Communication is key to getting your learning community involved with Be You.
The National Quality Standard (NQS) encourages educators to challenge, inspire and learn from one another, and with the Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics, you can create an ongoing culture of professional learning and critical reflection. This is not only significant for the quality of children’s education and care but supports positive levels of staff satisfaction.
The value of professional conversation and various perspectives
Four different Be You communities recently attended a ‘Sharing Be You – making your commitment visible’ Be You Event. Each of the four groups had different reasons for booking into the group conversation. An Action Team Leader (ATL) wanted some feedback on their recent Action Plan focusing on educator wellbeing, an Educational Leader hoped to discuss how Be You links to the Quality Improvement Plan (QIP), a Director was feeling overwhelmed and hoped to hear stories of how other’s had started their Be You journey, and a Wellbeing Officer was eager to learn more on becoming involved with Be You and supporting the local community.
With an initial tour of the Be You website to support the conversation, the ATL and Educational Leader shared their knowledge alongside the host Consultant, offering their perspectives on ways to utilise the Be You Resources. Speaking very passionately on the importance of the first two planning and implementation stages for successful Be You engagement, the Educational Leader gave detailed examples of how their learning community had engaged with the Be You Surveys to develop the ‘Lay foundations for success’ and ‘Identify your learning community’s needs’ stages.
A plan for continuous improvement
The Director had not thought of this option as a starting place and felt that the surveys would be a gentle introduction and opportunity for his team to begin critically reflecting on mental health and wellbeing. Looking through the questions from the Be You Educators Survey, the Educational Leader was reminded of how each survey question linked to the modules within the Be You Professional Learning Framework – which are then also connected to a range of National Priorities; including the National Quality Standard (find this information within the first topic of each module).
Connecting with peers
Sharing their recent progress on educator wellbeing, the ATL expressed how the team had identified educator transitions as an area for growth and development but they were stuck for ideas. The Wellbeing Officer discussed how she had previously used the Wellbeing Plan for Educators to help several educators develop a daily wellbeing routine.
The Wellbeing Officer and ATL decided to share details so that they could continue to network, which enabled the Wellbeing Officer to become more involved in Be You and support local communities.