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TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute Created: 22/07/2015 Version: 1.0

P0053007_CHCECE003_Topic_3_reading.docx

Modified: 12/09/2015 of 13

CHCECE003 Provide Care for Children

Topic Three | Adapt facilities to ensure access and participation

Relevant Frameworks

Challenging elements and risk taking

Assist in providing challenging elements of outdoor and indoor environments

that allow for experiences which scaffold children’s learning and development

and offer chances for appropriate risk-taking.

Provide support in developing physical skills by structuring the

environment



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Providing supportive play experiences.

Play is an important part of a young child’s life. Educators need to ensure that

children are not only given opportunities to develop and enhance play skills and

knowledge but also facilitate play so that it supports children’s wellbeing and

development of positive self-esteem. The effects of natural environments can

also impact on promoting children’s play and motor development (Fjørtoft, 2004).

Through observing children in our care we see their motivation to take risks and challenge

themselves to try new things. For example, think of the infant rolling over, crawling, pulling

himself up on furniture and other objects, to walking. Although this is viewed as a normal

part of growth and development it also includes an element of risk. Can you remember being

told not to do something or touch something but you did anyway? This is taking a risk!

Children who are not exposed to risk taking will not be able to make judgements on their

own capabilities and may develop fears and anxieties.

Rather than removing objects and equipment it is our role as educators to provide adequate

supervision and show children how to use the equipment and objects safely while engaging

in appropriate risk taking.

Often children’s self-initiated challenges involve using resources or equipment in interesting

or novel ways to represent something within their personal experience. Educators frequently

stop children from exploring in these ways, especially when it involves equipment being

moved from one area to another. An alternative is to actively encourage resourcefulness and

agency. Scaffolding children, to develop their ideas with regard to the consequences,

supports children to think through the issues for themselves.

Physical risks may include:

Learning how to negotiate natural hazards such as ground cover, tree -roots, rocks

or slippery leaves

Developing skills in negotiating the physical environments of home and early years

setting

Learning how to use tools and equipment safely and purposefully

Developing control and coordination of their bodies.

Social risks may include:

Developing an understanding of the expectations and rules within different social

settings

Developing reasoning skills

Learning to negotiate with others, including learning to say ‘no’ to others.

Intellectual risks may include:

Trying out new ideas and being willing to ‘have a go’

Solving problems



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Being resourceful, inventive and creative.

Children engage as active learners making sense of themselves, their environment and their

world through investigating and exploring through play and interactions.

As an educator we can engage with children and promote their learning by:

Planning authentic, inclusive learning experiences that hold meaning and interest for

children

Building on children’s emerging ideas, interests and needs

Being sensitive and responding flexibly to the influence of children’s changing

feelings, needs and interests

Providing a balance between child-initiated, co-constructed and teacher-initiated

learning

Valuing children’s rights to express ideas and opinions, make choices, share

decision making and engage in reflection

Engaging in attentive listening and sustained shared thinking

Using a range of intentional teaching strategies to promote deep learning, including

challenging, scaffolding, modelling, explaining and questioning

Challenging children’s actions and assumptions to promote inclusion, empowerment,

equity, fairness and social justice

Acquiring new skills

Understanding how skills can be broken down into smaller tasks and taught in

simpler stages is known as task analysis. If we were to look at tying a tie, this

relatively simple task could be broken up into smaller steps. Similarly with

children, we need to break down complex skills into simpler stages and the main

difficulty we tend to have with this, is that the skills are often so automatic with

us that we have forgotten the stages. Often we really have to stop and think how

something is done and often this can be a harder task than just doing it

ourselves.

Acquiring new skills requires the skill being broken down into smaller

tasks



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© Shutterstock (used under license)

Think Time

Think about the last big skill you learned. It

might have been driving a car, or a sport or

hobby skill, or a new way of doing

something. How excited and proud were you

when you mastered the skill? How much did

you want to do it over and over again?

Humans love to practise a new skill until it

becomes automatic. It is an important way

of learning. It is important as you work

through this topic to remember the feelings

and sensations of acquiring a new skill—

remembering those feelings help us

understand why and how children develop

their skills.

As young children develop new physical skills, the range of self-help skills they

are capable of opens further. For example, once you notice the child ‘uses

pincer grasp to pick up fallen objects’, you can then introduce finger foods for

the child to begin developing the skill of feeding themselves.

Self help and preschoolers

Skills of preschoolers vary enormously throughout this period in their

development, as new abilities are mastered and practiced.

