Cycle of planning

ACECQA’s National Education Leader, Rhonda Livingstone provides insight into National Quality Framework topics of interest.

What is meant by an ongoing cycle of planning?

Children and adults alike are ongoing learners and we all develop and learn in different ways. The cycle of planning helps educators to purposefully support children’s continual learning and design meaningful learning opportunities.

The Educators’ Guide to the Early Years Learning Framework and the Educators’ Guide to the Framework for School Age Care recommend that the curriculum/program decision making process be a cycle of:

• information gathering
• questioning
• planning
• acting
• reflecting.

Educators create learning opportunities by challenging and extending a child’s current learning and development. To do this, an educator must first gather evidence which involves observing and meaningfully documenting knowledge of the child’s current learning. The learning frameworks, National Quality Standard and regulations are not prescriptive about how documenting should be done. But it does need to be meaningful, relevant and helpful in making children’s learning visible.

Educators then question how they can use the evidence gathered. The practices, principles and learning outcomes in the frameworks can be helpful in guiding how educators further plan the environment, resources, teaching strategies and effective ways to monitor and assess children’s learning.

Further reading and resources

Educators' guide to the Early Years Learning Framework, pp. 10–13
Educators' guide to the Framework for School Age Care, pp. 11–20
Early Years Learning Framework, pp.9–19
Framework for School Age Care, pp. 5–18
Department for Education, South Australia – Reflect Respect Relate 
Department of Education and Training – Early Years Learning Framework in Action, Stories 13 and 31
ACECQA – We hear you blog – Documentation – what, how and why
ACECQA – Meeting the NQS – Unpacking the planning cycle
Children’s Services Central, et al – What’s pedagogy anyway: Using pedagogical documentation to engage with the Early Years Learning Framework
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority – VCAA Early Years Planning Cycle Resource