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Certificate III in Children’s Services: CHCCS400A: Reader LO 9256 © NSW DET 2010

CHCCS400A: Work within a relevant legal and ethical framework

Work ethically

Contents

Protect the rights of the client when delivering services

In this topic we examine how to work within the AECA Code of Ethics to protect the rights of the children. We also look at legislation which underpins the Code.

Early Childhood Australia’s Code of Ethics The Early Childhood Australia’s Code of Ethics was first developed in 1990 by a national working party, with considerable input from the early childhood field. The 2003–06 Code of Ethics Agenda resulted in a new Code of Ethics, which was endorsed at Early Childhood Australia's National Council meeting in September 2006.

A copy of the Code of ethics is in Appendix 1

It is also available online at http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/code_of_ethics/early_childhood_aust ralias_code_of_ethics.html

The Code provides specific guidelines for individual staff behaviour in childcare services.

Childcare workers are in a relationship of special trust with children and their families. This important relationship can be easily damaged. Childcare workers often face situations that involve a conflict between the needs or behaviours of others and their professional and personal values, called ‘ethical dilemmas’.

The Code of Ethics provides workers with a framework for guiding their behaviour within the childcare profession, to do what is best for children. It sets out the obligations and responsibilities of those working with children and their families. It also states the responsibilities childcare workers have to their colleagues, the community and the childcare profession.

Why work within the Code? An acceptance of the Code of Ethics by workers ensures the safety and rights of children are being actively considered within the workplace.

A code of ethics is only useful if it is part of everyday work practice. The Code is voluntary, but many children’s services throughout Australia accept and follow it.

Children’s rights The Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 is an important document that directs the Code of Ethics. The Convention ensures that Nations who sign it are making a commitment to the protection of children by outlining the rights of children and the responsibilities which governments and parents have to provide these rights.

In the Convention, children are seen as human beings with their own rights. It offers a vision of the child as an individual and as a member of a family and community, with rights and responsibilities appropriate to his or her age and stage of development. The Convention firmly set the focus on the whole child.

In the Convention outdated notions that parents ‘own’ their children and have absolute rights over them are replaced by the concept that parents are responsible for protecting their children’s rights. While parents do have rights with respect to their children, these rights are linked directly to the need for parents to promote and protect their children’s rights.

The Convention:

highlights and defends the family’s role in children’s lives

endorses the principle of non-discrimination and

establishes clear obligations by governments to develop legislation and conform to it.

There are 52 articles in the Convention, covering three main areas of children’s rights, specifically the right to:

possess or have access to things such as a name, a nationality, education, health care, life, adequate shelter, respect

be protected from sexual exploitation, physical abuse and neglect, and separation from family

participate—to be heard, to follow their religion of choice, to associate with others, but mainly to be heard in decisions affecting their lives.

Article 3 of the Convention tells us ‘The best interests of the child are to be a primary consideration in all measures concerning children’. This point reflects what we have been discussing under ‘duty of care’ responsibilities.

The UN Convention and the Code of Ethics Note that in the Code of Ethics, a commitment to certain basic principles sound very similar to the principles in the UN Convention.

The Code states that adherence to the following are important basic principles, to:

view the well-being of the individual child as having fundamental importance

acknowledge the uniqueness of each person and

consider the needs of the child in the context of the family and culture, as the family has a major influence on the young child.

The Code takes its direction from the Convention, as do many other current documents and pieces of legislation. You found similar principles in the Children and Young Peoples (Care and Protection) Act 1998. However, the Convention focuses the attention of the Nation which has signed it, on children’s rights. The Convention covers every member of the United Nations except the USA.

Key principles The four key principles in the Convention are:

the right to survival and development

the best interests of the child as a primary consideration

the right of all children to express their views freely on all matters affecting them and

the right of all children to enjoy all the Convention’s rights without discrimination of any kind.

While the rights of the child and their protection are the most important principle within child care, other people also have rights and obligations—workers, families, the community, society, and, of course, you. We will explore these rights and obligations further as we move through this topic.

Activity 1a: Early Childhood of Australia’s Code of ethics

Activity 1b

Activity 1c

Delivering services Working ethically means that services are delivered to all children and their families regardless of personal values, beliefs and attitudes. Often we are not aware of our beliefs and attitudes, but just assume they are ok or shared by everyone. This is rarely the case. Our beliefs and attitudes are shaped by many different things—where we were born, our family values and attitudes, our cultural values and attitudes, and our own life experiences, and more.

Ask yourself the questions below:

If I came from a culture where child started formal education at three or four years of age, how would I view play-based learning?

If no-one in my family could read or write, why should I value it?

If I have never mixed with people from different social backgrounds, what attitudes would it be easy to carry?

If I believe that everyone who does not follow my religion will go to hell, how might a child from a different faith feel when confronted by my beliefs?

