In publishing terms, producing 100 editions of a magazine over 25 years is the equivalent of going to the edge of the universe and back. Publishing is an incredibly fickle field and to provide an idea of how tough it can be, of all the magazines that were launched in 1987, only 5 per cent still exist. Of all the magazines that were being published in 1987, 90 per cent have disappeared.

In 1987, a publishing revolution commenced—production that previously required large-scale machinery and many staff to layout and produce a magazine, could now be published on a small computer that could sit on a desk, hence the phrase ‘desk-top publishing’.

The Board of Community Child Care Co-operative of NSW at the time agreed that it was important to have a publication as a way to communicate its own stories and information about all the many issues that were taking place in the sector.

It was decided that the magazine be called Rattler—a dual meaning, according to the minutes from 1987 in which it was proposed that the magazine’s reason for existence would be ‘to rattle the cage, to make noise, like a kid’s rattle, and be heard’. Although this seems an unambiguous title, we did once receive an enquiry about whether the magazine had anything to do with American snakes.

Rattler’s predecessor was the Community Child Care Newsletter. In Rattler’s debut editorial, Community Child Care Co-operative’s Co-ordinator at the time, Penny Ryan, wrote:
‘Try saying, “the Community Child Care Newsletter” ten times quickly and you’ll see why we decided to change it to something short, relevant and memorable.
‘Rattler will continue our policy of making a lot noise about issues that count in children’s services and shaking a few people up, as well as continuing to provide news and information to all children’s services. It rhymes with “battler” for all you hard working childcare workers and also “tattler” because we do tell a few tales…’

For a quarter of a century, Rattler’s most important role has been to act as an advocate for what is in the best interests of children and what is in the best interests of early childhood teachers and the professionals that care for children. Over the years, Rattler has tackled many of the big issues that have confronted the sector and, indeed, has rattled the cage on many occasions. Rattler has never been afraid to confront those that act against these interests.

The transformation of early childhood education and care to a recognisable profession has been well documented within our pages over the years. And the shameful practice of holding children in immigration detention, a practice that still continues to this day, was roundly condemned with a series of articles in the early 2000s. Railing against the removal of operational subsidies by the Howard Government in 1997 was another.

Rattler strongly argued over many years that corporatised childcare was not in the public interest and we believe that we were finally vindicated when the ABC Learning conglomerate collapsed in 2009. So, while these are some of the big issues affecting the overall sector, Ratter also promoted many successful campaigns that directly affect educators, including improving working conditions, better staff–child ratios (1:4 Make It Law), and the pay equity campaign.

Within this ‘big picture’, Rattler has also provided information about the many factors that influence the quality of each and every service—better quality menus, playground design, contemporary educational research, reviews of books for children and educators, music and drama for children, programming and policy development, behaviour management, working with management, Aboriginal and Indigenous issues, environmental awareness, multiculturalism, occupational health and safety, risk assessment, legal issues, the effects of new technologies on children, special and additional needs… an endless list!

And, of course, the many profiles and close-ups that we have had with many political leaders of all persuasions (even one Governor–General), children’s services leaders, academics, authors, educators and activists have added great weight to Rattler being the must-read resource for everyone in the sector.

Looking back, looking forward

Although the first issues of the magazine look completely different to the issues of today—the first issues were more strictly black and white, with a second colour on the cover to add a bit of class—the information contained within Rattler has always been high quality. Today, Rattler is a full-colour professionally designed publication and is available to be read on electronic readers, computers and over the internet.

In the same way that we can’t imagine what Rattler will be like in 2037, it’s difficult to imagine what our predecessors would have imagined back in 1987. But the most important thing is that they imagined that Rattler had a future and could be used as a driving force for change in the sector, as well as letting the world know about the good work that was taking place, not just within Community Child Care, but within the entire early childhood field.

It’s important for all of us to remember where we come from. Today, Rattler remembers its roots, from where it came from, and where it hopes to be. Let’s all remember this as we look towards the next 25 years and beyond.

Remembering Rattler’s roots

Rattler’s co-creator, Penny Ryan, now director of her own consultancy, joined Community Child Care in 1981. In 1985, she became the Community Child Care’s first official co-ordinator and began to generate income for the organisation by selling a range of publications from Australia and the United States.

‘At about the same time, my colleague Lisa Ward and I decided to upgrade the existing newsletter into two different publications. Inspired by the National Association, Rattler was to be the ‘journal’ and Broadside the monthly quick overview of what was happening. I think Lisa came up with Rattler as the title at a brainstorming meeting.’

The only other early childhood journal at the time was put out by the Australian Early Childhood Association but Ms Ryan had a different vision for what it, Rattler, should be—i.e. ‘much more practical, more focused on quality issues and resources as well as advocacy’.

‘Advocacy was integrated into everything we did—we learned policy skills and negotiation as well as grass-roots organising (we got 50,000 post cards delivered to Bob Hawke for instance), but I guess we always were completely focused on improving the quality of care.’

Ms Ryan fondly recalls Rattler’s section called ‘My Working Day’ which would profile a childcare worker.

