ECM 2004- Every Child Matters, the government’s vision for children’s services was published in September 2003. It proposed reshaping children’s services to help achieve the following five key outcomes for children and young people:
• Be healthy – physically, mentally and emotionally healthy, sexually healthy, healthy lifestyles, and choose not to take illegal drugs.
Parents, carers and families promote healthy choices
• Stay safe - safe from maltreatment, neglect, violence and sexual exploitation, safe from accidental injury and death, safe from bullying and discrimination, safe from crime and anti-social behaviour in and out of school, and have security, stability and are cared for.
Parents, carers and families provide safe homes and stability
• Enjoy and achieve - ready for school, attend and enjoy school, achieve stretching national educational standards at primary school, achieve personal and social development and enjoy recreation, achieve stretching national educational standards at secondary school.
Parents, carers and families support learning
• Make a positive - engage in decision-making and support the community and environment, contribution, engage in law-abiding and positive behaviour in and out of school, develop positive relationships and choose not to bully and discriminate, develop self-confidence and successfully deal with significant life changes and challenges, develop enterprising behaviour.
Parents, carers and families promote positive behaviour.
• Achieve economic - engage in further education, employment or training on leaving school, well-being ready for employment, live in decent homes and sustainable communities, access to transport and material goods, live in households free from low income.
“For children and young people there are five outcomes that are key to well-being in childhood and later life – being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being. These five constitute the focus of government attention for all pupils.” .
E3 + E4
It is very important that childcare workers follow the correct policies and procedures in their setting because this is essential for infection control and preventing cross-infection. This allows the children to work in a safe and clean environment without fear of infection or illness. There is an designated member of staff which will ensure that the safeguarding policy is secure and in good practice, there must be up to date knowledge and suspicisions must be reported as well as complaints.
Another procedure which falls into the safeguarding policy is the “whistle blowing procedure”, this is how to report any concerns. All staff must know how to manage disclosure and know who to contact. The Health and Safety Policy, ensures we make risk assessments to ensure a safe environment at all times, this includes RIDDOR and COSHH and puts them into practice. It is also designed to minimise risks and controls infection. All childcare workers must wear gloves and aprons to help with managing bodily fluids and know how to deal with different situations in the correct way.
Also, The Equal Opportunities policy tells us we must not stereotype, judge or make assumptions of anyone. We can ensure we have equal opportunities within a childcare setting by celebrating different cultures, including everybody in all activities, not leaving children out if there aren’t as capable as others, supporting children financially and listening to all children as they all have their own opinions. Childcare workers must treat all children individually, this links to Bandura, a theorist. All of these policies aim to ensure inclusiveness by giving children equal opportunities and showing “diverst” attitudes and staff must follow all of these as it is against the law not to and they could get into trouble if not.
A1
Children Act 1989 influences the way we work with children and how to influence behaviour and child safety within childcare settings. I have noticed in placement that all the staff must have a CRB check this is to ensure the safety of the children and it is also against the law not to have one when working within a childcare setting. In my placement all the staff are aware of the children’s and their families opinions as there are- parents evenings- which gives the parent/carers views. The children also get time to share their ideas and opinions during circle time. Also children have time during their day to express their ideas and feeling in the “role play area” by acting their feelings and ideas out to their peers. All childcare settings ensure the safety of children by following rules and legislations such as COSHH, RIDDOR and also the health and safety act 1989.
UNCRC 1989 also ensures the safety of children in a very unique way, I have seen this when i have attended my childcare placement, for example locked doors, passwords when picking up children, security checks, also CRB’s fall into this category. Another example is the visitor’s book, if you do not work within this setting you must sign in with your name, date and time you arrived and ring the bell to be let into the setting by the receptionist. Inclusiveness is recognised within the setting, celebrating different religions and also different celebrations and also recognising that everyone is different. For example in my childcare setting there is an African child in my class and she was going to visit her father’s side of the family in a town called Gambia in Africa. As part of this the children in her class did a topic called “the Gambia” and learnt and understood their celebrations and the way people live in Gambia. Before the child went on her holiday the children designed a scrap book for her to take into a primary school in Gambia to show them how the children in England live their day to day life in school. The child also took a teddy that was part of the class called “Honey Bear” and took the items that she needed to go on a holiday. All the children found this very interesting and enjoyed this topic thoroughly.
