Ensuring the safety and well-being of children is at the heart of every early learning service. Active supervision stands as a fundamental strategy in this effort, going beyond simple being present and watching over children, into a more proactive and flexible stance. This approach not only reduces the likelihood and severity of accidents but also supports children’s learning and enables educators to meet children’s needs in a way that supports behaviours.
As a sector, somewhere along the line, someone suggested we should create a supervision plan to display on every wall of our services with lovely little stars where each educator should be placed to most effectively supervise the children. According to this idea, we should stand on our spot, be able to see the majority of the space from this one location and therefore we checked off that regulatory requirement for planning for our supervision. Right?
I’m here to say, this is a trap! When educators stand on their spot they fall at risk of temporarily becoming lighthouses or pot plants (depending on if they are sitting or standing), and just become relegated to watching over the children. This completely removes the ability for educators to engage, actively supervise, dynamically risk assess and be a part of co-constructing learning with children. Consequently, in a great many services, these supervision plans are made, displayed on the wall, and never ever looked at again.
The challenge then arrives that by the National Regulations, we are required to follow our own policies and procedures Regulation 170 – Policies and procedures to be followed. This means that many services are inadvertently breaching this regulation when these supervision plans in their policies and displayed on their will, go unused and ignored. The good news is that there is no legislative requirement for a supervision plan. You still can (and should) proactively plan for effective supervision strategies at your service. There are a plethora of strategies that can be used and for them to be effective they need to be tailored to your individual service, staff team and community needs. Some strategies we at Phoenix Support for Educators would recommend are below.
Enhance the Environment
Explore the arrangement of spaces within your environment and identify any potential supervision risks. This may be a blind corner in an L-shaped yard or a cubby with limited visibility inside. How about that room divider that is difficult to see beyond? Further to those structural elements though. Consider the spaces for levels of child engagement. Have you provided spaces for small and large group play? Are there spaces for big, physically active play across all areas to support children’s needs? Have you provided room for children to be loud, exuberant and playful, as well as spaces for children to retreat into quiet? Ensuring our spaces are engaging, provide adequate choice to children, and effectively meet their needs will minimise many of the risks for supervision. Children are less likely to attempt to abscond, if they have a genuinely quiet space they can choose to retreat to. Keeping spaces clutter-free facilitates supervision and enhances children’s engagement in play.
Dynamic Educator Movements
While supervision plans present a trap, the movement of educators is a vital element to consider. When children are present, educators also need to be present. Being present in the moment is key. It is only when we are truly present that we notice that child about to escalate with their building frustration before we reach a stress response from the child. It is in those times where we are active participants in play, engaging with the children, moving around the space with them and supervising from within, that we reach our strongest supervision practices. Consider your visibility. Even when engaging in children’s play, position yourself so your back is not to the majority of children. Ensure that clear pathways exist for educators to access children quickly, particularly those who may require additional support.
Head Counts – or are they Face Counts?
While head counts can feel burdensome, they are essential to maintaining an ongoing awareness of the children your group. Regularly scan the environment to account for all children in your care. Periodical head counts are helpful, but the clock is not your friend. A more effective strategy than counts at designated times, is continual monitoring, remaining acutely aware of the children that are with you, where they are going and what is happening in your space. However when we walk around counting heads there is a risk that one of your children may have left the space, yet a child from another group has made their way into your numbers. This is particularly relevant in multi-age groupings, indoor/outdoor play and on excursions in the community. So creating habits of not counting heads, but rather counting faces, will help to eliminate that risk!
Understanding and Planning for Children’s Needs
Every behaviour is an attempt to meet a need. No behaviour happens for no reason. This is the core of the Phoenix Cups Framework (Add hyperlink) and is incredibly powerful when it comes to understanding, predicting and supporting children’s behaviours. When as early years professionals, we can anticipate the needs of the children we have and proactively plan for our environments, educational program, pedagogical decisions and interaction styles to be innately cup filling for children it will consistently support behaviours. When children have their needs met and are driven less into behaviours that may need additional adult support, it releases some of the additional strain on our supervision practices.
Connect, Communicate and Engage
Connections and positive interactions revolutionise the way we engage with children. The research and science overwhelmingly tells us that children that have positive connections with the trusted adults in their lives receive many benefits to their overall mental, emotional and even their physical health and development. If you are invited, engage in play with them as an equal participant. Pay close attention to the sounds in your environment. Recognising specific sounds—or the absence of them—can alert educators to potential issues. For instance, silence with toddlers is rarely golden!
Simple strategies such as implementing Connection Planning (see this blog) or focusing on the Magic Ratio for Connection.
The Magic Ratio is an idea discovered by psychologists Dr. John Gottman & Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman in the 1970’s which has a significant scientific evidence-base today.
Their research, whilst initially focused on married couples, found that for a positive connection to form and be maintained, the individuals needed to maintain ratio of 5 positive interactions, to every 1 negative interaction.
Move, Move and Move
Supervision does not work when static. Supervision plans with the stars do not support active supervision. Educators should flow with the children, move with the play, engage, connect and predict. Join in the moments. Supervision is not helped by accidentally becoming a lighthouse where we stand in one place and scan our head back and forth. Instead... Move!
Team Work Makes the Dream Work
Supervision needs to be a team endeavour. Discussing supervision needs to be a daily practice. Making small habits to discuss supervision tips, tricks, strategies and challenges in any way that you can will continue to ensure your service practices are evolving, embedding and providing consistent levels of quality for all children.
Consider reflecting together:
- At team meetings
- With the leadership team
- In the moment, in rooms throughout the day
- In room meetings
- Through critical reflections
- Long-term brainstorming in shared spaces such as displays in staff rooms, planning rooms or meeting rooms
Set yourself some tasks and actions to explore supervision in your practice. Remember...
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry