Early Years Connect

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Welcome to Early Years Connect. The purpose of Early Years Connect is to help educators support children with complex additional needs to participate in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in Queensland. When we talk about 'complex additional needs', we mean:

disability
significant developmental delay
and
complex social, emotional and behavioural needs.

Every child has the right to access ECEC services and every child can benefit from meaningful participation in an ECEC program. Children with complex additional needs may need particular support or consideration to achieve success in their ECEC service. For educators, this means learning about the child, their interests and abilities through close collaboration with families, allied health professionals and support agencies. When we work together—educators, children, families and other professionals—we can provide children with the best start in life.

Early Years Connect will help you to learn about supporting children with complex additional needs and how to use professional partnerships to strengthen your team.

Introduction video

This short video outlines the purpose of Early Years Connect.

Transcript for video

Learning and resources

Early Years Connect was comprised of 4 main components: face-to-face workshops (delivered between October 2015 and June 2017), webinars (delivered between February 2016 and June 2017), information sheets, including a glossary of terms, and a series of online modules.

While the very popular live webinars and face-to-face workshops have been delivered, webinar recordings can still be accessed below.

Sections:

Online Modules

Webinar recordings

Map your learning

Information sheets

The Early Years Connect information sheets provide quick access to key facts and advice about inclusion, disability support, legislation and working with families and other professionals. They are suitable for educators, service supervisors and management.

Topics	Corresponding fact sheets
Setting the scene	Creating inclusive early childhood education and care services The principles of inclusion
The legislation	Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Commonwealth) Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Queensland) Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Commonwealth) Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Queensland) Child Protection Act 1999 (Queensland)
Leading and implementing change	Making inclusion a strategic priority for your service Developing and reviewing policies and procedures Developing a Disability Action Plan Developing decision-making and risk management frameworks
Working with families and service providers	Working together to create inclusive service and communities Fostering the development of transdisciplinary practice A professional development framework to support inclusion Promoting and celebrating achievements in inclusion

Glossary of terms

Online modules

Learners are invited to join us for flexible online learning with Early Years Connect. Our 8 online modules contain text, video, activities and assessments to help you learn more about inclusion. Complete the modules whenever it suits you, then download your Certificate of Completion. These online modules are also mapped to qualifications in early childhood education and care.

The course overview and Modules 1–8 are currently available for completion.

Webinar recordings

The Early Years Connect project incorporated a series of webinars which were presented as an opportunity for participants to ask questions, contribute their own comments and to connect with experts and colleagues right across Queensland. Each webinar ran for approximately 1 hour and recordings are available below:

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Map your learning

The Early Years Connect face-to-face workshops and online modules may help educators to attain units of competency for the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care and the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. They may also assist registered teachers to meet their ongoing professional development recognition requirements for the Queensland College of Teachers Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework, in alignment with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

The following documents may help you to map the Early Years Connect resources to your studies:

In these mapping guides to formal recognition, please note the change in the structure from the previous 15 learning modules in the series to the newly revised 8 online modules:

Current online modules	Previous online modules
Module 1 - Defining inclusive practice	Module 1
Module 2 - Creating supportive learning environments	Module 2
Module 3 - Developing effective partnerships	Module 3
Module 4 - Supporting Children's Behaviour	Modules 4 - 6
Module 5 - Making Educational Adjustments	Module 7
Module 6 - Governance	Modules 8 - 9
Module 7 - Disability support	Modules 10 - 12
Module 8 - Transdisciplinary practice	Modules 13 - 15

Background—Face-to-face workshop sessions

The Early Years Connect workshop sessions were held in regional and metropolitan areas in Queensland between October 2015 and June 2017 and were designed for all ECEC educators, service supervisors and approved providers. The workshop sessions were presented by inclusion experts, and included practical advice and case studies with the aim of improving practice and policies and to build the knowledge and skills of educators working with children with disability and complex additional needs in ECEC services in Queensland. Between July and August 2017, Early Years Connect also convened workshops specifically designed for Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) staff.

There were 2 types of workshops in the program: 'Disability Support' and 'Working collaboratively with other professionals (Transdisciplinary Practice)'. These were offered in a flexible format, whereby attendees could choose either a full-day or half-day session, based on individual ability and needs.

Acknowledgements

Early Childhood Australia (ECA) was contracted to develop the initial Early Years Connect professional development package in conjunction with their partners, the Crèche and Kindergarten Association Limited (C&K) and Autism Queensland.

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