E5. Describe two strategies which the setting may use to empower children to develop independence and self-reliance.
The setting may use the following two strategies to empower children to develop independence and self-reliance. Firstly Skill Development, this is when you help a child to develop their skills and gain new ones giving them the ability to do something themselves. This can range from tying shoe-laces to holding a pen properly.
A second strategy the setting can use is rewarding achievement. This can be done in many ways such as sticker charts, certificates, house points or by “star of the week”.
E6. Give examples of how settings may prepare children for transfer or transitions.
When a child is going through a transfer or a transition it can be very daunting for a child and if not supported properly could be very traumatic and result in effecting the child for the rest of its life. During this time the setting can make sure that it supports the child properly to avoid this. This can be done by firstly making sure the child is listened to and given the opportunity to discuss what they are going through. By listening to the child it will show that you care, are interested and value what they think. You should always try to be positive when dealing with the transition so the child doesn’t feel bad about it. You can find how the child is dealing with the situation by asking them to express themselves through drawing, painting and role play. Role play is also a good tool for explaining to them what is going to happen or getting them used to a situation. For example if a child is going to be going in to Hospital for the first time I might be a good idea to make the role play area in to a Hospital and introducing them to the idea of doctors and nurses through play. This will also give the rest of the class an understanding of what the child will be experiencing.
Another way to prepare a child for a transition would be to arrange for them to go on a visit to the new environment and meet the people they are going to be coming in to contact with. This will get them used to the idea so that when it actually happens the experience won’t be so daunting.
You could also introduce books and other media such as films which feature themes that they are experiencing to help them understand better, it is also important that you understand too so you should get as much information about the scenario as possible for yourself so that you can answer any question the child has. This could involve getting information from outside agencies, leaflets, brochures and the internet.
E7. Explain the causes and effects of discrimination on children.
Discrimination occurs when a child is refused the same right or access to a service because of their race, culture, sex or ability. Discrimination is usually caused by people’s miss-information, miss-understandings and general stereotyping. Stereotypes are usually a fixed picture of people which fall in to the same category, for example all Muslims are terrorists. This is obviously not true. These views are then reflected on the way people are treated by others. This is called direct discrimination. Indirect discrimination is when someone is refused a service or treated differently and a restriction is put on to do with the people which fall in to that category. This can be deliberate or accidental.
Discrimination can cause a damage to a child’s self-esteem and can be restrictive to how a child develops. It is important for all children to feel that they are valued, included and that they matter. If a child is discriminated against they might not feel this, they may feel as if they don’t matter and this would be bad for their self-esteem. Discrimination can be restrictive to a child’s development for example if a child is always thought of first as “the child with the learning disability” people are always going to be treating them differently because of this.
It is important for the setting to promote anti-discriminative practise in the setting to help cut out discrimination for future generations.
D1. Explain the key issues relating to the practice which supports children to prepare for transitions.
When preparing the child for a transition it is important to make sure that you first gain knowledge of the transition from the parents. It is important to work closely in partnership with parents so that you know what their views are on the scenario and how they will be helping the child so that you are not giving the child conflicting information, for example when dealing with death the parent might have told the child that the person who has died has gone to heaven, so by telling the child something different such as the person has gone in to the ground to become a tree would really confuse the child. You should respect the families’ cultural background and make sure this is reflected in how the situation is dealt with.
If you think that the child is acting different to normal but the parents haven’t told you anything is wrong, you should take the parent to one side and check that everything at home is okay. This shouldn’t ever be a problem if you keep a good relationship with the parents.
Any conversation you have with the parent or family is confidential and should not be discussed with anyone else unless it is within the child’s best interest or required by law. Any information which is recorded should be kept in a secure locked cabinet in the right file for the right child. If a parent is going through something that they rather no-one else knew about and you put child A’s information in Child B’s file and Child B’s parent asks to his their file they will then have access to child A’s information. Not only is this disrespectful to the wishes of the family but also a serious breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.
