Engaging stakeholders to inform policy developments in early childhood education and outside school hours care

Fay Hadley*, Linda J. Harrison, Leanne Lavina, Lennie Barblett, Susan Irvine, Francis Bobongie-Harris, Jennifer Cartmel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
155 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The application of engagement strategies to ensure democracy of decisions is increasingly valued and adopted by governments to ensure trust in the process and ownership of the outcome. This paper describes the approach and methods used to engage early childhood education and care (ECEC) and outside school hours care (OSHC) stakeholders in the contemporizing and updating of Australia’s national Approved Learning Frameworks (ALFs): Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) and My Time Our Place: Framework for School Age Care (MTOP). Theoretical underpinnings of a robust stakeholder engagement strategy ensured a range of methods were developed to communicate with and encourage participation by the diversity of stakeholders who are invested in ECEC and OSHC in Australia – broadly defined as approved providers, teachers, educators, families, children and young people, regulatory authorities and other professionals who provide support and advice. A mixed-method, sequential 3-Stage design was developed to gather the insights, responses, and perspectives of stakeholders who provided, worked in, used, attended, or supported ECEC and/or OSHC settings. Stakeholder feedback included survey ratings and written comments, focus group and panel discussions, educator documentation and video-diaries, and the writings, talking, and drawings of children and young people. Evaluation methods focus on the number, diversity, and depth of stakeholder responses. In conclusion, we reflect on the usefulness, benefits, limitations, and effectiveness of our approach to participatory engagement to inform government policy development and decision making.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1212952
Pages (from-to)1-12
Number of pages12
JournalFrontiers in Education
Volume8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2024. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • education and care
  • stakeholder engagement
  • policy
  • early childhood
  • participation
  • multi-method
  • outside school hours care

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