‘At that time, there was a lot of division between differently qualified staff and I loved having profiles that demonstrated how everyone made the centre work for children and families,’ she said.
Jenepher Surbey, employed by Community Child Care as a project officer at the time, wrote several articles in Rattler’s debut edition in 1987. These days she is a business consultant but recalls how Community Child Care was an important advocacy training ground.

One article that stands out was an interview Ms Surbey did with the then NSW Nurses Association General Secretary, Bronwyn Ridgeway, who likened many of the issues faced by childcare workers with those of nurses such as poor pay, stress and funding cuts. ‘It was my second job out of university and I was passionate about industrial relations.’

Ms Surbey also wrote a publication on occupational health and safety for childcare centres.

‘Purpose-built centres were just being introduced so it was a testing ground for all sorts of OH&S issues.’

Louise Brennan was the director of Carinya Neighbourhood Centre in 1987, and was later employed at Community Child Care Co-operative where she too penned several articles for Rattler magazine.
‘In 1987, I was a graduating “mature aged” teacher stepping into my first job in the lower Blue Mountains. Neighbourhood centres operated similarly to current day multifunctional children and family services. And Rattler and the NSW Community Child Care team behind it were true lifesavers.

To make sure staff would read it, she recalls slipping Rattler into the middle of New Idea magazines. It worked!

Rattler was distributed at low-cost, carrying information that was straight forward, with contributions from practitioners, academics, management and economists, she recalls. ‘Newly released books for staff and management committee as well as children, were reviewed. And endless campaigns for change were created, promoted and analysed through Rattler.

‘I remember a photo of Louise Dungate, centre director of Dee Why Child Care, on the cover of Rattler. She was pushing babies up a hill, in a double pram out on an excursion. I had interviewed her following the centre’s experience of a validation visit. She and the team were on a high, following the centre achieving high quality through the quality improvement and accreditation process. Those were innovative and exciting times!’

Throughout the 25 years of policy shifts, and practitioner changes, Ms Brennan has moved in and around the sector undertaking a range of positions and roles. These days she works at Marrickville Council in Sydney co-ordinating early childhood services, where she says Rattler is as ‘an accessible and important publication that continues to provoke, affirm and agitate for change’.

‘Well done Rattler! These days, you can stand against any New Idea on any staff room coffee table. Keep up the great work!’

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This article first appeared in Rattler Magazine, Issue 96, Summer 2010

When it comes to pay packets, not all teachers are equal. Suzanne Kowalski-Roth from the NSW/ACT Independent Education Union (IEU), explores this much-needed campaign, and outlines why pay parity needn’t be a utopian daydream.

In a utopian Australia, young children would be valued by our society, and the role of early childhood teachers in nurturing and educating children would be truly understood, articulated and affirmed.

In a utopian version of Australia, there would be no reason to run a campaign to demand early childhood teachers be remunerated at the same rate as their peers.

In a utopian Australia, teachers, especially those who teach the youngest members of our society, would be paid at a rate that recognised the importance of this role.

Getting the pay we deserve

Early childhood teachers in long day care services and community-based preschools earn up to 20 per cent less than teachers in State Government preschools and independent and Catholic primary schools.

This pay disparity impacts on the sector’s capacity to recruit and retain teachers, to encourage school leavers to enter the early childhood teaching profession and, of course, on early childhood teachers’ economic survival.

Declaring, ‘Teachers are Teachers: Fund Equal Pay For Early Childhood Teachers‘, the Independent Education Union (IEU) has launched a far-reaching campaign to ensure early childhood teachers achieve pay parity with their professional peers.

Launching the campaign, IEU General Secretary, Dick Shearman said: ‘In NSW, the Government gets early education on the cheap… It is about quality, it is about respect and it is about recognition for the work teachers do’.

In a recent survey of IEU members, 53 per cent of respondents said they have considered moving to primary school teaching to earn more money.

‘No wonder it’s difficult to recruit teachers for early education and care services, when a teacher could earn up to $14,000 per year more for teaching primary school children,’ Mr Shearman said.

Pay parity could well remain a utopian daydream unless early childhood education and care services receive increased government funding.

Recognising this, the ‘Teachers are Teachers’ campaign calls on both the NSW Government and the NSW Opposition to commit to funding pay parity for all early childhood teachers.

‘Unless funding for services increases, services will not be able to pay our members what they deserve. That is why the campaign is directed at the NSW State Government rather than individual employers,’ Mr Shearman said.

Pay parity is even more important when the success of the National Quality Framework depends so much on recruiting and retaining teachers.

Demand for teachers will also be driven by the Universal Access commitment to provide 15 hours of preschool per week to all four year olds, to be delivered by a four-year university-trained teacher by 2013.

Speaking at a rally in Sydney to launch the campaign, Charles Sturt University academic Dr Frances Press, outlined a range of reasons why early childhood teachers deserve pay parity.

She spoke of the fact that a child who enters fulltime long day care shortly after birth can spend almost as many hours in the day care environment as they will for the rest of their schooling—a total of 12,500 hours.

