Description
This category recognises that children’s learning is enhanced when services and families work in collaboration to support children’s learning and development.
In this category, the service recognises that educators have the skills and knowledge in an identified priority area required to families to increase their capability to support children’s learning beyond the kindergarten setting.
This may include the provision of targeted support for families such as lending libraries, make and take/learning at home sessions and delivery of family-focused learning. This may include strategies to support positive interactions, language development, resilience, etc.
Funding can be used to purchase materials and resources for educators to use with families.
Priority areas
- Oral language and communication
- Social and emotional capability
- Physicality
- Thinking and responding
- Access and inclusion
Alignment to Queensland kindergarten learning guideline
Learning and development areas
Work should align directly with specific learning and development areas and practice-based supports provided to families should connect with the practices employed by the service (acting as an extension of learning).
Services using service and home linkages target family capability development and acknowledge families as children’s first teachers.
Principles
- High expectations, equity and respect for diversity
- Respectful relationships
- Collaborative partnerships
- Effective pedagogies
Delivery mode
Face-to-face, workshop, make and take, home visits.
Cost
Costs to be negotiated and may involve provision of training materials and backfill at the host service.
Audience
Families
Implementation considerations
Prerequisites: Services offering service and home linkages should:
- demonstrate direct connections between the identified priority and existing educator capability to upskill families
- demonstrate capability to work with families to understand the learning priority and its contribution to children’s current and future learning
- link the support provided to families and the kindergarten program
- build the confidence and capability of families to support their children’s learning through home-based play contexts and conversational language.
Considerations: This item can be used to purchase materials and resources for make and take sessions, family-friendly lending libraries and ‘play at home’ packs.
Backfill: Services should consider the cost of providing backfill if required to allow educators to deliver training/support sessions and any subsequent follow-up and engagement.