Documentation- what is required?

There are often myths and misconceptions in relation to the required documentation.

Documentation is unique to each service or organisation. Some services use digital which is often more prescriptive whilst others tend to stay with the paper form of documentation.

No form of documentation is better than the other.

What are the “rules” surrounding documentation? Is there a specific requirement or number? How do we cut through the confusion that seems to frequently go hand in hand when you mention documentation.

Documentation traditionally would have to be the most vexed part of the role by educators, and potentially services alike, in ensuring that the responsibilities and requirements of documentation are being met.

If you ask an educator who has left the industry why they did, often their reply will include the amount of documentation required which often had them completing a lot in their own time.

Basically, to break it down there are NO “rules” when it comes to documentation.  It would seem there is an expectation in relation to documentation which inherently brings confusion. 

Documentation has formed the subject of many a debate as to ‘who do we document’ and ‘how much do we document’. Sometimes, as there is no specific regulated formula related to the sector and therefore no recipe for documentation there are quite often many questions raised surrounding documentation. Additionally, the introduction of the use of digital technologies in documentation has brought about a new level of questioning.

What is required is the collection and interpretation of data and the use of this data in further planning and assessment. 

As there is no one size fits all formula it facilitates the opportunity for educators to be innovative in their professional knowledge whilst recognizing and responding to the service and the families and community.

Not everything in a day is worthy of documentation.

It is more about focusing on meaningful, relevant and rich learning.

Strategies can be implemented to effectively record the important information with a focus on more of working smarter not harder to achieve documentation goals and requirements which will provide a clear picture of learning, interests and strengths. Primarily being outcome focused will ensure you are achieving a process which factors in informed practice and pedagogy as well as focusing on what and how you document. (This is of course may be influenced by the service and their individual specific requirements of you).

Don’t be scared by the thought of documentation and meeting the standards.

Put simply it is the recording, and ultimately the evidence of the learning that takes place. Good documentation includes the learning process by making it visible.

The key element of documentation is that it is understandable by all, educators and families.

A service will generally have procedures in place to ensure the consistency and evaluation of this, whether that be a process or through the support of an educational leader and through feedback and input that is ongoing from families and educators through their reflective practice.

As each child is different and their learning progression is different and varied, the ways of gathering and recording and types of documentation may vary.

Another key element of documentation is that the collection of the data is collected over time to provide a true representation of the learning.

Documentation should be meaningful. Documentation should be sustainable. Documentation should be purposeful. Documentation should be guiding. Documentation should promote positive outcomes for children and their families.

Documentation should not simply be a task to complete. A box to tick. It is much deeper than that and provides much more insight and opportunities.  

Documenting a child’s learning provides the evidence.

It supports and underscores the delivery of education and quantifies the learning of a child. It presents a deeper understanding of the child whilst assisting in informing the educational program and the overall learning process.

It affords the analysis of the learning and learning processes.

And lastly, another crucial element of the documentation process provides the opportunity for educators to reflect on their pedagogy and professional practices.

This is where it sometimes can seem an overwhelming task as to just how much and what is required in terms of from a compliance perspective.

You may be surprised that from a compliance perspective the level of documentation is achievable without additional stress placed on educators.

Documentation compliance is both a regulatory requirement, as well as fundamental to Quality Area 1 from the NQS.

Having said that, do you still have the question as to exactly what that constitutes?

The requirements for an educational program include these key components within regulations and ensuring compliance with the EYLF:

• Information is available for families.
• Families should always have access to their child’s learning, interests and developmental needs. The way this is presented can be individual to each service or educator, although it must contain information about the educational program as it relates specifically to their child as well as information as to how their child participates within the program.
• There are individual child assessments or evaluations.

The process of gathering the information and analyzing to provide the evidence of a child’s learning in what they know, what they can do and what they understand which is the foundational basis for the educational program. There is an emphasis on the delivery in that it should be constantly evolving due to reflection and feedback. It needs to be reflective of the children’s needs, interests and the basis for the ongoing experiences to be planned.

The documentation should be in the form of providing a clear assessment of a child’s:

• Developmental needs
• Interests
• Their participation within the service and program
• Experiences
• Feedback
• Align with the outcomes within the educational program which are consistent with the learning outcomes of EYLF.
• The educational program

This must be displayed where families can always easily access and be available. It must be available for inspection upon request.

The educational program content should be relevant, inclusive of the operation of the program and not just a list of various experiences without context and reasoning. It needs to be clear how the program is being implemented and why.

The structure of the documentation enables the service or educator to decide more on what works best for them and their ability to ensure that these elements are being met in terms of the actual documentational format and implementation within a service.

There is no prescriptive amount of documentation so long as the above elements are being achieved within the documentation itself and it is transparent.