Element 3.2.3
Element 3.2.3 Environmentally responsible – The service cares for the environment and supports children to become environmentally responsible.
Click on the button below that best describes you and follow the simple steps. Complete each step as it will automatically write your QIP and Self Assessment Tool.
Educators
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.
- 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
- Effective, open and respectful two-way communication and feedback between employees, children, families and management
- Honesty and integrity in all interactions between children, families, employees and managers
- Consistency and reliability in all exchanges with children, families, employees and managers
- 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.
- Do you implement a variety of activities to help children learn more about plants and animals, and their habitats?
- Do you help children increase their understanding of the way people impact and use the natural environment eg plastics in the environment, water conservation, renewable resources (wind, solar, hydro), deforestation, erosion, landfill, endangered animals/plants?
- Do you involve children in meaningful activities that connect service operations with learning about environmental responsibility eg monitoring electricity, gas, water usage and amount of rubbish going to landfill?
What Regulation goes with this NQS Element?
There are no specific Regulations related to Element 3.2.3 Environmental Sustainability. However, the Regulations below relate to interacting with and caring for the environment.
- Regulation 110 Ventilation and natural light
- Regulation 113 Outdoor space – natural environment
- Regulation 114 Outdoor space – shade
Who has to do what?
Educators must:
- ensure indoor spaces are well ventilated, have adequate natural light and are kept at temperatures that are comfortable and safe. They should use natural light and ventilation whenever possible, and set temperature of air conditioner at a reasonable level ie not too high/low
- implement activities that encourage children to explore outdoor areas, and increase their understanding of the natural environment
- ensure children play in shaded areas when UV levels are 3 or above.
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 indoor and outdoor learning environments include lots of diverse natural materials?
- Would families/children agree you involve children in meaningful activities that increase their understanding of environmental issues, particularly those that may affect your local community?
- Would families/children agree you use available spaces for activities that promote life skills like growing food and recycling?
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 have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals. We tried to talk to the children about the pests but they really weren’t interested. Some were scared about getting bitten or stung.
The green text is directly related to the meeting indicators for Element 3.2.3 on pages 198-199 of the NQS Guide.
We have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals, so educators in our tiger group decided to research natural ways to eliminate some of the pests with the children. For example, we discovered that Neem oil, which is made from the seeds of Indian Neem trees, is a natural insecticide and repels pests like aphids, mites and scale. While doing this children learnt about why natural pest management alternatives are better for the environment, and how our actions can affect the environment in positive and negative ways (see learning story and photos 16_6_20).
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 200-201.
We have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals, so educators in our tiger group decided to research natural ways to eliminate some of the pests with the children. For example, we discovered that Neem oil, which is made from the seeds of Indian Neem trees, is a natural insecticide and repels pests like aphids, mites and scale that are affecting us. While doing this children learnt about why natural pest management alternatives are better for the environment, and how our actions can affect the environment in positive and negative ways (see learning story and photos 16_6_20). Asha explained how there are lots of locusts eating all the crops where he comes from in Africa and how this is leaving a lot of people without enough food. Other children including Zane, Tara, Lyall and Freya wanted to learn more about locusts and over the next couple of days we explored their life cycle, habitat and the differences between locusts and grasshoppers! (see learning story 19_6_20)
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.
Environmental Sustainability Policy
Educators will involve children in activities which help them appreciate, care for and increase their understanding of sustainability and natural and man-made environments. Some of the ways they may do this include:
- involving children in environmental activities like gardening, nature walks, composting, caring for worm farms
- providing natural materials like wood, stone, sand, plants and recycled materials
- monitoring usage of electricity, gas, water and water and amount of rubbish going to landfill
- promoting life skills like growing, harvesting, and cooking food
- using environmentally targeted resource kits and information to tailor relevant activities
- collaborating with families and community groups with expertise in environmental issues eg bush care groups
- acknowledging and celebrating environmental awareness events like Clean Up Australia Day.
Room/Group Leader
- Set a goal for the week.
Goal doesn’t always need to link to NQS Element. A goal can be used to solve a challenge or be positive improvement i.e. learning area setup
Click here for goal template. - Identify barriers
- Track the goal daily
- Celebrate achieved goal.
