SRF Program

  • Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) Scale

    VEYLDF Alignment

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

    Item responds to these sub-outcomes: Children become strong in their social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

    Description

    The Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing Scale (SSTEW) is part of the Curriculum and Intentional Quality Rating Scales, designed to assess quality in all five of the child developmental domains. Other scales are MOVERS, SSTEW, ECERS-R/E. All of these scales are interlinked and designed using a similar format to enhance use. 

    SSTEW specifically assesses quality of the environment and pedagogy in the social and emotional child developmental domains. It has five subscales:

      1. building trust, confidence and independence
      2. social and emotional wellbeing
      3. supporting and extending language and communication
      4. supporting learning and critical thinking
      5. assessing learning and language.

    Training in SSTEW can be completed in conjunction with training in the other scales: MOVERS, ECERS-E and ECERS-R. 

    Detailed Costs

    Workshops: costs vary, depending on location and number of participants and scales taught.

    Scale manual: between $25 and $50 (excl. postage), depending on bookseller.

    Implementation Considerations

    Target population: early childhood teachers.

    Program/practice descriptions and details: the SSTEW scale is designed to be used for research, self-evaluation and improvement, audit and regulation. Using the SSTEW scale 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 back fill requirements. The provider may be able to conduct training sessions in particular local areas if interest is sufficient. Training requirements: minimum of 20 participants and maximum of 40. Training for two scales takes five days; 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: ongoing training in administration and use of the scale is available.

    Staffing: services should consider the potential cost of backfill.

    Tools and systems: the SSTEW scale can be used alongside other environmental scales such as ECERS-E and ECERS-R.

    Australian Experience: 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