Sleep learning for early education professionals

Intro screen: Sleep Development – Children, birth to 3 years

Professor Karen Thorpe, QUT Faculty of Health, School of Psychology and Counselling:

This video focuses on children's sleep development, describing normal patterns, individual variation and how those caring for young children in early education and care services respond to changing and dynamic sleep needs.

We view this change through the eyes of young children attending early education and care services and their educators. Children's development follows a pattern. However, there is also a wide range of normal. For example, with physical development across the first year of life, children have key milestones. They roll over, then sit, stand, then walk, but the range of normal is huge. Learning to walk, for example, varies from 8 to 18 months—a huge 10 months difference.

It's similar with sleep. Across the first 5 years of life, children have multiple sleep-wake cycles, then have daytime naps with more sleep at night. And, eventually, all sleep happens at night and naps cease.

The normal amount of sleep and age of cessation of napping varies enormously, however. A range of individual and family practice influence children's developing sleep patterns.

Depending on the day, if it's really hot, the weather, or if there's being something busy throughout the centre, if they've had big weekends or a restless night sleep at home, sometimes we recognize that they might be needing sleep earlier in the day or if they're not usually a day sleeper, sometimes they are actually needing that sleep.

Parents let us know as well if they would like us to give their child an early sleep or sleep in general. If they've had a busy night or a busy weekend, you know, sometimes their behaviour changes. We recognise that they're getting a bit tired if they've become a little bit emotional or rubbing their eyes and different cues like that.

Kristy Taynton, Centre Director:

I think making them comfortable in their environment, giving them that time, if they might need a bit of a cuddle before they go down for the sleep. Some babies need a bit of a pat. It's just spending that time and really developing that relationship with the child so they feel comfortable.

Professor Karen Thorpe, QUT Faculty of Health, School of Psychology and Counselling:

For babies, families and educators need to respond to the child's sleep cues as appropriately timed sleep is critical for growth and learning.

Communication of tiredness is through behaviour and not words.

Tamara Wilkie, Family Day Care Educator:

Normally, when a child starts to become tired, we can see losing their patience, crying, rubbing their eyes, pulling at their ears, becoming clingy and wanting might more of my attention. So when I start seeing some of those factors, I also keep a closer eye on the child to make sure I see more than just once. So if I see it 2 or 3 times, then I go and talk to the child and say, "Look, you're looking sleepy," and then they might start nodding and they might start to be able to communicate that they're tired and they want to sleep.

Sarah Paice, Assistant Centre Director:

No child is expected to sleep at the same time or get into bed at the same time. You know we recognise that some children don't sleep or sleep short periods of time or perhaps the last to go to sleep, but they do need to sleep, and each day that might be different too. You know you've got to accomodate all those different things to help them settle.

Professor Karen Thorpe, QUT Faculty of Health, School of Psychology and Counselling:

Into the toddler years, we see the need for day sleep decrease. However, this may vary across context too. Busy social environments like early education and care may increase the child's need for sleep, but busier environments may also be those that reduce the child's ability to sleep. Educators need to deal with individual child needs.

While some services schedule standard sleep time, it may not be the case that all children can sleep. There is a need to provide for sleepers and non-sleepers.

By age 3, 50% of children are no longer required to sleep and being made to lie down for sleep may not be appropriate practice. It may be stressful rather than restful.

Consulting with the child about their sleep needs and providing restful alternatives in their early childhood education and care service is important, particularly for those in full day programs.

While children's sleep follows a normal developmental path from multiple sleeps per day to 1 night sleep, the rate of transition varies and requires responsive care from educators and parents to ensure adequate duration and quality of sleep.

Communication between educators and parents is an essential part of responsive provision and is taken up in video 2, where we look at partnerships between parents and educators.

Intro screen: Sleep: Sleep Learning for Early Education Professionals

Screen: How do you rest and relax?

Children talking:

You relax like this (hand motion behind head).

You do this (lying back motion).

Can we stop resting now?

You lay down and have a rest.

Doing calm things.

Lay still.

Rest your bodies.

Be quiet.

And close your eyes.

Have a little sleep.

Yoga is actually a thing where you just do this (hand motion).

You cross your legs and do this (hand motion) and flap your bunny ears.

When I read the story it always makes me sleep.

Screen: Developing a QIP for sleep, rest and relaxation

Associate Professor Susan Irvine, QUT Faculty of Education:

This video provides practical advice to support you to reflect on your sleep, rest and relaxation practices. It’s designed to support your service to develop a Quality Improvement Plan to enhance practice in this area. Critical reflection involves considering multiple perspectives, so in this video we’re going to reflect on a range of views including those of National Education Leader, Rhonda Livingstone.