Ms Press said: ‘Research about outcomes for children in such environments has identified the quality of early childhood programs as a key issue in determining whether the effects upon children are adverse or positive. As a result, the general community has an expectation that not only will children be kept safe, but that their learning and development will be actively nurtured’.

Ms Press also spoke of the ways in which early childhood teacher’s jobs were more difficult than the jobs of their counterparts in schools:

• Teachers in the long day care sector are likely to work longer days and have shorter holidays than other teachers.
• Attendance patterns in children’s services are highly variable—teachers in early childhood have to develop meaningful relationships with a much higher number of children and their families.
• The volume and extent of regulation and quality related policy require high levels of accountability from teachers.
• As early childhood programs are considered effective forms of early intervention, children with additional or specialist needs are often enrolled as a remedial measure.
• Thus teachers must also develop and implement an inclusive curriculum for a wide range of variation in development.

Ms Press also pointed out that: ‘Teachers within the school system receive a much greater level of systemic support, have much less administrative responsibility, and do not have to assume a leadership role with lesser trained staff. In addition, they work shorter hours and for fewer weeks in the year’.

Three voices, one message

Rattler talks to three early childhood professionals about the fight for pay parity STUDENT TEACHER Melinda Ferris just completed her four-year Early Childhood Degree and is employed as a teacher at Mia-Mia Child and Family Study Centre at Macquarie University.

‘In a recent discussion in a tutorial group, I was shocked to learn that in a class of 25, only two graduating students intended to teach in priorto- school settings.

This inspired me to consider this notion further, and as part of an assessment, I conducted a survey to gather data around which educational setting graduating teachers intended to work in, and what would entice them to remain in priorto- school settings.

A cohort of 99 early childhood students in their third and fourth years of university were surveyed; sadly, only 35 participants said they would use their early childhood education teaching degrees to work in a prior-to-school setting.

The most influential factor and rationale for choosing not to were the pay and poor working conditions. In response to the question what would entice them to work in priorto- school settings, 45 participants stated that pay parity would motivate them to seek employment in early childhood settings.

It is important to acknowledge that this goal is a realistic one—that pay parity is achievable. In New Zealand, pay parity was achieved in a bid to lift the profile of the early childhood sector.

Pay parity is a reasonable request from the early childhood profession— and I believe all early childhood teachers should join the fight to improve our conditions. My very inspirational director has empowered me to believe I can be an agent of change, and that together early childhood teachers can make a difference.’

TEACHING DIRECTOR Ariane Simon is the director of St Stephen’s Preschool in the Sydney suburb of Normanhurst. Before this role, she worked as a Child Studies teacher at TAFE and lecturer at Charles Sturt University.

‘We have the same degree, and the same HECS debts but early childhood education teachers are paid significantly less. It’s an economic reality that you will think twice about pursuing a career in early childhood—when you can earn 20 per cent more in a school.

It’s not about crying poor or getting parents to pay more—it’s about what’s fair and equitable for early childhood teachers. It’s about getting the Government to subsidise our wages so that it doesn’t come out of parent pockets.

Parents don’t realise that we are not paid the same as school teachers or they mistakenly think everyone at an early childhood service is a teacher. At my centre, all my teachers are fouryear- trained university graduates, so we say to parents, “Do you realise the quality you get for your money!”.

I have a teacher at my service, who cannot afford to stay. As the main breadwinner, she has had to get a job as a teacher in an independent school, where she’ll earn $17,000 more.

If you stood in front of a group of Year 12 students, and you could honestly say, “Yes you will get paid exactly the same in a preschool or long day care centre as you would in a school. And you will get to work with young children and families in a team environment”, then don’t you think more people would be attracted to a career in early childhood?’

TEACHER’S ADVOCATE Lyn Connors is director of Hamilton Child Care Centre in Newcastle. She is a representative on the Early Childhood Council of the Independent Education Union.

‘Early childhood teachers work eight hours face-to-face with very young children, and we go home at night and do curriculum development, programming, assessment and portfolios—all those important things that teachers in schools do—but school teachers do it for more money, and they get up to 12 weeks annual leave!

I went to a branch meeting of the IEU and the teachers there from high schools, Catholic schools and independent schools, had absolutely no idea that our wages are so low. So the community doesn’t know about pay parity, parents don’t know and our colleagues don’t know either!

These days, our universities offer courses to teach children from 0–12 years. So if the course is the same, why should teachers be paid differently because they choose to work in a different sector?

Interestingly, I did an EYLF workshop recently, and when filling out a form, one of the teachers said he was an “educator”—not a teacher. When I asked him why, he said: “I am the same as my staff, we are co-collaborators”.

I think this attitude is denying his knowledge, experience and his status as a university-trained teacher. If you go to university and you train as a teacher, then you should be recognised as one… and you should be paid as one.’

Get involved!

