Free play is an excellent example of how we empower children through learning experiences as they make the choice of what they play with or use. It is important that we empower children by asking where they would like to play and not telling them were they must play.
Another example of empowering children is snack time, some placements may provide a choice of snacks for play time and the child can choose from the variety provided by the practitioner. With this children take the choice of which fruit they want each day and this empowers them.
E6
Handling information is useful for supporting children through this time, for example from a new school, this could include brochures, posters, questionnaires, references and experiences from others. For transfers with in a setting such as moving class can be made smoother with information about the type of work they might to. It may be useful to see examples of some older children’s work.
Parents know children’s development and how they act; parents can provide information to the setting to provide information that can help make sense of the child’s behaviour. Key workers and home visits will keep parents as involved in the process.
Building a partnership between parents, carers, and professionals can help support children at this time. The staff should be up to date with all information about the transition the child is going through, this can be done through e-mails, websites and other forms of communication. To keep continuity in the transition for the child, the practitioner can go through training to keep activities modern. A good way to help relate to very young children during a transition is reading topic books; this would help to provide a little understanding of the children.
E7
Discrimination comes in many forms and is primarily centralised around unfairness, Also there are many ways that discrimination is caused, and their being a lot of ways it can affect children and families. It is important that as practitioners we understand the different forms of discrimination, how it affects children. And most importantly it is important that practitioners understand ways of avoiding such discrimination wherever possible.
It’s based on and is mainly the result of stereotypes, which are standardised or fixed images of groups and can cause discrimination to occur. One thing that can cause discrimination is attitudes and values, these attitudes are shaped by family life, the environment a child is brought up in. Also attitude and values can be effected by and strongly influenced by friends and peer groups. Discrimination can also reduce “Self-Actualization” And a negative impact on a child’s self-worth, and self-esteem, if a child experiences continued discrimination they may not understand and they may just feel they are simply inferior, leading to possible emotional problems. Children may think they are worthless and won’t feel like a positive individual. Children can begin to be resentful to other children if they are discriminated against or they see it happening. They can take this out on which they now may see as the normal children in the placement. Children can also begin feeling isolated as a result of discrimination, and thorough this there social development is negatively affected.
It can affect the way children live there life in the present and future. Presently because they may choose to not take part in activities or opportunities they have a fear of failing. A child may feel they can’t do things and this may lead to under achieving at school or placement and the child having a general feeling of failure.
D1
As practitioners we must learn to understand and support children in all situations especially when they may feel most anxious for example during transitions between or with in placements. We can do this by developing certain key issues. Tassoni states;
“In order to help the child or young person make a transition, you need to find out as much information as you can. You might do this via parents or directly with the new setting” Tassoni, 2007 Page; 146
The main legislation that supports this is the children’s act;
Because of this it is doubly as essential to use parents as a key issue for supporting children during transitions. Parents must be respected as primary carers and as those best to bring up their children. And so we can gather information from parents about how best to prepare and settle children at this time. This could involve for example key information about personal care. Also as part of this we can use and develop links between settings directly. Settings can help by providing information that can help us prepare children successfully.
Also in gathering information this could include the gathering of information from previous carers about children’s interests. Children will be nervous at first and may be reluctant to talk about interests or things they enjoy. Talking to parents can help us find out particular things that the child enjoys. For example in my placement we have parent and toddler morning. During these mornings every week we get to know prospective parents and often prospective pupils, this is where we gather allotted of information about the children’s interests.
During this time it is important to recognise that not all children will react in the same way, some may feel yes feel anxious and nervous but some may well be excited and happy. This means that some children will need more support at this time than others. And as professionals we must be aware of how children are coping with transitions to we can best help them depending on how they are feeling as individuals. Changes in behaviour can include bed wetting, sings of anxiety, and reverting back to younger behaviour. This can be helped by further, parent involvement as parents will be able to notice changes in behaviour just as well as teachers can.
Another key issue when supporting children at this time is providing a successful continuity experience for children and families, to help them settle in better. This can involve ensuring that basic care needs are continued successfully. Supported by,
“Continuity if experiences are also important in terms of physical care for young children, such as nappy changing, feeding, and sleeping. Making sure that some elements of the new setting seem familiar can greatly assist children with settling in”
Child care and education level 3 (Tassoni 2007 Page 148)
In my placement when children are moved from nursery to reception, there is a focus on ensuring the two environments have a certain sense of continuity. Children have shared play areas; both areas have familiar facilities, such as sand play and wet play. The experience of continuity is continued by ensuring transitions are gradual, so children don’t feel over whelmed by changes that happen all at once. For starting in a nursery for the first time children may make visits with parents for a morning or two a week and build it up until they are comfortable to come without a parent present until they start full time.
