Reference no: EM132411644 , Length: word count:2500

Leadership and Service Management Assignment, Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care - Queensford College, Australia

Assessment Task 1 -

1. Access National Quality Standards online.

Identify the provision of each element specified.

Briefly explain why this element is relevant to your role as an educator.

2. It is important that you understand all aspects of the NQF, its components and how they apply to the childcare centre.

a) Who would you speak to within the centre to assist you in interpreting NQF requirements?

b) List one (1) government consultant/agency that could provide support in understanding the NQF.

c) List one (1) non-government consultant/agency that could provide support in understanding the NQF.

3. Provide a brief description of each of the following components of the National Quality Framework and describe the relevance of each in a childcare centre:

a) The National Legislative Framework

b) The National Quality Standard

c) Approved learning frameworks

A childcare centre must undergo audits by ACECQA to make sure it meets the compliance requirements set out by the National Law, the National Regulations, the National Quality Standard, and any other relevant laws.

A Quality Improvement Plan, which involves a self-assessment, is one of the requirements for the auditing process.

a. Describe two (2) ways to collect information from staff, children, families, and the community that will help a childcare educator conduct a well-informed self-assessment of their centre and its services.

b. Identify processes for engaging stakeholders in the planning and consultation stages of quality assurance. Fill in the table below.

4. Match the following legislation, regulations, and frameworks to their relevance to the early childhood education sector.

A. Disability Discrimination Act 1992

B. Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics (2016)

C. Framework for School Age Care

D. The National Quality Standards

E. The National Regulations

Write the letter of their corresponding letters on the spaces provided.

i. This clearly explains the responsibilities of all parties in relation to one another and to children and families using the childcare service.

ii. This sets out the process for the rating and assessment of education and care services against the national quality standard, including the rating levels.

iii. This aims to extend and enrich the well-being and development of children 6 to 12 years of age in education and care settings by assisting services to provide children opportunities to engage in leisure and play-based experiences.

iv. This makes it unlawful to treat staff or students differently because some of their attributes and/or abilities are different from most staff or children.

v. This allows each service to adopt approaches that are most appropriate to the children being educated and cared for at that service.

5. Describe two (2) changes that have occurred in the last five (5) years which alter the way a centre operates.

6. When facilitating a meeting or group discussion, it is important to ensure the meeting runs smoothly. Among the choices below, select three (3) techniques that will help a meeting or group discussion run smoothly.

a) Do not allow attendees to speak during the meeting.

b) Communicate the meeting's purpose and desired outcomes to all attendees.

c) Keep the purpose of the meeting confidential, except from the top management.

d) Designate a meeting leader who understands meeting principles, is familiar with the agenda and is a skilled facilitator.

e) Limit number of items to a reasonable amount for the meeting's timeframe.

f) Discuss as many items as possible in the meeting.

7. Answer the following questions about coaching.

a) Briefly explain the difference between coaching and mentoring.

b) Explain how a coach can systematically explain knowledge-based details.

Guidance: Identify and explain the techniques used in explaining knowledge-based details systematically.

c) Identify and briefly explain the three (3) learning domains in coaching.

8. You currently handle a class of ten (10) students, all aged 7 years old. They all come to the centre 5 days a week. You wish to give them some simple responsibilities in the classroom. The available responsibilities are:

• calling out names for attendance at the start of class
• lead the action song of the day
• distribute daily activity sheets to classmates
• collect daily activity sheets from classmates

Guidance: Only one (1) student is required per responsibility, but one (1) student may have more than one (1) responsibility per day. Add answer fields as needed.

9. Explain the importance of community as a source of knowledge, skills, and values for the following aspects of sustainable practices in service operations, and give an example for each:

a) Barriers and drivers for behavioural change

b) Strategies to increase children's experiences and understanding of animals and the natural environment

c) Impact of key global issues, such as climate change, ozone layer effects, greenhouse effect, earth resources and biodiversity

d) Qualitative and quantitative evaluation processes for sustainability program

e) Cleaning and maintenance, and building, equipment and associated resources

f) Organisation standards, policies and procedures

Assessment Task 2 - Case Studies

Case Study 1 - Scenario

Susan Pearson is working as a kindy assistant at Sparkling Stars Childcare Centre. A few months ago, Tina Housden was assigned as the new group leader in the kindy room.

Susan found Tina difficult to work with. Tina is often rude and abusive to Susan and expects her to do tasks outside of her responsibilities. Susan is thinking about finding a new job.

As their supervisor, you need to help resolve this conflict and promote effective workplace relations between Susan and Tina.

1. Identifying conflict.

a) Identify the two (2) primary conflict situations in this scenario.

b) Describe an appropriate strategy to resolve the conflict and minimise negative effects on the workplace.

c) How does the strategy you've described address the rights and responsibilities of both Susan and Tina?