If I feel children with disabilities should have separate services, how would I respond to a child with a disability in the service?

Delivering services to all children and their families regardless of personal values, beliefs and attitudes means stepping into the shoes of others and being aware of how our attitudes and beliefs might offend or hurt others, or fail to respect their rights.

Look again at the Code of Ethics. Under ‘In relation to myself as a professional’ point 2 guides you to ‘Engage in critical self-reflection and seek input from colleagues’. That means to think about what you think and why you think it, and to discuss your thoughts with your fellow-workers. Without this self-reflection, you will not truly be delivering a fair service to the children you work with.

Activity 2

Use effective problem solving techniques when exposed to competing value systems

Problem solving techniques When childcare workers are faced with different value systems, to make a decision that is in the best interests of the child they need to be guided by legislation and by ethical guidelines, as well as their service policies and practices.

There are times when you will find yourself trying to balance the needs of different people involved in a decision such as the child, the parents, the children’s service and yourself. When you are doing this you depend on your ethical beliefs to partly guide you, as well as considering the consequences or possible outcomes of your decision.

These decisions are known as ethical dilemmas or moral decisions as to what is the best response when faced with at least two competing values.

Decisions are also guided by legislation, laws, or policy guidelines. They should always involve talking with your service director/supervisor and fellow workers to ensure that your actions are the most appropriate, and that they are in line with the actions of others in your service.

All guided by law and ethics Activity 3

Ensure services are available to all clients regardless of personal values, beliefs, attitudes and culture

Think about the scenario in a previous activity where a childcare worker appears to avoid interacting with children and families from a particular racial background. It may be that the worker is unaware of his or her personal bias, perhaps they are uncomfortable in relating to people from a different racial group to their own, or perhaps they have negative attitudes towards people from this racial background. Whatever the reason, the childcare worker needs to examine their own personal beliefs and attitudes in order to understand their actions and hopefully to change them.

Anyone working in children’s services needs to ensure they provide a fair and equitable service to all children and their families. Through self-reflection, training and education, each worker should develop their skills in providing a truly inclusive service for all. Later in this learning topic you will have the opportunity to reflect on your values and how your background has shaped the way you are.

Recognise potential ethical issues and ethical dilemmas in the workplace and discuss with an appropriate person

Recognising ethical dilemmas Ethical dilemmas are recognisable by the fact that there are at least two sets of values involved, and you are being asked to decide which is most important. Being faced with conflicting values usually gives us a sense of confusion and makes us feel unsure. You need to ask yourself: What is the most important point here?

Ethical dilemmas involve at least two sets of competing values

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As a childcare worker your primary responsibility is to safeguard the child’s rights, but sometimes the best way to do this is not always clear. Parents, carers, other workers, may all see that by maintaining their rights you are also protecting the child. The situation may not be clear.

For example, your co-worker is late for her shift. She has been warned that if she is late again, she is fired. She argues that the children have had so many staff changes lately, how would you feel making another one happen? On the other hand, you think, what if something had happened to one of the children when we were inadequately staffed?

Another example could be that you notice slight bruising on a child known to Department of Community Services. The mother breaks down and cries, saying that one more incident and she has been told the child will be put in foster care. You know the family is close, though operating under stress. But what if there is then further and more dangerous bruising and you know you could have prevented it?

Ethical dilemmas are recognisable by this ‘but what if?’ question and the feeling of confusion or tension around how to respond.

Discussing issues When you are faced with what might be an ethical dilemma, who do you ask for help? So far, you have looked at legislation and ethical guidelines that can help your decision-making. These guides should also be reflected in your service policies and practices, but people are also a good resource to help in decision- making.

Your director, coordinator or supervisor are all people who may be useful to consult if a dilemma arises in the workplace. These people should be able to administer the service policies without favour to ensure that staff work together as a team.

Where dilemmas involve outside agencies you may be referred on by your director or coordinator. For example, you may have witnessed a situation you believe to be child abuse or neglect, and you could be directed to discuss this with the Department of Community Services, as the main witness. The Department has officers available at its Helpline desks to discuss any concerns and help workers to decide whether reporting would be the right thing to do at this point or not.

Where a concern involves a director, coordinator or supervisor’s behaviour, you might need to speak to someone on a Management Committee, an owner, or someone from an outside body—the licensing authority (the DoCS Children’s Services Adviser) or the police. Appropriate people are usually one level up from the person causing concern and perhaps two if you feel that the person is biased. It is therefore useful to know who people within the service are, and the relevant reporting system.

Activity 4

Recognise unethical conduct and report to an appropriate person

Unethical conduct is when you can see that another person is not adhering to the professional ethics and is behaving in a way that puts the children at risk. For example, point 5 of the AECA Code of Ethics in relation to staff says that you will work to build an atmosphere of trust, respect and candour by:

encouraging openness and tolerance between colleagues

accepting their right to hold different points of view

using constructive methods of conflict resolution

maintaining appropriate confidentiality.