Every child is different and so each child needs to be treated differently and make sure their individual needs are met. You should make sure any activity you do with the child is appropriate for the child’s age, ability and culture. For example it would almost be pointless to give a 2 year old child with English as a second language an English text only book about the issue. Firstly it is beyond their ability and secondly it is not in a language they are going to recognise as easily. It is also good to remember that not everyone feels the same and depending on how a child is taking a situation would depend on how you treat it. You should give the child the chance to express their feelings about it before you jump in and try to help them. For example if they are upset about a new family arrival it wouldn’t be appropriate to start asking them how excited they are about it, because they’re not.
You should always make sure that you are honest with the child with what is happening. For example if they are experiencing a serious illness in the family and they ask if the person is going to get better and there is a chance that they won’t you shouldn’t tell them that they will. It raises false hopes and if the person doesn’t recover and dies the child could lose trust in you and think that you lied to them.
With all scenarios it is crucial that you are organised and keep on top of the situation. You need to make sure you arrange and organise any meetings or pre-visits with plenty of notice and at a time that is convenient for all those involved. You can’t just turn up with a child and even parents somewhere with the expectation of being invited in with open arms with no notice. It’s very unprofessional and also means that the child might not get the best out of the visit as the new setting are not prepared for the visit.
It is good to teach all children self-help skills such as pouring their own drinks, peeling their own fruit and dressing themselves. This is good because at any time there might be an occasion where a parent is unavailable to help the child with some tasks. This could be if they are busy with a new baby or if they have to unexpectedly have to care for an ill member of the family. This isn’t just long term but short term too.
It is crucial to find out as much information as you can surrounding the situation to make sure you are supporting both the parent and the child. Sometimes if there is a lot going on sometimes the parent doesn’t have time or resources to access all the information they need to or they might not realise what is available to them. For example if the child’s Dad has left the mother might not realise they are entitled to extra benefits which could help towards child care and other costs.
D2. Assess the effectiveness of the strategies which empower the children to develop independence and achieve self-reliance.
Children will be able to develop independence and self-reliance from skill development because they will be able to learn a new skill which they weren’t other-wise able to do independently. When they are able to do the skill on their own for the first time it will give them a boost of self-esteem because they were able to do it on their own, this is especially the case when they are then praised for it. This can sometimes mean that they develop a can do attitude and become more self-reliant and confident towards other activities and challenges that they are faced with and are more likely to try things to do things on their own for the first time rather than asking someone else to do it for them. This is important because as children grow up they need to realise that there isn’t always going to be someone by their side to help them with everything and that at some stage they are going to have to live independently as an adult. It is good to develop skills such as peeling your own fruit, pouring your own drink and getting dressed on your own as these are all skills which they are going to need to be able to do independently in adult life.
Children will also be able to develop independence and self-reliance skills from praising achievement. This can be done by awarding stickers, house points, certificates or awards such as being given the title of star of the week.
When a child is praised and awarded it gives them a confidence boost and will make them more likely to do well at something again. When using award systems such as sticker charts it is good to make sure that you are not always rewarding the same children all the time as the children who aren’t awarded will lack in self-esteem and will gain a “cant-do” attitude. That doesn’t mean that you don’t award consistent children, but you should make an effort to find something positive to award all children often. You should also take in to account the children who excel at their work may feel that their work goes un-appreciated.
C1. Evaluate one theoretical perspective which supports the development of strategies for empowering children
Lev Vygotsky a Russian theorist came up with his theory of the “Zone of proximal development”. His theory suggests that children should not be assessed on what they know but what they have the potential of knowing. He emphasised that children are capable of learning through help from adults with structure. This is more commonly known as “scaffolding”. Basically a child can learn through adult intervention and help.
His theory is completely different from Jean Piaget who believed that children learnt best from personal experience.
