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Speaking notes for a workshop given by Pam Cahir at the 2008 Early Childhood Education Conference: 'Together we grow – Embracing the challenge.'
Acknowledgement of Country
Before I begin I wish to acknowledge the Wiradjuri people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which this meeting is taking place.
I also acknowledge elders past and present, and Aboriginal people here today.
In so doing, I acknowledge both ECA's and my own personal obligation to work towards the achievement of social justice, human rights and reconciliation with and for Australia's Indigenous peoples.
ECA does this at all meetings in recognition of the fact that each and every one of us is a beneficiary of the dispossession of Indigenous people that began in 1788.
It does so too as a reminder that in every situation ECA has an obligation to think about what this acknowledgement means for the work it is engaged in today. In short, what does this acknowledgement mean for the work we are going to do together today?
Acknowledgement of country must never become simply automatic (and thus token). It must be a signal for us all to reflect on what it means and how it impacts on our everyday work – and indeed, how I myself am going about my own work here today.
Breaking down the silos in early childhood
So how will this workshop unfold? My aim is that we should do something together.
I will begin by outlining what the lecture topic, 'Breaking down the silos in early childhood' caused me to think about. I will then comment on why I think this is a moment in time, a moment of opportunity when the boundaries of our silos can be moved and perhaps even eliminated when possible.
I will then ask for you to form small groups and:
- identify and describe silos you have seen or experienced in early childhood
- answer the question of who benefits from these silos, and who does not
- ask who is included, excluded and why
- think about whether there is something important about the silo that makes it useful; and ask questions such as ‘what does this silo protect?'
- think about how we can change or eliminate the boundaries of our silos so that we strengthen our capacity to do work for young children.
Finally, I will ask each of you to reflect on what the issues raised here today might mean for your own work – in particular, on how it affects the way you consider the traditional ownership and custodians of this land.
Introduction
I want to begin by suggesting that there are various kinds of silos. Some are created by those inside the silo, and some are created and sustained by those outside of the silo.
In my view, all silos are created and evolve as a result of particular contexts.
Historial silos
Some silos are historical – certainly the way we view and respond to our obligations relating to our nation's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has its genesis in our history.
Imagine how different it would have been if the respect for the culture and relationship to the land of Aboriginal people had been seen as defining the way the European settlement of Australia evolved.
The preschool/childcare or care/education silo has also been defined by our history.
Preschool was conceived as an educational experience, available on a sessional basis in a world where women were still mostly at home and seen as being responsible for children's growth and development. Also, it had a strong welfare element in its beginnings. Child care on the other hand evolved as a workforce strategy, and its aim was to relieve women of their childcare role.
In the past, the difference in qualification requirements for staff in preschool versus child care reflected and reinforced this separation. People working in preschools or kindergartens had to have a teaching qualification gained at teacher's college, or later from university. On the other hand, people working in child care were required to have only TAFE qualifications (NSW is the exception). This divide continues today.
Some silos are prescribed by fear – that others will take our place or that what we do is not valued or understood. In some ways, the early childhood teacher has been circumscribed by this sort of thinking.
Other silos are created by an interface between fear, lack of knowledge and lack of leadership and falsehoods. A QIAS system has given high quality ratings for services, when the conditions for quality do not exist. What would happen if we told parents the truth - that it is not possible to provide high quality care for children in a context where child–staff ratios, group sizes and a lack of teachers in leadership positions is endemic across the system. Many are fearful that if they tell parents the truth, there will be a mass exodus from services, and that if these conditions are required child care will be too expensive. Thus, fear and lack of leadership hold us in the same place – a generally poor-quality silo.
Indeed, I think fear and ignorance are at the heart of many silos. These qualities inevitably lead to prejudice and often mitigate against the openness which is fundamental to learning and change.