Examples of unethical conduct could include:

a fellow worker is overheard gossiping about a child and their family at the local pub

a fellow worker is openly intolerant of other cultures and says negative things about them

two staff scream at each other in front of the children.

The Code of Ethics helps us to identify unethical situations, and it is therefore important to think about regularly. It should never be a dead piece of paper stuck at the back of the filing cabinet.

Reporting unethical conduct When you recognise an unethical act, your first option is to confront the worker yourself and discuss the issue. If that is not successful you may need to report the unethical conduct to someone in higher authority. You will certainly need to report the conduct if the rights of others, as outlined in the Code of Ethics, are not being respected.

When reporting unethical conduct, you need to be clear:

who was involved

when the incident(s) occurred and who else was present

the grounds on which you believe the conduct to be unethical and

what other actions you have taken (eg spoken to the person).

Information from the previous heading ‘Discussing issues’ should give you directions on who to speak to over various concerns. Know who is in charge of whom, and if you are concerned that one level up is still too close for objectivity, you have the right to report to higher levels.

Activity 5

Activity 6

Work within boundaries of work role

Position specifications and role responsibilities Your position within a children’s service as a childcare worker is complex and varied. Each day you will be required to interact with a diverse range of people— children, parents, staff, management, and other community organisations. As already discussed, there are several legal responsibilities and obligations expected of you. As well, there are policies, procedures and protocols to be followed.

We will be discussing how these responsibilities are communicated to childcare workers—through position specifications. We will also explore the various roles you may fulfil when contributing to the delivery of a quality children’s service while also meeting the legal responsibilities and obligations we have examined.

Identifying job responsibilities As discussed under ‘duty of care’, a ‘reasonable childcare worker’ does things according to ‘their skills, training, duties and job description’. Your responsibilities or duties within a service will vary according to the type of service that is being provided and the number, skills and experience of the people that you work with. Hence your job responsibilities in contributing to the service will vary depending on the range of different duties that are required to be performed within the day by the service team members.

To enable you to identify your responsibilities and complete your duties as a childcare worker, you will need to refer to a position specification for your job— commonly known as a job description.

A job description describes what it is expected of you in completing your job satisfactorily—what your role and responsibilities are. Below are examples of varying expectations:

If you were employed as a cook in a service, your role and responsibilities would be very different from those of an untrained worker whose primary role would involve directly supervising and interacting with children.

If you were employed as a room or team leader, you would have a higher level of responsibility than an ordinary childcare worker.

If you are a trained childcare worker, you would again have a greater level of responsibility then an untrained childcare worker.

If you were employed as an out-of-school care hours worker, you may have a different role in supervising children’s travel to and from the service than a childcare worker in a service for under six years old.

It is important that workers have a copy of their job description. This can guide them in determining their role and level of responsibility and assist them in making decisions and taking actions on a day-to-day basis. Following is a sample of a job description for an unqualified childcare worker for you to read through.

You have probably noticed that the job description only broadly outlines the role and duties of the worker. It does not spell out the specific duties such as making paint and dough.

You should also have noticed that some of the statements relate to the components of the duty of care, such as 2(e)—To treat each child and their family with dignity and respect, taking into account any cultural, socio-economic or other differences that may arise.

The main thing to remember is that a job description will help you determine your level of responsibility in relation to ‘duty of care’. If you act outside the guidelines set down by your job description and this leads to injury to a child, colleague, parent or visitor, then you may be considered negligent.

Prioritising responsibilities Having looked at the job description for an untrained childcare worker—and of what is expected of you on a daily basis—you may be feeling that it must be difficult to know how much emphasis should be placed on each aspect of the job.

For example, you might be asking yourself:

‘Should I spend most of my time supervising and interacting with the children that I am responsible for? Or is it more important to plan, implement and evaluate the programs and long and short term objectives?’ Given that any job description includes a number of tasks, it can be difficult sometimes to determine which of those tasks should have priority.

Reflect on an occasion when you’ve had a lot of tasks to complete at the same time. Did you prioritise your tasks? How did you go about doing that?

Below are some questions you might need to ask yourself in order to try and prioritise responsibilities and manage your job:

Is there any kind of logical or practical order? Sometimes you can prioritise your task easily because they occur in a particular order. For example, your tasks may depend on events that occur during various times of the day. You have to do certain things when children arrive in the mornings or when they have their meals.

Some of your other tasks may relate to the availability of resources or the arrival of additional staff or volunteers.

Are there any physical restrictions on completing any of the tasks? If there are, eliminate the tasks unless and until those restrictions are lifted.

Have I been given any guidelines as to the relative importance of these tasks?

If you have guidelines, follow them. They may be verbal guidelines or your observation of what and how staff do things within the service.