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.
- 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
- Effective, open and respectful two-way communication and feedback between employees, children, families and management
- Honesty and integrity in all interactions between children, families, employees and managers
- Consistency and reliability in all exchanges with children, families, employees and managers
- 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.
- Do you implement a variety of activities to help children learn more about plants and animals, and their habitats?
- Do you help children increase their understanding of the way people impact and use the natural environment eg plastics in the environment, water conservation, renewable resources (wind, solar, hydro), deforestation, erosion, landfill, endangered animals/plants?
- Do you involve children in meaningful activities that connect service operations with learning about environmental responsibility eg monitoring electricity, gas, water usage and amount of rubbish going to landfill?
What Regulation goes with this NQS Element?
There are no specific Regulations related to Element 3.2.3 Environmental Sustainability. However, the Regulations below relate to interacting with and caring for the environment.
- Regulation 110 Ventilation and natural light
- Regulation 113 Outdoor space – natural environment
- Regulation 114 Outdoor space – shade
Who has to do what?
Educators must:
- ensure indoor spaces are well ventilated, have adequate natural light and are kept at temperatures that are comfortable and safe. They should use natural light and ventilation whenever possible, and set temperature of air conditioner at a reasonable level ie not too high/low
- implement activities that encourage children to explore outdoor areas, and increase their understanding of the natural environment
- ensure children play in shaded areas when UV levels are 3 or above.
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 indoor and outdoor learning environments include lots of diverse natural materials?
- Would families/children agree you involve children in meaningful activities that increase their understanding of environmental issues, particularly those that may affect your local community?
- Would families/children agree you use available spaces for activities that promote life skills like growing food and recycling?
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 have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals. We tried to talk to the children about the pests but they really weren’t interested. Some were scared about getting bitten or stung.
The green text is directly related to the meeting indicators for Element 3.2.3 on pages 198-199 of the NQS Guide.
We have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals, so educators in our tiger group decided to research natural ways to eliminate some of the pests with the children. For example, we discovered that Neem oil, which is made from the seeds of Indian Neem trees, is a natural insecticide and repels pests like aphids, mites and scale. While doing this children learnt about why natural pest management alternatives are better for the environment, and how our actions can affect the environment in positive and negative ways (see learning story and photos 16_6_20).
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 200-201.
We have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals, so educators in our tiger group decided to research natural ways to eliminate some of the pests with the children. For example, we discovered that Neem oil, which is made from the seeds of Indian Neem trees, is a natural insecticide and repels pests like aphids, mites and scale that are affecting us. While doing this children learnt about why natural pest management alternatives are better for the environment, and how our actions can affect the environment in positive and negative ways (see learning story and photos 16_6_20). Asha explained how there are lots of locusts eating all the crops where he comes from in Africa and how this is leaving a lot of people without enough food. Other children including Zane, Tara, Lyall and Freya wanted to learn more about locusts and over the next couple of days we explored their life cycle, habitat and the differences between locusts and grasshoppers! (see learning story 19_6_20)
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.
Environmental Sustainability Policy
Educators will involve children in activities which help them appreciate, care for and increase their understanding of sustainability and natural and man-made environments. Some of the ways they may do this include:
- involving children in environmental activities like gardening, nature walks, composting, caring for worm farms
- providing natural materials like wood, stone, sand, plants and recycled materials
- monitoring usage of electricity, gas, water and water and amount of rubbish going to landfill
- promoting life skills like growing, harvesting, and cooking food
- using environmentally targeted resource kits and information to tailor relevant activities
- collaborating with families and community groups with expertise in environmental issues eg bush care groups
- acknowledging and celebrating environmental awareness events like Clean Up Australia Day.
Educational Leader
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.
- 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
- Effective, open and respectful two-way communication and feedback between employees, children, families and management
- Honesty and integrity in all interactions between children, families, employees and managers
- Consistency and reliability in all exchanges with children, families, employees and managers
- 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.
- Do you implement a variety of activities to help children learn more about plants and animals, and their habitats?
- Do you help children increase their understanding of the way people impact and use the natural environment eg plastics in the environment, water conservation, renewable resources (wind, solar, hydro), deforestation, erosion, landfill, endangered animals/plants?