Rhonda Livingstone, National Education Leader, ACECQA:

Underpinning the National Quality Framework is that notion of continual quality improvement and so the Quality Improvement Plan is a great way for services to undertake a self-assessment and identify their strengths, what they’re doing really well, but also areas for improvement.

Associate Professor Susan Irvine, QUT Faculty of Education:

The release of new guidelines on sleep and rest present an opportunity to review and refine your service’s quality improvement plan for sleep and rest. As you watch this video consider your current practices and the implication of the new guidelines. These resources may influence the decisions you make in regard to sleep and rest practices. For example, how you organise the program, communicate with families, build relationships with children as well as staffing and service procedures.

Julia Burke, Support Services Officer, Centacare:

We launched our new policy and procedures and I am now commencing training at the long day care services and what we’re aiming to do is increase the working knowledge of our staff in sleep, rest and relaxation.

Screen: NCC Early Learners Kallangur

Martin Bennett, Educational Leader, NCC Early Learners Kallangur:

We wanted to change our view on children’s sleep and rest time. We felt that during those times it was too rushed and we needed to calm it down and make it more child focused.

Cassandra Dinte, Director, NCC Early Learners Kallangur:

We looked at our practices and how we were implementing them and then we began a transitional change through our Quality Improvement Plan in that space.

Martin Bennett, Educational Leader, NCC Early Learners Kallangur:

Our sleep and rest approach is more child focused and child-orientated. The children signalling to us when they are ready for their sleep or they’re ready for their rest and parents are also contributing to these ideas as well during the day.

Cassandra Dinte, Director, NCC Early Learners Kallangur:

Our biggest challenge as a service was getting everyone on board, knowing the individual child’s routine and stepping away from the traditional routines that were used in a toddler age group and not getting back into those routines as the children aged as they went through their development. So we focused on what was their routine at home and what would we do at the centre. We also found a lot of the infant children, families don’t have routine so we had to work with the families in close connection to get those routines into place.

Martin Bennett, Educational Leader, NCC Early Learners Kallangur:

The challenge of staffing was quite interesting ‘cause within our room we have four staff, so it was bringing four people together under one umbrella to think in a similar way and to act in a similar way for the children’s sake.

Cassandra Dinte, Director, NCC Early Learners Kallangur:

As part of the room we now have three areas in a studio: a playroom, a quiet room which is adjoined to our sleep room and our outdoor area. The children can free flow through those areas.

Martin Bennett, Educational Leader, NCC Early Learners Kallangur:

I have learnt that from six weeks to two years, children are more competent and capable than I’ve given them credit for.

Rhonda Livingstone, National Education Leader, ACECQA:

The best Quality Improvement Plans are developed collaboratively: educators, educational leaders, service leaders but importantly with children and families and the community as well.

Screen: Wynnum Family Day Care

Lisa Meyer, Coordinator, Wynnum Family Day Care:

We invited the whole team: the educators in the field, and the staff, the team in the office to come together and start investigating the new requirement for our sleep policy. We work as a team. Educators are in the field doing the day to day work and they’re the ones implementing the policy on the ground level so it’s really important for them to have a say and to feel like they can continue to give feedback and that our policies are a living document.

Nicole Kenny, Educational Leader, Wynnum Family Day Care:

Family day care has a mixed age group from babies up to children who (are) attending school so it’s really important to allow those children to follow their own sleep and rest routines throughout the day, whether that be at different times of day or whether they’re needing to use different places in the home.

Lisa Meyer, Coordinator, Wynnum Family Day Care:

We have given families the opportunity to make comment on the policy and we’re sharing, with each parent newsletter, some more information so that they can be well informed in time for the introduction of the new policy.

Lady Talking to Nicole Kenny, Educational Leader at Wynnum Family Day Care:

Nikki, I have a parent in my service that really insists on her little one wearing the ‘Amber’ necklace to bed. I know it’s in our policy to remove it during rest time. How can I take this up with the parent?

Nicole Kenny, Educational Leader, Wynnum Family Day Care:

Yeah, look have a chat to mum and be honest with her that is policy… (Inaudible background talking)

It’s very important for educators and families to have a discussion from the very beginning before care even starts about children’s individual routines and sleeping practices so that they’re on the same page and also importantly, children need to have some agency in their sleep and rest routines.