If you do not have guidelines, in what order of importance would you rank them and why? Seek assistance, or ask your supervisor, if necessary. Make sure you meet your legal responsibilities and obligations.

Have I considered both the positive and negative outcomes of ranking the tasks this way?

What will benefit the children, parents and staff? Discuss with other staff members.

Can I put time limits on the tasks so that there is less chance of one task being all-consuming? This may link to arrival and departure times, routine times, staff development opportunities.

In this ordering, have I considered the needs of the children and parents first? If you have not, do so.

Have I considered the philosophy and policies of the children’s service? If you have not, do so.

Has my ordering been biased by my own personal preferences? It should not be — unless you have no other guidelines to consider at all.

Being consistent When working within a team environment there is a need for you to be consistently responsible for meeting the requirements of your position specification due to the legal responsibilities and obligations that are embedded within your role as a childcare worker.

Being consistent in the performance of your duties can mean:

avoiding favouritism or bias

sharing your attention and time equitably between all children, parents and colleagues

keeping the principles of equal opportunity and inclusion in mind when working with others and interacting with children

maintaining an even quality of mood

ensuring you have consistent expectations about appropriate behaviour for children

consistently performing your duties to a satisfactory level.

By being a childcare worker who consistently performs their responsibilities, you are helping build trust and respect between:

workers and their colleagues

workers and the children

workers and family members.

You are also ensuring you are:

meeting the legal responsibilities and obligations expected of you on a daily basis such as your ‘duty of care’

helping to provide a quality service for children.

To support your developing knowledge of this information, it is recommended that you read QIAS Principle 4.1 ‘ Staff communicate effectively with each other and function well as a team’.

Maintaining confidentiality Another important factor all childcare workers need to be responsible for implementing within their position description is maintaining confidentiality. The children, families and staff of a children’s service all have a right to privacy. Most children’s services keep a great deal of sensitive information about children, their families and the staff employed at the service. All childcare workers need to be aware of the need to keep personal information private and confidential. This is particularly important when considering children’s developmental records.

There are few exceptions to the general rule of confidentiality. These include:

Making records available to the police if they have a warrant to inspect documents.

Making information available in the case of suspected or confirmed child abuse.

Responding to a summons or subpoena.

Responding to a request under freedom of information legislation.

Making developmental records available for licensing and accreditation procedures.

Although it seems like commonsense to say that confidentiality should be maintained, it is very easy to make a mistake or to let sensitive information slip.

Reflect on any situations where you or someone you know had let confidential information slip unintentionally—either at work or in a social setting.

Simply leaving developmental records lying around unattended in accessible places can lead to a breech of confidentiality. Displaying surnames of children and staff in a public manner could also be considered a breech of confidentiality.

Reflect on the scenarios below

Scenario 1

A man rings up the centre and asks if Jai Reddy is well today. You respond that Jai does not attend on Tuesdays. You have just confirmed to Jai’s estranged father that Jai attends your centre. Jai’s father’s investigative work has paid off. He has rung every preschool and childcare centre in the area asking the same question. He has been tracking his family down since after his wife left him and the court denied him contact with his son.

Scenario 2

Maria complains to Lucy, her friend, about some of the more difficult children she has to care for at work. She says, ‘There’s this girl Jane. I can’t

understand why she’s so difficult. I would not have thought that a child of her background would be so troublesome. Her mother’s a solicitor and her father’s a doctor—very intelligent. But you know, I heard that the mother is—’. Lucy interrupts, ‘I think I know who you’re talking about. Jane’s mother is my cousin. I didn’t know that Jane was a problem at child care’.

As these situations demonstrate, it is very easy to let personal or sensitive information slip if you are not on your guard. You should avoid gossiping about children and families as this can lead to an inadvertent breech of confidentiality.

Services should have policies relating to confidentiality that outline under what circumstances personal information should be given out, what type of information is confidential, who has access to personal information about children, families and staff and who can authorise the giving out of information. The responsibilities associated with this policy is an integral part of your role as a childcare worker. It is also related to your legal responsibilities and obligations as would be stated in the relevant Government regulations for your service, the AECA Code of Ethics and QIAS and FDCQA.

Maintaining knowledge and skills The final responsibility we will consider is the need to maintain your knowledge and skills. As you can see from our discussion so far, there are many regulations and guidelines relating to children’s services. When you are first employed at a service, the management does have some responsibility to provide you with information about your role and the service policies and procedures. However, you also have responsibility to keep yourself well-informed.

There are several expectations for employees in a children’s service. These expectations include being committed, responsible and accountable for your own actions and making informed decisions. You should read any information given to you or provided at the workplace. Many services subscribe to various magazines and journals or have staff resource libraries to help staff stay up-to-date with their knowledge and skills.