As a first step, the IEU asks its members and other teachers to:

• Visit the Teachers are Teachers website
• Get postcards signed Teachers need to get friends, family and the families of children you teach to sign a postcard to Premier Kristina Keneally and Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell asking them to commit to funding equal pay for early childhood teachers. The IEU will send all union members a bundle of postcards. Other interested teachers (non-members) can also contact the IEU for copies. To order postcards, phone 1800 467 943, email teachersareteachers@ieu.asn.au or visit www.ieu.asn.au
• Send an email to both sides of politics The union will provide a draft of what to say or you can write your own—the union needs every teacher to tell party leaders why you deserve equal pay with your primary school counterparts.
• Visit your local MP and candidate The union wants every politician and would-be politician to hear from an IEU member first hand about the injustice of teachers who teach our youngest children earning less than other teachers. They need to hear the message: ‘teachers are teachers’!

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This article first appeared in Rattler Magazine, Issue 96, Summer 2010

When you are concerned about a child in your care, how do you know if there is a potential mental health issue? Traditionally, early childhood educators have had little training in understanding mental health… until now.

There is growing awareness and a large body of brain development research that suggest the foundations of mental health are shaped in the early years. However, it is thought that fewer than half of the children who need professional help for mental health problems access the mental health system and get the help they need. (Starr, Campbell & Herrick, 2002.)

In a recent Australian study, it was reported that between 4 and 14 per cent of children aged from one and a half to three years had externalising problems, (e.g. aggression and other acting out behaviours) or internalising problems (anxious, withdrawn and depressed). (Bayer, et al., 2008).

Parents, families, teachers and community groups all have a shared responsibility in enhancing children’s mental health and wellbeing.

Given the increasing number of children attending long day care (46 per cent of all three to four year olds) and preschools (85 per cent of all four year olds) in Australia, early childhood education and care professionals in particular have an important role to play. (Bureau of Statistics, 2008.)

Children’s services staff can foster children’s social and emotional learning and help to identify problems before they become entrenched.

They are also a vital point of contact for providing information and support to families in need.

Heard of KidsMatter?

The KidsMatter Australian Early Childhood (KMEC) mental health initiative is a national promotion, prevention and early intervention program designed specifically for the early childhood sector. A pilot of the KidsMatter initiative is presently being trialed in over 100 preschools and long day care centres across Australia.

The roll out and implementation of KidsMatter is a collaborative process between staff, families, managing councils and/or management coma guiding framework, supporting resources and implementation tools, as well as suggested strategies and fact sheets for staff. Importantly, pilot services are also allocated a KMEC facilitator who works directly with the children’s service to support implementation.

KidsMatter has been developed in collaboration with beyondblue: the national depression initiative, the Australian Psychological Society, Early Childhood Australia, with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. For more information, visit www.kidsmatter.edu.au.

Case study: Reflections on KidsMatter

As the end of the pilot’s first year nears, KidsMatter participants have reported many successes in their services. NSW KidsMatter early childhood facilitator, Rita Johnston, shares her experience.

‘Working as the NSW facilitator for KidsMatter Early Childhood (KMEC) for the past 12 months has been an exciting experience. It’s great to be a part of this new initiative in an area that so many of us in early childhood have identified as the foundation of lifelong success and happiness.

‘I am one of eight KMEC facilitators around Australia. My job is to present KidsMatter professional learning to 16 early childhood services in NSW and support services during implementation.

In addition to working with services, all the facilitators meet together every two months with project partners for our own planning, training and collegiate networking.

‘The 16 NSW pilot sites include five services in Sydney and 11 in regional areas—from Wollongong to Tweed Heads, and out west at Dubbo. When in Sydney, my office is located at the Lady Gowrie Child Centre where I can also connect with other early childhood trainers, staff and administrators.

‘Being a framework, the KMEC “Plan, Do, Review” process allows each service to engage with the project in a way that reflects their own community and culture. Visiting all of these services has given me a wonderful opportunity to view first hand some of the warm, caring and supportive relationships that are being built as each service works towards extending their collaborative interactions with children, families and the community.

‘Relationships are the foundation for supporting mental health and wellbeing for everyone.

Through their engagement with the KidsMatter framework, many services have been able to deepen their relationships with families. Services have reported relationships with families have become much closer, trusting, more collaborative and respectful.

‘Parents also feel safer in approaching staff about concerns regarding their children, are building stronger relationships with other families and are participating in the service activities more often. Staff feel more confident and more knowledgeable as they build relationships with families, and better understand the importance of these relationships to the whole service. Families report they feel closer to the staff and this strengthens children’s feelings of security, belonging and wellbeing.

‘Staff also report they have become more aware of children’s emotional needs and how to meet these more effectively. A number of services have observed how empowered children feel as they begin to learn how to use the language of feeling (happy, sad, angry, frustrated, lonely) and can, often for the first time, speak about feelings staff in a safe and non-judgemental environment.

‘Staff engagement in KidsMatter, and particularly within “Component One: Creating a Sense of Community” has led to varying outcomes.

