As a fresh generation of kindergarten students take the first steps of their school careers, their teachers will be bringing new techniques and learning strategies to the classroom.
Elizabeth Simpson teaches kindergarten at Glenroi Heights Public School in Orange. "When teaching kindergarten, I think you need to be really well organised but flexible at the same time," she says. "You need to have respect for children as capable learners and understand that sometimes it will be you learning from them."
Last year, Simpson undertook a study tour after being awarded the Premier's University of Wollongong Early Childhood Scholarship. "I visited high-quality, prior-to-school settings around Australia in order to develop new, age-appropriate ways of delivering the mandated early stage one syllabus outcomes," she says.
"I was able to observe that while explicit teaching is crucial in developing beginning literacy and numeracy skills, significant learning and development of positive attitudes towards learning occurs through play-based experiences that are largely child-directed and based on the children's interests."
Simpson observed adults engaging in sustained shared conversations with children; the adults were available to provide extra resources, ask questions and make suggestions to encourage critical thinking.
"Children were confident learners and felt safe to hypothesise and experiment, with no fear of being wrong," she says.
Simpson hopes to incorporate more child-directed and play-based learning into her classroom this year. "We want to help children develop really positive attitudes towards school and feel like it is a place that belongs to them so they become confident learners," she says.
Simpson's advice to beginning teachers is to become part of the school team and ask for help when needed. "Within any school there will be a range of staff members with a range of strengths and we should all be working as a team to utilise these skills," she says.
Bree Buckley has been teaching kindergarten for five years, most recently at Bronte Public School. With a bachelor of education (primary) from Australian Catholic University, she has taught in NSW and London.
"A day in a kindergarten classroom is filled with funny moments and I constantly laugh with the children," Buckley says. "Being called Miss Broccoli instead of Miss Buckley, watching local birds stealing students' lunches from their closed lunch boxes and having a stick insect named Muffin for a class pet are just some recent memories that have made me smile."
Buckley says one of the best moments for kindy teachers is seeing a student's face light up when they learn something for the first time. "Seeing their growth from the day they start school, when they just might be able to write their name and a few numbers, to the end of their first year of school, when they can write some of the most amazing stories, is a real high," she says.
"You get to share moments like losing a first tooth, making friends, and learning to read and write. It's pretty special."
As many teachers and parents of kindergarten-age children would acknowledge, Buckley says the energy demands can be tiring. "The only low would be the amount of energy required in a day, as it can be quite tiring sometimes," she says.
To anyone considering a career in kindergarten teaching, she says the job is lot of fun but requires a lot of planning, preparation and patience. "There is so much variety each day in the job of a kindergarten teacher.
"You are playing sport, dancing, singing, teaching reading, writing and mathematics ... the list goes on. You can find yourself creating magical powers that will stop someone's tummy from hurting, tying up shoelaces [constantly], taking jumpers on and off
and helping children choose what to eat from their lunch box."
Buckley says kindergarten teachers perform these myriad jobs alongside the all-important task of teaching the children all the things they need to learn in their first year of school.