MTOP: Guide to My Time, Our Place

In Australia, Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services are required to deliver an educational program in accordance with one of the approved learning frameworks.

For Early Childhood services, this is the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). For OSHC, this is My Time, Our Place (MTOP) - the approved learning framework for school-age children.

As OSHC professionals, it's essential that we familiarise ourselves with the framework to ensure we are providing the best education to the children in our service.

What is My Time, Our Place (MTOP)?

MTOP is a framework that sets a vision for children's learning development and wellbeing. The vision can be explained through the themes, Belonging, Being and Becoming.

• Belonging: Belonging is about knowing where and with whom you fit in. For children and young people, relationships with family, friends, and community help shape their identity and give them a strong sense of connection.

• Being: Being is about living in the present - exploring, playing, learning, and building relationships. It values children’s experiences now, giving them space to follow interests, face challenges, and enjoy the world around them.

• Becoming: Becoming recognises that children and young people are constantly growing and changing. It highlights their learning, skills, and identities as they develop, with educators and families working alongside them to support their journey as active, capable citizens.

Beyond the vision of MTOP, there are 3 elements of the framework: Principles, Practices & Learning Outcomes.

MTOP Principles:

• Secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships

• Partnerships

• Respect for diversity

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives

• Equity, inclusion and high expectations

• Sustainability

• Critical reflection and ongoing professional learning

• Collaborative leadership and teamwork

MTOP Practices:

• Holistic, integrated and interconnected approaches

• Collaboration with children and young people

• Play, leisure and intentionality

• Environments

• Cultural responsiveness

• Continuity and transitions

• Assessment and evaluation for wellbeing, learning and development

Learning Outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Children and young people have a strong sense of identity

• Outcome 2: Children and young people are connected with and contribute to their world

• Outcome 3: Children and young people have a strong sense of wellbeing

• Outcome 4: Children and young people are confident and involved learners

• Outcome 5: Children and young people are effective communicators

MTOP Principles

The MTOP Principles are developed to underpin the practice of educators in the early years. They are:

Secure, Respectful and Reciprocal Relationships

When children and young people feel safe, respected and valued, they develop a strong sense of belonging and self-esteem. Positive and caring interactions support healthy development, helping them see themselves in positive ways, build confidence, and feel connected to those around them.

Educators play a vital role by fostering trusting relationships through consistent, culturally responsive and respectful interactions. By encouraging fairness, collaboration and responsibility, educators help children and young people build the skills to connect with others, develop independence, and grow their sense of agency and leadership within the community.

Partnerships

Strong partnerships create consistency across the different settings children and young people experience, supporting their wellbeing, learning and development. When educators collaborate with families and other professionals, they build trust, share insights, and ensure program decisions are meaningful, culturally safe, and inclusive.

Educators recognise families as children’s first and most influential teachers and respect the diversity of backgrounds, experiences and aspirations they bring. By engaging in shared decision-making, practising empathy and trauma-informed approaches, and connecting with schools and community organisations, educators strengthen the support network around each child. These partnerships foster belonging, resilience, and active citizenship, helping children and young people feel safe, valued and empowered.

Respect for Diversity

Each child is born into a culture shaped by heritage, traditions, languages, beliefs and family practices. Educators build culturally safe and inclusive environments by understanding and affirming these differences, supporting each child’s identity, strengths and capabilities. This also includes promoting respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and perspectives as part of working towards Reconciliation.

By respecting diversity, educators foster children and young people’s wellbeing, learning and sense of belonging. They make program decisions that acknowledge all children’s rights to have their culture and identity valued, while encouraging them to explore similarities and differences with others. Through critical reflection and inclusive practices, educators help children develop empathy, fairness and a sense of citizenship within a diverse society.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives

Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in school age care is vital for children and young people to see their identities, histories and cultures reflected in meaningful ways. It supports strong identity development for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, while also ensuring all Australian children have the right to learn about the world’s oldest continuing cultures. This commitment advances Reconciliation, contributes to Closing the Gap, and honours Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the custodians of Country with knowledge, traditions and connections spanning over 60,000 years.