As one of our services reported: ‘We knew we were already doing a good job with the children and families but KidsMatter has helped us to notice things that might have slipped by, and has helped us to take things more deeply. For example, the children initiated a project to sponsor eight orphan orangutan babies. The children raised over $400, which was enough to sponsor all eight babies. The project brought children, families and the wider community together. I don’t think we would have been able to support the project in the way we did, or be aware of the deeper benefits it resulted in for everyone, without the understandings we gained from KidsMatter.

‘As well being immensely rewarding, being a part of Kidsmatter is “no bed of roses” either. Being a pilot, it is still being developed and reviewed as we learn along the way. There always seems to be a little more to do than time allows—this goes for everyone involved in the initiative. KMEC can also challenge some of our personal positions and understandings about children, best practice and mental health. It can reveal some self-reflection that we might need to do as individuals, to become more effective in supporting the children in our care.’

CASE STUDY: Franklin Road Centre

Franklin Road Child Care Centre is a notfor- profit 45-place centre in the southern Sydney suburb of Woolooware. The centre participated in the KMEC pilot in 2010.

Director Amanda Ritchie shares the experience.

‘The main change in the centre’s daily practices has been to the relationships between families, staff and children. The centre has always promoted strong relationships and interactions and found that the KidsMatter framework helped to strengthen these even more.

‘Using the tools provided by KidsMatter, the team has been able to ascertain the exact aspects of the service that were well received and appreciated by families and the elements that may have been overlooked.

‘Staff have also been able to fully appreciate the impact their own behaviour and interactions have on the children in their care, bringing a new understanding of how staff work with children.’

The impact on staff, children and families

‘Through the implementation of “Component One: Creating a Sense of Community” and then “Component Two: Developing Children’s Social and Emotional Skills”, staff at the centre could see the amazing influence they have as educators on the lifelong development of the children in care.

‘Staff now fully understand the importance of working with families and respecting the choices [parents] make for their children. This mutual respect has blossomed into something really magical for everyone involved. The staff feel appreciated, the families feel respected and, most importantly, the children feel more secure and happy to develop in their own individual ways.

‘The centre was provided with many different ways to promote and educate the families and community on its role in KidsMatter including posters, emails, surveys, notices, literature and face-to-face discussions. Everything implemented as a result of KidsMatter or the families’ input, has been recorded and made available to all people and groups involved.

Dealing with the unexpected

‘The unexpected bonus has been the amazing sense of achievement and power the staff gained from becoming so educated in this area. Now, staff feel they can achieve anything with the children in their care and they are able to pass this knowledge onto families.’

Franklin Road Child Care Centre is run by Sutherland Shire Council. There are ten sister centres located across the Sutherland shire. The centre has been operating since 1990.

What is Kids Matter?

The four components of the KidsMatter Early Childhood (KMEC) framework are:

1. Creating a sense of community within the service, which promotes feelings of belonging, connection and inclusion for all children and their families. This kind of environment within a day care centre, preschool or kindergarten has been shown to have a positive effect on children’s mental health.
2. Developing children’s social and emotional skills. Research shows that the development of these skills is fundamental to children’s mental health, ability to learn, moral development and motivation to achieve. Children who develop social and emotional skills find it easier to manage themselves, relate to others, resolve conflict, and feel positive about themselves and the world around them.
3. Working with parents and carers to improve children’s social and emotional wellbeing and mental health. By engaging with parents and carers, early childhood services can share important information about the child’s life, experiences, preferences and activities. In addition, early childhood services are an excellent access point to link parents with appropriate information and education about parenting, child development and children’s mental health.
4. Helping children who are experiencing mental health difficulties. The earlier that effective support can be provided for a child experiencing difficulties (and their family), the better the outcomes. Services are in an effective position to identify problems early, implement strategies to assist the child, and support families to seek additional help, which helps to improve their quality of life.

The KMEC Framework also assists and supports services in their implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality Standard

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008) Childhood Education and Care, Australia, Cat. No. 4402.0 Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2. Bayer, J.K., Hicock, H., Okoumunne, O.C, Price, A., Wake, M. (2008). ‘Early childhood aetiology of mental health problems: A longitudinal population-based study’. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 1166–1174.
3. Starr, S., Campbell, L.R., & Herick, C.A. (2002). ‘Factors affecting use of the mental health system by rural children’. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 23, 291–304.

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This article first appeared in Rattler Magazine, Issue 96, Summer 2010

How do you respond to an adult who tells you they were abused as a child? While we are well rehearsed in child protection, there is little guidance available for when a colleague or parent makes a disclosure. Child protection trainer Karen Roberts shares her story.

Listening to the truth of someone’s life is a privilege and an honour. When you tell someone your history, they should receive it as such.’ (Bass & Davis, 1997, p.100).

The first part of this quote is something I say frequently, as a trainer in child protection. As educators within children’s services, it is important that we learn how to respond to a child’s disclosure of abuse, and this is a vital component of child protection training. A child who tells of their abuse has most likely overcome intense fear and anxiety to be able to talk to an adult they respect and trust. If they place this trust in you, it is an honour—an honour that requires you to manage your own emotions that may surface, in order to respond in a privileged manner at the time.

