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ChildhoodUnit 5 Assignment E1 It is important that a practitioner works professionally in their job and understands their responsibility and as they are working with a range of people they need to know how to maintain a good and professional relationship and this generally means they need to be able to talk about the appropriate things to that specific person and should understand their boundaries.
A practitioner will work with parents/carers, children, colleagues, students and multi-disciplinary teams such as speech therapists and each of these relationships will have different approaches. A practitioner working with the parents/carers of a child needs to discuss with parents the child’s progress and of any problems they may have identified, the practitioner will encourage the parents to have an active involvement with their child and this means by doing things in their home to help improve their child and to encourage them to do more and boost their self-esteem.
Both the parents/carers and practitioner should understand there are boundaries within their relationships and remaining professional is essential, these boundaries are ensuring all information is kept confidential and this means they can’t disclose any other information about other children as this is against the rules put into place by the setting.
Relationships should generally remain within the setting and shouldn’t be a social thing as this encourages information to be discussed which shouldn’t be. It is important that the parents/carers understand that the welfare of the child is paramount and they should understand why the children are attending school/nursery and this is for their development.
As well as relationships with parents/carers the practitioner will form a professional relationship with different multi-disciplinary teams such as speech therapist, linking to this all colleagues will have professional relationships with these as this information will need to be passed on to all as they need to be aware of their progress and potential problems, and as well as this it is important that the parents are understanding of this and they are aware of the people working with their child.
Again all information exchanged is in a professional manner meaning it is all kept confidential within the setting. In the setting there are things put in place to ensure that the place is safe for the children and this is things such as passcode locks on the doors and this ensure that people can only enter with permission, and also so the children cannot get out of the setting. E2 Maintaining professional relationships with children and adults can be affected by two things which are confidentiality and communication.
In order to maintain professional relationships at all times both of these need to be followed correctly, and both people need to understand how and why you need to maintain these things. Confidentiality needs to be understood and it is important that the parents of all children can trust the practitioners and by gaining trust with them it allows the parents/carers to confide with them and they will be able to discuss any problems or queries they have.
Trust is essential as the parents also want to feel like the information they are telling the practitioner is kept between just them and the people who need to know within the setting or multi-disciplinary teams. The type of information which needs to be kept confidential is things going on at home such as any types of abuse, this is very personal to the family and information shouldn’t be exchanged. Communication is another issue which people have when trying to maintain a professional relationship with others as people often don’t know how to word things when talking to others and don’t know how to put it in the right context.
By them doing this incorrectly, what they are saying will come out the wrong way and may be interpreted in a bad way and this will make their relationship unprofessional. As a practitioner they should create an environment where parents feel comfortable communicating with you about anything so this would mean taking them somewhere they feel comfortable such as a room with no one in their so people as well won’t be able to find out about the information being exchanged.
Also by taking them somewhere private you will find that that person will be comfortable and tell you more information in the future and then you will both gain a good bond of trust. E3 By having multi-agency teams, settings will benefit from this very much and they should value this approach when working with both the children and parents. There are 3 benefits to having multi-agency teams and these are: Early intervention, and by this we mean that if someone in the setting such as the practitioner or family worker see’s signs of abuse such as bruises in unusual places then they should record these straight away.
Then every time they see these types of signs they are recording them and by doing this they will be building up a portfolio of evidence and they can use this to show a specialist that they have proof of some kind of abuse and this can then be used further down the line. Early intervention is basically addressing any concerns a practitioner has straight away and then it is proof to others. Single point of contact means there will be someone within a setting who a practitioner can see to straight away and that person will contact the specialist needed, this person could be the manager of the setting.
Either the practitioner or parent will identify a specific problem such as a hearing impediment and instead of them having to go through several people to speak to the right specialist, they can contact the manager of the setting who will have contacts and will be able to get in touch with the specialist straight away. This will benefit the child, parents and practitioner and will make things a lot more efficient and quicker process. Assessing a child’s needs is essential in all settings and all children need to be assessed on their progress and this then allows them to identify any potential problems they may have noticed.
