What is the EYLF and how does it impact children? | Little Zak's Academy

What is the EYLF and how does it impact children?

The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) was created by the Australian government to allow early childhood programs across the country to deliver consistent, high-quality education. It represents a mandatory standard that all education providers need to meet, so that regardless of where you send your child, you know the educators are working to meet the same key outcomes and using the same guiding principles and learning practices as every other childcare centre across Australia. The framework has been carefully created to nurture children’s development from birth to five years, with a focus on belonging, being and becoming.

What are the key learning outcomes of the EYLF?

The foundation of EYLF is the five core learning outcomes:

  1. Children have a strong sense of identity

    Children construct their identity through their relationships with people, places and things, as well as the actions and responses of others. Within the childcare context children should be supported to develop their sense of belonging through building connections with educators and peers and encouraged to explore different aspects of their identity through physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and cognitive exploration.

  1. Children are connected with and contribute to their world

    This outcome is all about children learning to be active members of their community, and understanding how their actions can positively impact others. Educators should endeavour to create environments where children can act out mutually respectful relationships with other people and the environment, contributing to a child’s desire to work collaboratively and participate in communal events and experiences.

  1. Children have a strong sense of well being

    Well-being incorporates both physical and psychological elements including good physical health, positive emotions, satisfaction with life and strong social bonds. Educators can support children’s developing sense of wellbeing by offering warm, emotionally attuned care, creating safe and predictable environments and encouraging respect for everyone within the childcare community. Other ways childcare centres encourage well-being is through teaching children to take responsibility for their own basic care (e.g. learning to wash their own hands), learning health behaviours such as good nutrition, personal hygiene, physical fitness, emotional regulation and fostering positive social relationships. 

  1. Children are confident and involved learners

    Children who are secure in their childcare setting have the confidence to experiment, explore and learn. Children are also more likely to be confident learners when their educators recognise and incorporate their unique family and community experiences in order to assist them to make new connections and processing new experiences. A childcare setting should encourage children to use exploration, collaboration and problem solving to engage their natural sense of curiosity and creativity when engaging in learning.

  1. Children are effective communicators

    Children are encouraged to share their ideas, questions and feelings with others as well as to understand and engage with content in various forms. Educators should help children to learn literacy through a range of forms including dance, music, storytelling, art, talking, reading and writing. They should also be encouraged to communicate and engage with the world through numeracy skills which are developed by exploring spatial awareness, structure, patterns, numbers, measurements and other mathematical ideas. Early childhood education should also be inclusive of children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds and educators should encourage children to value and integrate their home language and culture as well as develop competency in standard Australian English.

What are the five principles that guide educators under the EYLF?

While the five outcomes represent what educators are aiming to achieve, the five principles should guide educators’ approaches. These principles are based on the most up-to-date theories on children’s development and are supported by current research.

  1. Secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships– educators should be attuned to children’s thoughts and feelings and develop bonds based on respect and trust.
  2. Partnerships – educators should work together with families collaboratively.
  3. High expectations and equity – educators should have a belief that all children have the potential to succeed regardless of their background or abilities.
  4. Respect for diversity – educators should value the unique and diverse practices and beliefs of families.
  5. Ongoing learning and reflective practise – educators should be constantly seeking to improve and develop their own professional competency.

What are the ten practices that guide educators under the EYLF?

As well as embodying the five principles of the EYLF, educators should also follow these ten learning strategies and practices to work towards the five key outcomes.

  1. Adopting holistic approaches – recognise that children’s physical, personal, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing are all connected, without just focusing on cognitive outcomes in isolation.
  1. Being responsive to children – build on children’s strengths, skills, ideas and interests.
  1. Planning and implementing learning through play – use play to support learning by providing a balance of child-led and educator-led learning.
  1. Intentional teaching – recognise that learning occurs spontaneously through social interactions and conversations and use these genuine engagements to extend children’s learning.
  1. Creating physical and social learning environments that have a positive impact on children’s learning – provide vibrant and flexible learning spaces, including the use of both indoor and outdoor settings.
  1. Valuing the cultural and social contexts of children and their families – respect the different ways of understanding and living represented by different cultures and celebrate diversity and difference. 
  1. Providing for continuity in experiences and enabling children to have a successful transition – build on children’s experiences outside the educational context to help them feel secure and confident within the early education setting. 
  1. Assessing and monitoring children’s learning to inform provision and to support children in achieving learning outcomes – gather information about what children can do and understand in order to plan for future learning.

Conclusion

So how does the EYLF impact children? Well, if it’s well-executed by a quality childcare provider the EYLF should positively impact children by creating curious, confident learners who feel secure and supported in their childcare environment. Children should create strong bonds with their educators, their peers and the wider community, helping to foster a strong sense of belonging and a secure identity. In short, the EYLF offers a fantastic educational framework for early childhood education which should foster inclusive, holistic and effective education that will leave your child well-prepared for the next step in their education. Talk to us today about finding the best childcare centre that is local to your neighbourhood.

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