SRF Program

  • Movement Environment Rating Scale (MOVERS)

    VEYLDF Alignment

    Item uses these practice principles: Reflective practice, Partnerships with families, High expectations for every child, Respectful relationships and responsive engagement, Assessment for learning and development, Integrated teaching and learning approaches, Partnerships with professionals.

    Item responds to these sub-outcomes: Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing.

    Description

    MOVERS is one of the Curriculum and Intentional Quality Rating Scales, designed to assess quality in five child developmental domains. The other scales are SSTEW, ECERS-R and ECERS-E. The scales are interlinked and designed using a similar format to enhance use.

    MOVERS specifically assesses quality of the environment and pedagogy in the physical child development domain. It has four subscales:  

    1. Curriculum, environment and resources for physical development
    2. Pedagogy for physical development
    3. Supporting physical activity and critical thinking
    4. Parents/carers and staff.

    Detailed Costs

    Workshops: variable, depending on location, participants and the number of scales taught.

    Scale manuals: about $26 online (depending on bookseller)

    Implementation Considerations

    Target population: early childhood teachers.

    Program/practice descriptions and details: MOVERS is designed to be used for research, self-evaluation and improvement, audit and regulation. Using MOVERS alongside other environment scales (see Description) gives users a more complete picture of what high-quality early childhood education and care can look like. It is aspirational in that it considers high-quality pedagogy and practice.

    Factors to consider: training may be available on weekends to alleviate backfill requirements. The provider may be able to run training sessions in particular local areas if interest is sufficient.

    Training requirements: minimum of 20 participants and a maximum of 40. Training for two scales takes five days, and training for one scale takes 3.5 days. Both can be completed over six months. This training includes face-to-face training and phone support.

    Supervision/coaching: workshop training is supplemented by ongoing phone support. Ongoing training in administration and use of the scale is also available. This can be completed in conjunction with the other scales. 

    Staffing: services should consider the need for backfill when determining the cost of accessing this resource.

    Australian experience: this training is offered by Early Start from the University of Wollongong and has been tested and run with Australian educators.

    Priority Area

    Wellbeing (social and emotional)

    Strength of Evidence

    Scale