By doing this it makes the process a lot quicker and effective, meaning it is all done professionally and by the correct people. This assessing of a child’s needs is arranged by the setting such as the manager and they will be able to contact people who specialise in this and problems will be identified at a lot earlier stage and they can therefore be dealt with earlier and then things are put into place to solve the weaknesses. E4 Being reflective when working with children is vital.
When doing an activity in the setting once you have completed it you should think about the reflective cycle and ask yourself the questions such as: what happened? Evaluation, was it good or bad? Analysis, why did it happen? Conclusion, what would you change? Action plan, what will you do next time? As well as asking yourself the questions it is helpful to get feedback from others and then you can see how you would do that activity differently next time.
Reflective practice is there for you to improve both yourself and the children, you will find that being reflective about yourself enables you to improve and there will always be weaknesses about certain activities. Feedback helps you to identify these weaknesses and also your strengths and how you could move these strengths onto a different activity. Being reflective will also help the children and their weaknesses and improving an activity enables the children to reach their full potential.
Practitioners will find that by being reflective they can identify their weaknesses and from this they are then enable to set themselves specific goals/targets to match these weaknesses and they should be able to achieve them and this will mean they will no longer have that specific weakness. E5 The main principles that underpin working with children are: * Welfare of the child * Keeping children safe and maintaining healthy and safe environment * Working in partnership with parents/families Valuing diversity * Equality of opportunity * Anti-discrimination * Confidentiality * Working with other professionals * The reflective practitioner * Children’s learning and development Welfare of the child- As a practitioner you should be able to form a good relationship with all children so that the children feel secure and can trust the practitioners, also the children want to feel like that are valued as a student and by forming a relationship they will feel this.
The children should be exposed to positive images around the setting and by doing this the children will begin to build a positive self-image, and this will boost their self-confidence. Keeping Children Safe and Maintaining Healthy and Safe Environment- The setting should be a secure place so the parents/carers will feel comfortable leaving their children in the setting. They will feel this if all doors are passcode protected and that there are secure gates around the setting and a register should be done twice a day.
As well as a safe environment it should also be healthy for the different, so at meal times the setting will encourage healthy foods and drinks such as fruit, salad and fruit juices/water. Working in partnership with parents/families- All information about the children should be shared with the parents; the parents should be included and should allow their opinions in on any decisions made.
By doing this the parents of all the children will feel as though the setting value their role as parents and this involves the different cultures of some families, it is important that the practitioners understand the different cultures expectations Valuing Diversity- This simply means that everyone in the setting should understand that all the children are from different backgrounds and cultures and they should be aware of this and understand the expectations of this so all children are included.
Equality of Opportunity- This means that everyone in the setting is aware of all the different diversities and these can range from a disability or the gender of someone. The practitioners should also make sure everyone is treated equally and should have the same opportunities so this can mean that they are included in all activities and have access to them all such as the outdoors activity, for example a wheelchair ramp. Anti-discrimination- Practitioners encourage that everything is fair in the setting and all children are treated fairly.
All the children in the setting should have the same rights and opportunities even if they have a disability. Confidentiality- Confidentiality is essential in all settings and all practitioners need to understand what this means and if the parents understand the practitioners are keeping this, they will begin to trust them more. Information can only be passed on with people in the settings and the parents/carers. Working with other professionals- In the setting practitioners will have to work with other professionals and these are called multi-agency teams, these will vary and it will be because of the different children’s needs.
For example the practitioners may need to work with a speech therapist for a certain child. The Reflective Practitioner- This involves all practitioners looking at their work within the setting and seeing how well they did on a certain activity. This means they should look at both the pros and cons and evaluating it and an action plan should be made so they can see what they would change and how they would do it differently. Children’s Learning and Development- It is essential that all children develop and are able to reach the developmental norms of their age.
In order for them to reach these the practitioners need to set out activities which enable them to work on specific skills so they can eventually achieve them. E6 It is important that as practitioners we value children’s interests and experiments, and we do this because for many reasons, these being that each child’s self-esteem will be boosted simply because they feel they as a person are being valued, and the will begin to understand the practitioner is aware of their interests and doing something about them.