Lisa Meyer, Coordinator, Wynnum Family Day Care:

We really enjoyed being able to share the new resources from the Department of Education and Training around sleep practices and education and also the ACECQA guidelines into formulating a new policy and we have used the ‘Red Nose’ material as one of our key documents to share.

I think the new policy gives us an opportunity to expand our discussion and as much as the safety angle has been always present, it’s allowed us to move on and also talk about the quality of sleep being important in children’s everyday care.

Screen: C&K Bribie Island Community Kindergarten

Narelle Dawson, Director/Teacher, Bribie Island Community Kindergarten:

The one thing that inspired us to want to change, was just more research, learning more about children and their needs and especially children of kindergarten age. You know, putting that autonomy back onto the children for them to be able to make the decisions of what they feel their bodies need rather than educators deciding for them.

The children are exercising agency because they have choice. We speak with the children at the beginning of the year, we get to know them, we build relationships with the children. They get to decide what rest and relaxation needs to look like and we work around that. You will see children just relaxing and listening to music and maybe looking at something mesmerising up on a screen like fish. You will see some children having a quiet activity because that’s what they need at that particular time as well. You will see children on a mat outside with cushions. You will see children in a hammock if that’s what they would like to do. Or you might see someone sleeping, if that’s what they actually need as well.

If we have a child that’s not coping on the day, we may have a discussion with that child and it may be obvious that that child is tired and they are offered, you know, quiet, calm space to rest but that may not be at a designated rest time, that could be when they arrive in the morning if that’s what they need.

Traditionally, the old rest time was quite stressful and so now we’re actually doing what children want and what children are comfortable with. So it has freed us, really, from the stresses that came with doing the old way of doing rest time.

Rhonda Livingstone, National Education Leader, ACECQA:

My QIP tips would be to ensure that the goals and strategies implemented are meaningful, relevant, but most importantly achievable. It’s important not to have too many goals because you’re more likely to achieve success if you prioritise those goals.

Julia Burke, Support Services Officer, Centacare:

We’re very fortunate because there is now a lot of information regarding sleep, rest and relaxation available. My advice would be to look at that research, look at what your service is doing and then engage the stakeholders in your organisation, the parents, the children and the staff, so that you can develop a policy and procedure that works for you and your organisation.

Rhonda Livingstone, National Education Leader, ACECQA:

I think we’re good at acknowledging children’s successes and their achievements, and the Quality Improvement Plan is a really great way of documenting services’ achievements and I think it’s really important that we take time to celebrate those achievements.

Dr Sally Staton, NHMRC Research Fellow, UQ:

Developing a QIP in this area is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how we meet individual children’s needs for sleep, rest and relaxation. But of course this isn’t just about quality area 2, but indeed all areas of the National Quality Standard are relevant when we think about sleep, rest and relaxation.

A range of resources on sleep, rest and relaxation are now available on the Department of Education and Training website to support this process.

Screen: Resources are available from: https://det.qld.gov.au/earlychildhood. The University of Queensland Australia, Sleep: Sleep Learning for Early Education Professionals, QUT. @Copyright The University of Queensland 2017.

Screen: Many thanks to: NCC Early Learners Kallangur, Wynnum Family Day Care, C&K Bribie Island Community Kindergarten, Centacare, ACECQA, Produced by eMedia Production Services, LETS, TILS, QUT. Sleep: Sleep Learning for Early Education Professionals.

Concluding Screen: Queensland Government. The SLEEP Program is funded by the Queensland Government. Authorised by the Queensland Government, Brisbane. @ State of Queensland (Department of Education) 2018. Licenced under CC BY 4.0, with exception of the government coat of arms, graphics, images and sound (http://education.qld.gov.au/home/copyr.html).

Intro screen: Working in partnership with families

Associate Professor Susan Irvine, QUT Faculty of Education, School of Early Childhood:

Caring for babies and toddlers is a joy. However, it can be challenging. All parents need some support at times and an important source of support can be educators working in early childhood education and care services.

Early childhood services are expected to work with parents to promote the best outcomes for children and the focus of this video is working in partnership with families to support healthy sleep development now and into the future.

Kristy Taynton, Centre Director:

We always strive to work in partnership with the parents and also communicating what's happening with their sleeping during the day at day care while the parents have been at work is also important as well so the parents know what's happening for when they get home at night.

Stephanie, parent:

My preference in communicating with educators would be face-to-face because that way I can build the rapport with them, build the relationship and have more honest communication between us, I feel.

Caroline, parent:

I really need open communication and for them to articulate what they need as well and be honest in how my child’s going and what they feel his needs are.