Even as an untrained childcare worker or a person who is learning about child care, you have some responsibility to use existing knowledge and skills you may have and to identify areas where you need to develop knowledge and skills.

No one knows everything there is to know about child care and children’s services. This would be an unrealistic goal. Government regulations and ideas about best practice change over time. The best approach is to be flexible and be aware that there is always something new to learn or a different way to do things that may be better. Maintaining knowledge and skills in order to ensure we are supporting the interests and rights of the child is an ongoing process for all those involved in children’s services.

Identifying and respecting different roles and responsibilities Workers in the children’s services spend considerable time working in groups or teams, either with children, parents, colleagues, community members or a combination of these people.

A team consists of two or more people, although it is more commonly thought of as three or more. A work team is a group of people who work together with a common goal or purpose. They may work together temporarily or permanently, on single or multiple issues. The membership of a team can be stable or changing and often various people with different roles are included in a team.

In order for teams to work effectively, individual members (including you!) and the team as a whole, have a number of responsibilities which they need to maintain. Job specifications outline the expectations for individual team members. In addition to our individual job responsibilities, we also have team responsibilities. Within children’s services there is a need for all members of the team to work collaboratively, identifying and respecting the different roles and responsibilities that each individual team member contributes to the service provision. In doing this, we make a positive work atmosphere and model to children desired behaviours and skills that are important in developing positive relationships throughout our lives.

The childcare worker’s responsibilities As a childcare worker, you have these responsibilities:

Be clear and direct in your communication. Actively listen and respond to communication.

Clarify your role within the team. Be aware of your own personal style. For example, are you an ideas person? A leader? Do you focus more on the task at hand or the relationships in the team? And what are your strengths and weaknesses?

Be honest, open to new ideas and suggestions and respectful of all individuals. Recognise what strengths/contributions they bring to the service.

Be willing to support other members of the team. Be flexible in the completion of the daily tasks and job specifications for all members.

Participate in decision-making.

Deal with any lingering misunderstandings or conflict you may have with other team members. Don’t let resentments build up. Consider how others will react to your actions. Be sensitive to the feelings and beliefs of others.

Notify your supervisor if you are having problems or have concerns within the team.

The team’s responsibilities The team has these responsibilities:

Clarify the team’s purpose or goals and prioritise these.

Clarify each member’s roles and responsibilities.

Recognise the strengths and contributions that each member brings to the team situation.

Encourage a sharing of roles and knowledge.

Set aside regular meeting and discussion times.

Address any conflict that may arise.

Work at ways of developing decision-making and member participation.

Identify and resolve issues that may be impinging on teamwork (eg, lack of time or lack of skills).

Within a children’s service there will be roles that require different responsibilities due to the training, experience, and knowledge these will vary depending on the size and type of service. In larger services, there will be a Director, authorised supervisor or team leader. It would be their role to facilitate the team morale, skills and strengths and they would ultimately take responsibility for trying to ensure these responsibilities are fulfilled.

When all members of a children’s service team are comfortable in their knowledge of their roles and responsibilities, and can identify and respect the roles and responsibilities of the other members of the team, then a positive work environment develops that encourages consistent, flexible and supportive team work. Working towards this also assists in meeting your legal responsibilities and guidelines in regard to QIAS and FDCQA, anti-discrimination legislation and regulations.

Reflect on a team of people you have worked with in the past. Your example does not need to be related to the childcare field.

Was working with this team a positive experience?

What did you most enjoy about working with the team?

What was difficult?

What would you do differently next time?

What do you see as the most important aspects of teamwork?

Demonstrate effective application of guidelines and legal requirements relating to disclosure and confidentiality

As childcare workers we are often privy to sensitive information about children and their families. We need to be clear about when, and to whom, this information can be disclosed and when it is required to be kept strictly confidential.

Legislation governing confidentiality All workers need to be aware that there are State and Federal laws that cover confidentiality. The following Acts relate to privacy and confidentiality of clients:

Health Administration Act 1982 This Act covers any information that is provided or recorded within the health system. Basically, information cannot be disclosed, without the consent of the person to whom the information relates or for the purpose of legal proceedings, such as a court order or subpoena that allows access to health information on a client.

The Public Health Act 1999 This Act also relates to disclosure of information without consent. The most important confidentiality provision of this Act is the part that deals specifically with HIV/AIDS related information. Under this Act, this means two things:

the fact that a person has had or is going to have an antibody test

the fact that the person is HIV positive.

The Public Health Act allows for the disclosure of information relating to a person’s HIV status where the failure to provide the information could place the health of the public at risk. This disclosure provision is limited and allows notification to the Director-General of the Health Department. It does not authorise disclosure to any other person.

Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 This Act is designed to protect the privacy of an individual’s health information, enable individuals to gain access to their health information and provide an accessible framework for resolution of complaints regarding the handling of health information

Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) This Act consists of internationally accepted privacy principles dealing separately with collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information. One of the key principles relates to accessibility of information, stipulating that agencies must allow access to a client’s personal information without reasonable delay and expense, when it is requested.

