Comprehensive Essay: Australian Child Care, EYLF, and NQF

This essay delves into the Australian Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the National Quality Framework (NQF), examining their roles within the Australian pedagogical context. It researches the frameworks, standards, and guidelines of EYLF, and how they affect children, their families, and service providers. The essay emphasizes the EYLF's 'Belonging, Being, and Becoming' principle, highlighting its influence on educational experiences for children aged 0-5 and their transition to school. It discusses the National Quality Standard's role in developing quality educational programs and the importance of play-based learning, communication, and the cognitive, social, and emotional development of young children. The essay further explores the positive impacts of EYLF on children's sense of identity, their interactions within families, and their engagement with the broader community. It also examines the significance of educators' roles in implementing the framework to guide, educate, and shape children into well-rounded individuals. The essay concludes by summarizing EYLF as a guideline for pedagogy and early childhood learning within the Australian context, emphasizing the importance of early childhood education in shaping children's cognitive abilities and competencies for the future.

Running head: AUSTRALIAN CHILD CARE
AUSTRALIAN CHILD CARE
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

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Under the Australian standards and guidelines of pedagogy, there is a set of framework
that acts as a prospectus that has a set of rules, principles, regulations, practices and five main
learning results along with the tertiary results based on identity, learning and communication and
well being of the Australian children named EYLF, or Early Years Learning Framework (Fleer,
Shah, and Peers, 2013). The respective paper is an essay that extensively researches on the
National Quality Framework, the National Quality Standard and applicable learning frameworks
with special reference to EYLF or Early Years Learning Framework on the guidelines of
Australian pedagogy and how it can affect the children, their families and the service providers.
“Belonging, Being and Becoming” is a gospel phrase for the pedagogical program of
EYLF in the Australian country. As the first national pedagogical framework for early childhood
educators and tutors, EYLF, or Early Years Learning Framework is popular and significant
throughout the nation. The National Quality Standard, which is a set of guidelines for early
childhood tutors made in order to develop qualitative educational programs for young children
and toddlers, is also linked and embedded with the EYLF framework. The National Quality
Standard also describes early childhood pedagogy and outcomes that provide goals for the
learning stages of the young children (Jones and Harcourt, 2013).
The purpose of EYLF is to enhance and enrich the educational experience of the toddlers
and very young children from the age 0 to age 5 and throughout the transition to school (Tayler,
Cloney and Niklas, 2015). It assists and supports the educators to build such educational and
learning programs for the young children that would create a platform for interactive learning
which maximizes their learning potentials and establish a fundamental basis of learning for their
future. The EYLF is based on the conclusive international evidence which echoes the very fact
that early childhood plays a very vital role in the growth and development of children’s learning

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and education. Early childhood education is important because it has been proved that it can
influence mental, emotional and physical development of a child that might help him or her to
shape his or her cognitive senses, abilities and competencies for the near future. The respective
mentioned framework ensures that children in all early childhood education and care settings
throughout Australia experience quality teaching and learning. EYLF framework provides
special emphasis to the play based learning and their outcomes and recognizes the importance of
communication and language in pedagogical practice. The cognitive, social and emotional
development of the young children and their learning are the factors that are highlighted in the
respective framework.
National Quality Framework possesses a regulatory body named National Regulations
(Australia) which has set forth the National Quality Standard. Providing a safe haven for the
children, along with their health and well being with high standard educational activities are
taken up by the framework in order to receive maximum positive outcomes along with greater
understanding by services and families as they have the capability to distinguish between service
and quality service. Throughout Australia, the frameworks and the standards, the National
Quality Standard provides a nationally consistent and constructive. Premium programs and
activities of child care across the country which also has national quality ratings and assessment
processes to judge their abilities.
The frameworks and guidelines of EYLF can create positive effects on the children as
well as their families. The families of the children who are taught according to the guidelines of
EYLF feel positive when they are able to see positive changes in their children regarding their
cognitive abilities and competencies (Lemon and Garvis, 2014). The families and the caregivers
too, can learn dime-a-dozen guidelines from the learning outcomes of EYLF. Children have a

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strong sense of identity. Children tend to develop knowledgeable and confident self identities
within themselves that provides a positive outcome towards their families as well. The children
tend to understand their roles towards their families as a child, thereby, minimizing the problems
between the parents and the child. Children learn to interact in relation to others with care,
empathy and respect, which enhance their ties with the family rather than alienating them. The
children tend to display wide range of thought processes and constructive critical thinking
respectively. Children get connected with the outer world and also contribute the outer world as
well. Children tend to participate in the pragmatic and practical experiences with their families,
such as, going for hiking or tekking, participating in a group activity with the family, visiting the
museums or art galleries, painting, cooking or gardening with the families which not only helps
them grow as an individual but also deepens their bonds with the families. Experience of
relationships and participation in communities contribute to the children’s Belonging, Being and
Becoming (Cheeseman, Sumsion, and Press, 2014).
The educators or the early childhood education coaches, with the help of the frameworks
and guidelines put by the EYLF of Australian pedagogy, learn a plethora of theoretical as well as
pragmatic way by which the children need to be handled, tutored, educated, guided and shaped
as a rational individual (Knaus, 2015). As it is known that the early childhood is a very
significant stage of a person’s life, therefore, the educators must also be aware of the facts about
early childhood and children between the age of 0 to 5. As the early childhood educators are the
people who spend maximum time with the children and become almost their second caregivers,
they already know a plethora of facts regarding the development and behavioral pattern of the
children. However, with the advanced training and educational skills along with the frameworks
of the EYLF, the early childhood education coaches are estimated to be able to handle the

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children very well, guide them, and educate them in the correct and righteous way so that they
turn into proper individuals (Leggett and Ford, 2013).
With the description and discussion of EYLF, which is enumerated as Early Years
Learning Framework, concludes by describing it as a guideline of pedagogy and early childhood
learning, according to the Australian pedagogical standard. The respective paper concludes to be
essay that extensively researches on the National Quality Framework, the National Quality
Standard and applicable learning frameworks with special reference to EYLF or Early Years
Learning Framework on the guidelines of Australian pedagogy and how it can affect the
children, their families and the service providers.

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References:
Cheeseman, S., Sumsion, J. and Press, F., 2014. Infants of the knowledge economy: The
ambition of the Australian Government’s Early Years Learning Framework. Pedagogy,
Culture & Society, 22(3), pp.405-424.
Fleer, M., Shah, C. and Peers, C., 2013. Quantitative Report: Baseline Evaluation of the Early
Years Learning Framework (EYLF). Department of Education, Employment and
Workplace Relations (DEEWR).
Jones, L. and Harcourt, D., 2013. Social competencies and the early years learning framework:
Understanding critical influences on educator capacity. Australasian Journal of Early
Childhood, 38(1), pp.4-10.
Knaus, M., 2015. ‘Time for Being’: Why the Australian Early Years Learning Framework opens
up new possibilities. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 13(3), pp.221-235.
Leggett, N. and Ford, M., 2013. A fine balance: Understanding the roles educators and children
play as intentional teachers and intentional learners within the Early Years Learning
Framework. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 38(4), pp.42-50.
Lemon, N. and Garvis, S., 2014. Encouraging reflective practice with future early childhood
teachers to support the national standards: An Australian case study. Australasian
Journal of Early Childhood, 39(4), pp.89-94.
Tayler, C., Cloney, D. and Niklas, F., 2015. A bird in the hand: Understanding the trajectories of
development of young children and the need for action to improve outcomes.
Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 40(3), pp.51-60.