Strategies with preschoolers

Preschoolers have a more complex understanding of routines, completing tasks,

and your explanations.

You can therefore foster their self-help skills through:

Allowing them more responsibility, choice and control in routines and

agency, e.g., “Who needs to go to the toilet before we go outside?”

Making the tasks more independently manageable, e.g. ensuring toilets

and basins are the right size, making sure shelving is low for packing

away independently

Modelling the actions and behaviours you would most like to see, e.g.,

hand washing, table manners, politeness

Explaining actions as you go, e.g., “Now I’m putting on my hat so I won’t

get sunburnt outside”.



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Also, the preschooler is developing a stronger understanding of themselves and

their responsibilities in the wider world. You can use this emerging awareness to

foster skills around caring for their own belongings.

The use of verbal encouragement

Keep your points short, friendly and positive for best impact.

You will make the learning more likely to be remembered through your use

of verbal encouragement if the child is experiencing difficulty and your

praise when they are successful.

They try new skills, so don’t leap in until they show signs of frustration or

ask for help.

Give real verbal encouragement by praising the action rather than using

general phrases.

Complete tasks with the child, modelling appropriate skills and actions.

Provide opportunities for the child to practice self-help skills in a variety of

real and play situations.

Talk about the ‘whys’ of self-help skills by sharing the information you have.

Encourage children who are verbal to use their words to ask for help when

they need it rather than pointing or sounds.

Be an educator who can be approached for help.

Observe the children and follow their individual skill development so that

what you expect from each child is current and appropriate.

Self-concept and self esteem

Feeling good about doing something ourselves is an important part of

developing a positive self-concept. Self-concept is basically how we see

ourselves and one positive way of seeing ourselves is as someone who can

feed ourselves, toilet ourselves and get our own crayons from the box. Our self-

esteem reflects how we feel about those skills, how much we value them or feel

that society values them.

Making materials accessible to children

The child’s environment has a powerful influence on their learning. What is the

child’s environment? What is it made up of?

The environment is obviously made up with objects the child can see, indoors

and out, but it also includes the people, other children and adults and the

interactions children have with them. An environment, whether made up of

objects or people or both, is also made up of the child’s interactions with

everything in it. We need to use these active interactions to their best advantage

to foster children’s self-help skills.

When working with young children it is important to have the environment

organised and material accessible before tasks are started. It is important that

they have access to materials they want to use, whether at organised activities

or in general play.



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Involving children

When children are younger, educators need to take responsibility for ensuring

materials are available, but even preschoolers can effectively help set up and

contribute their ideas as to what is needed, and school aged children can often

get materials themselves and set up areas.


Think Time

Consider the following scenario:

Guy, four years old, is following Frances the

educator around the yard as she sets up for outdoor

play. She pauses at the sandpit and says “What do

you think we should have here today, Guy? Trucks,

water and pots, or buckets and spades?” Guy says

“Water…and trucks.” “Good choice,” agrees

Frances, “so how about you go and get the trucks

from the box outside the shed, and I will bring a

bucket of water over with some scoops and pots.”

Supporting children's choices and agency

Allowing children the choice about how and when they eat can be a difficult area

to decide on a personal opinion. However, it should be noted that it is important

to respect choices where the safety of the child is not an issue.

Remember that toddlers want to feel ‘grown-up’ and will experiment with defying

instructions, only to quickly return to appropriate use of tools.

Even with toddlers, help with setting up and packing away will allow children to

be involved in participating in their environment and will allow opportunities for

children to participate informally in decision making contributing to the

development of agency. As children develop their understanding of time and

group work, they can be more formally involved in the planning process.



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Involving older children

In the middle childhood years, children can be involved in planning for a whole

term, choice of outings for vacation care and even investigating what is needed

for particular activities or excursions.

Think Time


Consider the following scenario:

Kim is planning for the next vacation care block

at the centre. She has four older children who

attend after school care and vacation care, and

she approaches them to help her with excursions.

They suggest skating or bowling, and so she asks

them to use the phone with her in the office to

work out when this is possible. Together they go

through the information needed to be asked, e.g.,

How much? When can group bookings be made in

the holidays? Kim sits near-by when they phone,

so they can check with her if they are not sure.

Analysing the environment

In order to foster children’s independence, materials need to be accessible to

children within the play area, so that they are not constantly dependent on adults

to get things for them.

When analysing the environment, you may find a table such as the one below

helpful to ensure that everything is ready when and as it is needed.

