The private sector is run just for profit. They are usually run by individuals or groups of people to provide a service and make a financial profit. The private sector needs to be ‘financially viable’ which means not run at a loss. Examples of services within this sector are childminders, nannies, day care nurseries, private schools, after school clubs, health care, counselling services and housing and leisure services. These services are financed by private investment or by people who want to make a return on their savings and from the fees that they charge for their use. Sometimes the state may pay the fees for someone who is in desperate need of using the services within the private sector. This only happens when it has an obligation to provide a service for a particular client but there is a lack of provision within the state sector in a certain area. These services are staffed according to the need of the organisation. An example of a service within the private sector is a private school. This is also known as an independent school or a nonstate school. In the UK, private schools usually like to be called independent schools because of their freedom to operate outside the government and local government control. They are not administered by local, state or national governments which gives them the right to select their students and are funded in a whole or in part by charging their students tuition rather than relying on compulsory taxation through public funding. Students can get a scholarship into a private school which makes the cost cheaper, depending on the talent a student may have. E.g. art, sport or academic scholarships. In the UK the use of the term is generally limited to primary and secondary educational levels. Fees range from under £1,000 per term to £7,000 and above per term for a day pupil, with wide variations depending on the age of the child– and up to £9,000+ per term for boarding. Private schools, like state schools follow the EYFS which is for children 0-5 years old, they then follow the national curriculum which is for children aged 5-11 years. Parents must take substantial sacrifices for their child to attend a private school. But there are many benefits. Such as: private schools get lots of graduates into good colleges and universities, there are smaller classes and the teacher to student ratio is 1:8 which means your their child would get the attention they need, they have a number of good facilities as this is a profit making organization they have the money to spend it on facilities for the children, parents can get involve, they can focus on teaching your child how to think rather than what to think, private schools don’t have the pressure of a public accountability, they hold a very high reputation and they ensure that your child is getting the best out of their education. However until the 1970’s all state school students were required to take an 11+ exam and the more able students were then offered a place at a local grammar school. Although these have been replaced by all ability comprehensive schools, some grammar schools were able to become independent. Although many of the private schools in England and Wales aim at the highest academic standards, a small number have been recognized to offer support for those who are going through some difficulties in conventional education. About half of the schools specializing in special educational needs are private schools. Private schools can employ anyone, even without having a qualification. But they must be able to justify themselves to the owners of the private schools. Private schools offer a chance for children to get the best out of their education as they possibly can. As private schools are profit making organizations, they have the money to spend on good facilities which would be good for the child as they are learning the best way that they can.
The main legislation in the country supporting the rights of children
There are numerous amounts of legislation in the UK which has an impact on how much care we give to children in early year’s settings. The main legislation in this country supporting children’s rights The Children’s Act 2004.
The Children Act 2004 is an act that was passed on the 15th November 2004. The act was an adjustment of the Children Act 1989 largely in consequence of the Victoria Climbie inquiry. The Acts ultimate purpose is to make the UK better and safer for children of all ages. It set out the national framework for delivering children’s services and identified the Every Child Matters five outcomes for children and young people, which all professionals must work towards. The Children Act 2004 sets out the procedure of incorporated services for children in order to encourage the attainment of the five outcomes. The government’s aim is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to.
The 5 outcomes are:
- Be healthy
- Stay safe
- Enjoy and achieve
- Make a positive contribution
- Achieve economic well-being.
Be Healthy:
Physically healthy, mentally and emotionally healthy, sexually healthy, healthy lifestyles and choose not to take illegal drugs.
Stay Safe:
Safe from maltreatment, neglect, violence and sexual exploitation, safe from accidental injury or 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.
Enjoy and Achieve:
Ready for school, attend and enjoy school, achieve stretching national education standards at primary school, achieve personal and social development and enjoy recreation, achieve stretching national education standards at secondary school.
Positive Contribution:
Engage in decision making and support the community and environment, engage in law-abiding and positive behaviour in and out of school, develop positive relationships and choose not to bully or discriminate, develop self-confidence and successfully deal with significant life changes and challenges and develop enterprising behaviour.
Enjoy Economic Well-Being:
Engage in further education, employment or training or leaving school, ready for employment, life in decent homes and sustainable communities and access to transport and material goods and live in a household free from low income.
The Childcare Act 2006 is a UK act of Parliament that entered into law on 11th July 2006. The law clearly states that local authorities must improve outcomes for all children under 5. Local authorities should take the lead role in facilitating the childcare market to make sure that the needs of working parents, targeting ones who have disabled children and those on low incomes are met. People must be able to have full access to information they may need as parents. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was introduced to support the education and care for children under 5. This supports the Every Child Matters legislation by having four main themes:
- A unique child
- Positive relationships
- Enabling environments
- Learning and development.
A unique child:
Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self assured.
Positive relationships:
Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.
Enabling Environments:
The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.
Learning & development:
Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development are equally important and inter-connected.
The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (SEN Code) was introduced in 1994 and revised in 2002. It applies to schools and early education settings offering the Early Years Foundation Stage. The SEN Code sets out procedures to be followed to ensure that the needs of children with special needs are met. Early years settings must adopt the recommendations of the SEN Code, train staff to identify and manage, appoint a SENCO who will have responsibility for overseeing how the setting meets the needs of children and follows the SEN Code.
The main purpose of the Act is to merge the complex and several ranges of Acts and Regulations, which created the foundation of in Great Britain. This was, mainly, the , the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the , the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and three major legislative instruments protecting discrimination in employment on terms of , and .