Educators share the responsibility of embedding these perspectives by creating culturally safe environments and working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. By valuing local knowledge, kinship systems and intercultural approaches, educators strengthen community connections and ensure curriculum reflects truth, respect and inclusion. Embedding these knowledges encourages openness to diversity, enriches all children’s learning, and supports the authentic advancement of Reconciliation - a commitment to understanding the past and working together for a shared future.

Equity and Inclusion

Educators create inclusive environments by making reasonable adjustments that remove barriers, support meaningful participation and promote positive relationships, wellbeing and learning. They understand that equity is about fairness, not sameness, and that some children may need additional support and resources to thrive.

Educators also hold high expectations, seeing all children as capable and competent learners. Through critical reflection and inclusive practices, they challenge inequities, value diversity and ensure every child feels respected and supported. By working in partnership with families, schools, communities and other professionals, educators provide opportunities for all children and young people to achieve positive outcomes and flourish.

Sustainability

Sustainability is about creating communities that can meet the needs of the present without compromising the future. It spans environmental, social and economic dimensions, caring for the natural world, living fairly and respectfully together, and ensuring resources are used responsibly. In school age care, educators and children work together to embed sustainable practices, reduce waste, and promote fairness and inclusion, building awareness of our interdependence with people, animals, plants, lands and waters.

Educators recognise children’s capacity to engage with sustainability and to take action for positive change. Through meaningful experiences, children learn about their rights and responsibilities as citizens, develop appreciation for the environment, and explore social and economic justice. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ long history of caring for Country provides a vital foundation, guiding children and educators towards practices that support healthy, fair and vibrant futures for all.

Critical Reflection and Ongoing Professional Learning

Critical reflection is more than simply thinking about practice—it is a deeper process of questioning, analysing and evaluating experiences from multiple perspectives. It challenges assumptions, considers philosophy, theory and ethics, and helps educators understand how their choices impact children’s wellbeing, learning and equity. By reflecting individually and as a team, educators generate new ideas, question established practices, and make decisions that transform their pedagogy and create more inclusive and meaningful learning environments.

Ongoing professional learning goes hand-in-hand with critical reflection. Educators are lifelong learners who continually build their skills and knowledge through collaboration, professional conversations, research, study, and shared learning within their teams. By engaging with communities, families, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge holders, educators strengthen their practice and support continuous quality improvement. This culture of reflection and learning ensures educators grow alongside children and young people, contributing to better outcomes and a stronger learning community.

Collaborative Leadership & Teamwork

Every educator leads through their daily actions and ethical practice. Leadership is shared, with all team members contributing their skills, knowledge and responsibility to support children and young people’s wellbeing, learning and development. A positive work culture built on respect, cooperation and accountability strengthens relationships across the setting and creates an environment where children, young people and families feel supported and valued.

Strong teamwork is grounded in open, professional conversations, critical reflection, and shared decision-making. Educators mentor and learn from one another, while also recognising and building on the strengths and talents of children and young people themselves. By working together, teams create inclusive and empowering spaces where everyone - educators, children, families and communities - has a voice in shaping learning and fostering growth.

MTOP Practices

Holistic, Integrated and Interconnected Approaches

Educators focus on the whole child, understanding how each aspect of development influences their potential to thrive and participate as effective, engaged citizens. Planning and practice consider the links between the Principles, Practices and Outcomes of My Time, Our Place, ensuring experiences support children’s growth in an integrated way.

Educators also value children’s connections with families, communities, and the natural and social environment. By fostering reciprocal relationships, collaborative learning and respect for the broader world, educators create environments where children can socialise, play, explore, and reflect on themselves, others, and their surroundings. Each setting becomes a learning community, supporting children to engage meaningfully with life, both within the service and in the wider local and global context.

Collaboration with Children and Young People

Educators support children's ideas, interests and curiosities through open-ended questioning, feedback, and guidance, ensuring all children - including those with additional needs - can engage meaningfully and develop confidence, skills and motivation.

Relational pedagogies underpin this collaborative approach, fostering trust, respect and shared decision-making between educators, children, families, schools and the wider community. By participating in play, projects, and learning experiences alongside children, educators create safe, responsive environments that enhance growth, development, and connectedness.

