the Preschool Field Officer Guide

This guide has been developed for PSFO providers and the PSFOs they employ to support a consistent understanding and delivery of the PSFO program.

The guide alignsa contemporary framework tothe PSFO role andincorporates initiatives and research in the early childhood field. It complements the Specialist Children’s Services Standards (1998) and is underpinned by the practice principles and outcomes of the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF), the foundation for professional practice of all early childhood professionals, including PSFOs.

The document provides:

• PSFO service providers with information to support employment processes, ongoing professional development and service delivery
• A framework for the PSFO role
• Information regardingthe existing performance measures and data collection requirements.

Background

Contemporary Frameworks for Children’s Learning and Development

There have been significant changes to both State and Commonwealth children’s services in recent years through the introduction of both the National Quality Framework (NQF) and the VEYLDF. These frameworks guide early childhood education and care professionals in their work with young children, including children attending funded kindergarten programs.

The VEYLDF advances all children’s learning and development from birth to eight years by supporting all ECEC professionals to work together with families to achieve common outcomes for all children. The VEYLDF sets the highest expectations for every child and identifies eight practice principles to guide professionals and five early years learning and development outcomes for all children.

It also links directly with the NQFfor Early Childhood Education and Care services(ECEC).

The following overarching principles underpin the NQF:

• the rights and best interests of the child are paramount
• children are successful, competent and capable learners
• equity, inclusion and diversity underpin the framework
• Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are valued
• the role of parents and families is respected and supported
• best practice is expected in the provision of education and care services.

Both the VEYLDF and NQF raise and drive continuous improvement in the ECEC sector.

The PSFOprogram is delivered within the context of these frameworks.

Further information regarding these frameworks can be found via the following links:

http://www.acecqa.gov.au/national-quality-framework

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/childhood/providers/edcare/Pages/veyladf.aspx

In addition, the Revised ECIS Literature Review (2010) highlighted the current evidence base for understanding how young children learn and the importance of supporting the key environments where children spend their time (e.g. kindergarten program) so that these environments may be as supportive of children’s learning and development as possible.

Key themes that have emerged from recent research include:

• children’s development is shaped by the environments in which they live, and spend most of their time
• the importance of children’s social and physical environments for their ongoing learning and development
• the understanding that these environments need to be as fully supportive of children’s learning and development as possible
• the importance of relationships for children’s learning and development
• the pivotal role of the educator in optimising learning and development outcomes for children through intentional, sustained and shared interactions
• the understanding that an inclusive kindergarten fosters the development of a sense of belonging and respects individuality and diversity in order to promote all children’s learning, development and well-being
• thechanging role of specialist services from working solely with the child to building the capacity of key adults in the child’s life to support the child’s learning and development.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Over the past decades there has been a paradigm shift in the way disability and additional needs are conceptualised, involving a shift from a model of functional deficitto a model of disability that places it within a social context and recognises that attitudes and environments can constrain the functioning and participation of children with disabilities and additional needs as much as their impairments do. (Revised ECIS Literature Review (2010))

Successful inclusion in kindergarten programs recognises the diversity of all children and creates a contextwhere all children are valued and experience a sense of belonging and are encouraged to reach their full potential in all areas of development alongside their peers.

Equity means providing all people with the supports they require to make the most of their rights and opportunities. Equity in early childhood means supporting all children to participate fully in the learning and development opportunities within the kindergarten program.

Research indicates there are a range of strategies that addressthe identified barriers to inclusion and support successful inclusion. At the core of this in the early childhood setting are the attitudes and skills of the early childhood teacher and educator. The PSFO program supports the kindergarten team to develop the confidence to plan for and support the diversity of all children to engage in the kindergarten program.

The right to inclusive programs is articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities 2009 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

It is acknowledged that ‘inclusion’ in the broader context may include children of cultural and linguistic diversity and children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds as well as children with a disability. For the PSFO role, the target group -children with additional needsrefers to children with developmental concerns.

Consistent with these UN conventions the Australian Government expresses its commitment to inclusive education through the Disability Standards for Education 2005 which outline legal obligations for educational services under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. This legislation ensures the right of every child who experiences disability to education on the same basis as children without disabilities, including in kindergarten settings. This recognises that each child is different and that some children may require additional support to participate on the same basis. It also recognises that educators may need access to additional supports and resources to ensure they are able to provide a fully inclusive program.

Disability Standards for Education: A practical guide for individuals, families and communities is available via the website:http://resource.dse.theeducationinstitute.edu.au/

Under the legislation and policies outlined above it is importantthat PSFOs understand the obligations of service providers and early childhood teachers and educators, to children with additional needs and their families.

The PSFO program

Who is Eligible for the PSFO Service?

