Parenting Resources: Articles, Blog Posts, Links and Recipes

News Mail – 2nd December 2020 “The Paisley Park Early Learning Centre has decorated a tree in Boreham Park for the community to enjoy.” Article available to NewsMail subscribers: https://www.news-mail.com.au/news/festive-joy-community-christmas-tree-decorated/4150889/  

Ingredients 2 cloves garlic, chopped Roots and stems from 1 bunch of coriander Good pinch of salt 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 2 tbsp honey 1 lemon, juiced 3 tbsp ras el hanout (Moroccan seasoning) 6 deboned chicken thigh cutlets 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 300g dried…

With the current social distancing measures in place, families are spending a lot of time at home. Here are some tips for keeping your family happily entertained at home. The most important thing during this time is to try and be patient with children. Everyone…

Ingredients 4 medium beetroots, peeled, chopped ½ cup milk 25 mls warm water 2½ tsp dry active yeast 1 tbsp sugar 1 kg plain flour 2 tsp salt 2 tbsp olive oil Garnishes Salmon gravadlax Cream cheese Capers Baby gem lettuce Honey-baked ham Sliced cheddar…

These are unsettling times for children and adults alike. As parents we can support our children through this challenging time and help them to feel safe and assured. Be Open and Honest and Age-Appropriate Let children talk openly about any fears or worries. Make sure…

Ingredients 1 x 7g sachet instant dried yeast 1 tsp caster sugar 290ml luke-warm water 1 tsp salt 450g plain flour 2 tbsp hot paprika 80ml extra-virgin olive oil 100g baby spinach 200g fetta cheese 4 lamb fillets Lemon wedges (to serve) Half head of…

Things are changing moment by moment for us all as the Covid-19 Pandemic unfolds. Information Channels The purpose of this post is to direct our families and communities to the channels we are using to keep everyone up-to-date on how we are responding to events…

This recipe can also be used to make up mini tarts as well! Ingredients Pastry 225g flour, extra to dust 100g unsalted butter, diced and chilled 50g marinated Persian feta Pinch of salt 2 tsp chives, finely chopped 1 large egg yolk, whisked with 1/3…

Key points: Try to ease your child into the new child care routine. Make time to stay with your child for the first few mornings. Make sure your child has enough attention and time for rest and quiet play at home. A good relationship with…

Belonging Early Years Journal • volume 3 number 1 • 2014 by Kat Wiecczorek-Ghisso “For many early childhood Educators, ‘school readiness’ is one of those reluctant conversations that is often had with parents during their child’s orientation to child care.”  

Serves 12 Ingredients Basil Oil 1 bunch basil 1 garlic clove 250ml extra virgin olive oil   Salsa Verde 2 cloves garlic 1 tsp capers 1 tbs gherkins pickled in sweet vinegar 2 anchovy fillets (optional) 2 large handfuls flat-leaf parsley 1 bunch basil 1…

Key Points:
Helping your child through a divorce
How to tell kids about divorce
Help your child grieve the divorce
Provide stability through the divorce
Take care of yourself
Work with your ex
Professional help for kids following divorce

Click below to read the full article on Helpguide

Serves 4 Ingredients 400ml chicken stock 200g Bomba rice 250g diced chicken 150g diced barramundi 100 g squid tubes 1 chorizo sausage, thinly sliced 50g fresh/frozen peas 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve   For the Sofrito 2 large ripe oxheart tomatoes, roughly chopped…

Information:

The Australian Government Department of Social Service shared our responsibilities in area and detailed about it.

Click below to explore information from Australian Government Department of Social Services.

Serves 6 Ingredients 1/4 red cabbage, finely shredded 1/2 iceberg lettuce, finely shredded 1 carrot, peeled, finely sliced or grated 1 garlic clove, finely sliced 2 avocados 2 limes 2 Tbs Cajun spice 200g fresh fish fillet { barramundi ] 2 corncobs 1 green chilli,…

Life Lessons and Family Bonding Vanishing as Family Meal Times Lost To Busy Lifestyles Co-founder of Paisley Park and early childhood specialist, Katarzyna Wieczorek-Ghisso shares her thoughts on families and mealtimes. Families today are struggling to find quality time together where the focus is on…

Serves 6 Ingredients 250g chicken mince 250g veal mince 250g pork mince 350g mushroom mince 4 garlic cloves, crushed 1 small red chilli optional 1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley 1 tbsp chopped chives 2 tbsp thickened cream 1 splash sherry vinegar 1/2 spanish red onion,…

The Maryborough District Advertiser – 9th July 2019 “The artwork, designed by indigenous artist Trace Bella and decorated by the Paisley Park children will be displayed today at Anglicare Victoria’s NAIDOC Week celebrations.”  

