Over the past couple of years there have been some significant changes to the field of early childhood education. These changes, including the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the National Quality Framework (NQF), have lead to a significant decrease in the perceived gap between kindergartens and childcare centres. Previously, childcare has been seen as a service exclusively devoted to caring for children, and that when children are old enough they head off to kindy to begin their education. The reality is, high quality childcare has long been an environment that caters to the care AND education of children, with the awareness that for very young children there is often no difference. With the Labor government’s changes, the public perception of childcare began to change as people became more aware of the way children learn and the learning that takes place in childcare centres.
This changing perception, however, is not pervasive; some people still believe that children need to go to kindy to learn. This is despite both facilities following the same curriculum framework and being assessed under the same standards. So when families choose to stay at Flinders and not access a kindy, they are sometimes receiving flack from those who don’t know. These families sometimes choose to share other’s responses with us.
This bothered us, so we thought we’d plead our (and their) case.
There are many reason to choose Flinders over a kindy. Firstly, there are the national laws which outline the use of the same curriculum framework and assessment under the same standards. Secondly, the ratios and group sizes at Flinders in Preschool and Sturt House are both better than would be offered at a kindergarten. Thirdly, children can access the programs at Flinders all day, meaning not only that the times are more convenient for working families, but also that the children have an opportunity to access a range of learning experiences for far longer.
The educators at Flinders currently exceed minimum qualification standards; all educators either have or are working towards a Certificate III; most have a Diploma. We have eight four year teacher trained educators and one educator who holds a Masters degree. Our educators are highly experienced and passionate about children’s learning.
At Flinders, children cook, maintain vegetable gardens, access outdoor play and winter play, work with a wide range of art mediums, share stories, build, cooperate, collaborate, think, create, wonder, imagine, inspire and learn. All this happens in a supportive, positive, beautiful environment.
It isn’t our place to make decisions on behalf of others. And if we accept this, we must also accept that it is not our place to judge or qualify the decisions of others. Those families who choose to stay at Flinders and not access a kindergarten are not putting their children at a disadvantage; they are making the right choice for their child. This choice is individual and will be different for every family. It is our role as educators and members of a community to respect the choices others make and learn about the reasons why they may have made these choices.
So for those who don’t understand why a family would decide to stay at Flinders rather than go to a kindy; ask! You might learn something wonderful.
We chose flinders Sturt house over a “kindy” for all the reasons that are mentioned in this section of the blog. It is an amazing environment which is caring, nurturing and full of opportunities and it is perfectly right for our child. She has really developed within herself since beginning a year ago and will now do her kindy years in this wonderful environment until she goes to school. We couldn’t be happier about our decision to send her to Sturt house as we know she will develop and grow within this environment that offers so much more…..
Hi Melissa! Thanks for your comment, it’s wonderful to heard such positive things about the environments we provide. We are so proud to be a part of your child’s journey.
Hi guys….I’m not sure how I feel about this!! If you are saying that you think both child care and Kindergarten are equal in offering ‘Kindy age’ children education and care then…I LOVE IT! But on the other hand if you are saying that you think children are better off at child care than Kindy then I DO NOT! The part that says “At Flinders, children cook, maintain vegetable gardens, access outdoor play and winter play, work with a wide range of art mediums, share stories, build, cooperate, collaborate, think, create, wonder, imagine, inspire and learn. All this happens in a supportive, positive, beautiful environment.” I agree you do provide all this, but are you saying Kindergartens can’t/don’t provide chldren with these opportunities?? I disagree, some might not, but neither do some child care centres.
Hi Tennille
Thanks again for your comments, it’s great to receive your feedback. In response to your questions, our intention with this post was not to make comment on what kindys or other child care centres provide, but what Flinders provides. We believe that the EYLF and NQS has enabled us at Flinders to better justify our position as a place for education and care. We did not intend through this post to suggest that kindys aren’t able to provide these kinds of environments and conditions for learning, of course they are. And neither would we suggest that child care is universally the best option, because it’s not. This post was written in response to a number of families reporting that their friends have been questioning their decision for their child to attend Flinders rather than a kindy. We believe that it is each family’s right to decide what is best for their child, and our responsibility to provide not only excellent learning environments, but also actively support our families. Certainly not all early childhood environments are created equal; there are fantastic kindys and not so great kindys, fantastic child care centres and not so great child care centre. Our intention is to present Flinders as a legitimate choice for early learning and argue that child care centres have the potential to, as you hope, be equal in offering kindy age children education and care. Each site should, we believe, be assessed on an individual basis, and that each family should make the decision that is right for them. Whether that is child care, kindy, a combination of both, or neither, it is each family’s right to make that choice. We can’t speak for others, only for ourselves. So no, we are not saying that child care is better and that kindys can’t provide the same opportunities; because that simply isn’t true. We are saying that child care and kindy have equal capacity to provide education and care for children, and that this is how Flinders does early education.
Awesome! That’s what I hoped you meant! I agree with everything you have written above! Thank you. I’ll stop wasting your time now! 🙂