Personal information includes information kept on the records of the clients, personal details shared with you by the client and/or others, or medical information if the client has been referred to your service by a doctor. There are numerous sources of possible private information including written communication coming from other agencies.

Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) There is an obligation for people who have information about serious criminal offences to notify the police. A serious criminal offence is an offence that attracts a penalty of five years imprisonment or more. Health workers should be aware that this covers offences such as drug trafficking, serious assaults, sexual assaults, murder and manslaughter. It does not include minor possession offences or any offences under public health legislation.

NSW legislation is available at: http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/

Commonwealth legislation is available at: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/

Demonstrate awareness of own personal values and attitudes and take into account to ensure non- judgemental practice

As human beings, we all have our own values, beliefs and attitudes that we have developed throughout the course of our lives. Our family, friends, community and the experiences we have had all contribute to our sense of who we are and how we view the world. If, as children’s services workers, we are to provide a service that meets the needs of all children and families and helps them to feel empowered, we need to be aware of our own personal values, beliefs and attitudes and be prepared to adopt the professional values of our industry— and not impose our own ideas on our clients.

What are values? Values are principles, standards or qualities that an individual or group of people hold in high regard. These values guide the way we live our lives and the decisions we make. A value may be defined as something that we hold dear, those things/qualities which we consider to be of worth.

A ‘value’ is commonly formed by a particular belief that is related to the worth of an idea or type of behaviour. Some people may see great value in saving the world’s rainforests. However a person who relies on the logging of a forest for their job may not place the same value on the forest as a person who wants to save it.

Values can influence many of the judgments we make as well as have an impact on the service we provide to children and families. We need to consider the values of the families to whom we are providing a service, not just our own.

Where do values come from? Our values come from a variety of sources. Some of these include:

family

peers (social influences)

the workplace (work ethics, job roles)

educational institutions such as schools or TAFE

significant life events (death, divorce, losing jobs, major accident and trauma, major health issues, significant financial losses and so on)

religion

music

media

technology

culture

major historical events (world wars, economic depressions, etc).

Now it’s time for you to reflect on your personal values and how your attitudes have been shaped by your background. Try these two personal reflections:

You can choose as many options as you like from each list. Tick the concepts you think apply to you.

1 I am the way I am because of my:

 family

 race

 gender

 culture

 religion

 income

 partner

 occupation

 nationality

2 When I think about myself I think of myself as:

 a woma

 a man

 a father

 a mother

 a daughter

 a son

 a lover

 a partner/wife/husband

 a friend

 a student

 a worker

 a white person

 a coloured person

 rich

 having enough to live on

 poor

 someone else

3 I may be a different person if I:

 had a different family

 were a different race

 were a different gender

 were a different culture

 changed religion

 had more or less income

 had a different partner

 changed occupation

 were a different nationality

 lived in a different area

 had different friends.

Dominant values in Australian society

Value Applies Rank Value Applies Rank to me order to me order Being independent Being health conscious Being glamorous Being financially secure Being powerful Being there for family Being my own boss Being there for friends Being a leader Being confident

Being a follower Being a good parent Being recognised as Being a good an expert partner Doing what is Having a good expected of me income Helping others Being optimistic

Being liked by others Working in a team

Working for social Always learning justice Promoting Accepting people understanding as they are Working for Standing up for women’s rights what I believe in Protecting the rights Doing a good job of children Protecting the rights Fitting in to the of disadvantaged group groups Working to change Other: society Developing inner peace and harmony

Did you learn something about yourself that you didn’t expect? What is important here is your ability to be able to identify the values that are important to you, but also to realise that other people may have differing values due to different backgrounds and experience. We need to respect the values of the children and families who attend the service, as well as the values of our colleagues, except where those values may be discriminatory to other people or contravene professional, ethical or legislative guidelines.

Recognise, avoid and/or address any conflict of interest

A conflict of interest arises if it is likely that the performance of a person’s professional duties could be prejudicially influenced by that person’s private or personal interest. The fact that a person has both a professional duty and a private or personal interest in a particular matter does not necessarily mean that there must always be a conflict between the two. For example, when a childcare worker knows a particular family very well outside of the centre, there could be a conflict of interest in terms of the mandatory reporting of significant risk of harm. However, if the worker bears in mind his or her professional responsibilities and acts according to relevant child protection legislation, then there does not need to be any conflict of interest.

Childcare workers should interact with all families equally and not show bias towards families that they are personally friends with. Discussions of matters not relevant to the childcare setting should be left for after-hours. Similarly, childcare workers should be wary of accepting personal gifts from families, except perhaps the usual end-of-year gift or card.