- Do you involve children in meaningful activities that connect service operations with learning about environmental responsibility eg monitoring electricity, gas, water usage and amount of rubbish going to landfill?
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 indoor and outdoor learning environments include lots of diverse natural materials?
- Would families/children agree you involve children in meaningful activities that increase their understanding of environmental issues, particularly those that may affect your local community?
- Would families/children agree you use available spaces for activities that promote life skills like growing food and recycling?
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 have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals. We tried to talk to the children about the pests but they really weren’t interested. Some were scared about getting bitten or stung.
The green text is directly related to the meeting indicators for Element 3.2.3 on pages 198-199 of the NQS Guide.
We have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals, so educators in our tiger group decided to research natural ways to eliminate some of the pests with the children. For example, we discovered that Neem oil, which is made from the seeds of Indian Neem trees, is a natural insecticide and repels pests like aphids, mites and scale. While doing this children learnt about why natural pest management alternatives are better for the environment, and how our actions can affect the environment in positive and negative ways (see learning story and photos 16_6_20).
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 200-201.
We have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals, so educators in our tiger group decided to research natural ways to eliminate some of the pests with the children. For example, we discovered that Neem oil, which is made from the seeds of Indian Neem trees, is a natural insecticide and repels pests like aphids, mites and scale that are affecting us. While doing this children learnt about why natural pest management alternatives are better for the environment, and how our actions can affect the environment in positive and negative ways (see learning story and photos 16_6_20). Asha explained how there are lots of locusts eating all the crops where he comes from in Africa and how this is leaving a lot of people without enough food. Other children including Zane, Tara, Lyall and Freya wanted to learn more about locusts and over the next couple of days we explored their life cycle, habitat and the differences between locusts and grasshoppers! (see learning story 19_6_20)
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.
Nominated Supervisor
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.
- 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
- Effective, open and respectful two-way communication and feedback between employees, children, families and management
- Honesty and integrity in all interactions between children, families, employees and managers
- Consistency and reliability in all exchanges with children, families, employees and managers
- 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.
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 indoor and outdoor learning environments include lots of diverse natural materials?
- Would families/children agree you involve children in meaningful activities that increase their understanding of environmental issues, particularly those that may affect your local community?
- Would families/children agree you use available spaces for activities that promote life skills like growing food and recycling?
Your team crave feedback on their weekly Centre Support professional development.
Getting appropriate feedback and seeing actions which come from their comments and reflections inspires them to keep on completing the professional development. It’s important therefore that you read the Educators’ section and make sure you and/or the Educational Leader:
- action the checklist results eg if educators ask for help by answering ‘T’ they get the help they need
- follow up their critical reflection ie help implement outcomes
- use their QIP contributions and celebrate them with your educators.
We have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals. We tried to talk to the children about the pests but they really weren’t interested. Some were scared about getting bitten or stung.
The green text is directly related to the meeting indicators for Element 3.2.3 on pages 198-199 of the NQS Guide.
We have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals, so educators in our tiger group decided to research natural ways to eliminate some of the pests with the children. For example, we discovered that Neem oil, which is made from the seeds of Indian Neem trees, is a natural insecticide and repels pests like aphids, mites and scale. While doing this children learnt about why natural pest management alternatives are better for the environment, and how our actions can affect the environment in positive and negative ways (see learning story and photos 16_6_20).
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 200-201.
We have a veggie garden that’s getting attacked by pests. We weren’t sure how to deal with this because we can’t use any harmful chemicals, so educators in our tiger group decided to research natural ways to eliminate some of the pests with the children. For example, we discovered that Neem oil, which is made from the seeds of Indian Neem trees, is a natural insecticide and repels pests like aphids, mites and scale that are affecting us. While doing this children learnt about why natural pest management alternatives are better for the environment, and how our actions can affect the environment in positive and negative ways (see learning story and photos 16_6_20). Asha explained how there are lots of locusts eating all the crops where he comes from in Africa and how this is leaving a lot of people without enough food. Other children including Zane, Tara, Lyall and Freya wanted to learn more about locusts and over the next couple of days we explored their life cycle, habitat and the differences between locusts and grasshoppers! (see learning story 19_6_20)
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.
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