Tamara Wilkie, Family Day Care Educator:

Hi Caroline, what would you like to speak to me about?

Caroline, parent:

Oh, look, I just want to quickly ask about whether Sam's having a sleep during the day still because I'm finding it really hard to get him down to sleep at night and I was just wondering whether he's still having sleeps during the day because I feel that now he's two and a bit he doesn't really need to sleep?

Tamara Wilkie, Family Day Care Educator:

I can understand your concerns. Quite a few children when they start to get a bit older, they start to require less sleep and in family day care because we are so active in the day, I just try to still encourage them to have a bit of rest time for their mind and body, so as an alternative in the past, I've let children read some books in bed or they can either go and sit at the table and do some drawing or some puzzles on the mat. Do you think that would be good alternative and perhaps, if he falls asleep, then he falls asleep?

Caroline, parent:

Yeah, that looks fair enough. I think if you feel like he needs to sleep, that's great or if you can try and just give him quiet time, like you said, just reading or just a bit of time out. But if you really feel like he needs to sleep, if he's tripping over or, you know, just not interacting well with the other children, then that will be fine.

Tamara Wilkie, Family Day Care Educator:

So you're happy to have him reading on the bed with some books or choosing if he chooses to do some puzzles and puzzles on the mat and maybe in a few weeks we could have another discussion and we can see how it’s going at home and with his night-time sleeps.

Caroline, parent:

Yeah, yeah, that would be great. That would be great.

Tamara Wilkie, Family Day Care Educator:

As an educator, we’re there to support parents as well as children and their upbringing, and so we need to communicate to find out what is best for the child compared to what's happening at home as well as what's happening in here.

Associate Professor Susan Irvine, QUT Faculty of Education, School of Early Childhood:

Caring routine such as sleep, rest and relaxation provide an important context to build and maintain genuine partnerships with families, but differences in educator and parent perspectives and expectations of sleep, rest and relaxation can create challenges in these relationships, including the potential for conflict.

Alexander, parent:

For me as a parent, I'd like to be able to communicate openly with my child's educators so they know they can speak with me if there's any concerns and I know if there's anything I need brought to their attention I can approach them easily.

What I want to speak to you about is we've been using an amber necklace at home and I really think it helps him just settle down and fall asleep. I was wondering if we could use that when he's sleeping here.

Sarah Paice, Assistant Centre Director:

We'll certainly try and help you with that because we'd like to support you in your routine at home and bring it here. The only problem is that when a child has an amber necklace, we're concerned for the child with choking. So if you're happy, we would take the amber necklace off the child's neck just while they're sleeping and then certainly put it back on afterwards—after they wake up. Would you be happy with the way we do that?

Alexander, parent:

Okay.

Sarah Paice, Assistant Centre Director:

The reason why we do that is because we have to follow SIDS guidelines and it's a safety issue for children. It could become a choking hazard and if you're not familiar with SIDS guidelines, I will print out a copy for you and give that to you if you like. And certainly, you know, if there are any issues, we'll support you in helping Sam relax and sleep comfortably, but keep in touch and we'll get back to you and we'll talk, and we'll see how everything is going for Sam.

Alexander, parent:

Sounds great. Thank you, Sarah.

Kristy Taynton, Centre Director:

We try and explain, well, first of all, our policies and procedures if it's completely against what we need to do policy-wise. We also explain about the SIDS guidelines that we also follow. We always try and come to a compromise or a bit of a negotiation with the parents as well.

Tamara Wilkie, Family Day Care Educator:

With the parents, it depends how sensitive the communication needs to be. If it's more sensitive, then I prefer to talk to them face-to-face so we can have the non-verbal communication as well, and then, we can always clarify misunderstandings straight away.

Stephanie, parent:

In dealing with conflict with an educator, I guess, if we have a difference of opinion, it's about sitting down and working out on what that difference is and how do we get through it together and what's the best outcome, best interest for the child and the work environment, and just trying to be understanding of their perspective as well as get them to understand my perspective.

Lareina Baker, Acting Centre Service Manager:

I think just honesty and communication is the biggest thing, letting us know where their child's at and what they're needing and what they're doing at home so that we have a better understanding of the day and of the child so that we can better meet their needs while he's there in our care through the day.

Associate Professor Susan Irvine, QUT Faculty of Education, School of Early Childhood:

Professional and skilled educators are able to work respectfully with diverse families and engage in shared problem solving to respond to children's changing needs and to address any emerging issues. This supports the best outcomes for children and can actually help to strengthen partnerships with families.