If you think you may have a conflict of interest in a particular situation, it is usually best to discuss this with your supervisor. They can advise you on your professional responsibilities, or perhaps assign another staff member to take on the job.

Appendix 1

Early Childhood Australia’s Code of Ethics

(downloaded from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/code_of_ethics/early_childhood_aust ralias_code_of_ethics.html on 14 August 2009)

You are welcome to copy and distribute this Code of Ethics among staff and friends.

Preamble Definitions The Code of Ethics In relation to children In relation to families In relation to colleagues In relation to communities In relation to students In relation to my employer In relation to myself as a professional In relation to the conduct of research Other Resources

‘Wise moral decisions will always acknowledge our interdependency; our moral choices are ours alone, but they bind us all to those who will be affected by them. So deciding for yourself what’s right or wrong does not mean deciding in isolation’ (Mackay, 2004, p. 242). This Code of Ethics provides a framework for reflection about the ethical responsibilities of early childhood professionals. Following a national process of consultation, principles emerged which are indicative of the values we share as early childhood professionals in Australia. The Code is intended for use by all early childhood professionals who work with or on behalf of children and families in early childhood settings. In developing this second edition of Early Childhood Australia’s Code of Ethics, the national working party was mindful of changes in the knowledge base of early childhood that have occurred over the last decade. New research has allowed significant changes in understandings to emerge that reposition children as citizens with entitlements and rights. Increasingly, children are seen as competent and capable and able to participate in the negotiation of their learning and social experiences. Additionally, societal and environmental changes at the local,

national and global levels impact on children and families with consequent implications for our work. In recognition of the impact of globalisation and global sustainability, this revised Code identifies ethical responsibilities to work with children and families in order to address global issues locally. Just as the world has changed for children and families, so it has changed for professionals who work with them. The notion of lifelong learning, reflective practice, researching with children, new methods of documenting and assessing children’s learning, and collaborating across traditional service and discipline boundaries are examples of contemporary requirements for early childhood professionals. Inherent in this Code is the understanding that children learn within their family and community groups, bringing rich knowledge, a diversity of experiences and identities to their learning. Sociocultural theories have moved our focus beyond individual children’s development to highlight the importance of social contexts to children’s learning and development. As children participate and learn in their communities, they in turn influence those communities. Early childhood communities ought to be spaces and places where practices such as responsive listening and dialogue can build connections and relationships which sustain and advance individual and collective wellbeing. Early childhood professionals have a strong history of advocating on behalf of children and their families. This revised Code builds on this tradition by making explicit the ethical responsibility to take action in the face of injustice and when unethical practice occurs. This Code is not intended to, and could not possibly provide easy answers, formulae, or prescriptive solutions for the complex issues early childhood professionals face in their work. As an aspirational document, it does provide a basis for critical reflection, a guide for professional behaviour, and principles to inform individual and collective decision-making. The following values and processes are considered central to the Code of Ethics: respect

democracy

honesty

integrity

justice

courage

inclusivity

social and cultural responsiveness

education.

Definitions In this Code of Ethics, for the purposes of this document, these terms are given the following meanings:

Children — People between the ages of birth and eight years.

Families—The people who have significant care responsibilities for and/or kinship relationships with the child.

Early Childhood Professional—A person who works with or on behalf of children and families in early childhood settings.

Communities—Groups of people who identify as having shared values and intentions. These groups are recognised as complex, being simultaneously connected by commonality and diversity.

Employer—An individual or organisation which employs early childhood professionals.

Student—A person undertaking study at a secondary or tertiary institution.

Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics In this Code of Ethics the protection and wellbeing of children is paramount and therefore speaking out or taking action in the presence of unethical practice is an essential professional responsibility. I. In relation to children, I will: 1. Act in the best interests of all children. 2. Respect the rights of children as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1991) and commit to advocating for these rights. 3. Recognise children as active citizens participating in different communities such as family, children’s services and schools. 4. Work with children to help them understand that they are global citizens with shared responsibilities to the environment and humanity. 5. Respect the special relationship between children and their families and incorporate this perspective in all my interactions with children. 6. Create and maintain safe, healthy environments, spaces and places, which enhance children’s learning, development, engagement, initiative, self- worth, dignity and show respect for their contributions. 7. Work to ensure children and families with additional needs can exercise their rights. 8. Acknowledge the uniqueness and potential of all children, in recognition that enjoying their childhood without undue pressure is important. 9. Acknowledge the holistic nature of children’s learning and the significance of children’s cultural and linguistic identities. 10. Work to ensure children are not discriminated against on the basis of gender, age, ability, economic status, family structure, lifestyle, ethnicity, religion, language, culture, or national origin. 11. Acknowledge children as competent learners, and build active communities of engagement and inquiry.