7 News Wide Bay – 9th July 2019 “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories have been shared with young children through song and dance, as part of NAIDOC week”

Serves 4-6 Ingredients 1 cup cornflakes 1/3 cup quinoa puffs 1/3 cup oats, toasted 2 tbsp polenta 2 tbsp panko crumbs, toasted ½ bunch parsley, chopped ¼ cup Parmesan, grated Salt and pepper 600mL buttermilk 300mL chicken stock 600g chicken tenderloins 2/3 cup gourmet BBQ…

Information:

Through a range of policies and programmes, the Department of Education and Training helps to provide families with access to quality early learning for children.

Click below to explore information from Australian Government Department of Education, Skill and Employment

Ingredients 1 cup desiccated coconut (plus extra for coating) 2 beetroots peeled (pre-cooked) 1 cup of medjool dates 3 tbsp. cacao powder (optional)   Method Add dates to a food processor and blend for 10 – 15 seconds. Then add the remaining ingredients and blend…

Information:

The Australian Children Education & Care Quality Authority which work with all governments to provide guidance, resources and services to support the sector to improve outcomes for children.

Click below to explore information from Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority

Serves 4 Ingredients 4 whole grain bread rolls 1 bunch of coriander roughly chopped 2 Roma tomatoes (sliced) 3 medium beetroots (boiled, peeled and sliced) Baby spinach leaves   For the zucchini, feta and chickpea fritter 100g zucchini, grated 80g canned chickpeas 40g feta, crumbled…

THEY might not be able to speak in full sentences yet, but Randwick preschoolers are already helping the community with a new food outreach program.

The children at Paisley Park Early Learning Centre Randwick are cooking meals that are individually packed for local women’s and children’s shelters as part of the Cooking for our Community project.

Serves 6-8 Ingredients 1 loaf of Turkish bread, cut in half lengthways 100g tomato frito 1 tbs olive oil 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 tbsp dried oregano 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced 150g Spinach, wilted 100g feta crumbled BBQ lamb, thinly sliced 1/2 punnet cherry…

Information Available:

The Australian Breastfeeding Associations has information for mothers on breastfeeding and you can find answers to most of your breastfeeding questions on their website.

Click below to explore information from Australian Breastfeeding Association

A quarter of Queensland kids are overweight, and the Wide Bay is one of the worst regions in the state, for unhealthy habits.

But childcare centres are working to tackle the issue at an early age, teaching the next generation new ways to enjoy healthy foods.

Key points:

Your child needs to be between the ages of 18 months and three years before they are mature enough to recognise the urge to go to the toilet.
Toilet training is a new skill for your child to learn.
Praise every little success and remain calm about accidents.
Your child might take years to reliably master night-time dryness. This is normal.
Click below to read the full article on Better Health Channel

He’s the celebrity chef known for starring on Channel Ten’s The Living Room.

And now Miguel Maestre, 38, has revealed he wants to combine his passion for food with a mission to help solve Australia’s child obesity epidemic.

Celebrity TV chef Miguel Maestre is dedicated to helping solve the obesity epidemic among Australian Children.

The Living Room host is working with a child care group to help educate children and their parents on healthy diets.

Serves 2-4 Ingredients Olive oil 10 brussels sprouts halved 10 shallots peeled and halved 1/2 Kent pumpkin, skin on, sliced into thin wedges 5 golden baby beetroots halved 5 purple baby beetroots halved 1 bunch of baby kale 1/2 bunch of sage 1/2 bunch of…

We started 2019 with an exciting event, as we were meeting Miguel Maestre. He is a famous Spanish chef and TV celebrity from a number of Australian television shows including The Living Room and Dancing With The Stars.

Today (12th January 2019) is the official opening of Paisley Park Early Learning Centre. Located at Hallett Cove (a southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia) meeting Miguel Maestre is something that many of the locals are excited about too.

