Welcome to the Institute of Early Years Education’s online forum
By joining the Institute’s online community, you agree that you have read, and committed to follow, our forum guidelines, and that all posting, responding and sharing will be aligned to the purpose of the community.
The purpose of this forum is to be a space where members can communicate with each other, share experiences, ideas and support each other. The contributions should be polite and in the spirit of collaboration, working with other professionals and drawing on ideas of best practice to build a respectful and collective community for growth. It is not a place to discuss matters unrelated to the early education and care sector. The direct promotion of products, services and job vacancies is not permitted.
Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important rules, in conjunction with our Terms and Conditions and our Code of Practice. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership of this community to anyone who violates these rules.
Questions should be directed to [email protected]
Be professional
• Members taking part in the platform are professionals. As such, all posts reflect individual opinion, so we remind members to remain professional, constructive and considerate at all times.
• The Institute is all about sharing great ideas. Please ensure that you credit others when sharing resources found elsewhere and make sure you have permission to do so before sharing ideas. You could do this by sharing a website link or referring to a person, for example.
Be Respectful
• Respect individual contributions within the community. We all come to the Institute with a vast range of life experiences and cultural perspectives that make the community a vibrant and dynamic place to be. Please be mindful of this when contributing to discussions.
• Use caution when discussing products/services. Posts deemed to be inaccurate, commercially driven or in other ways inappropriate will be deleted at the discretion of the Institute.
Be representative
• Uphold the professional status of the Institute of Early Years Education by being considerate and appropriate in the comments you make.
• Use the community to share information on matters relating to the early education and care sector.
Safeguarding and Privacy
• Do not post anything that clearly identifies an individual including staff members, children or parents. This includes your personal details.
• All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
• Information posted on the discussion groups is available for all members and the Institute staff to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
Discussion Group Etiquette
• State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
• Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use your member homepage to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you need further support, please email [email protected]
• Before posting a new discussion topic, please search our archive of discussions to see if it has been raised already. Adding your comments to a previous discussion will revitalise the conversation and avoid duplications across the platform.
• We all have different experiences and come from different backgrounds. If you feel the topic of conversation is something that some members may find upsetting, please consider using an appropriate subject warning or whether the Institute forum is the most suitable place to discuss this.
• Any use of inappropriate or offensive language will result in your comment being blocked. Please note, any attempts to circumvent this function will result in further action.
Moderation of the community
The Institute team actively monitors the website for inappropriate postings and will undertake editorial control of postings. The Institute reserves the right to approve posts and topics before publication on the community. The Institute will review any such alerts from members and take appropriate action. This may begin with advising the member alleged to have contravened the rules and providing a warning, to possible suspension from the platform for repeat offences.
The Institute reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.
Strike Policy
We operate a strict three strikes policy within the Institute of Early Years Education. This means for the first two cases of misconduct you will receive a ‘warning’ strike. If you receive a third strike, your membership will be suspended or revoked. Each case is dealt with on an individual basis with specific circumstances taken into account. For each strike warning, you will be contacted with the reasoning behind the decision made.
We also hold a zero-tolerance approach to behaviours that are deemed dangerous or harmful to others. This will result in an immediate termination of your membership, regardless of your previous behaviour.
Examples of behaviours warranting a strike include, but are not limited to:
• Breaching our forum community guidelines
• Breaching our code of practice
Examples of zero-tolerance behaviours include, but are not limited to:
• Threatening or abusive behaviour
• Using derogatory language against any person, whether part of the community or not
• Discussion of specific safeguarding incidents. Whilst discussing safeguarding guidance is permitted, please do not refer to specific incidents or concerns. This includes where an individual is not named but can be identified through other indicators.
Legal Information
This site is provided as a service for the members of the Institute. The Institute is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by members. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by the Institute or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall the Institute be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.
Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants the Institute and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.