12. Honour children’s right to play, as both a process and context for learning. II. In relation to families, I will: 1. Listen to and learn from families, in order to acknowledge and build upon their strengths and competencies, and support them in their role of nurturing children. 2. Assist each family to develop a sense of belonging and inclusion. 3. Develop positive relationships based on mutual trust and open communication. 4. Develop partnerships with families and engage in shared decision making where appropriate. 5. Acknowledge the rights of families to make decisions about their children. 6. Respect the uniqueness of each family and strive to learn about their culture, structure, lifestyle, customs, language, beliefs and kinship systems. 7. Develop shared planning, monitoring and assessment practices for children’s learning and communicate this in ways that families understand. 8. Acknowledge that each family is affected by the community contexts in which they engage. 9. Be sensitive to the vulnerabilities of children and families and respond in ways that empower and maintain the dignity of all children and families. 10. Maintain confidentiality and respect the right of the family to privacy. III. In relation to colleagues, I will: 1. Encourage my colleagues to adopt and act in accordance with this Code, and take action in the presence of unethical behaviours. 2. Build collaborative relationships based on trust, respect and honesty. 3. Acknowledge and support the personal strengths, professional experience and diversity which my colleagues bring to their work. 4. Make every effort to use constructive methods to manage differences of opinion in the spirit of collegiality. 5. Share and build knowledge, experiences and resources with my colleagues. 6. Collaborate with my colleagues to generate a culture of continual reflection and renewal of high quality practices in early childhood. IV. In relation to communities, I will: 1. Learn about the communities that I work within and enact curriculum programs which are responsive to those contexts and community priorities. 2. Connect with people, services and agencies within the communities that support children and families. 3. Promote shared aspirations amongst communities in order to enhance children’s health and wellbeing.

4. Advocate for the development and implementation of laws and policies that promote child-friendly communities and work to change those that work against child and family wellbeing. 5. Utilise knowledge and research to advocate for universal access to a range of high-quality early childhood programs for all children. 6. Work to promote community understanding of how children learn in order that appropriate systems of assessment and reporting are used to benefit children. V. In relation to students, I will: 1. Afford professional opportunities and resources for students to demonstrate their competencies. 2. Acknowledge and support the personal strengths, professional knowledge, diversity and experience which students bring to the learning environment. 3. Model high-quality professional practices. 4. Know the requirements of the students’ individual institutions and communicate openly with the representatives of that institution. 5. Provide ongoing constructive feedback and assessment that is fair and equitable. 6. Implement strategies that will empower students to make positive contributions to the workplace. 7. Maintain confidentiality in relation to students. VI. In relation to my employer, I will: 1. Support workplace policies, standards and practices that are fair, non- discriminatory and are in the best interest of children and families. 2. Promote and support ongoing professional development within my work team. 3. Adhere to lawful policies and procedures and when there is conflict, attempt to effect change through constructive action within the organisation or seek change through appropriate procedures. VII. In relation to myself as a professional, I will: 1. Base my work on contemporary perspectives on research, theory, content knowledge, high quality early childhood practices and my understandings of the children and families with whom I work. 2. Regard myself as a learner who undertakes reflection, critical self-study, continuing professional development and engages with contemporary theory and practice. 3. Seek and build collaborative professional relationships. 4. Acknowledge the power dimensions within professional relationships. 5. Act in ways that advance the interests and standing of my profession. 6. Work within the limits of my professional role and avoid misrepresentation of my professional competence and qualifications. 7. Mentor other early childhood professionals and students.

8. Advocate in relation to issues that impact on my profession and on young children and their families. 9. Encourage qualities and practices of leadership within the early childhood profession. VIII. In relation to the conduct of research, I will: 1. Recognise that research includes my routine documentation and investigations of children’s learning and development, as well as more formal research projects undertaken with and by external bodies. 2. Be responsive to children’s participation in research, negotiating their involvement taking account of matters such as safety, fatigue, privacy and their interest. 3. Support research to strengthen and expand the knowledge base of early childhood, and where possible, initiate, contribute to, facilitate and disseminate such research. 4. Make every effort to understand the purpose and value of proposed research projects and make informed decisions as to the participation of myself, colleagues, children, families and communities. 5. Ensure research in which I am involved meets standard ethical procedures including informed consent, opportunity to withdraw and confidentiality. 6. Ensure that images of children and other data are only collected with informed consent and are stored and utilised according to legislative and policy requirements. 7. Represent the findings of all research accurately.

The Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics (2006) was developed by a national working party consisting of Lennie Barblett (Convenor), John Buckell, Sandra Cheeseman, Margaret Clyde, Lyn Fasoli, Catharine Hydon, Anne Kennedy, Elizabeth Dau, Linda Newman, Lois Pollnitz , Gillian Styles, Louise Thomas, Laura Eiszele and Christine Woodrow.

This working party acknowledges the work of the original Code of Ethics working party and thanks them for their outstanding contribution to the early childhood profession.