Serves 2 Ingredients 2 x medium zucchini spiralised 1 tbsp olive oil 2 x c 2 x chicken thighs diced ½ x chorizo sausage sliced 1 x clove of garlic finely sliced ½ x brown onion diced 1 tbsp tomato paste 10 x cherry tomatoes…

International research has perpetuated the evolution of early childhood education in Australia. While these trends have driven increased demand for teacher training, experts caution that, in an environment where institutions are pressured to continue contributing to the nation’s economic success, quality teaching is at risk of being compromised. Fuelled by evidence released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in their Starting Strong report in 2006, which highlighted that Australia’s investment in early education was one fifth of the global average, the then Rudd Government introduced the National Reform Agenda.

Serves 4-6 Ingredients 3 (150g each) fillets of John Dory, skin on 8 brussels sprouts 2 tbsp grated pecorino splash extra virgin olive oil juice 1/2 lemon 4 tbsp pepitas and sunflower seeds toasted   Method Preheat oven to 170C In a medium size, oven…

Young families and community members have been surprised how childcare is evolving in our area, flocking to recent Open Houses held at the Paisley Park Early Learning Centre in Randwick.

Information:

The Solteria Safe Sleeping Advice helps and provide details regarding safe sleeping advice and there services they offered which is in Solteria Safe Sleeping Advice website.

Click below to explore information from Solteria Safe Sleeping Advice.

Obesity in young children within Australia is a rising concern, with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reporting that as many as one in four children will be overweight or obese by the age of five. The upshot of this is that overweight or obese children are more likely to develop chronic disease at an older age, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Paisley Park Early Learning Centre, together with chef and host of The Living Room, Miguel Maestre, are tackling the issue through their 20 centres across Australia that practice innovative techniques to teach healthy eating habits and encouraging positive relationships with food from a preschool age.

Makes 30 pikelets Ingredients – Pikelets 3 cups wholemeal flour 2 cups buckwheat flour 1 ½ tbsp cinnamon 2 ½ tbsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 6 eggs 2 ½ cups orange juice or apple juice 5 large apples grated   Method Mix together flours,…

In this episode, Kat shares her advice for single mums from the perspective of an early learning Educator, and also as a fellow single mum. Julia and Kat also chat about cooking with kids, managing the juggle, parenting consistencies, mum guilt, and so much more.

Keeping cool in Maryborough’s scorching temperatures won’t be difficult for the pupils at Paisley Park Early Learning Centre Tinana with the misting sprinkler system.

It’s coming up to that time of year where many families are preparing their child for the big ‘S’, BIG SCHOOL. Whilst families with siblings who already attend school are well versed on what’s to come, others are quivering at the thought of sending their child into unknown territory, not to mention the pressure this puts on the whole family.

There are many talented Childcare Cooks in kitchens around Australia. Without their passion, efficiency and flexibility, centres offering a ‘full meal service’ would simply not survive. By a ‘full meal service’, I refer to the delivery of a menu of up to 5 meals per day; breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and late afternoon. In some cases, this even extends to dinner provision. Coupled with the demand of catering for individual allergies and dietary preferences. Extending beyond recipe basics can be quite challenging, notwithstanding the additional pressure of meeting national guidelines, budgets and time limitations.

This article from Paisley Park Co-Founder Kat Wieczorek-Ghisso looked at how provision of a variety of nutritious foods and involving children in growing food and meal preparation, can contribute to growing independence and better health outcomes for children.

Step 1 Pre- make the banana bread, cherry and orange jelly and coconut pastry cream.  Recipes are below.   Step 2  Making the trifle – children love doing this part! Using round bottom tumbler glasses or similar,  set a small amount of the jelly in…

Ingredients White Bean Aioli White bean aioli 1x 400g tin white beans drained and washed 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 4 tbsp soy milk Salt and pepper Filling 1 cup diced and roasted Parsnips 1 cup diced roma tomatoes ½ cup frozen peas, defrosted…

THE future looks bright for the young pupils at the Paisley Park Early Learning Centre in Tinana, who are tasting the fruits of their labour as they learn the paddock to plate concept.

