THOUGHT LEADERSHIP NOTE
Why OSHC Deserves a Seat at the Learning Table
OSHC makes a distinctive contribution to children’s learning—not by extending the classroom, but through play, leisure, relationships and everyday participation.
Belinda Wright | Founder and Director of Learning, Learn OSHC
20th october 2025
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OSHC is often described first through the function it provides: care before school, after school and during school holidays.
That description is accurate, but it is incomplete.
Children are not simply waiting in OSHC until school begins or a family member arrives. They are developing friendships, negotiating rules, testing ideas, taking responsibility, managing disagreements and finding different ways to participate in a community.
Much of this learning happens through play and leisure rather than formal instruction. It may not result in a worksheet, finished product or easily measured outcome, but that does not make it less significant.
Consider a group of children changing the rules of a game so that more people can join. They are negotiating fairness, influence, belonging and shared responsibility. An educator who notices the group’s dynamics and decides whether to support, question or step back is also making a professional pedagogical decision.
OSHC does not need to look more like school to be recognised as a place of learning.
Recognising OSHC as a learning environment does not mean making the afternoon more academic or filling children’s leisure time with adult-directed activities. It means valuing the forms of learning that already belong within school-age care.
Children learn through relationships, experimentation, contribution, conflict, repair, independence and the opportunity to shape what happens around them. They learn about themselves, other people and community through the way an OSHC service works each day.
This recognition also matters for the professional identity of educators. When OSHC is described only as supervision or care around school, the knowledge and judgement required of educators can become difficult to see.
Educators organise environments, support inclusion, respond to relationships, introduce possibilities and decide when children need assistance—or room to continue independently. These decisions shape children’s experiences even when they are not visible on the written program.
Giving OSHC a seat at the learning table is not about competing with schools or early childhood settings. It is about ensuring that conversations about children’s learning, wellbeing and development include the places where children spend time, build relationships and exercise increasing independence outside the classroom.
OSHC deserves to be recognised on its own terms: as a place of play and leisure, a community of different ages and experiences, and an important part of children’s everyday lives.
A question to take with youWhat do children learn about themselves, other people and community through the way your OSHC service works each day?
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Explore why quality in OSHC needs language that reflects the distinctive conditions of school-age care.