Vygotskys theory heavily influenced Jerome Bruner who extended the theory to say that he believed that children learn best through choice and active involvement in their learning but also kept the firm belief in ‘scaffolding’ and adult lead activities. Giving the option of choice itself is a tool used for empowerment. However Bruner was also influenced by Piaget as he too believed that children learned best through first hand experiences.
Vygotsky believed that we can empower children by giving them the skills and guidance to help them and we can do this through structure. This is reflected today in the classroom, for example children are given worksheets and demonstrations to help them learn. He believes that if a child is a left alone to learn by themselves as Piaget would suggest then they are not reaching their full potential. Vygotsky died at a young age and so his theory was not covered in much depth however it is very well cited and highly regarded today.
B1. Discuss how the causes and effects of discrimination may affect practise in the setting.
Discrimination in the setting may cause a child to be missing out on something that others aren’t leading to the child feeling left out. Discrimination can have a huge impact on a child’s self-esteem and the parents too.
Discrimination can occur because of lack of information about someone’s culture or religion. If the staff in the setting do not have enough information or knowledge themselves then discrimination can occur this way. This is in-direct discrimination. For example if a 2 year olds family were practising Muslim and there for did not eat pork it would be extremely disrespectful to the family and the child to participate in a tasting activity that involved pork.
It is important that staff are trained and attend courses to keep knowledgeable and up to date with relevant legislation. It is also important for staff to have a positive and open attitude towards all religions and cultures.
A. Reflect on the influence of legislation on working practises within early years settings.
Legislation in the setting ensures that all children are safe and are looked after to the highest standard. It gives strict guidelines on what staff can and can’t do and also makes sure that not just the children but also their families are treated with respect and are not discriminated against. Without the legislations that are in place childcare settings would be potentially dangerous. For example without the health and safety at work act there wouldn’t be risk assessments or any procedures or policies in place to prevent injury and illness.
Since the every child matters legislation was passed in 2004 it now requires that anyone who wants to care for children needs to be registered with OFSTED and be CRB checked. This protects children from coming in to contact with harmful people and means that every single person that works alongside children in the setting have been CRB checked.
OFSTED are the main regulatory body for early years settings and they regularly hold inspections of schools to make sure that they are meeting all the needs of all the children. As well as having OFSTED inspections the setting also has to perform self-assessments on their provisions and of the understanding of best practise.
In my setting there are literally hundreds of policies and procedures which are in place as a result of legislation.
For example COSHH – Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations state that every setting must have a file which contains a list of all the hazardous substances contained and used within the setting and how and where they are stored. My setting keeps this folder in the filing cupboard. The regulations also detail how these substances should be kept. In my setting it is policy to keep all our cleaning products in a locked cabinet, we also have to make sure that everything is labelled properly and the labels remain legible incase of an emergency and someone needs to know what is in the substance.
Another example of this would be RIDDOR – REPORTING OF INJURIES DISEASES OR DANGEROUS OCCURENCES ACT states under section 4 – regulation 7 that following an accident the following information should be recorded:
1. Date and time of the accident or dangerous occurrence.
2. In the event of an accident suffered by a person at work, the following particulars of that person—
(a)full name;
(b)occupation;
(c)nature of injury.
3. In the event of an accident suffered by a person not at work, the following particulars of that person (unless they are not known and it is not reasonably practicable to ascertain them)—
(a)full name;~
(b)status (for example “passenger”, “customer”, “visitor” or “bystander”);
(c)nature of injury.
4. Place where the accident or dangerous occurrence happened.
5. A brief description of the circumstances in which the accident or dangerous occurrence happened.
6. The date on which the event was first reported to the relevant enforcing authority.
7. The method by which the event was reported.
This means that in our setting we have an accident book in which we record all accidents or dangerous occurrences. We have two books, one for the staff and one for the children. We also have to make a note of how we are going to prevent the incident from happening again in the future and what action we are taking.