Play, leisure and intentionality

Play and leisure provide children and young people with opportunities to explore, create, problem-solve, imagine and develop confidence. These experiences foster social interaction, critical thinking, curiosity and positive dispositions towards learning. Play acts as both a context and a process for learning, allowing children to ask questions, test ideas, and engage intentionally with others. Educators purposefully support play and leisure, using strategies such as modelling, open questioning, shared thinking, and multimodal resources - including media and digital technologies - to enrich engagement, wellbeing and development.

Intentionality in play means both educators and children actively make choices and guide learning experiences. Educators plan environments and experiences that balance passive and active leisure, enable spontaneous learning opportunities, and ensure inclusion for all children. By fostering fair, respectful and collaborative play, educators help children build social skills, self-awareness, problem-solving abilities, and a sense of belonging within their learning community.

Environments

Educators collaborate with children, families and the community to create flexible spaces that support active and passive play, learning, social interaction and independence. Environments incorporate physical, social, temporal and intellectual elements and encourage engagement, curiosity and ownership, while being responsive to the strengths, culture, languages and capabilities of each child.

Environments also promote connection with the natural and local world, including opportunities to learn on Country and understand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. Educators provide accessible resources, support sustainability, foster life skills, and ensure all children can participate meaningfully. Through thoughtful planning and collaboration, environments enhance learning, wellbeing, relationships and shared thinking, enabling children to explore, communicate and develop in safe, inclusive and stimulating spaces.

Cultural responsiveness

Educators embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, as well as the cultures, languages and experiences of all children and families, into everyday practice. They develop their own cultural knowledge through collaboration with children, families and communities, creating inclusive and culturally safe environments that foster belonging and lifelong learning.

Culturally responsive educators are aware of their own worldviews and biases, communicate sensitively, and implement anti-bias and social justice approaches. They support children to act respectfully and fairly, develop cultural competence, and respond to discrimination. By embedding democratic, fair and inclusive practices, educators ensure that all children can engage meaningfully, learn about diversity, and participate as responsible and culturally aware members of their communities.

Continuity and transitions

Educators support transitions by sharing information about children’s capabilities, interests and needs, ensuring that children with additional support requirements are included, and helping them understand the practices and routines of the new setting. Older children often support younger peers, fostering stability and a sense of belonging during changes.

Educators actively involve children, families, schools and other professionals in the transition process, ensuring children feel secure, confident and engaged. By maintaining continuity in practices and relationships across settings, educators help children experience smoother transitions, build resilience, and connect their learning and social experiences in meaningful and supportive ways.

Assessment and evaluation for wellbeing, learning and development

Educators gather information about children's capabilities, curiosities and needs to inform curriculum decisions and support meaningful, engaging experiences.

Through evaluation, educators critically reflect on the effectiveness of their planning, strategies, environments and interactions, and collaborate with children, families and other professionals. These processes help identify barriers to learning, plan for additional support where needed, and ensure children progress towards the Outcomes while promoting their overall wellbeing, growth and development.

MTOP Outcomes

Outcome 1: Children and young people have a strong sense of identity

The elements of Outcome 1 are:

• Children and young people feel safe, secure and supported

• Children and young people develop their autonomy, interdependence, resilience and agency

• Children and young people develop knowledgeable, confident self-identities and a sense of positive self-worth

• Children and young people learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect

Outcome 2: Children and young people are connected with and contribute to their world

The elements of Outcome 2 are:

• Children and young people develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary as active and informed citizens

• Children and young people respond to diversity with respect• Children and young people become aware of fairness

• Children and young people become socially responsible and show respect for the environment

Outcome 3: Children and young people have a strong sense of wellbeing

The elements of Outcome 3 are:

• Children and young people become strong in their social, emotional and mental wellbeing

• Children and young people become strong in their physical learning and wellbeing

• Children and young people are aware of and develop strategies to support their own mental and physical health, and personal safety

Outcome 4: Children and young people are confident and involved learners

The elements of Outcome 4 are:

• Children and young people develop a growth mindset and learning dispositions such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity

• Children and young people develop a range of learning and thinking skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating

• Children and young people transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another

• Children and young people resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials

Outcome 5: Children and young people are effective communicators

The elements of Outcome 5 are:

• Children and young people interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes

• Children and young people engage with and gain meaning from a range of visual images and texts

• Children and young people collaborate with others, express ideas and make meaning using a range of digital technologies and media and communication technologies

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