Drowning in paperwork!!!

[Liz]

I am new to this stuff but want to add to what has been said by just a thought - I am a parent of a child who attends a 3 year old play program at a small community centre in Perth. We as a centre (I am on the Committee) are battling just to stay afloat as we are very small (only 100 members) of which only maybe 20 at most are families with children. A lot of the users are families with grown up children or grandchildren! Anyway getting to the point - we are not certain that we are definitely covered by the EYLF but have been told we are in a group of yet to be assessed so have to complete a strategy by 12 November which due to lack of people to do it we have not yet done. The experienced Child Care Supervisor we have is threatening to resign if she needs to complete the paperwork required for the EYLF and noone else would do the job for only the few hours a week she works. I have read your sites simplified explanation of the framework and I am sure we do achieve a lot of what is in there - most of it is just common sense after all. Anyway, the main bit we don't do is the observations and portfolios for the children and also the planning of the learning to take place as to what outcomes it develops in the kids. For example I remember for a whole term the kids studies different farm animals, they talked about these and did craft related to farms / farm animals. The carers (2) at our centre are very loving dedicated people and I know they naturally do the things in the EYLF. I am positive all the kids get some learning from coming to the program and their parents are all very happy. I know the main reason I sent my first child there was for socialisation and getting used to being without mum before starting kindy. It was not to learn all the other things noted in the EYLF although if those things resulted then great - I might add I am sure he did gain some of the other outcomes but not through the carers having to engage in all the paperwork required under the EYLF. We in conjunction with a lot of similar centres in Perth are trying to obtain and exemption. If anyone knows anything about any other like centres in Australia trying to do this could they please give me some advice or support in arguing our case - we are not a day care centre but a creche/occasional care centre. We only run a 3 year old program one day a week for 3 or 5 hours depending on what the parent wants and two days of 3.5hrs max of occasional care to support mums wanting to do activities with our centre and to give them some much needed time out for appointments etc when they lack family support. If you could assist me I would greatly appreciate. I am desperately trying to help keep our creche open!!

[justathought]

Thankyou for understanding Liz my point the entire time has been we do all this naturally without paper work and just like you said its common sense, to me this whole EYLF is just putting babies and children into categories and the EYLF has enough of them to put every child in one and like I have said time and time again we are dealing with babies and children they are not text books, give them a break and leave them alone. And I will just add Liz you must have an amazing staff if they followed on the childrens interst related to Farms and Farm animals and they did this with out the EYLF well done see common sense. I wish there were more people like your supervisor we need people to make a stand on the stress of the unnecessary paper work that needs completing in the industry not how much we are paid, and if it keeps going we will just continue to lose good quality staff.

[cathiek]

HI Liz
I am in WA too, but teaching at a 4 yo Kindy. I would suggest that you email ACECQA, the governing body Aust wide, and ask for their advice. They have a good website with a FAQ page. I have emailed them about schools in WA and they replied in a little over a week. If you like I could also ask the co-ordinators at our Independent schools association. they MIGHT know something about your situation. Let me know how you go with ACECQA, unfortunately WA does not seem to fit in with the rest of the states and we are a little left out here.
More than happy to help, if I can.
Cathiek

[NorthLight36]

Hmm... Maybe I'm coming from a different perspective, but what's so wrong with doing some of the paperwork at home? My mother has been a high school teacher for longer then I've been alive and for as long as I can remember, she's had work to do at home as well, marking assignments, tutoring struggling students, planning classes, chasing up on absent, misbehaving or failing students... She may not enjoy those hours of work, but they are part of the job. If she didn't sacrifice those hours, she would not be as effective and talented a teacher as she is and would not have risen as high in the school as she has.

Being a teacher's child, I've socialised with a large number of teachers and it seems to me the best teachers are those who sacrifice that bit of their down time. It also seems to me that if we want to be acknowledged as being the Educators we are, we should be prepared to make the same sacrifices that our fellow teachers make.

Primary School and High School teachers have to take work home with them. Why should we expect to do any less?

[Alisona]

As a teacher in a government preschool, I have always done many hours of paperwork at home, weeknights, weekends and s hook holidays. The introduction of the NQF has meant that the amount of work at home has increased dramatically. However, I work school hours ie 8.30 to 3 pm and I get school holidays. If I worked an 8hour shift with 4 weeks holiday each year, as staff in child care do, I would really resent having to do paperwork at home as well!