Active involvement is part of supporting children through transitions. This can involve a number of strategies that keep children and young people as actively involved in the transition process as possible; this makes them feel valued as well.
“In these situations it is good practice for “exchange visits to take place…. Such visits can be extraordinarily helpful as adults then know how best to prepare children” Child care and education Level 3
(Child care and education, level 3 Tassoni 2007 Page 148)
D2
Practitioners must remember at all times the importance of using effective strategies that encourage self-reliance and independence in children and young people, In order to improve outcomes for children. This is supported by the Children’s Act 1989 as in section B; the importance of choice and involvement is highlighted.
“The main factors which influence quality of care are… children’s involvement in planning and choosing activities and projects” (Children’s Act 1989 Section B -6.25)
This means that we are regulated by law to empower and encourage independence in children. One strategy is ensuring children have every opportunity choice through play, they should be able to choice their own play equipment, area, and resources. As well as arrange play materials so they have an improved sense of ownership. Another way with play is we can ensure there is a verity if different play areas, rescores and equipment, helping them develop independence. Children can be consulted on play decisions and activity decisions through carpet sessions. If conflict arises during play we should encourage children to resolve conflicts without our intervention, especially older children. Free play and the importance of choice in play help children to be independent in their choices and they will be more likely to be confident in their own choices in other areas of life.
Another way to encourage and empower independence in young people is through strategies involving time. This can be by making any homework tasks/ reading tasks, flexible so they learn to organise their own time independently. Snack time can be self-service, they choose when they eat. Although it is our responsibility to ensure food is safe children should have the opportunity to have this type of freedom with when they eat it. There could also with food be a choice and verity of menus that would help promote independent choice in children. Tassoni states;
“The key is often to make their own choices and to feel that they have some control.”(Tassoni 2007 Page 136)
“It is important that you listen as well as talk and take time to find out about the interests of individual children. It is also important to recognise the on-off pattern of children’s interactions.” (Tassoni 2007 Page 138)
Because of this we must learn to respect the way individual children interact and ensure that as practitioners we don’t restrict their opportunities. Relationships with professionals can be a vital part of how we encourage children to be independent and self-reliant. We as professionals should be vigilant in noticing interests in children and we can better help them with this information to become more independent. When children grow in confidence they become more willing and are more likely to achieve their full potential. In order to improve outcomes for children we should be doing all we can to encourage the development of sense of achievement in children. This can be through letting them do or try tasks independently such as putting on coats. And with younger children this can include using the toilet independently. Confidence boosts such as these gives a great sense of achievement.
C1
There is a wide range of theories for how we as part of professional practice empower children. Some theories have very different ideas about this, and often has a profound effect and impact on the practical practice within settings.
One influential theorist is Bandura who has done extensive research, used the term “Self-efficacy” This is a term used for a feeling of belief in yourself, that you can do things and that a child or young person can control how well they do. It explains how children with self-efficacy will be more likely to achieve their potential believing they can do it.
It is thought there for that without self-efficacy children will think a task is too difficult for them before they even try it, stifling them because they will not try activities. Bandura explained in this that babies need self-efficacy as well as older children. In terms of self-efficacy Tassoni talks about the extent of how we believe in ourselves. Tassoni states;
“Children, even babies and toddlers, adoring to Bandura need to be given tasks, activities and responsibilities that will allow them to feel independent, and confident” (Child care and Education, level 3. Tassoni, 2007, Page 135)
Meaning us, as practitioners should plan with self-efficacy and empowerment in mind. Adults should not always be taking control of activities. For example letting young people have creative freedom within artistic activities not telling children what is the right way to do things, projects and activities. Praise can encourage the development of self-efficacy and we should be using positive comments and praise where possible.