We’re excited about this week’s launch of The Sector, a brand new resource for news, views and reviews in the Early Childhood Education industry. Follow the link to learn more:    

Leading chef Miguel Maestre has developed this recipe for Paisley Park Early Learning Centres nationally, and has come on board in a food advisory role to help instil healthy eating habits in children from a young age.

Long gone are the days when meal preparation was limited to the delivery of traditional early learning centre classics. While certain dishes such as spaghetti bolognaise remain favourites, we need to explore better ways of broadening tastebuds, and reignite our passion for cooking, not only for the benefit of children, but also for the betterment of our nation’s health.

Ingredients 1.5L chicken stock 3 tbsp unsalted butter 2 tbsp olive oil 1 leek roughly chopped 1 brown onion, diced 2 garlic cloves, crushed 350g Arborio rice Salt and pepper 1 zucchini, diced 1 bunch asparagus, cut into thirds 300g frozen peas, thawed 375g tub ricotta ½ bunch mint, leaves picked 1 lemon   Method Heat the stock…

Paisley Park’s Kat Wieczorek-Ghisso explains why children need messy play and how to do it well: “Children explore their environment using their senses; sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing. That’s why messy play is often referred to as sensory play. When children use their senses, they…

We’re excited about this week’s launch of The Sector, a brand new resource for news, views and reviews in the Early Childhood Education industry. This platform is set to become a valuable resource for our industry, sharing important news and commentary on the key issues…

Information:

The Sector Early Education News, Views & Reviews website helps to share the details regard the early education News, views and reviews in this site.

Click below to explore information from The Sector: Early Education News, Views & Reviews

The current statistics show that one in four children (and almost two out of three adults) within Australia are considered overweight or obese. According to international research, embedding good eating habits in children at an early age will reduce the risks of obesity later in life.

Forget critical acclaim – giving kids the right ingredients for a healthy life is the best dish celebrity chef Miguel Maestre has ever served.

Phonics is very important but it shouldn’t happen in isolation. It needs to be embedded into day to day experience, whether it’s a book that’s being read or an activity that it’s incorporated into.

Ingredients 6 fresh lasagna sheets ½ cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded Freshly grated Manchego or Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional) Filling 200 g white cup mushrooms, cooked (1x punnet) 100 g spinach 300 g ricotta cheese 1 egg 50 g grated Parmesan or Manchego cheese Pinch…

Makes 1 serve Ingredients Butter 2 slices bread 1 ripe truss tomato 1 large field mushroom ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil Salt and pepper 1 small clove garlic, finely grated ¾ cup grated Manchego Cheese, or tasty, or other cheese 3 thin slices Jamon…

AN indoor beach, rock climbing wall, discovery nature trail and meals prepared by a celebrity chef. It may sound like a holiday camp for the rich and famous but it is in fact Randwick’s newest childcare centre.

By Kat Wieczorek-Ghisso Co-founder of Paisley Park Early Learning Centres Most people love a pristine squeaky-clean household. But when young children are around, this proves somewhat of a challenge. No wonder we breathe a sigh of relief when they retreat to blissful slumber in the…

Ingredients  Makes 12 tacos   Corn Salsa 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 cobs sweet corn, kernels sliced off 2 ripe field tomatoes, cores removed, diced to size of corn kernels 1/2 bunch of coriander leaves 1/2 Spanish onion, diced to size of corn kernels 1 lime, juiced Salt and pepper,…

Ingredients 300g beef fillet, cut into medallions 2 tbsp plain flour for dusting meat and mushrooms 2 chorizo sausages, thinly sliced 250g button mushrooms 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 brown onion, diced 2 sticks celery, diced 2 carrots, diced 1 jar passata (700g)…

BELINDA Russo was still a child herself when she decided a career with kids was for her. Now, 15 years into her dream job as an early childhood educator, she’s been recognised for her efforts.

The Paisley Park Urangan teacher has been named a finalist in the Educator of the Year category of the Australian Early Education and Care Awards.

