Certificate of Education – Development and Play

Unit 1 – Support the holistic learning and development of children

• Supporting emerging physical skills
• Encouraging physical development
• Daily routines and benefits of routines
• Developing and practising new skills
• Arranging equipment to develop movement skills
• Fine and gross motor skills
• Encourage challenge, choice and spontaneity
• Health and wellbeing
• Safety – making a child feel safe and secure
• Encouraging play and social experiences
• Accepting responsibility for actions
• Support and consequences
• One-to-one and small-group interactions
• Care, empathy and respect
• Support children with difficulties understanding or communicating
• Modelling language
• Developing collaborative relationships
• Respecting and valuing individual differences
• Making informed choices about behaviour
• Positive reinforcement and behaviour modelling
• Experiencing pride and confidence in achievements
• Supporting frustrated children
• Psychological responses
• Expressing and regulating feelings
• Developing and modelling empathy
• Perseverance and developing resilience
• Sharing children’s successes
• Exploration and problem-solving
• Materials, resources technologies and experiences
• Exploring concepts and ideas
• Conversation and critical thinking
• Linguistic heritage
• Home languages
• Reading and storytelling
• Stimulating children’s enjoyment with props
• Developing pre-writing skills
• Communicating listening and questioning
• Symbols and patterns
• Group discussions
• Modelling language
• Developing skills across five domains
• Brian development
• Development milestones
• Variations in development
• Scaffolding children’s learning
• Challenge, curiosity and discovery
• Accommodating privacy, solitude or quiet
• Spontaneous teaching moments
• Sharing information with colleagues
• Childhood development – links to the learning framework
• Development theories
• The curriculum planning cycle and child development
• National Quality Framework (NQF)
• National Quality Standard (NQS)

Unit 2 – Provide experiences to support children’s play and learning

• Setting up areas for specific activities
• Curriculum plan
• Safety protocols
• Safe and stimulating play areas
• Indoor and outdoor play
• Resources and materials
• Using natural, real and repurposed materials
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Observations and reflection
• Unstructured and free play
• How children learn
• Participation
• Engaging children in discussions
• The benefits of routine
• Intentional teaching
• Spontaneous teaching and learning
• Extensions of play
• Flexible use of experiences, resources and materials
• Encourage creativity and confidence
• Encouraging participation in new activities
• Group activities
• Praise
• Holistically evaluate the implementation of play
• Reflection on learning and development outcomes
• Identify improvements
• Pedagogical practices
• History of play and childhood across cultures
• Features of play-based pedagogy

Unit 3 – Support children to connect with the natural environment

• Discussions with children regarding the natural environment life and land
• Role models
• Respect care and appreciation for the environment
• Provide children with information and resources
• First Nations peoples’ connection to the natural environment
• Spirituality and culture
• The use of the environment – what we can learn
• Natural and recycled materials in learning environments
• Bringing the natural environment indoors
• Recycled and repurposed materials
• Natural materials
• Creative experiences
• Outdoor play areas and resources
• Providing children with opportunities to explore
• Discussions on sustainability
• Reducing impact on the natural environment
• Reducing negative impact on the natural environment
• Approved learning frameworks
• Experience growth and care of living things