Element 2.2.3

The following is an example of a Code of Conduct. These types of codes must be negotiated and agreed upon by the service. Please review your Code of Conduct and compare with the one below. Change or add accordingly to your services needs and requirements.

The Approved Provider, Nominated Supervisor, educators, staff members, volunteers and students will uphold the following ethical conduct principles at all times, and promote positive interactions within the Service and the local community.

1. Commitment to our Service philosophy and values, including the promotion of a meaningful connection to the NQF and best practice in early childhood education in partnership with our families
2. Effective, open and respectful two-way communication and feedback between employees, children, families and management
3. Honesty and integrity in all interactions between children, families, employees and managers
4. Consistency and reliability in all exchanges with children, families, employees and managers
5. Commitment to a workplace which values and promotes the safety, health and wellbeing of employees, volunteers, children and families.

Commitment to an Equal Opportunity workplace and culture which values the knowledge, experience and professionalism of all employees, team members and managers, and the diverse heritage of our families and children.

Why are you doing the checklist?

The practices identified in the checklist are what the assessor needs to see you do so they can check you’re ‘meeting the NQS.’ If you embed all the things in the checklist, then you are meeting the Element. If there’s something on the checklist that you’re not doing, then you need to either adjust your practice to do it, or ask for help and training to do what’s on the checklist ie work with your educational leader or room leader who should teach/coach you how to do it.

Together as a team, use what you do (from your brainstorming session and the checklist) to write 6 short sentence that show “how” you are doing it. We’ve chosen 3 questions from the checklist for you. Why are you doing this? QIP’s need to have personalised stories about your practice so the assessor can ask you about why and how you do things. The sentences below can be used for Friday’s QIP writing section.

1. Do you know child protection allegations or incidents involving educators must also be reported?
2. Do you talk to team members and the Nominated Supervisor about any child protection concerns you have?
3. Are you confident you know the indicators of abuse/neglect?

What Regulation goes with this NQS Element?

• Law section 162A Persons in day-to-day charge and nominated supervisors to have child protection training
• Regulation 84 Awareness of child protection law

Who has to do what?

You must:

• be able to identify the indicators of abuse and neglect
• understand how to manage disclosures of abuse or neglect
• understand the mandatory reporting requirements that apply in your State/Territory
• understand how to make a report based on a disclosure or suspicion of abuse/neglect.

Step 1 Critical Reflection
The EYLF and MTOP say “Critical reflection involves closely examining all  aspects of events and experiences from different perspectives.” There is no checklist for critical reflection, it is all about other peoples perspectives.

Select one or more from below or from the checklist to critically reflect upon:

• Would team members agree you confidently identify and manage child protection issues?
• Would families agree you provide them with information about local resources which support their parenting and family wellbeing?
• Can you confidently say you talk to team members or the Nominated Supervisor if you’re not sure about a child protection matter?

You have discovered where your practice is compared to the NQS Guide (comparing what you currently do and the checklist). This is the process of self-assessment. If you have discovered practices, processes, checklist areas you need to improve upon, write them below. This section will be copied into your QIP.

We had a child who started seeking a lot of attention while at the same time being really difficult to get along with. He was taking up a lot of out time so we decided he’d probably be better off in another group where he might make more friends.

The green text is directly related to the meeting indicators for Element 2.2.3 on pages 170-171 of the NQS Guide.

Elephants group
We had a child who started seeking a lot of attention while at the same time being really difficult to get along with. During conversations with Mum she mentioned she had a new partner, and he was looking after the child in the morning and late afternoon while she was at work. We said we’d noticed a change in the child’s behaviour and asked if she’d noticed any change at home? How did the child and the new partner get on? Mum said all was good. The child was just adjusting to the changed arrangements. From there, however, things got worse. The child started saying he ‘was useless’ whenever things didn’t work out perfectly. We reviewed our Child Protection Policy and followed the reporting procedure (see Child Protection file).

Below is a case study that demonstrates how the Exceeding themes 1 Embedded Practice, 2 Critical Reflection and 3 Meaningful engagement with families and communities link into practice. The blue text is based on or directly quotes the exceeding indicators in the NQS Guide pages 172-174.

Elephants group
We had a child who started seeking a lot of attention while at the same time being really difficult to get along with. During conversations with Mum she mentioned she had a new partner, and he was looking after the child in the morning and late afternoon while she was at work. We said we’d noticed a change in the child’s behaviour and asked if she’d noticed any change at home? How did the child and the new partner get on? Mum said all was good. The child was just adjusting to the changed arrangements. We mentioned to mum that we were concerned about the child’s wellbeing, and why, in the context of our child protection policies and child protection indicators. From there, however, things got worse. The child started saying he ‘was useless’ whenever things didn’t work out perfectly. Aware of our responsibilities in relation to child protection, we reviewed our Child Protection Policy and followed the reporting procedure to proactively protect the child from harm (see Child Protection file).

Use the below points to analyse your above exceeding example to see if you have included everything.

1. Write the room location into the strength. This will ensure the assessor knows where to look for your strengths.
2. Write the educator’s name into the strength. This will ensure the assessor knows who to ask about your strengths.
3. Include the child/children’s names in your strength. This will give educators confidence to talk about a subject they know about (the child/ren).
4. Evidence eg learning story, photo that’s easy to access.
5. Write how you are achieving the exceeding themes.
Embedded Practice
Critical Reflection
Engagement with families/community
6. Tell the assessor exactly where to find the location of other evidence they need to see to show how you’re exceeding.
7. Show the assessor the location and time of other practice they need to observe to show how you’re exceeding.

Child Protection Policy

The Approved Provider, Nominated Supervisor, employees, volunteers and students will:

• be trained in their child protection obligations so they can confidently
  • identify indicators of abuse
  • manage disclosures or suspicions of abuse/neglect
  • report abuse/neglect to relevant authorities including any made involving employees, volunteers, students
  • prepare accurate records to assist investigations and store them securely
• always take anything a child says seriously and follow up their concerns
• maintain the confidentiality of all parties involved in an investigation
• keep their child protection clearance current (eg working with children check) unless exempted under the law.

Victoria Only Child Safe Policy

Our Service commits to an environment and practices which are consistent with the 7 Child Safe Standards:

1. Strategies to embed an organisational culture of child safety, including through effective leadership arrangements
2. A child safe policy
3. A code of conduct that establishes clear expectations for appropriate behaviour with children
4. Screening, supervision, training and other human resources practices that reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing personnel
5. Processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse
6. Strategies to identify and reduce or remove the risk of abuse
7. Strategies to promote the participation and empowerment of children

Many of the practices and procedures which support these standards are embedded in our existing policies including Educator and Management Policy (eg Code of Conduct, visitors), Child Protection Policy, Relationships with Children Policy (eg positive behaviour management), Staffing Arrangements Policy (eg ratios, qualifications, Working with Children Checks), Social Media Policy (eg posting rules), Technology Usage Policy (eg viewing content) and Additional Needs Policy.