Establishment and Running of early Childhood Services - Term Paper Example

EARLY CHILDHOOD SERVICE (INSERT YOUR NAME HERE) (INSERT NAME OF YOUR UNIVERSITY HERE) Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1.0.Introduction 3 2.0.Rationale 4 3.0.Logistical Information 4 4.0.Management Areas 5 4.1.Conflict Resolution 5 4.2.Staff Recruitment 6 4.3.Staff Rosters 8 4.4.Meeting Procedure 9 4.5.Teamwork 10 4.6.Ethics 11 4.7.Policies 12 4.8.Bullying 13 5.0.Conclusion 13 References 14 1.0. Introduction Early childhood experts and professionals agree that quality is critical when it comes to establishment of early childhood services in Australia. This is the same expectation from management committees supporting or sponsoring the service. At the moment, quality standards across early childhood services vary across New South Wales and there has been limited information available that can help families decide the best service for their children. It is at this point that New South Wales Department of Education and Communities becomes significant. While this department ensures quality, there are other stakeholders such as local council that need comprehensive reports detailing the operation of the service. Based on these requirements, there has been a need for occasional report to management committees on an existing or newly established early childhood services. This report is one of such and critically analyses a newly established early childhood service. In so doing, it presents the rationale and logistical information regarding the service. This report has also identified the following management areas for analysis; Conflict Resolution Ethics Meeting Procedure Policies Staff Recruitment Staff Rosters Bullying and Teamwork 2.0. Rationale The basis of this report is to detail activities and management areas the established service will deal with. Furthermore, it will provide fundamental frameworks on how the service will be undertaken. Key objective for this report is to ensure that funding and governance bodies recognise the importance of providing holistic services that integrate children and families within the chosen area of occupation. Another objective behind this report is to create awareness about the fact that New South Wales has began recognising the significance of embedding services for young children into holistic community capacity-building programmes. This report will also give local management committee and local council with an insight regarding the progress of the services. Lastly, the objectives will be achieved by first fulfilling general philosophy of the center which is to ensure quality standards of education and focus on building trusting relationships between centre staff, parents and children in order to tailor services that best meet specific needs. The fulfillment of the objectives and philosophy of the center will be conducted in accordance with the laid down policies such as NSW Department of Education and Communities, National Quality Framework, Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority and National Quality Standard. 3.0. Logistical Information It should be noted that this is a new early childhood service and decisions to be made regarding time, dates, number and group sizes is embedded on this fact. To begin with, the service has decided to operate from 8:30 am to 4pm for the convenience of the parents and children. Chapter 4 part 4.2 division 6 of Education and Care Services National Regulations explains about collection of children from premises and excursion. Basing on this, the time was also chosen to ensure that it is safe for children to leave or be collected from the premise. Dates of operation were suggested to be Monday to Friday with weekends set aside for the children to engage in other activities such as play. Just like the decision on time, dates of operation was based on chapter 4 part 4.2 division 1 where awareness of child protection law recognises the need for play. Lastly, group size chosen was 36 and this was also based on the resources available at the center. Also considered were the requirements of other licensing body regarding space, equipment, security, resources among others. Furthermore, the chosen size was based on part 4.3 of chapter 4 which details on physical environment and division 5 of the same chapter that detail on requirement for educators who are early childhood teachers. 4.0. Management Areas This report has indentified the above listed areas of management that the service intends to discuss. 4.1. Conflict Resolution This center recognises conflict as a serious issue that needs to be resolved rationally and effectively. Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (2013) recognises benefits of conflict resolution and that part of taking conflict positive is to acknowledge that parties involved in it benefit from the process. However, there come situations where there are differing perspectives in a workplace and the environment of openness and learning is inhibited---solution now is to address the conflict early. The first approach that will be used to resolve arising conflicts is the understanding of interest based problems. As suggested by Barbour (2010), there will be a need to respect individual differences but at the same time helping them avoid becoming too concerned or entrenched in a fixed position. Into the bargain, as far as possible, the resolution process will ensure that parties involved in the conflict are treated calmly and that there is building of mutual respect. Barbour also recognises the need to keep people and problems separate in the process of resolving conflicts involving teacher-learner or teacher-parent. This will be done by recognising the fact that in many cases, the other person is not just ‘problematic.’ That is, real and tangible differences can lie behind conflictive positions. In this case, the center will endeavor to separate real problems from the person so that real issues can be debated without injuring working relationships. Another option for conflict resolution follows the suggestion made by NSW Department of Education and Communities (2012). The communities explain that accommodation is the best way of resolving issues that tend to damage general practices and objectives of the organisation. With accommodation, the center will strive to meet specific complains and issues raised by every person involved in the conflict. The method will be applied especially when there is an issue that matters more to the party and peace is on the other hand more valuable than winning. 