A few weeks ago Alex Kuklik a Barrister came to talk to us about our legal responsibilities as future early childhood teachers. I throroughly enjoyed this session and learnt alot from Alex that I wasnt aware of prior to class. Firstly I realised how large my responsibilty as a teacher is towards the duty of care of young children. There are many penalties towards teacher's who fail to supervise children, use inappropriate discipline, fail to keep children aware from harm and hazards and allowing unauthorised persons on the premises. The offence that suprised me the most was the offence relating to required programs for example the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), teachers must keep adequate physical documentation to prove the education for each individual child. I did not realise centres could be fined for this, however I think its wonderful that this is put into place as it gives the EYLF some importance within preschools.
Following this Alex taught us about the different types of discrimmination that could be found within the early childhood environment including racial, disability, sex and homosexuality. These are all great acts and will ensure that no one is excluded whether it be parents, staff or children within the early childhood environment. A little while back in class, we had a case study based on homosexuality and the issue of a parent who didnt want their child to play with another child who had gay parents, I also wrote about this in my (Week 7) post. The discrimination act under the grounds of homosexuality supports my beleive within my week 7 post and strongly supports the directors arguement towards the mother who didnt not want her child playing with another child with gay parents. The act states that it is; "unlawful for an educational authority to discriminate against a student on the ground of homosexuality". This act can be used to explain to the mother that the centre cannot exclude the child who has homosexual parents in any way.
These acts and laws make me as a future educator feel much more supported and comfortable when conflict based on children's rights and ethics arise.
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