It may shock, upset, horrify or sicken you to hear their story, but it is necessary to remember that you are the adult, that it is the child this is happening to, and they need you to focus on them in the moment and to keep your emotions to yourself. There is ample literature on the topic of child abuse and protection, and within this body of work, there are consistent strategies recommended for an adult to use when responding to a child’s disclosure of abuse.

The NSW Interagency Guidelines for Child Protection Intervention (2006) is one valuable and reliable resource which includes the following recommendations: ‘We need to listen to children, to allow them to tell their story in their own way, and to let them know we believe them. They need to hear that they have done the right thing in telling, that the abuse was not their fault, and that it is never OK for an adult to harm a child. We should use a calm and reassuring tone, be open and non-judgemental, and provide appropriate comfort and support. We should not express shock, disapproval or disbelief, try to stop them talking, ask leading questions, make unrealistic promises, or make negative comments.’ (p.18).

For children, we need to abide by our mandatory reporting requirements, and other professionals will then ensure they receive support and counselling to help them deal with the trauma of abuse.

The hardest words to hear

While these strategies for responding to a child’s disclosure are well documented, and can relate to any area of abuse, a disclosure is generally related to sexual abuse. But disclosures can happen at any age. In fact, because of the secrecy around sexual abuse, the perpetrator’s skill in convincing the child to keep the secret, and the range of emotions experienced by a victim, many disclosures are actually made by adults (survivors) who experienced childhood sexual abuse.

A disclosure of abuse can be prompted by various reasons in a range of situations, at any time. In particular, working with young children, and training on child protection, can induce feelings and memories of one’s own childhood abuse, and can provoke a disclosure. It is therefore important that all of us working in children’s services consider the possibility of a colleague or staff member in our service disclosing to us.

So how does someone respond to an adult who discloses? There are many books dedicated to help survivors cope as adults, but it is not so easy to find literature related to helping someone respond to an adult’s disclosure. How do you respond if a colleague opens up to you, to tell you their history, and share their story of being abused as a child?

They are no longer seen as the child, but in a sense they are. An adult disclosing is an adult talking about their life as a child, with all the same feelings as the child (especially if disclosing for the first time), and more—the years of coping with and battling the memories, surviving the long-term implications, and possibly overcoming the trauma. But we just see the adult, someone we know, someone we see as competent and capable, someone whose childhood we have never considered.

Imagine responding to the child that adult once was, a child who wants the abuse to stop— a child who wants to heal. Imagine the child who is now an adult, yet may still feel scared, guilty and anxious, who wants the pain, the memories and the repercussions to stop—an adult who wants to heal.

Personally, as someone who was a victim, and now a survivor, having disclosed to others with the view that sharing this story may assist others to heal, I have a strong belief that the strategies we use in responding to a child are just as useful when responding to an adult’s disclosure. This conviction has been validated, not just through my own reading and counselling sessions, but also in talking with friends and colleagues, who have either disclosed or received a disclosure by another adult.

One woman described her father’s response to her disclosure of abuse by his own brother in this way: ‘He said ‘I don’t feel defensive for (*Steve). What I feel is for the little girl and I just want to pat her and say: “There, there”. It was just the perfect response. There was no question at all that he believed me.’ (Bass & Davis, 1997, p.101).

In an example from an early childhood context, a centre director (*Sally) said she was shocked and horrified when a staff member (*Anne) said: ‘I’ve never told anyone this, but my grandfather sexually abused me for years, from when I was aged about five until I was 15′.

She was, Sally said, shocked into silence, yet remembers thinking… ‘don’t do anything, just sit there, shut up, and remember all the things you learnt in child protection when a child discloses’. And that’s what Sally did, and later Anne expressed deep gratitude and told her how much she trusted her. Just as a child chooses someone they trust and feel safe with, so does an adult.

Sally had respected that trust. She shut the door, listened, believed Anne, and asked her how she felt and whether she wanted to talk about it more. She acknowledged her strength and her accomplishments in her career, and asked her if it would be OK if she helped her to access some sort of professional support, such as counselling.

The accidental counsellor

We have diverse roles in children’s services and one is that of an accidental counsellor. The expectation is not for us to be an actual counsellor who has completed expert training for the job, but to have some supportive skills to help us respond to other people in times of need.

Active listening and empathy are most helpful in these situations, as well as providing an understanding response that allows the person ‘to feel heard and understood, that does not judge or interpret, and that provides an accurate awareness of the other person’s thinking, feeling and experience.’ (Webb & Losurdo, 2006, p. 117 and 127).

This incident ‘came completely out of the blue,’ said Sally. ‘You don’t expect a disclosure, and it took everything I could do to not cry and show the horror I felt.’

Yet, instinctively she thought to follow the same rules as with children. In doing that she had allowed Anne to feel heard and believed and open to external support. Yet Sally felt this next step wasn’t as clear as for a child, so she sought help and advice. She rang a colleague and then recommended Anne to see a counsellor.

While she felt devastated and unsure of what to do with the information, Sally remembered confidentiality. She needed to speak with someone she trusted in terms of friendship as well as professionally, not just for advice for Anne, but also for support for herself.

