Do you want to create a safe and inclusive space for diverse children, families and colleagues?

Equal Space provides quality professional development programs that build capacity in the Kindy Uplift priorty area of Access and Inclusion. We support early years educators to improve their understanding of what it means to be LGBTIQ+ and provide professional guidance and support to build a safe and inclusive kindergarten for all. Our programs improve outcomes for diverse children, families and colleagues whilst also supporting educators to create a culture of respect, understanding and opportunity where all children can play their own way and are celebrated for who they are.

Services

Costs are for delivery to all centre staff and include materials. GST not applicable. All programs can be delivered online. Travel costs may apply if face to face delivery is preferred - See below for details.

Example projects:

• Development of inclusion statements or scripts that support you to feel strong in your inclusion practices

• Guided development of teaching/learning experience for children

• Organisational review and action plan

• Support to identify and action other projects of your choice

Delivery

• 3 x 1hr sessions with opportunity to extend.

• Online or face to face

• $950 for inital 3, $300 for additional sessions.

Get the books and play resources you need

Review of existing resources. Development of proposed purchasing lists for both books and play resources. Resources suitable for classroom use or as part of centre lending library for families.

Option to package with customised coaching sessions (above) to develop corresponding intentional teaching experience/s.

Development of short series of (2-4) communications targeted to families exploring inclusion in an approachable format.

Could include information sheets to share online or as part of enrolment, or more casual communications such as Storypark or Facebook. Initial discussion to identify topics and formats. Email/phone follow up and review. Example topics could include the value of exploring gender through play or talking about diverse families with your children.

Work with diverse community members to gather feedback and ideas about a specific topic or project.

Eg. How can we make our centre more inclusive? Schedule and costs subject to size and scope.

Travel Costs

Prefer face to face delivery? See below for travel costs.

• BRISBANE: No cost

• SOUTH EAST QLD: 30min to 2.5 hours from Brisbane. $100/hour (includes time, fuel, vehicle costs), calculated from Brisbane CBD.

• REGIONAL QLD: $1000 per visit (includes flights, ground transport, accommodation and incidentals).

Uplift Priority Areas

How our services build capacity and meet key priorities

The programs provided by Equal Space contribute to the Access and Inclusion priority area by providing educators with specific information, skills and strategies that enhance their ability and confidence in creating welcoming and inclusive environments for families, children and colleagues with diverse genders and sexualities. Programs support educators to reflect on their practices and identify opportunities to develop practices that honour the diverse backgrounds of all children in their program.  Our programs are delivered by qualified teachers and come under the group training and teaching and learning consultancies options within the Kindy Uplift Decision Making Guide.

As described by the Australian Human Rights Commission (2014):

• Up to 11 in 100 Australians may have a diverse sexual orientation, sex or gender identity. Even if you do not have LGBTIQ+ people accessing your service right now, it is likely you will at some point in the future.

• Almost half of all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people hide their sexual orientation or gender identity in public, including in the workplace, for fear of violence or discrimination 

• 80% of homophobic bullying involving LGBTI young people occurs at school and has a profound impact on their well-being and education 

The QLD Department of Education (2022) and Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2014) clearly articulate the responsibility of schools, kindergartens and early education providers to develop inclusive services were everyone is recognised, accepted and valued as themselves, regardless of gender or sexual preference. 

Rainbow Families NSW (2019) has identified that the experiences of Rainbow Families indicates that early childhood education services would benefit from targeted training programs so that staff have a clearer understanding of rainbow families, of inclusive language and of strategies and resources that can be used to make both adults and children feel welcome and included. The establishment of respectful ways of communicating and working with all families is also a key strategy of the Uplift Access and Inclusion priority area. 

References 

• Australian Human Rights Commission (2014). Face the Facts: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications 

• Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2014). Inclusion in the Early Years. https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/qklg_pd_inclusion_early_yrs.pdf 

• Queensland Department of Education (2022). Diversity in Queensland Schools: Information for Principals. https://education.qld.gov.au/student/Documents/diversity-information-for-principals.pdf 

• Rainbow Families NSW (2019). Love (still) makes a family: A report into discrimination faced by LGBTIQ+-parented families when accessing Australian Government services. rainbowfamilies.com.au 

Learning Framework

How our programs align with the QKLG - Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guidelines

The Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guide specifies Identity as a key learning area for children and the provision of culturally safe, inclusive and responsive intentional teaching is an uplift priority. Our programs support educators to develop teaching and learning strategies that ensure children feel safe, accepted and supported and are provided with opportunities to develop a confident self-identity including awareness of their own socio-cultural and family identities.  

Principles: 

• High expectations, equity and respect for diversity: Our programs support teachers to make curriculum decisions that respect and include children’s diverse ways of being and knowing, social and cultural experiences.  

• Respectful relationships: Our programs support teachers to develop respectful and reciprocal relationships based on a clear understanding of children and families whole self, identity and socio-cultural experiences, providing strong foundations for children’s learning and development. Our programs support teachers to interact positively with children and ensure they feel respected and valued. 

• Collaborative partnerships: Our programs prioritise be-spoke collaboration, ensuring there is time to understand each other’s expectations and priorities and engage in shared decision-making. 

• Effective pedagogies: Our programs support teachers to develop their own high quality inclusive pedagogies. 

• Reflective practice and professional decision-making: By delivering all of our programs over a period of time, our programs encourage teachers to reflect on their professional practice to build insight and explore ways of improving learning and relationships.  

 Learning and development areas: 

• Identity: Our programs support educators to ensure children feel safe, accepted and supported and are provided with opportunities to develop a confident self identity including awareness of their own socio-cultural and family identities. Educators will identify ways to raise awareness of children’s own culture/s and identities and  encourage children and families to share images, objects and resources that reflect their family identities. 

• Connectedness: Our programs support educators to develop environments, pedagogies and practices that help children to learn about diverse identities and respond to everyone with respect. Our programs increase educator confidence to challenge stereotypical representations of people in texts and everyday situations and use drama, books or pictures to make connections and identify stereotypes and bias.