A child always needs to build their self-esteem so they feel good about whom they are, and by feeling valued it will help a lot, so it is important for a practitioner to be aware of the child’s interests and doing something about it. If a practitioner values the children’s interests, this means they will set activities out which all the children will enjoy and by doing this all the children will be engaged whether it being a totally different range of activities, it is important to engage the children as you will find they learn more because they are enjoying what they are doing and it will also prevent tedium and any unwanted behaviour.
For example in my setting there are many different areas which the children can play in, the outside area, the creative area, role play and computers and so on, by having this wide range it will engage a lot of children so if a certain child really enjoys painting they will always have the opportunity to do so. Engaging the children will create a happy environment for all and there will be no negative behaviour and feelings towards things as all the children have something which interests them.
If there is a child whom you are unaware of their interests, by setting out a wide range of activities you are able to identify that persons interests and also who they are as a person and this will be done through observations. D1 Every practitioner should be reflective and by this I mean they should be able to look at both the pros and cons on a certain performance. When being reflective you have to go through different stages in order to analyse your performance in all different perspectives, first you look at your over performance so this is just what happened when doing the certain activity.
This is about you as a practitioner so you need to think about how you felt during the activity and what was going through your mind, were they good or bad things and it is always essential to evaluate your performance, so this is identifying the good and bad things such as, you didn’t have the correct equipment or it was good because it engaged a lot of the children.
It is always important to draw a conclusion on the activity so this is just identifying which parts you would have done differently and why, for example if the activity was making play dough you may have thought that the look of it wasn’t appealing so therefore it didn’t draw as many children in so next time you could add some food colouring to it and some glitter. From drawing this conclusion it then means you can think of an action plan for next time and then how you will change and do this activity again.
By being reflective it allows you as a practitioner to improve more and you will find you are developing. You could also set yourself goals, and this will push you to achieve them and if not you will then be able to tell yourself what you would do differently next time in order to achieve these goals. For example the goal you may set might be to engage a certain amount of children in the morning session to make the play dough as it will show it is an enjoyable and engaging activity, and if you don’t reach this goal you will have to do something differently in order to achieve it.
It is always important to criticise your work as well as praise it, because if you are constantly praising the work you are doing you will become too confident in yourself and will feel like nothing needs to be change and you will therefore not be able to identify the problems which are clearly there. So you should always look out for problems as well as achievements. D2 You will have your own knowledge as well as your managers for you to be able to improve your own learning performance and it is important to remember that your manager is there to help and colleagues.
By having your manager and colleagues there to help you, it means you are able to get observed by them, and by them doing this they will be able to identify any weaknesses they can see and they can feed this back to you. Therefore there will be no biased information as it is from another source other than you, so you are then able to look at how you and the manager feel you can improve and change the way you are performing.
It is always helpful to get an outsiders view, because they will also feed back to you their knowledge on that specific thing and this will then extend your own knowledge as you will be able to learn something new. If it is a certain activity you feel your performance isn’t to the best standard you may find that by observing someone else you can pick up tips from them and this will improve your performance you will learn more.
A practitioner can always set themselves specific targets for each week/month depending how difficult they may be to achieve, if this target is to get all children to learn how to write their own names, then you would look at the way you are getting the children to have a go at doing so then try and identify where you are going wrong and then you would observe another colleague and pick up ideas from them and the way they are doing this activity, and by doing this you are improving your performance.
C1 There are 10 main principles that underpin working with children and I have identified these in criteria E5. I feel that all of these should be valued and all practitioners should be aware of all of them. Welfare of the child simply means that the child should always be put first, so when the practitioner is setting up an activity for example, then they should always be aware of the safety aspects and whether all the children can take part as the children need to be put first no matter what.
Keeping children safe and healthy is extremely important in the settings, so the practitioner will have to do a register twice a day and this records the children who are in the setting in case there is a fire so they are then aware of the ones missing, this should be done every day without fail so all children are kept safe. All settings will have doors with passcode locks on them and the setting will be surrounded by gates which are locked at all times so that no strangers can enter the setting and also so the children cannot get out of the setting.