You need to ‘know your own limitations… and be prepared to get support where needed’ (Webb & Losurdo, 2006, p.131).

The closer you are to the person disclosing, the more intense emotions may become, and counselling for yourself may also be necessary to help take care of yourself.

Anyone who experiences trauma of any type can benefit from counselling, but many of us struggle, believing that we are fine. We may compare ourselves with others and think they have suffered more and have been affected more than us. We feel we are coping and we live our lives believing we don’t need help from others. I know someone who, in her 60s, had counselling for trauma related to a childhood experience. Although she has lived her life as a strong, competent and resourceful woman, she now says that, with professional and responsive counselling, she feels peace and more inner strength than ever before.

She was fortunate to find the right counsellor the first time, but this is not always the case. For myself, it took a second attempt several years after the first counsellor, inappropriately told me she was shocked by a comment I made in my first session. Two years with a truly understanding and compassionate counsellor, however, helped me to overcome many negative thought patterns and to look at myself, and my life, in a more positive way.

Whether you have experienced abuse or you are the person someone discloses a history of abuse to, I would encourage you to take whatever steps you need to find the right support for you—and to persist. Taking that first step may not be easy. It may help if it can be a friend, family member or colleague, because you already have a trusting relationship with that person.

When dealing with the life long impacts of childhood abuse and trauma, more professional, independent, long-term support can be a powerful influence on healing and recovering.

To assist us in everything we do in children’s services, we have policies to guide us. We have child protection policies, which should include procedures for responding to a child’s disclosure. A separate policy on responding to an adult’s disclosure could also help us prepare for the possibility of this happening. It would need to outline clear procedures to follow and contacts for counselling or other support.

Prior training, policy and procedures can assist us in responding to a disclosure, whether the disclosure is made by a child or an adult. Followup support, and often professional counselling, can be beneficial for both the person disclosing and the person hearing the history of the other person’s life.

* Names have been changed to protect privacy and confidentiality.

Warning: events that may prompt disclosure

• Be mindful that a child protection incident at your children’s service can potentially trigger adult recollections of past abuse.
• It is important to also realise that sometimes reading or training with child protection materials can have a similar effect.
• As a supportive person you can play a significant role in helping a staff member who has experienced abuse to seek professional help.

References

• Bass, E. & Davis, L. (1997) The Courage to Heal. A guide for women survivors of child sexual abuse. London: Vermillion.
• NSW Interagency Guidelines for Child Protection Intervention (2006).
• Webb, L. & Losurdo, M. (2006) On the Run Counselling, Train the trainer manual. NSW Government families first.

Related articles:

• Why kids matter
• Breaking the silence on abuse
• Are staff keeping children safe?
• Promises watch – 2008
• Excursions or ‘incursions’?

This article first appeared in Rattler Magazine, Issue 96, Summer 2010

Preschool teachers and champions for play, Sherry Hutton and Donna Burns have a mantra, ‘make it irresistible!’ Sharing their passion for active learning, their blog, ‘Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning‘ is proving irresistible to educators the world over. Ingrid Maack reports.

A group of preschool children at St John’s Anglican Kindergarten* in the Melbourne suburb of Croydon engage in an impromptu weaving game. Armed with a box of coloured wool, they gather interestingly-shaped sticks and begin to weave a spectacular web.

They add plastic grasshoppers, spiders, beetles and centipedes to the mix and then continue their investigation outdoors, busily working in teams to weave a giant web around trees and an A-frame in the preschool’s playground. The play continues for several days as more children are drawn into this investigation—this web of intrigue!

But it doesn’t stop there. The teacher’s photos and observations are posted online, generating a flurry of ideas and information exchange between a growing online community of parents, childcare workers, preschool and primary school teachers, and students of early childhood education.

Having taught together for a decade, Sherry and Donna, like many others, turned to the internet for teaching inspiration. Both were surprised, however, by an apparent lack of Australian content. With this in mind, they set about creating their own online community.

Wearing what they describe as their ‘technology training wheels’, they engaged the help of a local web designer to help create the site (see it at www.playbasedlearning.com.au), deciding a blog was the most interactive format. Irresistible Ideas ‘went live’ in September 2009 and has had a constant stream of posts ever since.

One year on, and Irresistible Ideas has attracted over 62,500 unique visitors with more than 52,000 pages of content being viewed in that time. The blog has 1,300 registered members, 1,500 Facebook members and was recently named on an international list of the ‘50 Best Blogs for Early Childhood Educators’.

A blog is short for ‘web log’ and is an online journal that is intended for a public audience. Blogs are frequently updated with text, photos and links and are forum for discussion and learning.

Using their own preschool’s play-based program for inspiration, Sherry and Donna have turned the webcam inwards, so to speak.

‘The blog is a reflection of what we do at our kindergarten. What you see is our planning, execution of the program and outcomes of the activities.’

