|
Child Care Inclusion and Support Program Consultation Feedback |
|
|
|
Child Care Inclusion and Support Program - Consultation Feedback from Early Childhood Australia
Early Childhood Australia has not responded directly to the consultation questions, as many of its members are part of organisations that have done this.
What ECA would like to do is to reflect on some broad but basic issues that have underwritten many of the discussions, it has been part of, where the future form of the restructured program has been discussed.
In making these comments there is no intention to revisit the fundamentals that underpinned the redevelopment of the Broadband Program. It should be recognised however, that given the number, scope and significance of the issues being considered, the question of professional support did not receive rigorous focused attention in the Broadband Redevelopment Consultation process, neither in the Establishment Forum, the Consultation Meetings and Questionnaire nor the Deliberative Forum. Professional support was considered only to the degree it was implicated in the Broadband Redevelopment Process.
Notwithstanding this, across the sector (including among current inclusion and support providers) there is real commitment to the development of a Child Care Inclusion and Professional Support Program that supports the development of specialist knowledge and effective practice in a way that builds a sustainable capacity, within the children's services sector (or the children's services community), to deliver quality programs for all children using these services.
ECA urges the Department of Family and Community Services to seriously consider the following in finalising implementation plans for the IPSP.
1 - Need for a clear statement by FaCS regarding the responsibility for the cost of professional support in children's services
While it seems clear from the proportionate allocation of funding proposed that FaCS is committed to strong financial support for inclusion, the Consultation Paper does not make clear the view of FaCS about where responsibility lies for paying for the general professional support required to achieve the broad goals of the IPSP program – that is, the extent to which this responsibility lies with individual services or with the Government.
This is a fundamental issue that will impact on the take-up of training opportunities and, in turn, impact on the ability of the Professional Support Co-ordinators to deliver a successful program.
2 - Capacity building and sustainability
As said previously ECA believes that the new program must have at its core a commitment to building a sustainable capacity within the sector, and in services, to deliver quality programs for all children using children's services. The ongoing affordability of support services is only one aspect of this. Relationships are also at the heart of each of sustainability and capacity building.
ECA believes that sustainability is about a process of planned change and managed learning that involves building sustainable relationships between people and between people and their environment. The quality of the social processes and relationships within which learning interactions take place is fundamental to the quality of the learning outcomes.
We believe that capacity building on the other hand is about supporting people/services/organisations (communities) to develop the confidence and skills necessary for them to achieve their purpose. Capacity is best built when existing relationships and expertise are leveraged. This is because capacity building best takes place within the framework of relationships that have a history where the player's commitment, capability and competence are known. Inherent in relationships is the potential to share, learn and create and sustain a conscious flow of information across the organisations and between people.
While these types of relationships can in part be inferred in the structure of the new Child Care Inclusion and Professional Support Program, their importance is not explicitly recognised nor their development planned for either with regard to the significance and value of relationships with current providers or for future providers. It needs to be said that existing relationships potentially provides significant social capital that should be systematically leveraged in the new program.
3 - Specialist knowledge
Underwriting all of this is must be a deep knowledge and understanding of the issues and skills involved in the provision of high quality, inclusive programs that meet the needs of all children including those with special needs. This is a non-negotiable prerequisite for high quality programs that are responsive to the needs of the children and families who use them.
In this connection there are many, many organisations and individuals across the sector that have played a major, long-term role in the provision of inclusion and professional support and development programs. Not surprisingly therefore much concern has been expressed about the potential for the loss of this specialist knowledge, expertise and capacity as part of the implementation of the new Child Care Inclusion and Support Program.
This concern has arisen not because of the belief that this is a planned outcome of the redeveloped program. Rather it is because there has been no explicit recognition of the need to build the new program in a way that maximises the potential for those organisations with specialist expertise and experience in the sector to contribute to its effectiveness. That is there has been no clear commitment, in the proposed implementation processes, to ensure that the sector's existing expertise, specialist knowledge, understanding, and experience, around inclusion and professional support for the delivery of high quality programs is harnessed.
Conclusion
Financial viability, relationships, specialist knowledge and expertise will be fundamental to the achievement of the goals of the Child Care Inclusion and Professional Support Program.
ECA believes that the reference points for judgements about whether the micro policy decisions which will frame the implementation of this program and ensure its effectiveness must include an assessment of whether they:
- Are funded so as to be realistically achievable, bearing in mind the actual stresses and motivations of the sector,
- Underwrite the relationships on which capacity will be built and sustainability generated and
- Ensure that existing expertise and specialist knowledge are leveraged.
If you liked this article, you can 'social bookmark' it with others who might be searching for good content on early childhood. This means you can share your favourite webpages with others, or just keep an online list of your bookmarks so you can access them on any computer.
Read more about social bookmarks
|
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 14 June 2007 )
|