There are also theoretical silos, which include some people and actively exclude others. There is often a drive to find that a single theory has the capacity to explain everything. This has been divisive in our sector and has often resulted in an unwillingness to look at what other programs and approaches have to offer. According to Iram Siraj-Blatchford, we need to 'stand on the shoulders of our giants'. The literature review in Researching effective pedagogy in the early years (Siraj-Blatchford et. al, 2002) does this in a quite inspirational way.
Piaget does not exclude a response to the approach to teaching and learning which understand all learning in context and proposes an active role for teachers in supporting children's learning. Indeed, Piaget's theory of child development potentially makes a strong contribution to early childhood practice as it accounts simultaneously for learning and motivation. People such as Bandura (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2002) made important contributions to our belief in the value of modelling appropriate language behaviour and skills. Vygotsky's contribution, which acknowledges the social and cultural dimension of learning, accepted Piaget's theory regarding the growth of concepts but went beyond it by situating learning in a socio-cultural context (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2002).
Other silos are created by being certain we are right. For us too, openness to new ideas and reflection are essential to learning. The capacity and discipline of trying to see things from other perspectives is an important way to avoid limitations to our learning that result from being ‘certain'.
One silo that I think is crucial to challenge is the early childhood sector's unwillingness to talk and commit to the importance of planning for cognitive growth as well as social and emotional outcomes in our services.
Other silos are created by the language we use – sometimes simply by the assumption that a particular word has the same meaning for everyone. For example, the word preschool in the UK describes settings and programs for children up to age five. For us here in Australia, it has traditionally described a particular type of program for children aged between three and five years of age. As a result, many people reading the EPPE report have used it to reinforce their own particular view of preschools.
This list is only the beginning, but I think that it illustrates the presence of silos.
My own view is that silos are always defined, caused and maintained by a complex set of conditions and reasons – but in almost all cases it is worth asking who benefits and who does not from these imposed or self-imposed exclusions.
My question to myself now is, 'What is necessary to enable us to rethink the imposed or self-imposed boundaries implied by silos?'
As I thought this, I heard the voice of two wonderful early childhood teachers – Karen Martin, a Noonuccal woman from Minjerripah (North Stradbroke Island) and Judy Radich, a director of a community-based long day care centre in Tweed Heads. Both have said to me in different ways that teaching and learning takes place in context, and that you ignore this at the expense of children's learning.
A new context for altering the boundaries of our silos
I think we are at a moment in time when the stars have realigned to provide opportunities to make real progress for children. So what has changed?
- The apology by the Prime Minister on behalf of the nation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, for the consequences of their dispossession.
- The genuine acknowledgement of the traditional owners of this country by the Australian government led by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and senior members of government departments.
- The commitment to bridge the gap between life expectancies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders versus non-Indigenous Australians.
This is a very new context in which to work with children, and it is a change that we cannot ignore as early childhood educators.
The current context is also being shaped by the genuine and informed commitment of this Government to early childhood, though I have heard this criticised by some as a productivity agenda, which values children for what they will become not for what they are.
Such comments illustrate clearly that one of the ways we maintain our silos is to not allow others in, unless they articulate arguments in our terms. I really want to say 'get over it'. We need to focus on the possibilities, not deny them. This is an opportunity which we may not have again. We should grasp it with both hands and make sure it delivers the most that it can for young children.
The context now for early childhood is enriched by the optimism and affirmation of the work of early childhood practitioners, generated by research which demonstrates that high quality early childhood experiences will result in good outcomes for children.
Today you have heard from Iram Siraj-Blatchford about the EPPE research including the research into effective pedagogy in the early years.
That research not only demonstrates that high quality preschool experience has strong outcomes for young children, it also sets out the essential characteristics of high quality programs which deliver good outcomes for children.
Good outcomes are associated with early childhood programs where qualified early childhood teachers are leaders of services and programs. I need to qualify this for the multi-service parent-child centres – where the leadership will, in my view, need to be provided by a multidisciplinary team which includes an early childhood teacher responsible for the preschool service.