By analysing the environment and making tables such as the one below, your

environment should always be ready for children to spontaneously perform and

practice self-help skills. It is also important that the environment fosters skills

which will benefit the child who will be moving to school.

Self-help skills

expected

Materials

required

Level of accessibility for children

Pours from a jug

with minimal

spillage

Drink, water,

jug, cups or

other

containers

Water jugs and mugs freely available

for children to get their own drinks on a

low table.

Activity also used in sandpit, where

water is poured and mixed with sand in

containers and in water trough where

differently sized containers available.



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Analysing the environment to ensure it enables children to practice self-help

skills

Implementing strategies for promoting self-help

Time and its various meanings

It is extremely irritating to feel rushed when you are trying to learn or practice

something new. It is easy to remember what that is like, as learning new tasks is

a life-long process. When we study, we might need to use computer skills

previously unknown, or learn how to access information through different library

systems, or explore new ways of phrasing ideas. When we are learning we need

time and support in order to learn effectively, as do children.

It is important for educators to ensure that time is available for children to learn

and practice new skills and this may mean being flexible and putting off other

activities, when children are excited about practicing a new skill or picking the

time carefully about when you introduce a new skill.

Remember, when fostering new skills, it is important to ensure:

You have the children’s attention

They are in a receptive mood (not hungry, not tired)

There is enough time to explore the skill fully

There will be enough time over the following period for the children to

practice the skills as much as they like

Materials will be accessible and appropriate for them to do this.

Self help promotion and environmental set ups

The child’s environment is a powerful influence on their learning. Children are

active learners and, for their learning to be relevant, it must be informed by their

interests and abilities. Piaget emphasised the importance of stimulating set ups

that support the child’s development. The way educators set up the experiences

in each environment can either promote the children’s ability to do much for

themselves or hinder their ability to do things. Children should be able to be a

part of the decision making process regarding the arrangement of the room, the

visual displays, the selection and amount of materials, the location of the set up

and where practical the timing of the experience.



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Important requirements of environments © Shutterstock (used under license)

Methods to promote self-help skills in the environment



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Theoretical understandings and supporting the child

Theorists in child development, such as Jean Piaget, thought that the

environment, and how it was structured, was of main importance in fostering

children’s learning and saw the primary role of educators as setting up

environments to encourage children’s learning. It was not considered that adults

should interfere or intervene, as the child learned through their own explorations.

Other theorists, such as Lev Vygotsky, emphasised the role of the adult in

building on or ‘scaffolding’ (like on a building) children’s learning. In this model,

the child is moved beyond their own capacities through guidance from an adult,

to achieve a higher level of skill development.

Think Time


Consider the following

scenario:

David (two years old) is getting out

of bed. He begins to pull on his t-

shirt, but puts his arms in the

sleeves before he puts his head in,

then stands there, confused. The

educator comes over, and says “It

can be a bit tricky doing it that way

David. Let’s put your head in

first…like this…[helps]…now try

putting your arms in…well done!

You did the sleeves yourself!”

Did you consider?

As educators, we provide a ‘scaffold’ for children like this every day without

thinking about it. It is knowing how much help a child needs and when to stop

that is the skill for us. Sometimes it takes a lot of patience on the part of

the educator to wait for a child to manage a stage in a skill, but it is important not

to leap in and do it for them until you can see they are getting frustrated in their

attempts and suggestions will not be enough. The educator now needs to

provide opportunities in the environment as well (as Piaget suggests) for David

to practice this skill, using encouragement and some guidance.

Language and encouragement

Language is an important tool in fostering the self-help skills of young children.

Even with infants, while they might not understand the words fully, they are very

sensitive to tone and body language.



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Toddlers are often spoken to, and thought of, negatively in our society and this

can impact on their confidence in their self-help skill development. The theorist

Erikson describes this period as one where the feeling of autonomy (the ability

to do it yourself) is emerging, but when it is not appropriately encouraged it can

lead to feelings of self-doubt in their abilities.

Using effective strategies

It is important to be specific with the child by identifying what it is that they are

doing well. For example, when a child is helping you to pick up something, don’t

just say ‘thank you’ but identify what they have done to earn the thanks, e.g.,

“Thank you, Josef, for helping me pick up these cups. They need to be washed

up so they are clean for our next drink”.

Note that it is also important to give young children reasons why self-help skills

need to be completed - assume nothing as far as the child’s knowledge in this

area goes. Explain why we wash our hands, why we flush the toilet, why we

wash up plates and cups or brush our hair. All this knowledge is important to

reinforce.