RIDDOR is also seen within the childcare setting, by using accident books, contacting the parents, all staff must know how to get in touch with the parents at all times in case of any emergencies. Risk assessments must be taken out if anyone is going on a school trip somewhere the school must know that it is safe for the children to go there. Also the recording of any accidents and emergencies, I have seen this within my practice when a child has bumped there head and the child’s parents were contacted by the first aider.
COSHH 2002 covers everything within the setting must be labelled and this is shown within placement with hazardous substances, and must be put into a storage place with a locked door, so it is not accesses able for any children. My placement keeps these substances in a locked cupboard to ensure no children can reach or get into the room where they are kept.
Every Child Matters is put into practice by providing fresh fruit and food and water in placement. Water must be available at all times for the children, and outdoor play must be issued and also in practice when eating within the setting, a balanced diet must be available for the children. ECM is put into practice by keeping the children safe, locked doors and other safety procedures. Having secured premises, not easy access, and also teaching children how to be safe so they can recognise how to behave. Children all have the right to make a positive contribution and should be able to enjoy and achieve.
Risk assessments are also carried out to follow the legislation of the health and safety act, these include weekly ones, daily ones. It also follows COSHH and the reporting of all injuries. Childcare Act 2006, is put into practice when we are using key workers for children, using confidentiality to ensure the safety of the children, also CRB’s and suitable equipment is used, for example when the chairs are the right size for the children, not too big and not too small to fit the age range to make it age stage appropriate. Planning must be carried out and all children must be safe and secure when in the setting as it includes as one of the legislations. All practitioners such be diverst and use inclusiveness in their childcare practice.
C1
One theoretical perspective which supports the development of strategies for supporting children is Howard Gardner, he believed that all children learn in different ways and that although we may be not so good at one thing, we can be advanced in another and there are different ways that we should be taught to ensure that we understand what we are being taught.
Gardner believed that there are different ways in which we learn, one being a linguistic learner, which means you are work smart, we can put this into practice by speaking, writing word, which means writing and also learning of new words. Music learner is another which means you are music smart, you can include this into practice by listening to different sounds etc.
Another one of Gardeners thoughts were Logic smart, which means you are number smart this can be put into practice in role play areas, for example when it is a shop adding and subtracting numbers to give a price, also the weighing of sweets etc. Visual learners which are visual smart, we can use this in practice by special awareness for example asking a child to put out there arms and walk into a space away from the other children.
naturalistic which means you have a lot of nature, this can be put into practice by bring a pet to school day, hatching chicks, pond life and also learning about farm animals. Another type is a kinaesthetic learner, which means you are body smart, this can be put into practice by PE, sports days etc.
Although Gardner’s theory has some advantages there is also some disadvantages, for example, that there is a danger that practitioners may “trivialise” the “intelligences” the roots of intelligence are not always clear.
On the other hand, some advantages of this theory include that the intelligences enable children to develop in less academic subjects and therefore allow them to “flourish”, they empower a child by giving them the opportunity to do something they are good at, and also the inclusion of Gardeners theory could enhance the learning environment by making sure that all the children learn and can understand the lesson by doing it in different ways.
“Gardner argues that there is a wide range of , and that there are only very weak correlations among them. For example, the theory predicts that a child who learns to easily is not necessarily generally more intelligent than a child who has more difficulty on this task. The child who takes more time to master simple multiplication 1) may best learn to multiply through a different approach, 2) may excel in a field outside of mathematics, or 3) may even be looking at and understanding the multiplication process at a fundamentally deeper level, or perhaps as an entirely different process. Such a fundamentally deeper understanding can result in what looks like slowness and can hide a mathematical intelligence potentially higher than that of a child who quickly the multiplication table despite a less detailed understanding of the process of multiplication.”