[Barbie]

Having been a manager before in a different industry as a leader this is how i would handle it
(by the way i am cert III only because i refuse to do my diploma and be taken advantage of with extra work like you)
i would speak to the director as for assistants position descriptions which should include assisting with the duties you are taking home to do - hold a team meeting in the room with all assistants whilst children are sleeping ask director to sit in with you if you feel she is approachable enough and will sit there for moral support - Hand them their position descriptions and remind them of their duties. Have a list of all children and allocate certain focus children for each assistant to follow around and take photos of, come up with learning stories, portfolio entries whatever your centre calls them. Tick them off on the list and do daily reminders of who still needs to be done. In my room we have 60 children who attend over the week so per month with 4 educators we each try and do 15 each so its fair.
Review again next month if its not adhered to warnings need to be given out. Simple as that. I too am sick of lazy blobs who park themselves at work and do nothing that is asked of them.

[Lorina]

Being a teacher's child, I've socialised with a large number of teachers and it seems to me the best teachers are those who sacrifice that bit of their down time. It also seems to me that if we want to be acknowledged as being the Educators we are, we should be prepared to make the same sacrifices that our fellow teachers make.

Primary School and High School teachers have to take work home with them. Why should we expect to do any less?

I think being a primary and high school teacher is completely different from working in a childcare. First and for most I think that early childhood educators have alot more challenges to face. For example nappy changing, constant crying, toileting, feeding, constant round the clock care, engaging with children, playing with children, putting children to sleep, dealing with tantrums and behavioral issues, family relationships and on top of all this teaching and programming all in a days work.

The hours and also longer. Staff in early childhood either work a 4 day 40 hr a week shifts or 38 hours over a period of 5 days. I would also like to mention that while I have been working in childcare you don't often get lunch break as you usually have to attend to children crying or engaging with children who don't sleep because there is not enough staff to cover ratio. Yes, primary and high school teachers have difficulties as well...

The last thing that I would want to do after a 10 hour day of dealing with babies, toddlers or preschoolers is to take work home with me to complete! No way!! You don't get paid at home to do the extra paperwork and your work should be providing you with time AT WORK to complete it!

If I was working as a primary school or high school teacher I wouldn't mind taking work home to complete I agree it's part of the job but not for early childhood educators, it's completely different!

Just wanted to add my opinion to this discussion,

,
L.A

[samanthaa]

hi,
drowning in paperwork doesnt sound like fun at all. specially if your doing it all at home,
i did a little bit of work in a child care centre that was using this software called Central Info Hub, does everything online very easy very quick and uploads any evidence of learning straight onto the parent portal. n can be accessed from anywhere as its web based. they were implementing it as i was kind of leaving but we dealt with a lovely lady there i think her name was samantha or vanessa. cant remember she showed us all around the software before they bought it.
maybe seek them out and have a look what they have to offer. i do believe its intergrated with ccms software also..

[aeball]

I also agree and let's not forget the amount of pay and holidays that primary and secondary teachers get. Most of us get less pay, less holidays and work 8 hours a day. I dare anyone to work in childcare at the moment with all the paperwork. Our non contact time with children is between 2 to 4 hours a week. How much non contact time do primary and secondary teachers get?

I hope something is done soon. Child care is no longer a happy place to work because of the paperwork. Everyday I get told "you need to do more to make learning visible and extend children's learning.

It's time for a change NOW.

[wimble]

Just wanted to add another perspective. I have come from working at an international school teaching Early years (3-5). I worked 10 hour days five days a week (50 hours a week). This was the bare minimum expected. During report time it was 12 hours a day (for about 3 weeks twice a year). Yes there were a lot of holidays (approx 10 weeks) but almost half of them were spent at school doing planning and documentation, so all up about 5 weeks holidays to myself. I am now in childcare and working approx 40 hours a week with four weeks holidays. So from my experience I certainly felt I worked more hours at the school (the extra week or so of holidays did not make up for the gruelling 50 hour work week). High school teachers almost certainly work more hours. If you haven't actually worked as a primary or secondary teacher I don't think you have much to say on the topic...

[megs_95]

I also agree and let's not forget the amount of pay and holidays that primary and secondary teachers get. Most of us get less pay, less holidays and work 8 hours a day. I dare anyone to work in childcare at the moment with all the paperwork. Our non contact time with children is between 2 to 4 hours a week. How much non contact time do primary and secondary teachers get?

I hope something is done soon. Child care is no longer a happy place to work because of the paperwork. Everyday I get told "you need to do more to make learning visible and extend children's learning.

It's time for a change NOW.

