How do I create a centre philosophy?
Under Quality Area 7 (Governance and leadership) of the National Quality Framework (NQF), Australian childcare centres are required to have a centre philosophy. This is specifically covered under element 7.1.1, Service philosophy and purpose.
Your centre philosophy is a fundamental document that guides all aspects of your service’s operations, including interactions with children, families, staff and the broader community. It reflects the values, principles and goals of your service. A clearly articulated centre philosophy underpins your service’s practices and policies, ensuring that educators and staff work consistently toward shared values and goals.
While there is no particular format you must adhere to, there are questions and considerations that can guide you as you craft your childcare service philosophy. It’s a good idea to review and revamp your childcare service philosophy annually. This helps ensure your centre philosophy accurately reflects your vision and meets the needs of your service, educators and families.
Everyone involved with your service should be able to contribute to and review your service philosophy. You should encourage families and children to be involved in the process
What to consider when drafting your childcare centre philosophy
Purpose—the “why” of your centre philosophy
This is the essence of your centre philosophy. It explains why you’re doing what you’re doing. Some questions you can ask to help inform this part of your service philosophy include:
- Why do we exist?
- What is the purpose of our childcare service being in existence?
- What is the reason we do what we do?
- Is it to provide a completely unique early education experience for our young minds?
- Is it to help shape young minds for the fast-paced technological world?
Mission—the “how” of your centre philosophy
Once you know the “why”, you have to tackle the “how.” You must determine how you are going to achieve your objectives. Having a clear pathway helps everyone work towards achieving the goals of your childcare service. You can use questions like these to help define your methods.
- Where are we going?
- What do we want to achieve in the next ten years?
- How many young minds do we want to set up to enter the public and private education system?
- How many families do we want to engage with our policy on instant parent engagement for their most precious loved one(s)?
- Do we want to open new site locations? If so, how many?
Values—the “principles” of your centre philosophy
Reflect on this and become clear on why it is you do what you do. Your purpose is your why, which is critical to your service and will inform other aspects of your centre philosophy.
Your mission needs to have definitive outcomes. These are goals you can tick off. As a leader, you need to be able to define an endpoint.
Your values are born from the behaviour of your “early” staff—the owners, directors and educators who have been there since the beginning. These are the behaviours that, when exhibited, make everyone happier. Everyone gets along and morale is boosted. Think about what behaviours you truly value from your staff, your families and your children. The Golden Rule, treat others how you wish to be treated, is a good place to start here.
- What do you communicate to new staff and new children on what acceptable behaviour is?
- How do you communicate this information?
- How do you ensure that changing times and values are reflected?
When you combine these three things together, this gives you your vision of the world, which may be different than it was in the past.
Other considerations while drafting your childcare centre philosophy
While asking yourself the above questions, you may want to consider other things that will help inform your service philosophy. Here are some other important things to consider when drafting or revising your centre philosophy.
National Quality Framework (NQF)
Be sure to incorporate principles from the NQF. You may wish to consider things like holistic development, children’s agency, inclusive practices and collaborative partnerships.
Early Years Leaving Framework (EYLF) and My Time, Our Place (MTOP)
Depending on what type of childcare service you run, you should include principles from one of the nationally recognised learning frameworks. Remember, childcare services should be using version 2 of both these frameworks. Both of these frameworks are available in the Playground educator platform.
Sustainability, wellbeing and diversity
Though not necessary, it’s becoming more common for early education and care services to include sustainability in their service philosophy. In addition, a focus on encouraging healthy eating and active play speaks to children’s wellbeing. Being inclusive reassures families and children that you strive to create a safe environment for children to grow, regardless of background, ability or experience.
Remember, this should be a collaborative process that involves your team, as well as families and children. The Xplor Education suite of tools can help with this. Staff and educators can collaborate on and edit a Document in Playground. Sharing a Document from Playground that families can view and comment on in the Home family app ensures you include them in the process.
Once you’ve settled on your service philosophy, you can create a Canvas in Playground for easy sharing with both educators and families Whether sharing your centre philosophy with educators or families for feedback or just to inform them of it, the Xplor Education platform can help.
Please contact us for more information on how Xplor Education’s suite of tools can help you draft and share your centre philosophy.