Ingredients 150g (1 cup) fine stone-ground yellow cornmeal 75g (½ cup) plain flour 1 tsp sea salt flakes 1 tsp white sugar 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp bicarbonate soda (baking soda) 1 cup shaved fresh corn kernels (2-3 corn cobs) 4 green onions, finely chopped, plus extra to serve 100 gr grated…

Serves 4-6 Ingredients 1.5L chicken stock 3 tbsp unsalted butter 2 tbsp olive oil 1 leek, roughly chopped 1 brown onion, diced 2 garlic cloves, crushed 350g Arborio rice Salt and pepper 1 zucchini, diced 1 bunch asparagus, cut into thirds 300g frozen peas, thawed…

Ingredients light olive oil – for frying 1 skinless chicken breast 2 chicken thighs with skin on 4 tbsp plain flour Salt and black pepper 2 tbsp sweet chilli 2 tbsp Kecap Manis 2 tbsp soy sauce 100ml water 1 large lime, juiced 2 tsp cornflour 2 tbsp honey 1 thumb sized piece ginger, grated 3 lime…

Children at our Tinana Early Learning Centre (QLD) have recently been enjoying this healthy snack for morning tea.  Here’s the recipe so you can make them at home! Ingredients 1 cup rolled oats 1 cup desiccated coconut 1/2 cup wheatgerm 1/2 cup sesame seeds 1/2…

We are fortunate in the field of early childhood to rarely work in isolation. On any given day, in fact, we have wonderful opportunities to reflect on our own practice and learn from other colleagues. While such opportunities are plentiful, we often find ourselves focused on other matters without making time for our own professional learning. For many services, such is a common predicament, especially as we focus our energy on responding to government policy changes. In this article, I advocate for a mentorship approach, and encourage centre directors to delve deeper into a collaborative process that acknowledges daily reflection as central to long-term professional learning.

In the last decade, Australia’s childcare sector has undergone many significant changes, some of which can be attributed to results from the ‘Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care’, which was conducted in 2006 by the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD). In this review, Australia was identified as one of the lowest-spending countries on the provision of high-quality education and care (see Figure 5.3). These alarming statistics have perpetuated many government and state territory policy changes, the most significant of which has seen the review of the way childcare provision is assessed nationally.

Here is Miguel Maestre chatting about our centres in the Hervey Bay and Maryborough regions (QLD) and why he loves working for Paisley Park. We love working with you too Miguel!

TV News Segment Summary: Pre-schoolers at a new childcare centre in Chadstone are being encouraged to develop a taste for cooking. The kitchen for little chefs is just one of the drawcards of the extraordinary day care.

Chef and TV host Miguel Maestre will be in Bundy today to share his love for cooking. ARE your kids bored out of their brains these holidays? Check out this great list of activities in Bundaberg that is sure to keep them entertained for hours.

‘As a dad with young kids myself, I know that healthy eating habits start early on, so it is vital we involve our children with wholesome, fresh and diverse dishes,’ Miguel said.

Miguel has teamed with Paisley Park Early Learning Centres to create seasonal menus across the organisation’s 17 centres.

When it comes to food, the cheerful father of two said children need to be exposed to a variety of flavours on their dinner plate.

Maestre has teamed up with Paisley Park in a food advisory role and will be creating seasonal menus across the organisation’s 17 centres nationally. Through this partnership, Miguel and Paisley Park are hoping to lead the fight against childhood obesity in Australia.

‘I am thrilled to join the Paisley Park team and develop seasonal menus to expose children to new tastes and flavours,’ he said.

Tasmania is one of the luckiest places on earth in terms of quality of food produce, television chef Miguel Maestre says.

Maestre hosted a cooking demonstration for families at Devonport’s Paisley Park Early Learning Centre on Saturday.

Newspaper Article Summary: A RENOWNED celebrity chef will travel to Devonport later this week with aims to inspire young ones to eat healthy. Chef and the Living Room host Miguel Maestre will visit Paisley Park Early Learning Centre in Devonport on Saturday.

“Celebrity Chef Miguel Maestre says he can! He’s teamed up with Kat Wieczorek-Ghisso from Paisley Park Early Learning Centres to introduce a new food program that is all about embracing a wide tasting palate.”

Celebrity chef Miguel Maestre has teamed up with Paisley Park Early Learning Centres to teach kids across the country about healthy eating habits, family dinner table etiquette and cooking.

He calls himself ‘The Crazy Bull’, and when he blazes into the studio, you can see exactly why… Miguel was in the studio to tell us all about a fantastic program he’s part of with Paisley Park’s Early Learning centres.