All Victorian state funded kindergarten programsare eligible to receive PSFO services to support the access and participation of children with additional needs in a kindergarten program. Funded kindergarten programs are provided in a variety of settings including children’s centres, long day care centres, community kindergartens, independent schools and a small number of government schools.

Parents of children in funded kindergarten programs who have concerns regarding their child’s development are encouraged to discuss these with their child’s kindergarten educator in the first instance. Where a parent directly contactsthe PSFO program, the PSFO will liaise with the relevant kindergarten educator to progressthereferral.

Who are Children with Additional Needs?

The PSFO Program defines children with additional needs as children in a funded kindergarten program presenting with developmental concerns. Developmental concerns may be associated with any area of a children’s development, from language delays or challenging behaviours through to children with multiple disabilities. Children must be attending or about to commence a funded kindergarten program for the kindergarten to receive PSFO support.

The target group is also inclusive of children in receipt of Early Start kindergarten funding who are attending a kindergarten program delivered by a degree qualified early childhood educator.

Please note that if a child’s development is already supported by an early childhood intervention service it is expected that the kindergarten educator will seek inclusion support from this provider, not the PSFO.

The PSFO Role

While the PSFO program can play an important role in supporting children with additional needs, the primary role of the PSFOis to engage with the early childhood educator, not to work one on onewith children. It is important that the PSFO program actively builds capacity in those early childhood educators directly working with children every day.

This capacity building approach of early childhood educators is also referred to as a ‘with and through others’ approach and recognises that those who are with the child the most will have a greater impact on the child’s development. It is important that the early childhood teachers and educators gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to embed learning and development opportunities that meet the diverse needs of all children within the program. This includes responding to children with additional needs and providing for their inclusion in the everyday learning opportunities, activities and routines.

Seen in this light, the overall aim of the PSFO program is to ensure that early childhood teachers and educators continually improve their capacity to provide young children who have additional needs with the experiences and opportunities that promote their learning and development, and enable them to participate meaningfully in the program. The PSFO program helps educators to build their confidence, knowledge and skills to provide an inclusive program that is responsive to the needs of all children.

As facilitators of change, the manner in which PSFOs engage the kindergarten team is as important as their knowledge of both child development and of appropriate strategies for supporting children’s additional needs. To assist educators to respond to the needs of children and their families, PSFO professionals should understand the factors that influence effective adult learning and build respectful collaborative partnerships that recognise and build on educators’ strengths.

Kindergarten programs aim to provide high quality inclusive and personalised learning and development programs that respect the diversity of all children and recognise the unique path that all children take in their learning and development. Early childhood educators recognise and address the barriers to children’s learning and participation. Educators may require support to identify areas and situations where focussed support or intervention is required to improve a child’s learning and development.

Capacity Building Support to Kindergarten Educators

Capacity building is provided through a range of strategies that assist the educator to plan and implement a program that is responsive to the learning and development needs of children with additional needs.

This approach supports educators to see themselves as having both the responsibility and capability to plan for all children in the kindergarten program and that it is not only ‘specialists’ with specialist skills who can support the learning and development of children with additional needs.

Support to educators may include:

provisionof information and resources, and identification of adaptations, strategies and experiences to inform programming for a child with additional needs

supportinga kindergarten educator’s identification of a child with additional needs through contributing to the assessment of the child’s capabilities as well as their learning and development needs

• supporting a kindergarten educator’s confidence and capacity to respond to a parent’s concerns regarding their child’s development

provisionof planning support that respects, acknowledges and complements the educator’s expertise in supporting children’s learning and development

coachingof an educator to assist with planning and implementation of an inclusive kindergarten program that supports a child with additional needs

buildingprofessional partnerships and collaborative relationships with kindergarten educators

modellingof specific skills, suggestions and strategies with educators

• assistance to an educator to embed child specific teaching and learning approaches and opportunities into the everyday kindergarten environment

identification of referral pathways and facilitation of linkages for families to the range of child and family supports, including more specialised assessment and services where indicated.

The role complements the range of supports provided by other specialist services and kindergarten supports including:

• case coordination for vulnerable children and families
• professional development of early childhood educators
• early childhood intervention services
• parenting and family support services
• quality and regulatory early childhood education and care supports
• kindergarten cluster management
• Kindergarten Inclusion Support Packages (KIS) program.

Working with Families

PSFOs recognise that families are the child’s first teacher, know their child and can provide important information regarding the child’s development. PSFOs can support educators to build a trusting and respectful relationship with families that enable educators to plan and provide for the ongoing learning and development of the child in the kindergarten program.

PSFOs can use a range of capacity building strategies that may include acting as role models for strength based conversationswith parents regarding their child’s development or acting as support for the educator as they lead conversations with families. Part of this work focusses on building the skills and confidence of the kindergarten educator to respect the family as decision maker for their child and support the educator to understand the range of services and supports available to enhance child and family functioning.