4.2. Staff Recruitment Ensuring that an organisation is well staffed is arguably not an easy task. Jones and Wade (2003) as cited in Rowland (2012) recognise this difficulty and give detailed analysis on fundamental issues that should be considered to ensure an organisation not only has the required talent but individuals who conforms to specific objectives of the organisation. Jones and Wade explain that the process of staff recruitment should start with thorough planning and end with redundancies, resignation or dismissal. Brief description of their dichotomy is as shown below; Beginning with planning, Jones and Wade (2005) recognise that staff salaries accounts for about 85% of the total budget an organisation incurs. Therefore careful recruitment will ensure that salaries spend on staff add values to the organisation. Another aspect that will be under consideration is proper planning of skills that will ensure future goals of an organisation are well taken care of. As a director, it is also necessary to develop job description as part of management responsibilities. Jones and Wade (2005, p. 95) give clear description on what mangers need to follow to ensure there is clear job description. For instance, when planning for staff recruitment, Jones and Wade add that there is need to look for candidates who really exist. And by this they meant the organisation should set targets that can easily be met by candidates and such targets should also reflect philosophies and missions of the organisation. Wehmeyer et al. (2012) recognise that though staff recruitment can be difficult task, when well planned, the process provides an organisation with ability to respond to economic and environmental pressure to change. However, they advise that management teams ought to specify recruitment and selection objectives. Based on this, the center will recognise the need for the number and kind of staff to attract to positions. To concretise these statements, quality area 4 of Education and Care Services National Regulations recognises the need for creation of a safe and predictable environment for the children through staff recruitment. It will therefore agitate for qualified and experienced educators and staff who can encourage active engagement of students in the learning programme. 4.3. Staff Rosters The center recongnises that staff rosters are linked to human resource management and the total expenditures made. Owing to this challenge, staff rosters will be done in accordance with the requirements of Education and Care Services National Regulations as well as other literature materials reviewed. According to this regulation, division 9 recognises the need for Staff and educator records for centre-based services. Subsection 145 (1) states, “The approved provider of a centre-based service must ensure that a staff record is kept for that service in accordance with this Division.” In addition to this guideline, this center will carry out daily surveys to ascertain the number of children that are in attendance at the end of the day. This will give clear reflection on the number of staff the center will require at a given point. For instance, if by average, less than half the population will be available by 8:30am, the center will have to reduce the number of teachers assigned to handle these children. And on the other hand, assign more teachers as part timers to cover the time lost during morning sessions. Furthermore, the provisions in the staff roster will be arranged in accordance with division 3, subdivision 1 that details educator to child ratios with children aged 15 months to 24 months. According to the subdivision, this center will ensure that educator to child ratio for the service for children aged 15 to 24 months be 1:5 respectively. In addition to this, there is a need for drawing up rosters. First, it will begin by drawing up drafts that should be shared and approved by other educators. Doing this will ensure that interests and concerns for all members are captured and resolved. Sharing drafts with other educators ensure cooperation from them and they will be in a position to understand the constraints under which the rosters have been designed. 4.4. Meeting Procedure Establishment of new centers requires constant monitoring and consultation. This can be done when there is clear strategy outlining meeting procedures. Besides, as director, there will be need to have run and attend to a range of meetings. Hughes and MacNaughton (1999) as cited in Wehmeyer et al. (2012) advise that planning or attending meetings needs proper procedure so that the outcome not only benefits the organisation but the persona and productivity of staff members. This center will also review other scholarly materials with an aim of establishing benefits of well planned meeting procedures. Based on this fundamental basis, meeting procedures for the center will have the following frameworks: First, to accommodate chapter 4 of Education and Care Services National Regulations —operational requirements, the first step of meeting procedure will be the circulation of agenda and necessary materials before the meeting. The materials circulated will have space where members will be given opportunity to add or amend other agendas that have not been captured in the circulated copy. This will ensure the meeting is relevant to other members attending the meeting. However, as a leader, the meeting will be focused and members will not be allowed to wander off topic. Going by the suggestions made Wehmeyer et al. (2012), the meeting will ensure that no any other business allowed other than the agendas earlier communicated. This is to ensure that unrelated topics that waste time are not covered. For the meetings to be effective, someone will always be identified as a referee. This is to ensure the meeting is kept on track and everyone is the agenda. Also to be considered during a scheduled meeting is that the room layout is perfect. The center will ensure the room layout does not encourage hierarchy sitting. The center will therefore assume a U-shape arrangement with the facilitator at gap in the U. Timing is another important factor that meeting procedure will employ. The meetings will be scheduled in a manner that encourages punctuality. Lastly, the meeting will take consideration of minute taking. That is, the meeting will be taking note on what has been discussed and agreed on. 4.5. Teamwork Robbins et al. (2006) as cited in Economics (2009) recognise the importance of mangers to understand both individual and group behaviors through team work. The potential success of an organisation depends on how best people within an organisation are groomed to work together as a team. This center therefore has comprehensive strategies of ensuring that teamwork. The center will consider professional networks as a way of bringing different talents together. According to the nature and geographical location of the facility, it has been considered difficult for people to frequently meet and discuss issues, share ideas, and built leadership capacities. Therefore the service will be working on ways of building and maintaining professional networks that will assist the entire facility and the needed support to teachers, students and other leaders. The facility will be aiming at matching project tasks with qualified resources so as to ensure there is cohesion among people grouped to work together. By allocating resources across all areas, work will be done effectively and at low costs. To achieve this, experienced workers will be tasked with the production of comprehensive plan that outline the job to be done. This plan will be shared with other members after which they will be allowed to work together. Robbins et al. (2006) also highlight that creation of professional networks and matching of project tasks with qualified resources ensures there is generation of more complete information and knowledge among workers. 