When your programming time keeps disappearing

You finish the day knowing you helped a child settle, supported a difficult conversation between friends and followed an unexpected interest through play. Yet the unfinished documentation is what stays on your mind, “how will I complete all my work during work hours?”

Perhaps your programming time was interrupted. Perhaps you received it, but spent most of it uploading photographs, completing templates and rewriting information already recorded somewhere else. Either way, you reach the end of the week with work outstanding.

This is a difficult position for educators who want to do their job well. Caring about children’s learning should not mean quietly accepting that the work will follow you into your lunch break or home.

When did completing the record become the priority?

We know that observing, assessing, planning and reflecting matters. This all helps  educators understand children and make thoughtful decisions about their learning and future planning and programming. The concern begins when completing the documentation becomes more pressing than considering what it tells.

Think about a child who spends the morning trying to join a group game. An educator notices, supports the child and considers how tomorrow’s environment might make participation easier. Recording that thinking can help colleagues understand the child’s experience and continue the support the child needs.

ACECQA explains that the National Law and Regulations do not prescribe a documentation quantity or method. Services still need to meet assessment, planning and family-information requirements, but they can also question routines that produce repetition without adding understanding.

Educators cannot organise time they never receive

A more manageable documentation process could help, it may not fix programming time that is repeatedly cancelled because nobody is available to cover the room, however asking an educator to catch up leaves the underlying staffing problem unresolved.

For employees covered by the Children’s Services Award, clause 21.5 notes at least two hours of weekly non-contact time for programming responsibilities is required. Educational leaders that hold this position as well as work in a classroom are required to receive a separate two-hour minimum non contact time, making at least four hours where both responsibilities apply. Employees are not required to supervise children or perform other employer-directed duties during programming time.

Wherever possible, the time should be rostered in advance. These provisions apply under the award, so employees need to check their applicable award or agreement.. Receiving the minimum also leaves a separate question for the service: can the assigned work reasonably fit within the two hours provided?

Give educators room to think

For directors and approved providers, this deserves an honest conversation with the educators and team. This may include looking at what educators are expected to complete during programming time, what programming time was received and what are the expectations for unfinished work. Also look at tasks being completed during breaks or after shifts.  Do the educators have a suitable place to be able to effectively program in, is it quiet, resourced and provide a positive working environment.

Analyse the information, findings and possible trends together as a team. Keep what helps educators understand children, plan their responses and communicate with families. Where information is repeated, consider whether the process can be simplified while meeting all requirements.

Educators need time to think, discuss, reconsider and prepare. Those are substantial parts of delivering a high-quality educational program. They deserve space in the working day, before another evening outside of the work environment becomes the place where everything unfinished is supposed to fit.

Access the Children’s Services Award and ACECQA’s documentation guidance.