As well as wanting to keep children safe we need to make sure they are staying healthy so meal times will be kept healthy such as giving the children fruit and salad, but when doing this we need to be aware of the children’s allergies and if there are some allergies alternative options need to be given to them as they will need to have a healthy snack as well. Practitioners will work in partnership with parents/families and this is so all information can be exchanged between each other, and this information may be problems they have identified or such things they have either noticed at home or in the setting and these can be improvements.
The parents will feel valued if the practitioners exchange information with them and they will begin to form a relationship. Valuing diversity simply means that everyone in a setting needs to be aware of different cultures and backgrounds of families and they should have a clear understanding of what they are and if there are special requirements, these should be done within the setting. These may be things such as the child cannot eat meat so it is the practitioner’s job to ensure the child isn’t eating any meat as they need to respect the family’s views.
All children should be treated equally and have the same opportunities, which is the principle, equality of opportunity, and this ensure that every child is included in things going on around the setting. There may be a child with a certain disability which restricts their movements and they may be in a wheelchair, therefore the practitioner needs to ensure that the activities they are putting out for the children, can include the child with the disability so this may mean the outdoors area should have specific equipment to help the child and a wheelchair ramp.
Confidentiality means that information about all children cannot be passed around outside the setting and can only be told to the parent/carer of the child, so the practitioner needs to always make sure they are doing this. Any written information such as observations should have had permission from parents/carers and once completed they need to be locked away somewhere where no one can gain access to unless working in the setting. B1 The recent initiative which I chose to research was Sports Relief which is very relevant to this day and is made aware to us throughout the UK so I felt this was something good to research into.
All settings are made aware about this and children will have an understanding what it is about, and they will be involved in fundraisings. Fundraisers are good events to get the whole setting involved and this is what sports relief does, often settings will do a sports relief run which enables all the children to take part and gain sponsors, so the children are therefore encouraged to raise their own money individually, and another event that settings often do is sales such as cake sales and by doing this it enables the children to do things as a team and also feel a sense of satisfaction as they have managed o achieve this and raise money for a cause. This will develop the children’s life skills and they are made aware of the world around them and problems which are going on and the children know to do something about it. The settings will make the children aware of what the initiative is about and they will do this through the form of a presentation of some kind and this will say what it is about and what needs to be done and posters/leaflets will be put round the setting to inform the children of what the cause is.
The setting will then set up activities which the children can get involved in in order to raise money for the specific initiative. As well as raising awareness of a specific cause it encourages children to do physical activities such as the Sports Relief run so the children will see the physical activity as something fun and you will find that more children will be interested in doing this. A1
I researched into Girl Guides which is an organisation that young girls can attend to help with their professional practice and the children will learn several life skills. Settings will be made aware of this organisation as it is worldwide and many of the children in the settings will attend this. This organisation will do fund raisers as a team and this may be in small groups so the children are developing their social skills and learn how to interact as a team and their peers.
By working as a team it enables the practitioner to be more aware of what team work is like and they will be able to do so a lot better and learn more. You will find that the practitioners who attend Girl Guides will be more social towards others as they are familiar with team work, they also learn skills such as listening to others and taking on board criticism and they learn how to put their point across.
The practitioners will be aware of how the children work as a team and the social skills they have or they may need to develop because when children work as groups you often find that they will be people who will dominate others and people who take a step back and don’t say much so it is a chance for the practitioners to identify this. The practitioner will find that their self-esteem will be boosted due to the confidence the organisation gives you as it involves team work activities such as fund raisers for example selling cakes.
In girl guides praise is a very important thing and they are giving the children praise constantly so the practitioners should take this on board when going to the setting and they should encourage children when doing certain activities at school to give them lots of confidence. Girl guides meet every week as a meeting and if they want to organise anything different they will have further meetings and this enables the practitioner to take these skills they have from the meetings to the setting and use the skills within the meeting in the setting.