From the above examples and notes, there are several points you should

remember about developing a young child’s self-help skills. These are:

Explain, model and provide support for tasks carried out by young children

Have patience while they try new skills - don’t leap in until they show signs

of frustration or ask for help

Give real verbal encouragement - praise the action rather than using

general phrases

Complete tasks with the child, modelling appropriate skills and actions

Provide opportunities for the child to practice self-help skills in a variety of

real and play situations

Talk about the ‘whys’ of self-help skills - share the information you have

Encourage children who are verbal to use their words to ask for help when

they need it rather than pointing or sounds

Be an educator who can be approached for help

Observe the children and follow their individual skill development so that

what you expect from each child is current and appropriate

The educator needs to make sure that a skill is being encouraged for the

child’s sake rather than the service.



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Promote sun protection of children

According to Cancer Council of Australia, Australia has one of the highest rates

of skin cancer in the world. Although risk is greater as you get older, anyone can

be at risk of skin cancer.

The three main types of skin cancer are:

1. Melanoma, the most dangerous

2. Basal cell carcinoma (non-melanoma)

3. Squamous cell carcinoma (non-melanoma)

The majority of skin cancers in Australia are caused by exposure to UV radiation

(UVR) in sunlight.

UV Radiation

There are three types of UVR which Education and Care services need to be

aware of.

1. UVA, which can cause sunburn, DNA (cell) damage in the skin and skin

cancer

2. UVB, which causes skin damage and skin cancer

3. UVC, which does not reach the earth’s surface.

Evidence suggests that childhood exposure to UV radiation contributes

significantly to the development of skin cancer in later life.

UV radiation levels are at the highest around the middle of the day,

approximately 10am to 2pm or 11am to 3pm during daylight savings time.

All services should have a Sun Safe Policy in place, according to Education and

Care services Regulation 2011. You will find a sample provided by the

Australian Cancer Council by clicking on the following link.

http://www.sunsmart.com.au/downloads/communities/early-childhood-primary-

school/ec-sample-sunsmart-policy.pdf

Outdoor play

Limit time outside during peak periods:

October to March – 11am to 3pm

April to September – 10am to 2pm

Use shade for outdoor play

Wear sun smart hats such as broad brimmed hats, legionnaires hats or

bucket hats, as recommended by the Cancer Council. Educators can be

positive role models by wearing hats also

Wear sun smart clothing, including loose fitting shirts or dresses with

collars and sleeves, trousers or longer style skirts

http://www.sunsmart.com.au/downloads/communities/early-childhood-primary-school/ec-sample-sunsmart-policy.pdf

http://www.sunsmart.com.au/downloads/communities/early-childhood-primary-school/ec-sample-sunsmart-policy.pdf



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Use of a water resistant 30+ or 50+ broad spectrum sunscreen, which

has the highest level of protection and blocks out UVA and UVB rays.

Lighting, ventilation and fresh air

The environment in which you work makes a difference to your health and

wellbeing. Environmental factors, such as heating, cooling and lighting, all affect

your health. Division 110 of the Education and Care services National

Regulation 2011 states the approved provider of an Education and Care service

must ensure the indoor spaces used by children are:

Well ventilated

Have adequate natural light

Are maintained at a temperature that ensures the safety and wellbeing of

children

Lighting

Good lighting is vital to good health. Both having exposure to natural light and

having good quality artificial lights are necessary. The centre should use as

much natural light as possible with skylights, large windows and outside play

time, but always minimise the exposure to the sun’s rays. A small, daily amount

of sunlight is necessary for vitamin D production and good health.

Ventilation and heating/cooling

Not only is it extremely unpleasant to work in an overheated, unventilated

environment, it is also extremely unhealthy. The heating and cooling services

must be both safe and effective with the temperature inside adjusted to the

weather. The preferred temperature is between 20– 25°C. The sleep area,

particularly for babies, needs to be kept at a lower temperature to minimise the

risk of SIDS as there is a higher incidence of SIDS in overheated areas. Heaters

and cooling systems need to be completely inaccessible to children at all times.

Ventilation is also an important consideration, with a good flow of air through the

centre to help reduce the buildup of allergens, pollutants, and germs. When

opening windows to allow adequate fresh air flow, safety precautions must be

used. Safety locks on the windows and safety screens will prevent children

finding their way through an open window.

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