Good outcomes are also associated with early childhood programs where:
- children are seen as capable, and there is a balance between child-initiated and teacher-directed activity
- care and education are integrated across the long day (to meet parent needs)
- children's learning is tracked systematically and the planning for what happens next is based on this
- social/emotional and cognitive learning go hand-in-hand have the best outcomes
- there is ongoing, sustained shared thinking between children, and teachers, and children – including where children are supported to talk through problems. This is challenging because the research tells us that our practice is often more described by directions to children about what to do and what not to do than conversations with them.
- teachers and other staff engage with families about what their children are learning and what they are doing and might do together to support this learning (evidence suggests that this increases parental aspirations for their children's learning, which is very important)
- there is a focus on outcomes – children's dispositions and metacognition as well as literacy and numeracy. This is really hard for early childhood practitioners where traditionally the focus has been on learning dispositions and social and emotional learning. Changing this may mean rethinking the silo which describes our professional practice.
There is also other research on the importance of culturally valued knowledge (Hedges & Cullen, 2005).
Culturally valued knowledge is of two kinds
The first is knowledge valued within children's communities. Karen Martin, who I mentioned recently, says that for many Aboriginal communities the valued knowledge children must have is the knowledge of who they are and where they come from.
The other culturally valued knowledge to which children are entitled is knowledge which underwrites their participation in the economic, political and social life of mainstream society.
Children need culturally-valued knowledge if they are to participate effectively in their communities, and in mainstream society. There is also research suggesting that 'teachers who are confident about their subject knowledge are more likely to recognise and maximise potential learning in children's play activities' (Hedges & Cullen, 2005). In addition, we cannot ignore the findings of many studies that social/emotional growth and cognitive learning are greatest when these two go hand in hand (Sammons, 2002; Galinsky, 2006).
This is a real challenge to the silo created by many early childhood practitioners: an unwillingness to acknowledge the need for subject knowledge – about how children's literacy and mathematical competence develops. Alongside this is an unwillingness to be explicit about cognitive outcomes, the progress being made toward these outcomes and discussion with parents.
Finally, within the current context, there is the real prospect for workforce reform in early childhood services.
The government's agenda recognises the need for a qualified early childhood workforce led by four-year-qualified early childhood teachers.
A real professional career structure, salary increases and pay parity with teachers in primary schools is in prospect.
The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), which represents childcare workers, has committed to pursuing a workforce reform package which includes pay parity for teachers working in child care; systematic progress toward a career structure within the sector which includes supporting existing childcare workers to upgrade their qualifications; and recognition of the need for improved salaries for all workers. ECA is partnering with the LHMU in this work.
All of this will truly challenge the education and care silo, and it must.
It will challenge the way teachers and other members of the workforce are prepared for their work with children.
It will also challenge us to be more explicit about what children – all children – are entitled to know, do and be.
Importantly, it will challenge us to make visible what we think teachers need to know, be and do to work well to achieve this for all children.
The world is not simple and neither are our silos, but thinking about boundaries imposed by ourselves and others will be central to realising the potential offered by the current context.
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I remember the first art exhibition I ever went to. It was an exhibition of Rodin sculptures. I was lucky because the person who owned the gallery came over and said, 'You will enjoy it better if you look at them from all sides'. I was amazed at how looking at them from different perspectives changed what I saw.
This is something to remember when considering silos, I think.
References
Hedges, H., & Cullen, J. (2005). Subject knowledge in early childhood – Curriculum and pedagogy: Beliefs and practices. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 6(1), 66-79.
Galinsky, E. (2006). The economic benefits of high-quality early childhood programs: What makes the difference? Washington, DC. Retrieved 6 February 2008, www.ced.org/docs/report/report_prek_galinsky.pdf
Siraj-Blatchford, I., Sylva, K., Muttock, S., Gilden, R., & Bell, D. (2002). Researching effective pedagogy in the early years. London: Department for Education and Skills.
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