Educators being supported in their understanding of attachment development

To further examine the support educators may have received to enhance their understanding of how early attachment develops, respondents to the semi-structured interviews were asked how they felt supported in their understanding of attachment development through the EYLF (DEEWR, 2009) and National Quality Standard (NQS) (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority [ACECQA], 2013). In the online survey, respondents chose to discuss this topic in the additional comments section. It was interesting to note that, overall, in both the online survey and semi-structured interviews, educators did not feel that they were supported in their understanding of how attachment relationships develop. In the online survey,

educators suggested that more work was required to fully support pre-service teachers and educators in their knowledge and understanding of attachment theory. Educators

participating in the semi-structured interviews explained that they had participated in professional development on self-regulation, which had covered attachment theory as a component of the overall workshop, however, no educator had attended professional development specifically to support educators to understand attachment theory within an ECEC context. No educator was aware of any attachment workshops specific to the ECEC sector. Raj, one of the interviewees, voiced her concern about the lack of available training in Perth in comparison to Melbourne and Sydney, considering Perth ECEC settings as

geographically disadvantaged and suggesting that more learning opportunities were required in relation to attachment theory. The Australian Association for Infant Mental Health (AAIMH) (2013) recommended that as part of high-quality care, educators need to receive ongoing training including focused training in infant mental health for educators working with infants. Colmer et al. (2011) also propose that ongoing professional development and opportunities for teams to reflect, support each other and engage in dialogue is required in relation to

attachment theory and suggest that this is critical to the provision of a high-quality service. While no explicit link was made between the Circle of Security (CoS) and attachment theory based professional development, when asked about their familiarity with the CoS, 77% of respondents to the online survey stated that they were familiar with the CoS, which they defined as an approach that enhances attachment security between adults and young children. The number of respondents familiar with the approach would indicate that some

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information had been made available to them. The six participants in the semi-structured interviews were asked about their awareness of tools or programs available to support their understanding of attachment relationships. None of the participants in the semi-structured interviews mentioned CoS, however, it is important to note that it was not an explicit question in the interview.

In the semi-structured interviews, the researcher asked about educators’ awareness of Reflect,

Respect, Relate, an instrument designed to assess the overall learning environment and quality of relationships through four observational scales, which was freely made available to all ECEC settings across Australia in conjunction of the introduction of the National Quality Framework (NQF) (Department of Education and Children’s Services [DECS], 2008). Five of six of the educators had not heard of the resource, and despite the resource having a tool to assess quality of interactions within ECEC settings, none had used it. A lack of awareness of the existence of the resource is significant, as within Educators Belonging, Being and Becoming: Educators’ guide to the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia, suggestions are provided as to how Reflect, Respect, Relate (DECS, 2008) relates to the EYLF and is continuously

referenced throughout (DEEWR, 2010). While the EYLF (DEEWR, 2009) references attachment theory and the importance of developing secure relationships with young children, as Raj explained, it is very broad, and there is no specific guidance provided to educators as to how to approach the process of developing a relationship with young children.

Educators who participated in the semi-structured interviews believed that the NQS had a role to play in supporting their understanding of attachment relationships. One educator proposed that the standards promoted not only the development of secure relationships with young children, but respectful and collaborative partnership with families. Another educator

believed that the NQS prompted her to respect a child’s background, culture, their community and their rights, and asked educators to reflect this in their documentation. This is a similar position to the AAIMH, which proposes that in relation to attachment and non-parental care, educators need to engage in reflective practice that supports them to reflect on their beliefs and to consider practices from the perspective of the “child, the worker and the system itself” (2013, p. 3). At the time of the semi-structured interviews, the revised NQS had not come into effect, and therefore, the concept of self-regulation was not yet included in Standard 5.2: Each child is supported to build and maintain sensitive relationships. With the revision of the NQS (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority [ACECQA], 2017) and the inclusion of the concept of self-regulation, it may be timely for educators to access professional

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In summary, the majority of educators participating in this study appeared to have knowledge and understanding of attachment theory, with their understanding centred around the notion of attachment being a bond between a child and an adult providing security to the child. The majority viewed themselves as secondary attachment figures alongside key adults in an infant’s/toddler’s life such as immediate and extended family. Educators believed attachment theory is critical to infant/toddler practice, with some suggesting the theory should inform everything that an infant/toddler educator does. The majority of educators believed attachment promotes emotional and cognitive development and that an absence of an attachment relationship in an ECEC setting could have an adverse impact on infant/toddler development. Educators were aware of Ainsworth’s stages of attachment development, however, they appeared to focus more on the third stage, where attachment behaviours are more prevalent, as it is during this stage that stranger and separation anxiety peak. Educators voiced their concern in relation to being supported in their knowledge and understanding of how attachment relationships develop. They suggested that there was scope for more training and development to be implemented for educators in increasing their knowledge and

understanding. No educator was aware of professional development currently available to the ECEC sector specifically on the topic of attachment.

5.3 Early childhood educators’ beliefs about attachment relationships

This section reports findings related to educators’ beliefs about attachment relationships. It relates to research question two: “What are early childhood educators’ beliefs around attachment relationships?” Ebbeck et al. (2015) propose that sensitive and responsive care is key in the process of developing attachment relationships between educators and

infants/toddlers. They suggest that through sensitive and responsive caregiving, educator practices become more child-centred and consequentially, support the development of secure attachment relationships. One of the practices of the EYLF, responsiveness to children, details how educators respond to children’s “strengths, abilities and interests”, valuing their

knowledge and building on this to support learning (DEEWR, 2009, p. 14). Responsiveness is one of the four signals in Reflect, Respect, Relate used to assess the quality of the relationship through interactions between educators and young children. The resource proposes that responsiveness includes the ability to recognise and respect times when children do not require the support of an adult. Reflect, Respect, Relate considers responsiveness central to the socio-constructivist approach, one of the theoretical approaches that underpins the EYLF.

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Responsiveness means that educators follow a children’s cues in relation to the situation and the child’s behaviour, and that distressed children are comforted quickly (DECS, 2008). To ascertain educators’ beliefs about attachment relationships, respondents to the online survey were asked to respond to statements related to sensitivity and responsiveness, which included self-settling, planning for one-on-one time, dependency and communication, which are presented in the following section. The themes were pre-selected based on some of the indicators from Reflect, Respect, Relate (DECS, 2008) and respondents were asked to rate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with each of the statements. Based on the initial findings from the online survey, the researcher was able to extend and explore each of the emerging themes in more detail through the questions asked in the semi-structured

interviews. In addition to the semi-structured interviews, observations were introduced as an additional data source relating to the emerging themes.