Guidance: Provide examples of specific rights and responsibilities for each.

2. Role-play conflict resolution.

Record a short video that shows you attempting to resolve the conflict between Susan and Tina, and submit to your assessor. You will demonstrate this by recording a brief mediation meeting between yourself, Susan and Tina. The organisational constraints at Sparkling Stars mean you are required to conduct the mediation and facilitation yourself.

Case Study 2 - Scenario

You have been designated as the acting supervisor while the Nominated Supervisor is away on bereavement leave.

You have been monitoring the staff while the children play outside and found that the kindy assistant has been standing with her back to the children and occasionally leaves the area without informing others, leaving staff ratios lower than the legislative requirements.

You spoke to the centre Director regarding this issue, and they would like you to talk to the kindy assistant.

Guidance: Answer the questions below using the Sparkling Stars Grievance Procedures for Staff as a guideline of how to approach this issue.

Voice Recording 2 -

1. Make a short video recording, in which you must provide the kindy assistant with a verbal warning about her behaviour, and provide some counselling and support to improve performance. Submit to your assessor.

2. Unrelated to the performance issues above, the assistant resigns and provides 5 days effective notice. You are aware that she has resigned due to an ongoing illness. One of the staff members in another room has emailed you, enquiring as to the reason for her resignation.

In the space below, compose a reply email that ensures the confidentiality of the kindy assistant.

Refer to the Sparkling Stars Confidentiality Policy to inform your response. Access the Confidentiality Policy through the link below.

Case Study 3 - Scenario

You overhear a number of staff members gossiping in the yard about the fact that they always miss out on their programming time and never get to take their 10-minute breaks, which they are entitled to. This is because a small number of educators are continually calling in sick or turning up late to work.

1. Being groomed for the supervisor role, you have been tasked by your supervisor to contact the Director about this issue.

Compose an email to the Director of the centre, listing ideas from a strategic point of view to overcome the concerns you overheard from the other staff members.

Guidance: Your message must include the issues you wish to address and three (3) suggestions to address these issues.

2. After reading your email, the Director decided to hire an additional educational assistant. An advertisement has been sent out.

The centre received a number of submissions. Access the applications submitted and assess them for shortlisting.

Select three (3) candidates to proceed to interview. Complete the table below, describing your recommendations for applicants that should be shortlisted.

You will need to access Sparkling Stars' Recruitment Policies and Procedures and Staff Records and Job Descriptions to complete this task.

Guidance: More than three (3) candidates may meet the criteria for the position. Select the three (3) you believe are most suited for the role to proceed to interview.

3. Following the final interview, management has decided to hire Georgina. She has been offered the position and will be commencing in two weeks. The Director has asked you to work alongside her and assist with completing the induction process.

a) Some tasks in the induction process have already been completed. For the rest of the items, describe the strategy you would employ. You may include the resources you need, if any.

b) Record a video of yourself simulating the induction process with Georgina, based on the strategies you cited in Part 4 (a) of this Case Study.

c) Create a six (6) month professional development plan that outlines ways in which you can support Georgina and ensure that she is able to effectively transition into her role as an educational assistant. The plan must include a timetable, the tasks to complete, the strategies you wish to employ, and the resources that may be required.

The required tasks in the plan are as follows:

- Get to know all of the children's names

- Introduce self (Georgina) to all family members of the children

- Have Georgina start contributing to the daily / weekly documentation

- Have Georgina contribute to the curriculum and observations

- Have Georgina run small group and large group experiences

Your plan must include criteria to measure the successful completion of each task.

Guidance: Come up with measurable criteria to in order to evaluate Georgina's performance.

6. In order to properly induct Georgina, it will be helpful to understand Sparkling Stars' Organisation Structure, Philosophy and Mission.

a) Review the Sparkling Stars Organisational Chart located at the end of the intranet home page.

List the names of the following people:

i. Georgina's room leader

ii. The centre's nominated supervisor

iii. The office manager

b) Review the following document:

Sparkling Stars Information for Parents

The centre's philosophy states that a special curriculum model is used. Which model is it?

c) Sparkling Stars Information for Parents also contains the centre's mission statement. What is this mission?

d) Given Sparkling Stars' mission statement, what kind of leadership style would work for the centre to fulfil this mission? Explain your answer.

e) Refer to Sparkling Stars' Grievance Procedures for Staff: Sparkling Stars Grievance Procedures for Staff

Answer the following questions:

i. How many written warnings will a staff member receive after a verbal warning before they are terminated for unacceptable behaviour?

ii. What is the first step or procedure in dealing with staff conflict?

Attachment:- Leadership and Service Management Assignment File.rar