Self-efficacy defined by Bandura has many different sources and can be developed in many different ways and can be stunted in many different ways. One source is successes and achievements in life; children need to experience success throughout development to achieve good self-efficacy. Overcoming obstacles can help children and young people feel proud and helps develop self-efficacy. When children understand obstacles and experience success, they know that they need to try to achieve, as so they will more inclined to try activities. It is important that this feeling of success is felt with as little help from adults as possible. We as practitioners should always keep our support to a minimum; children feel achievement more if they believe they can achieve alone, that they are able. This is explained in the idea of practitioners creating a system of “scaffolding learning” for children. It can help self-efficacy also to see children or people they see as similar to them self-achieving as well. If young people see this they will increase in confidence and children use this to believe in themselves regardless of how different they feel.
B1;
Discrimination is an important topic to discuss in settings and has a significantly strong effect on the way a setting should be run and organised, practitioners believe strongly in anti-discriminatory practices in the setting. Discrimination in takes away the rights as others and is centred on unfairness and we as practitioners should treat all children fairly when working with children. Firstly in any setting there should be policies linking to legislation or procedures that help inform us of how to prevent discriminatory practice, in any setting there would be a strong policy in place. Challenging discrimination would take the form of policies such an equal opportunities policy. Tassoni States;
“All settings should have an equal opportunities code or policy and this should include procedures for combating discrimination”
(Child Care and Education, level 3 Tassoni 2007 Page; 156)
An equal opportunities policy will inform practitioners of how to deal with things such as non-English speaking families for example, use of translators. Staff and adult role has a large part in preventing discrimination in a setting. In this we as practitioners should have an understanding of values and attitudes as well as the effect it has on children as well as discrimination. We can use notes to help record and better notice or track behaviour changed and using listening skills to help prevent discrimination.
“Young children develop their own attitudes and values by watching and learning from the behaviour and reactions of those around them. When presented with a new objective or situation they are unsure of, babies will often look to their parents as a guide.”
Staff development can help settings to prevent discrimination as it can include training and courses for all staff on a regular basis. This helps a setting to keep up to date with changes in ways to taking on discrimination and issues such as racism and bullying. Training could also be helpful to settings in increasing staff knowledge and understanding which may include culture and backgrounds, learning about faiths as well as celebrations.
When making sure that setting are doing all they can to prevent discrimination, we rely heavily on good practice. As part of good practice it is essential we strive to respect all children and families, it is also part of preventing discrimination. A large part of anti-discriminatory practice is making people feel they are respected and valued. Children celebrate and follow different faiths and have vast cultural backgrounds.
“Sometimes discrimination can be hidden and harder to detect, for example an early years setting that does not have any images of ethnic minorities on posters or in books – even though there are no negative images, it is still discrimination” (Child Care and Education, Level 3. Tassoni 2007 Page; 154)
A1
There are many Acts that have affected practice that is carried out today, legislation and regulations directly affects the practice when working with children.
We must respect the rights of children at all times, it is crucial make sure children’s rights are respected. There is a lot of legislation to ensure children remain educated in a safe environment and that they are safe at all times.
This impacts on settings because to achieve this we should empower children by encouraging them and employing strategies that empower them. For example allowing children to dress themselves and learn to dress them self such as putting on a coat or doing up buttons without always being aided. Another piece of legislation impacting on the working practiced of childcare, is “The children’s Act 1989” This act speaks of how services should be made readily available to “Children in need” Meaning impacts on the settings such as more wide range of economic background children involved in activities and services.
The health and safety at work act is another piece of legislation that impacts settings by making sure that all aspects of the setting is safe for the staff, parents and most importantly the children. This act has impacted settings in that we must have policies and procedures that make sure all equipment is up to date and safe, for example safely storing equipment and making sure fire extinguishers work. Settings now should produce practitioners that are up to date with health and safety regulations by training the staff to be aware of health and safety procedures.
Settings must now keep high and this is done with regulatory bodies which where enforced due to the Children Act 1989. These professionals conduct inspections will look for and enforce the principles of the setting complies with all regulations and legislation. Regulatory bodies ensure that all aspects of legislation, especially ones effecting children, are in practice and used for example, allowing the children dignity, empowering children and giving children the opportunity for choice and discussion in their education.
The discrimination of ethnic minorities and other members of the community is not tolerated in settings primarily due to the legislation and following regulations implemented by The Equality Act 2006. This impacts settings because we must show respect for all families and put families first by showing no prejudges towards anyone. As a result we now have setting that has a mixture of cultures and include all children.