Our non-contact time is 2-4 hours a week... IF we can get it.
In my centre we have probably 10+ people who need programming time and not nearly enough staff to cover it in a good week... in a bad week when staff are off sick or on holidays, there's just no programming at all. So actual non-contact time is about an hour every few weeks - not nearly enough to get everything done.

[linsaa fdc]

Hi Everyone
I hear your pain and it's no different in Family Day Care. The only non-contact time we get in an average 11-12 hour day in FDC, is if we can get all our children to rest at the same time, then instead of or while we are eating lunch we do our paperwork. I have only just started using the Weekly Outcome based Curriculum plan template. I don't know why but in the past it looked a bit daunting and I used another method, which in fact was a lot more work. The weekly template makes me get right to the point in a few words without rambling and it only takes me a few minutes.....a bit longer at first because it made me really think about the outcomes and how what I was offering fitted in. Everything is on the one page for the week, if you aren't using it yet give it a go, it really does save time. Once that is done the time I used to spend writing away, I get to do the fun stuff, and that is adding photos and things the children say to the beautiful Portfolio templates. Thank goodness though I only have 9 regular weekly portfolios to keep up to date and 5 casual children's portfolios, not 20+.
All the best I hope you find something that works for you
Linsaa

[Lorina]

Hi Linsaa,

Thanks for sharing your experience!

It's so frustrating at times because as educators we need to get all this paperwork complete but not enough time during the day to complete it. When we don't do it, it falls on our head and we get questioned why we haven't completed it and that we need to make better use of our time throughout the day. It's easier for someone on the outside to judge and comment... Whether you're looking after 20 children or only 5 it makes no difference the day is filled with other tasks, duties and responsibilities that require us to be with the children rather than engrossed in the required paperwork. It's so important for directors and the management to allow off the floor time for educators to complete the necessary documentation... Sometimes this is the last thing on our minds when there is so much more to do. Yes, it's very important to complete the documentation to enrich the children's learning and development but when it's rushed how precise can it be. Rather give the time that is required for an educator to take time, reflect on, process the information and complete it properly than to have a piece of paperwork that is meaningless.

One of the most important ways to successfully complete paperwork is to use documentation methods you can understand. Finding something that works right for you is vital! Linsaa, makes me happy knowing that my curriculum template is working right for you! I hope using my templates enables you to successfully complete your paperwork without having to spend too much time on it and is meaningful!

I'm currently working on another curriculum plan template for LDC, FDC and OOSH which will be the first template release of this year... I'll provide more details soon...

Once again sharing my thoughts,

,
Lorina

[sharonjcope]

Hi Lorina and all

This is the first time I have surfed around the new website. It is really great and yes Lorina the templates old and new are awesome tools. Just a querie: I have used the curriculum planner and learning story templates, amongst others, for a few years now but I cannot change the logo box to reflect our centre. Is there a trick that I am missing? Also what is 'finalize the form' up in the right hand corner? Was I correct in hearing that these templates were going to be available in a word document? That would make life a whole lot easier!!
Thanks for the new look website. I have only just begun to discover all there is to see.
Regards
Sharon

[linsaa fdc]

Hi Sharon,
You should just be able to click on the yellow logo box and then you can add it from where ever it is on your computer, I don't have a logo so sometimes I click the little "clear logo" box at the top of the page or sometimes I go to the bottom of the page and click "square" then I click the yellow logo box, it goes to my pictures and I add a photo. With the finalize, when you have finished documenting and adding your photos, you can click finalize and then the document can't be changed and the box won't be there if you print them or if you email them.
Bye
Linda

[Lorina]

Hi Sharon,

Linda is right about how to use the logo which can be changed from a rectangle to a square and if my memory is right, the newer templates like Portfolio auto scales Logos proportionately. Usually if adding a logo, a horizontal logo will have the best look for these templates. The finalise button basically completes the form and makes it ready for printing. When you click on "finalise the form" the control panel will disappear and so will the other buttons such as add more photos etc from printing.

Yes, I will be providing word documents for the templates available on the site. There have been a few user requests wanting word documents for editing etc. so these will be prepared. However with word there is always a design limitation on how much detail you can add. The alignment and design will not be perfect like the pdf templates and each Word version open the files differently. Some templates may be slightly different as they need to be adapted to Word limitations. I would still prefer the pdf documents because they give much more superior design and are very easy to use. You would be able to use them as is without needing to change anything and the template will be consistent on its design. However, if you are one who like to change things around, the MS Word will give you the bare structure that you can work with. So, they will be available shortly.


Thanks Linda for helping Sharon out! Appreciate it!

,
Lorina