Where is the time to know the child?

A sliding door moment refers to a seemingly insignificant moment in time that, if taken differently, could have altered the course of someone's day, essentially representing a pivotal juncture where a small decision leads to significantly different outcomes. The term originates from the movie "Sliding Doors" and I often reflect up this phase when I feel at the crossroads.

For the past fourteen years my working life has been based around outcomes due the nature of my role as an educator in the Early Years educational sector. By following the EYLF and NQS, traces of context from these documents could be found threaded through the service philosophy, weekly planning, pedagogy projects, learning stories and children's goals and outcomes.

The word threaded is used loosely as I'm not a person who cuts and paste snippets from the EYLF principals, or one of the five outcomes just to show that I'm using the correct terminology or 'lingo'. I prefer to use keywords found within the curriculum (EYFL glossary is amazing) and document using my own outcomes which are formed through personal reflection, collected data and working in collaboration with others.

We live the EYLF everyday in our role as an educator and go well beyond the contents of the curriculum which shouldn't be measured by the amount of checklist completed, observations and photos taken, number of weekly learning stories written or 'Our Day' reflected in photos of children present but not present in experiences.

Where is the time to know the child?

All of this documentation is time consuming and can often take staff away from the main role they are employed for, which is to be present with the children. Through my experience working as a casual for a cross section of services I was surprised with the limited time spent engaging with the children. The flow of the day was dictated by the wall clock, which indicated when checklist had to be filled, unpacking and packing completed, cleaning, allocated transition times for children and staff, along with experiences mapped out for a full month.

Where is the time to know the child?

It was no fault of the educators who worked in these services, part of their employment is to follow the guidelines and procedures set out by HQ management group. Such management groups set rigid standards to ensure that when it came to Assessment and Rating time they have everything set in place (and more) to receive the highest rating, and for many it works in their favour. Much praise and respect needs to go to the educators who worked tirelessly following such standards. There we a few educators who wanted to try things done differently but held back having a voice.

The overall answer to 'Where is the time to know the child?' can only be found when the flow of the day allows for holistic moments to occur when the wall clock becomes invisible and both educator and child/children have all the time they need. In the real world you don't have all the time you need but there are ways to communicate with others so that this is our moment and presently you're not available. It may not be received well by other staff but overtime is will work in their favour as well.

It's during these moments that you will learn more about the child in ten minutes than observing them over a week or two. Ten minutes doesn't seem very long but for any preschooler it's long enough. It's important you do your own research on the child so you have open questions to start the conversation.

Slowly these ten minutes intervals between the child and you will reveal their identity in a rich and meaningful way. You will start to learn their strengths, developmental stages, family background, interest and so much more because time has allowed your conversations to flow to greater depths which seem impossible if the focus was on the service outcomes.

Time has permitted you to capture the image of the child in a way which wasn't achievable before simply because you have to observe six children in one day to ensure their portfolio has regular learning stories and the inclusion of photos on the digital platform was a daily requirement. You made the decision that quality is more meaningful than quantity.

When you start to write the reflections of your time together it may surprise you to find embedded in your observations and photographs is the EYLF but in a different context. You will discover that you have covered many outcomes in one conversation. The child has demonstrated kindness, diversity, collaboration and many other skills through the drawing of his family. Suddenly only a few words can represent the entity of EYLF Outcome 3 when captured in just one magic moment.

This is where I feel the sliding door moment comes into play as you move through the first term of 2025. For many it's nearly a month since the class of 2025 sat in the yarning circle or attended the morning meeting to greet and meet educators. Allocated groups may have been formed for children, educators rosters and roles are finalised and parents have expressed individual goals for their child.

Your now standing at the sliding doors of your service.. You have one choice to make, and depending on what path you take it may determine the flow of your whole year.

Do you go through the door with the desire to spend more time with the children? Returning to the roots of your role as an educator and spending quality time to discover threads of each child's identity and slowing forming your own image of the child. Making sure the experience they are participating in does't have an outcome but opportunity for slow pedagogy to be embedded in projects which brings more magic moments than experiences dictated by the clock. Each photo is a thread of a learning journey that has no ending but many chapters to fill with adventures and storylines. You will find that your passion and love for the job will return.

OR

Do you go through the door with the mindset that things are always done this way? It's another year and we have started with more checklist than 2024, change in routines because time doesn't permit for open ended experiences, outdoor play because it means cutting back on meal or rest times. Every educator is required to have all their allocated children's learning stories complete by week six with reference to the EYLF outcomes included. Educators needs to complete their job roster in the allocated timeframe and complete daily checklist without fail. When it time for transition, all experiences are to be packed up to set up for next day scheduled experience. Every child must be visible in the daily photo gallery uploaded at the entrance by 3pm. You will find that you're lost the passion for your role and think about the day you quit.

I would go through the door which allows me to remain true to my professional and personal beliefs and values when it comes to my role as an educator and the service philosophy. The EYLF will be embedded in a way which doesn't stand alone as one framework but include fragments of other educational approaches which inspire me, such as the Reggio Emilia Approach. Checklist will still be completed and rosters followed but the word collaboration, flexibility, valued and team work will be added to the daily running of the day. Even the wall clock may be taken down and replaced with a pieces of artwork which becomes the children's gallery at the entrance of the service.

Frances