There are different strategies that are put into place when working with children to empower children and to develop independence and self reliance. Two strategies which I have seen in practice while I have been in my childcare placement include, providing different dressing up clothes, this enables the children to make a choice, for example if a child whatever gender wants to wear a dress, a skirt, or a nurses outfit. This lets the child make their own choice instead of being told what to wear and how to get dressed etc; it also gives them the opportunity to learn how to dress themselves.
Another opportunity that children get while in the setting is what fruit they would like to have for example at snack time, they don’t get given a chosen fruit they can go and choose for them self this encourages the child/children to be independent.
Although giving the children the opportunity to choose what they should wear when they are in the role play area it also helps them recognise different cultures, for example clothes are available which are from the Asian culture (saris, and headscarf’s etc). It gives them a sense of even though they are not a part of the culture it helps them understand and recognise why people from different cultures may celebrate some things and gives those the help and understanding about this culture.
Furthermore, when the children are given the choice to choose from different snacks and having the opportunity to not have someone choose for them the children are having a sense of how to make decisions for themselves, so they are not dependant on someone else all the time.
It develops a child’s self esteem by knowing that they can do different things and not rely on parents/carers to be there for there every step because for some children being in a setting is the only way they can have their own reliability and make their own decisions.
E6 and D1
Some examples of how settings can prepare children for transfers and changes include when a child is going to a new school and home visits are occurred, this allows the child to know what activities they are going to be taking part in, and so they know some of the people which may be there for example the teacher going to visit the child to ease the child and let them understand that the school or setting is going to be like so they won’t feel fearful.
Also sharing stories about transitions with the children will help them to recognise that everyone goes through them and its okay to be worried or upset about different things. For example reading a story about a child moving from one school to another can make the child who is taking part in the transition comforted and help them to understand that it’s not only them who take part in these activities (transitions). We can also share information with parents and families so that they can help prepare the children and try and reassure them of any worries that they may have.
Role-play within the nursery can also help a child, for example if a child is scared of going to the doctors, the teacher could promote the doctors by turning it into a doctors and showing them that the doctors is not a bad thing and they should not be worried about going to a place like this because doctors can help you when you are poorly.
E7 and B1
The different forms of discrimination include, direct discrimination, which best described is intentional, this is when someone is ridiculed or stopped from doing something because of the colour of their skin or a disability or any other way they may be somewhat different. There are different forms of discrimination, sometimes people are not aware of the way they are discriminating against. An example of when they may occur is when someone may not get a job because they have different coloured skin; therefore the person who is in charge of employing that person is being discriminatory.
On the other hand, there is indirect discrimination, which is opposite to the direct, as it is more difficult to identify as it can be more subtle in its use. It is when someone may be prevented from taking part in something because their needs have not been taking into account or someone may be made to feel isolated as a result of not being able to join in certain activities. For example: if somebody broke their leg and could not take part in a football activity.
Furthermore, there is institutional discrimination, this is when the policies and practices of an organisation are sufficient and discriminate against people who belong to a minority group. Therefore needs are unable to be met. A scenario which can help to understand this form of discrimination is when in schools and some of the students fasting and the teachers still tell the children to take part in PE lessons.
Also, organisational discrimination, this is when the ethos within the organisation is discriminatory. The way that people behave, use language, etc creates a culture within the workplace. For example when in a setting only using one language as it is unfair on other children who cannot speak this language or may not be able to understand this one as much as another.
Another part of discrimination is stereotyping as everyone tends to do this, we must avoid this as much as possible when working with children. Stereotyping is when we come up with an image of what someone might look like without seeing them; this is because we have developed a stereotypical idea of how that “type” of person is usually portrayed. There are different causes and effects of discrimination, some causes being because someone is different for example someone’s skin colour, religion, sex, age, ability, income and family structure.
Although because of these causes there is affects that can occur for the child being discriminated against, for example the child might have a lack of self esteem, the child feeling withdrawn, and the child having poor social skills, and being ashamed, unhappy and having some sort of depression. The child may become to be isolated and unhappy and lonely. Acrophobia can also occur and changes in behaviour.
by
zigpants (student)