4.6. Ethics Ethics is arguably a fundamental issue that managers and leaders should ensure in their areas of control. Robbins et al, (2006) argue that it is the responsibility of managers to ensure that they provide ethical leadership that reflects goals and aspirations of the organisation. On the other hand, Barbour (2010) adds that junior employees learn from the leaders and the discussion they have about the organisation depends on ethical leadership shown. On the other hand, Quality area 4 standard 4.2 of Education and Care Services National Regulations also requires that educators, co-ordinators and staff members be respectful and ethical. This center will build on the above frameworks and implement the following; Based on the nature and size of the center, it will be necessary for teachers and other leaders to inculcate the culture of sharing their values. That is, ensuring there is regular communication between learners, staff and leaders so as to uphold ethics and values of the organisation. Another method that will be used to uphold ethical standards of the organistion are what Robbins et al. (2006) suggest as, “using the reward systems to hold everyone accountable to the values…" (p.189) Just like it has been argued by contemporary commentators (Wehmeyer et al. 2012); ethics will be upheld by developing philosophies and policies that will be followed. This will also stipulates procedures to be followed when such policies and organisational philosophies are not adhered to or in the event there is a dilemma. 4.7. Policies Policies are fundamental issues that should be made available for the smooth and transitional operation of an organisation. Part 4.7, division 2 of Education and Care Services National Regulations recognises the need for policies and explains, “The approved provider of an education and care service must ensure that the service has in place policies and procedures in relation to the matters set out in sub-regulation 2” Policies must be matured for a given period of time with a clear strategic course so as to define center’s posture and response in handling specific business processes. Some of the ways of doing this will be to build basic leverage control structure or framework that covers security, guidance for IT services among other frameworks. This will be sanctioned by the director and or executive management but will have to define approach and philosophy of a given aspect of the center. The other method of establishing and handling policies in the institutions will be to align and report on compliance state of the established ethics so as to set goals that influence behaviors and guide workers through business decisions. Another way the organisation deals with policies is to ensure that culture and aspirations are streamlined to 'cut to the chase.' That is, awareness must translate to true teaching and testing of gained knowledge. 4.8. Bullying Bullying is an aspect that occurs in a working environment that if not well tamed, its consequences may be detrimental. This work place behavior needs proper strategy that can help mitigate its effects. One basic way of averting this behavior is to ensure that culture of the center is inculcated and that people behave in accordance with set standards and policies. It will be the responsibility of the managers and top officials to ensure that behaviors such as bullying is not tolerated and those found bullying are punished according with ethical standards set. The organisation also recognises that sometimes disagreement can be confused for bullying. In such instances, disagreements will be used as a source for new thinking so as not to be taken as a bully. Another way that will be used to mitigate bullying is to open forums where people feel comfortable expressing their ideas and questions but at the same time managers control instances of horizontal violence. According to Griffin (2004), these forums help teachers liberate the oppressed members besides helping them see that they too have the capability of stopping other people bullying or oppressing them. 5.0. Conclusion Establishment and running of early childhood services needs clear strategy that ensures objectives of the management committee and sponsors are well met. In as much, compliance with regulatory bodies is also a key issue for the running of such services. While these have been well taken care of, this report has discussed eight areas of management that will help management committee have clear insight regarding the center. However, this report recognises that there are other management areas that have not been covered. For instance, there need to be detailed analysis on budgeting and issues the organisation will consider while budgeting. The report did not capture newsletter which is also important for management committee and general performance of the center. Based on this significance, the management areas that have not been covered will be succinctly elaborated in the future reports. References Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, (2013). Student Diversity and the Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from http://foi.deewr.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/portfolio_budget_statements_201112_australian_curriculum_assessment_and_reporting_authority.pdf Barbour, M. (2010). How the world’s best-performing school systems come out on top: McKinsey report. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/locations/ukireland/publications/pdf/Education_report.pdf Economics (2009), ‘An economic analysis of the proposed ECEC National Quality Agenda’. Available online: http://www.coag.gov.au/coag_meeting_outcomes/2009-0702/docs/National_Quality_Agenda.pdf NSW Department of Education and Communities (2012). NSW Curriculum and Learning Innovation Centre, Policy Support website. Retrieved from http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/policies/gats/support/index.htm The Daily Telegraph Australia, (2013). Retrieved from http://article.wn.com/view/2013/04/13/Julia_Gillard_pledges_14b_school_funds_boost_while_cutting_2/#/related_news Rowland, C., (2012). Communication Matrix for Parents and Professionals, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland. Wehmeyer, M., Shogren, K., Palmer, S., Williams-Diehm, K., Little, T. & Boulton, A., (2012). ‘The impact of the self-determination learning model of instruction on student self determination’, Exceptional Children, vol. 78, pp.135–53. Read More