“It’s our polite nudge in the ribs to help you and your team stay organised and on task.”
This week’s subject is Educator Handbook.
Element 4.2.2: Professional standards guide practice, interactions and relationships.
Have you recently revisited your Educator Handbook to confirm it aligns with your Service’s evolving practices, goals, policies and procedures and philosophy whilst ensuring its currency with all regulatory updates?
A service’s educator handbook is a key document that forms part of the induction process for new staff, educators and volunteers. It should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it reflects any recent updates made to policies, procedures, philosophy, routines, practices and regulatory changes.
Maintaining an up-to-date staff handbook is crucial for new and existing educators at the service as it serves as a comprehensive guide to navigate their roles effectively. A current handbook ensures that new staff are well-informed about the service’s policies, procedures, and expectations, fostering consistency in practice and alignment with the Service’s philosophy, goals and culture. It provides clarity on critical aspects such as workplace procedures, high quality practice, educational and professional standards, and compliance requirements, reducing confusion and enhancing confidence in their responsibilities. By reflecting the latest practices and values, an updated handbook supports new educators in integrating into the team, promoting a cohesive and professional environment dedicated to delivering high-quality education and care and fostering continual improvement.
Information to include in your educator handbook:
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- Service introduction, information and licensing details
- Service management structure
- Daily/session routine/s
- Service philosophy and goals
- Information on the National Quality Framework: NQS, Education and Care Services National: Law and Regulations
- Approved learning frameworks; Belonging, Being & Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF)V2.0, My Time, Our Place: Framework for School Age Care in Australia (FSAC)V2.0, Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF)
- Confidentiality
- Code of conduct/ ECA Code of ethics
- Position descriptions (if not provided separately)
- Staff responsibilities and expectations regarding; professional development, appraisals, determining the responsible person, staff meetings, dress codes and grooming, staff roster, timesheets, procedure for calling in sick, personal mobile phones and compliance
- Staff conduct
- Staff immunisation
- Equal employment opportunity
- Employment conditions, staff wages and payroll procedure
- Information about programming and the cycle of planning
- Human resource matters
- Information about, copies of or access to relevant policies/procedures including:
- child protection and child-safe environment policies
- anti-bias policy
- delivery and collection of children policy
- refusal of authorisations policy/procedure
- medication authorisation and administration
- incident, injury, illness, trauma policy
- staff code of conduct
- social media policy
- staff immunisation policy
- smoke/vape-free environment
- alcohol and illegal substances
- com policy
- asthma and anaphylaxis management
- supervision policy and information on effective supervision
- sun smart policy
- nutrition and food safety
- privacy and confidentiality
- student and volunteers
- work, health and safety
- behaviour guidance policy
- emergency procedures
- working with children and police checks
- grievance procedures
- complaints procedures
Ensure that you allocate time for new educators to review the handbook and sign to acknowledge that they have read and understood its contents. It’s recommended that Services also ensure that all existing employees are provided with the current/updated version of the educator handbook with highlighted changes and updates. Have existing staff review the updated handbook and sign the acknowledgement form. File the updated acknowledgement form in the staff member’s employee file/folder. Ensure you also update your service’s “Student and Volunteer handbook”.
Code of Conduct:
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- The Code of Conduct must be reviewed and signed by new employees during induction and orientation to the Service
- Every twelve months, ensure all employees within the service provide a written declaration that they have read and understand the principles of the Code and agree to comply and implement this document
- Written declarations should be kept within each staff member’s individual file/folder
- Staff should be made aware of any potential disciplinary action that may result, in failure to comply with the Code of Conduct- ranging from a first warning to the termination of employment and /or legal proceedings
- Promote regular debate, discussion and opportunities for educators and staff to engage with the guiding principles underpinning the Code of Conduct.
Resources:
Guide to the NQF- Element 4.2.2
NQF eLearning modules: for educators new to the education and care sector and existing staff, to support their understanding of their roles within the sector.
Standard 4.2 Professionalism – Case study 1
Within System7 go to Quality Area 4/Module 12 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 professional standards. These include a Staff Handbook Template, Position Descriptions, Student and Volunteer Handbook, New Employee Induction Checklist, Code of Conduct Policy and much more.
Resources, NQS Element, Regulation and System7 links:
Childcare Centre Desktop – Childcare Centre Desktop
National Quality Standard – QA 4/ 4.2.2- Professional standards
National Regulations – 168
System7 Module – QA 4/Module 12
If you have any questions, send us a note via the Contact page here!
