Element 2.1.2

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 teach and role model hygiene practices like hand washing, cough and sneeze etiquette, dental hygiene and ear care?
2. Do you understand what’s considered to be a serious illness and injury and make sure these are reported to the Regulatory Authority within 24 hours?
3. Do you always follow up any concerns about a child’s health or wellbeing with your Room/Group Leader or Nominated Supervisor?

What Regulation goes with this NQS Element?

• Law section 51(1)(a) Service approval
• Regulation 77 Health, hygiene and safe food practices,
• Regulation 85 Incident, injury, trauma and illness policies and procedures,
• Regulation 86 Notification to parents of incident, injury, trauma and illness,
• Regulation 87 Incident, injury, trauma and illness record,
• Regulation 88 Infectious diseases,
• Regulation 89 First aid kits,
• Regulation 90 Medical conditions policy,
• Regulation 91 Medical conditions policy to be provided to parents,
• Regulation 92 Medication record
• Regulation 93 Administration of medication,
• Regulation 94 Exception to authorisation requirement—anaphylaxis or asthma emergency,
• Regulation 95 Procedure for administration of medication,
• Regulation 96 Self-administration of medication

Who has to do what?

Educators must follow documented policies and procedures covering:

• health and hygiene including handwashing, nappy changing and toileting, cleaning premises, resources and equipment, managing illness in children and safely storing, handling and preparing food
• responsibilities when a child is injured, becomes ill suffers a trauma or is involved in an incident at the service, including implementing exclusion periods, notifying families within 24 hours, keeping correct records, disinfecting resources and equipment
• the management of medical conditions including asthma, anaphylaxis and diabetes, and always follow medical management and risk minimisation plans
• the administration of medication and keep correct records.

Educators must also discuss all relevant health and hygiene issues with families.

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 families/children agree you discuss health and safety issues with them and include them in making service rules promoting health and safety?
• Would families agree you always record information about illnesses and injuries and discuss with them in culturally sensitive ways as soon as possible and on the same day?
• Would families agree you discuss Service health and hygiene requirements and practices with them?

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.

Lots of parents were confused about whether or not they and their child should be getting the ‘flu vaccination, and if so when the best time to get the vaccination is. We’re not medical professionals so educators told parents to go and talk to their GPs.

The green text is directly related to the meeting indicators for Element 2.1.2 on pages 148-151 of the NQS Guide.

Lots of parents across the Service were confused about whether or not they and their child should be getting the ‘flu vaccination, and if so when the best time to get the vaccination is, particularly in light of the coronavirus pandemic. We sourced some current information about the benefits of having the ‘flu vaccine, and made it available to families in our parents information area and through our Facebook groups.

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 157-159.

Lots of parents across the Service were confused about whether or not they and their child should be getting the ‘flu vaccination, and if so when the best time to get the vaccination is, particularly in light of the coronavirus pandemic. We sourced some current information about the benefits of having the ‘flu vaccine, the best time to have it, who should get it and who can get the vaccine for free from the Federal Health Department, and are making it available to families in our parents information area and through our Facebook groups. All employees reflected on how we could help families further and we decided to hold an information evening facilitated by a local GP via Zoom where families could ask questions about coronavirus related issues including ‘flu immunisations (see photos 15_5_20). Families also raised questions about children’s general health issues. Families later expressed how valuable they felt the information session was, and in several cases families said they would make an appointment with their doctor to discuss in more detail a couple of general issues raised on the night including possible ear infections and preventative asthma medication. We are following up with these families to make sure we meet their child’s health needs (please discuss with Nominated Supervisor).

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.

Infectious Diseases Policy

Educators and staff:

• will exclude children who have an infectious disease or are too ill to attend
• will implement procedures in policy if a child becomes unwell or develops a fever at the Service
• will implement minimum exclusion periods advised in Staying Healthy publication and/or required in relevant health legislation
• may require a medical certificate stating a child is not contagious before readmitting child

Parents must:

• advise educators on arrival of any symptoms requiring administration of medication to their child in the past 48 hours
• collect children who are unwell within one hour or make other arrangements for child’s care

Nominated Supervisor will notify infectious diseases to the local public health unit if required.

Animal and Pet Policy

The Nominated Supervisor will:

• complete a risk assessment before allowing any animal to be kept at the service, or pet to visit the service, and take appropriate actions to reduce the risk of harm
• implement a staff roster to ensure any animal that requires care or feeding outside service operating hours is cared for at the service or an employee’s home

Educators and staff will ensure:

• children are closely supervised when interacting with animals or pets
• animals and pets at the service are fed and cared for appropriately eg cages cleaned daily
• animal or pets do not access food preparation areas, sandpit or where children play, eat, sleep
• room tasks include feeding, cleaning and caring for the animal
• all adults and children wash their hands after handling animals or pets
• children’s animal or pets are only brought into the Service if first approved by the Nominated Supervisor
• pets accompanying families to the service are left at the gate.