New resources available to help ECEC address local challenges through co-design

Goodstart Early Learning has collaborated with the Centre for Community Child Health, Research in Effective Education in Early Childhood Hub (REEaCh) at Melbourne Graduate School of Education to examine and share resources on innovative strategies applied by early childhood education and care (ECEC) services during COVID-19 to support family engagement and educator wellbeing.

The collaborative project embraces co-design principles to help services address local challenges and to share helpful strategies to support educator wellbeing and family engagement based on lessons learnt during COVID-19.

The impact of restrictions during COVID-19 presented unique challenges for early learning services.​ Educators demonstrated creativity and innovation to maintain partnerships with families, providing vital support for children and families during the pandemic which have been captured in the resources. 

Developed resources include: 

• Toolkit for educators: Using co-design to innovate: this toolkit outlines the steps in the co-design process, provides tips for implementing innovations, and shares case study examples of innovative strategies used by ECEC services to support educator wellbeing and family engagement during COVID-19.
• Research and practice brief: this brief provides a summary of the research underpinning the collaborative project and the family engagement and educator wellbeing strategies implemented by early learning services during COVID-19.
• Interviews with educators: Innovating during COVID-19: in this video, educators share their experiences and challenges during COVID-19 as well as the helpful strategies they each implemented.

More information about the project is available here.