Legal Requirements
Legal requirements and policies are a vital issue in child care and teaching, because it’s more than essential to put this in your practice and link it to all confidentiality policies and observation procedures. The legislation which requires policies to be put in place in schools is those such as Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000 as according to the EYFS. This issue relates to objective observation because the legal requirements ask that observations be kept confidential, unbiased and balanced reports of exactly what you see in the child’s development and progress. Preventing this from happening could end up in bad practice, and a bad reputation for the setting, because parents will not want to send their children to a setting where legal requirement are not adhered to. Their children will feel unsafe, the parents will feel ill at ease and the school board and Ofsted inspectors will shut down the setting causing some practitioners to be arrested to breaching the law.
Personal Attitudes and Values
This is essential to confidentiality and objective observation, because a bias is a stereotyped attitude towards people of different racial, cultural, religious or social class backgrounds. These involve personal values and prejudices that affect our ability to be objective. When thinking of confidentiality you must not let your personal views affect your care giving, and if you mention confidential information you’re breaching policy and also being bias. If this is not adhered to, not only will you breach the settings policy but you are also not using good practice safeguarding the children. The children in the setting may become less confident and you may create a low self-esteem for those children, a practitioner should be the stability in the setting making sure the children feel safe and comfortable.
Safe Storage
The staff should be aware of the need for confidentiality and of the issue with storing this type of information, keeping the security and welfare of the child. The storage of this information is locked away or password protected if on a computer database, and staff member and Ofsted are able to see these records for the correct purposes, but must never pass it on to anyone outside the setting or use this information improperly. Looking at the Statutory Framework in the EYFS, Documentation clearly says,
“There should be a suitable secure area for the storage of confidential information. Records on staff and children should only be accessible to those who have a right or professional need to see them.”
Sharing Information
This is something that must remain classified; you must not share information about any child or colleague unless it is of concern or between you and your supervisor. You must not repeat outside the setting to anyone else especially if your observation is bias. Any information shared must be between you and your supervisor or colleagues in the setting. By not abiding by this policy could result in confidential information being used by the wrong people or those outside of the childcare setting, and may be used against a child or their family. All settings include this in their settings because of the safeguarding policies to keep children and their families safe and protected.
Working With Parents
This will always arise in a child setting because you will have constant contact and interaction with the parents. It’s essential to confidentiality because it’s important you don’t discuss another child with a parent of one child, or even mention names. When speaking to parents it must be professional so any thoughts you have on an individual parent cannot affect the way you treat them or their child. Objective observation is essential with this issue because if you have observed their child, the parent has a right to know about the assessment. Issues with this that may affect your practice with children are those which are family related or those issues in the setting between practitioner and child which could therefore mean the parent may not feel that their child is getting what they need from the setting or the practitioners. So keeping a professional relationship with them and making sure they know their children are in safe hands and progressing according to the norms will be good practice.