Reluctant to paint themselves as gurus, the pair says it is not always easy to come up with new programming ideas on their own—it is the blog’s subscribers who help them come up with new ideas, sharing reflections and inspiring one another.

‘The blogging community around the world has one thing in common — we are all very willing and eager to share our information and ideas. The “world wide bloggo-sphere” is well respected as being a generous and supportive community.’

Irresistible Ideas celebrates and promotes the role of play in early childhood education and care. It is well known that children learn at their own individual pace through the natural process of play. At St John’s Kindergarten there are extended periods of non-interrupted play. And the site’s tagline, ‘No play, no learning — Know play, know learning’ certainly sums this focus up.

‘We are very confident that our play-based teaching is the correct way to teach our children so that when we read about other educators’ experiences, we don’t question so much as reflect on our own practice.

‘We think the name of our blog says it all…We are not trying to preach to the converted, but we are hoping to help spread the word to parents and educators nationally and internationally.’

Supporting sustainability is also a priority at St John’s, particularly when it comes to sourcing art and craft materials for play projects. One of their favourite places to visit is ‘Reverse Art Truck’ (www.reversearttruck.com.au), a non-profit organisation that collects rejects, seconds and factory off-cuts for schools, centres and preschools.

‘It’s all irresistible junk to us… There are barrels lining the isles full of all sorts of bits and pieces— plastics, tubing, rubber, tape, leather, fabric, bottles, lids, containers, foam, cut outs, cardboard.

‘We also go there for all our wood like the timber we used recently for woodworking.’

Interestingly, the children at St John’s Kindergarten are often pictured using real tools to support their play such as glue guns, hammers, irons, drills, nails and screws.

Bookmark these blogs

There is a growing online community of blogs for early childhood teachers. Here are some of Donna and Sherry’s favourites:

* Childhood 101
www.childhood101.com
* Let the Children Play
progressiveearlychildhoodeducation.blogspot.com
* Learning Parade
learningparade.typepad.co.uk/learning_parade
* I’m a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!
creativestarlearning.blogspot.com
* Squiggle Mum
squigglemum.coms
* The Magic Onion
themagiconions.blogspot.com
* Paint Cut Paste
paintcutpaste.com

Related articles:

• Kid heaven in Earlwood
• 1:4 Messenger
• Early child socialisation
• Federal Hotline under fire
• Arts impact on childhood learning

This year, we welcomed the Independent Education Union NSW/ACT Branch, Sutherland Shire Family Services, the Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre; and we welcomed back the Australia Council for the Arts and Screen Australia.

Although ARMEDIA is busier than ever, we never rest on our laurels and we are always looking to improve our service delivery and offer better and more cost effective ways of printing and producing publications. The face of publishing is constantly changing — ARMEDIA is keeping abreast of all the possibilities and exploring new forms of digital publishing and organisational marketing, through online purchasing and e-book delivery on portable reading devices (watch out for more exciting developments in 2011).

Thank you for all of your support throughout the year. ARMEDIA’s client-base consists entirely of community-based, not-for-profit and public sector organisations — we wouldn’t have it any other way! It is your support that enables us to continue as a specialist provider to similar progressive organisations.

I wish you all the best during the holiday period and look forward to working with you again throughout 2011.

Eddy Jokovich
Managing Director & Publisher

Related articles:

• Play Based Learning

The departmental line up includes FAHCSIA, Department of Attorney – General, DEEWR, Austrade; Australian National Audit Office; Australian Communications and Media Authority, Fairwork Ombudsman.

The process to be accepted onto this Procurement List is very vigorous and our inclusion is testament to the quality of work that ARMEDIA produces.

Related articles:

• Play Based Learning

Early childhood teachers working in community-based preschools and long day care centres earn up to 20 per cent less than teachers working in NSW Government preschools and independent and Catholic primary schools. A full-time early childhood teacher can earn $14,000 less per annum than other teachers.

One of our new clients, the Independent Education Union, is campaigning to reach pay equity for teachers working in preschools throughout NSW. Working in collaboration with Lisa Bryant, ARMEDIA devised the main imagery and concept for the ‘Teachers Are Teachers’ campaign, to be used in the leadup to the 2011 NSW Election.

This material includes large format rally banners, t-shirts, postcards, balloons, web graphics and the all-new teachersareteachers.org.au website—all sure to attract the eye of unsuspecting politicians and candidates.

Related articles:

• Equal pay for teachers please!
• Play Based Learning
• Election: What about childcare?
• Promises watch – 2007
• Federal Hotline under fire

The comprehensive list includes contacts for metro, suburban and regional newspapers, Sydney and regional radio stations, and all major television networks.

Continuing our political support for Community Child Care, we prepared a series of campaign materials, including Broadside Briefing, the Campaign webpage (www. ccccnsw.org.au/federalelection) and audio and photographic documentation of the ‘Childcare: An election issue’ forum on August 12. ARMEDIA placed the audio recordings of the forum online the following day, and snippets of the forum were broadcast on ABC Radio National.

Related articles:

• Play Based Learning
• Promises watch – 2008
• Reality behind family payments
• Mark Latham to change childcare?

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