TO PROMOTE healthy eating habits in children, Paisley Park Early Learning Centre Bundaberg is teaming up with leading chef and TV host Miguel Maestre. The collaboration is designed to lead the fight against childhood obesity in Australia where nearly a quarter of children are overweight by the time they turn five.

‘Children learn more about food when they are involved in the process and can experience the process first hand,’ says Kat Wieczorek-Ghisso, early learning educator and co-founder of the childcare centres Paisley Park.

Co-founder of Paisley Park and early childhood specialist, Katarzyna Wieczorek-Ghisso, is passionate about sharing her personal and professional early childhood knowledge with Paisley Park families.  Here she provides comment about Cyclone Debbie, how it can effect and influence our children and how as parents, we can…

Little people should be as grown up at meal times as possible, says the father of a two-year-old and a five-year old.

They should be encouraged to eat adult meals complete with garlic and chilli, serve themselves with tongs, and use standard, grown-up cutlery.

It almost goes without saying that Australia is a country with high levels of cultural and linguistic diversity. In fact, data collected in the 2011 census confirmed that a quarter of all Australians speak a language other than English at home, and more than 200 languages are spoken across Australia , including more than 60 languages spoken by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (ABS 2013). With a commitment to supporting a culture of equity, inclusion and diversity in the workplace, the Fair Work Ombudsman launched its Workforce Diversity and Inclusion strategy in 2013, recognising gender, age, ethnicity, background and religious beliefs as factors that impact an individual’s life and work experiences.

In a career spanning more than 20 years, I have always taken much interest in engaging early childhood educators to embrace complex issues in the sector, one of which includes the topic of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Despite the fact that the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) considers embracing Indigenous perspectives in early childhood programs as paramount, I find it interesting that we have to navigate tense waters when broaching the subject. Identified as a key initiative in the OECD Thematic Review (2009), many services appear to struggle with direction in this area. Essentially, it comes down to a review of attitudes and an appreciation that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures hold a unique place in Australian history.

One of the first articles I wrote for Belonging was in the area of documentation. Three years on, I still feel passionately about the incredible
privilege we have as educators to depict children’s journeys in written form.

“I want to get kids before they even get to school,” says Kat Wieczorek-Ghisso. “That’s when you can make the biggest difference.”

Despite the Statistics of rising numbers of children entering Childcare each year, for many us mothers, dealing with the overwhelming burden of guilt continues to be a daily chore. Coupled with the battle of navigating the morning routine in getting our child ready, it’s no wonder we spend most of our day thinking up ways to avoid the commute altogether.

Redundant leadership is used metaphorically in this article, depicting a workplace environment whereby roles are clearly established by a leader who successfully drives the service vision from the back seat.

Since the introduction of the National Quality Standard in 2011, early childhood educators have sought support to implement what they consider to be a very complex set of measures. Coupled with their lack of experience, one of the main challenges with implementing the standards is the growing divide between theory and practice, especially given that many educators undertook their training well over 20 years ago.

‘Reflective practice’ in early childhood education has become a widely referred to term since the implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF).

Traditional professional development approaches have long centred on the learner recieving knowledge from the expert educator. For most early childhood professionals, learning of this nature has typically occurred through participation in workshops outside of the workplace context.

Successful childcare centre operators are those who recognise the effective management of human resources as fundamental to their longevity, and thus focus their energy on ensuring that staff members are suitably qualified,have relevant experience, and are able to maintain high levels of performance.

I often come across disgruntled early education directors who verbalise their frustration about staff that lack motivation and/or initiative in their workplace. Confronting as it sounds, underperforming staff are a reflection of how well they have been directed and/or managed.

A group of inquisitive children are embarking on adventure in the preschool room.Equipped with varied resources, they eagerly engage in play, negotiating their decisions and planning their discoveries, Jeremy observes the frolics from a distance, but remains removed.

Over the past decade numerous curriculum documents have been written across Australia to support the provision of educational programs for children in childcare. ‘The practice of relationships’ in New South Wales is one example. Remarkably, up until 2009, each state and territory has independently implemented programs only as guided by their state recommendations, none of which have ever been measured as part of service compliance or quality standards.

Authenticating the ability for children to verbally reflect on their artistic self expression facilitated by adult scaffolding: theoretical contributions, contemporary perceptions and current challenges