“It’s our polite nudge in the ribs to help you and your team stay organised and on task.”
This week’s subject is: Critical reflection.
Element 1.3.2: Critical reflection on children’s learning and development, both as individuals and in groups, drives program planning and implementation.
Is your service committed to fostering a culture of ongoing critical reflection and maintaining documentation of these reflective practices?
Critical reflection is fundamental to ensuring continual improvement and high-quality educational programs in ECEC services. By engaging in purposeful and ongoing critical reflection, educators analyse observations, question and challenge assumptions, and evaluate the effectiveness of their practices to better support each child’s wellbeing, learning, and development. This reflective process fosters a culture of continuous improvement, enabling educators to adapt programs to meet diverse needs, incorporate family and community perspectives, and align with approved learning frameworks. Ensuring ongoing, meaningful critical reflection strengthens program quality, enhances outcomes for children, and ensures responsive, child-centred practices.
Ensure you maintain evidence of ongoing reflective practice and critical reflection that assess all aspects of events and experiences from different perspectives, with a focus on implications for equity, inclusion and diversity . Examples of documentation could include:
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- Staff meeting minutes- ensure you include discussions from meetings where educators reflect on practice to drive improvement
- Educational Leader documentation demonstrating support and guidance for educators to engage in reflective practice through coaching or mentoring
- Educator diaries or journals
- Educator communication books
- Documented conversations between educators
- Digital records, i.e. team reflection chat groups
- Voice memos- these can be recorded in the app on an iPad or other device
- Voice recordings transcribed- these can be recorded as talk to text on an iPad or iPhone and saved in “notes”.
Educational leaders support educators to examine their practice and consider questions such as:
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- What do we do to critically reflect on and evaluate in the program, how is this documented and how are our evaluations used to make informed curriculum decisions to improve outcomes for children?
- How do we consistently use critical reflection when discussing programs with colleagues?
- How do we critically reflect on all aspects of pedagogical practice so that quality improvements occur?
- How do we currently examine our practices and decision-making, and identify improvements as well as successes?
- What strategies do we use to demonstrate that we value diversity and work to ensure all children have opportunities to fully participate in the program?
- Have we considered which children may be advantaged and whether any child is disadvantaged?
- How do we use the approved learning framework/s to help us reflect?
- How are we creating opportunities for conversations, debates, and collaborative inquiries as a team, ensuring that all voices are heard and responded to with respect?
- What questions do I have about my work? What am I challenged by? What am I curious about? What am I confronted by?
Resources:
Developing a culture of learning through reflective practice
Documenting and reflecting for children’s learning
Educational program documentation for approved providers-Early Childhood, School Age Care
Educational program documentation for educators and teachers
We Hear You blog- The journey towards critical reflection, Understanding critical reflection,
Documentation- What, why and how
Guide to the NQF: Element 1.3.2: Critical Reflection
Videos: Documenting and reflecting, Critical Reflection in Practice
Within System7 go to Quality Area 1/ Module 8 to submit self-assessment notes and if required, open a QIP issue if you identify any areas of improvement.
The Childcare Centre Desktop has a range of resources to assist services with critical reflection and assessment and planning. These include Educational Program Policy, Educational Program and Practice Procedure, Assessment of Learning Summary, Program Template, Critical Reflection Template and much more.
Resources, NQS Element, Regulation and System7 links:
Childcare Centre Desktop – Childcare Centre Desktop
National Quality Standard – QA 1/ 1.3.2: Critical reflection
National Regulations – 73, 74, 155, 156, 254
System7 Module – QA 1/ Module 8
If you have any questions, send us a note via the Contact page here!
