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Over 2,000 ECEC professionals gather for Community of Practice sessions with Affinity
Freya Lucas
Mar 31, 2023
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More than 2,500 early childhood educators and early childhood teachers recently collaborated in Community of Practice sessions held nationally over three nights in March 2023, as part of Affinity Education Group’s launch of its Lifelong Learning Curriculum.
Head of Education and Pedagogy Dr Lesley Jones and Affinity’s Education team described the curriculum as “Australia’s most progressive approach” to delivering the Early Years Learning Framework for children aged birth to five years of age.“In more than 30 years of working in early education I have never seen this level of engagement in a single week across a national community of educators and teachers,” Dr Jones said. “It truly is history in the making for us and for the future of early education in Australia.”
A key consideration in developing the Curriculum has been ensuring that play-based and intentional teaching practices were incorporated, in line with the challenges many educators and teachers say they experience, along with play schemas and the principle of the environment as the third teacher.
"Our Lifelong Learning Curriculum has emerged from a philosophy established by Affinity in 2015 and is based on what children learn, where children learn and how children learn,” Dr Jones explained.
“The feedback from our educators is that this really supports them as they undertake their observations of children and respond with thoughtful programming to deliver the Early Years Learning Framework.”
The Curriculum is distilled into three key age groups which enable early childhood educators to meet children’s needs:
- Healthy Beginnings (Birth to 1 year) which emphasises the establishment of secure attachments and positive relationships between babies and educators through the use of Primary Caregiver (Key Educator) approaches, the Circle of Security and learning zones focused on play schemas.
- Early Experiences (1-3 years) which emphasises guiding toddlers’ language and social development using the Abecedarian approach within intentional learning zones focused on play schemas.
- School Readiness (3-5 years) which emphasises enquiry-based projects and foundation learning skills to support children’s development of key 21st century school-readiness skills. The Education Team supports early childhood teachers with outstanding programs which enrich their state-based preschool or kindergarten curriculums.
Attendees responded favourably to the sessions, with Sarah Lillie from Papilio Early Learning in Turner, ACT, saying her team received inspiration about how to re-think and re-fresh their environments at their centre. Affinity’s launch events will be complemented by the organisation’s 2023 professional development series for educators and teachers, and by free eLearning programs designed to deliver in-depth expert knowledge in programs including play schemas, Circle of Security, Abecedarian language and primary caregiver approaches.
Learn more about Affinity Education Group here.
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