B point and E4 needs to be done..
Teamwork will support my work with children because TEAM stands for ‘Together Everyone Achieves More’ and I think that working as a team not only helps you bond with the child, but helps you have more confidence in yourself. Also there are benefits from working in a team. It will help the children to fast learn, as they have the knowledge from an older team member it will help them to grasp new concepts quicker and it provides an additional bonus for me as it helps me from making mistakes. Continuous interaction with the children will help you to get to know the children and bond with them. Many children try to compete against each other when working individually so personally I think that team work will help them all to have a say/ fair share in the activities and learn that everyone can achieve the same. Whilst working in a team you will never be alone, even if you are working with children, their input is always helpful, they are creative and you may even learn something from them. And finally, you will get a job satisfaction, knowing that you have a bond with the children, and you showed them that team work is key and everyone can achieve together.
Having a dress code will support my work with children because if I am dressed smartly, I will give a good impression not only to the children but to other members of staff. Young children are more than likely to copy what you do, so if you were to walk around in a short skirt and earrings and pink hair, there’s a possible chance that the children will go home to their parents and say ‘the teacher has pink hair so why cant i?’ children look up to us as we are there to support them, and giving off a bad impression can never benefit the child.
Confidentiality will support my work with children because I am keeping everything the child is telling me to myself. If there is something a child doesn’t want to tell their mum, or a friend and they confide in the teacher then keeping that confident would grow a bond with the child, and not only that, but they will respect me for not telling anyone. Obviously I couldn’t go around telling my friends what this child or that child has done or is doing it wouldn’t be fair as that child has personally come to me and told me in secret. Overall confidentiality will support my work with children as it would help me to have a better bond with the child and they trust me.
Practitioners should develop and maintain appropriate relationships with parents and other professionals so you have knowledge about the child’s background, knowledge of the child, ratios, safeguarding, security, understanding, trust, health and safety, culture, religion, special needs, diets and allergies. The most important thing is confidentiality. It is so important not to talk about the staff/ children/ families or anything you hear, even when you’re among your peers. Parents give you their trust and tell you things that are very personal, if you break this trust you are betraying the parent and also the confidentiality policy. If you gain trust from the parents you will be able to find out about the child’s progress at home and also about their likes and dislikes or any personal issues so you know what to look out for at school, and can keep an eye on them if they have any accidents that are related to a personal issue. It is important to send home letters/ reports/ concerns about the child so that parents can keep a close bond with you as you are there to protect them for 6 hours a day. They will also want to know how their child is progressing at school so they know what to do at home. Teachers and parents will meet at least twice a year and discuss the progress of the child face-to-face. The teacher will then tell the parent how he/she perceives their work; they can also tell you how your child can improve their homework and any difficulties. This relationship is important because both the parent and the teacher are working together to ensure this child is achieving the best that they can. Because child care workers have day-to-day contact with children and families they definitely have a broad understanding and knowledge of the child. So it may be difficult for visiting professionals to asses and judge what is best for the child at certain times. Therefore it is important to remember that other professionals have undertaken training in their area of capability and they are in a position to inform others using their own professional skills.
A multi-agency team is a group of professionals who work together and communicate to identify and support a child’s needs, this could be for a variety of different reasons. If children at the setting are being assessed because they may have learning difficulties, behavioural difficulties or special needs, other professionals will be required to engage with the children and carry out assessments. ‘’Multi-agency working brings together practitioners from different sectors and professionals within the workforce to provide integrated support to children and their families for example a ‘team around the child’ (TAC)’’ (CAF multi-agency working PowerPoint- Moodle). If you work with children, your career is likely to involve close working with other agencies. There are many characteristics of working in a multi-agency team such as: co-operation- the children see the benefits of people working together and cooperating with each other. ‘’Consistency- all team members adopt the same approach to the task of caring for children and working with their families. Encouragement- members of the team stimulate, motivate, praise, encourage and support one another. Efficiency- the skills of all members are used to arrive at the best solutions. Respect- team membership satisfies the need to belong and to be respected and to have ideals and aims confirmed and shared by others. Belonging- individuals feel a sense of belonging and can share problems, difficulties and success. Innovation- individuals become more willing to adopt new ways of thinking and working. Balance- the strengths and weaknesses of one person are balanced by the strengths and weaknesses of others’’ (CACHE level 3 childcare and education. Beaver, Brewster, Green, Neeaum, Sheppard, Tallack, walker. Page 313) Like the benefits, there will also be some challenges of working in a Multi-Agency team and those may be: communication failure- many professionals being at various levels may cause a problem, they may not understand the terminology. Conflict, opinions, insufficient connects with other teams, individuals not fulfilling roles and responsibilities, may all want to be the leader and a lack of resources and equipment. Working in a Multi-agency team can benefit a child because there are positive outcomes- the child will feel supported with you being a good role model, all professionals working together and sharing ideas on individual aspects of child’s needs, assessing and evaluating the child’s needs, the child will progress and become able to move forward, and it will benefit the parents because we offer support and help. The EYFS commitments to MAT are recognising that parents are children’s first and most enduring educators, EYP work in partnership towards ECM. Through partnership, the experience of the child must be joined up and coherent. And finally, the importance of joined up planning and delivery to provide continuity of care.
It is important to value and respect all children in the setting because respecting a child allows them the space to learn by example. Setting an example of respect, they might then choose to respect you in return simply because it is what is being taught to them by example. Kids are like sponges and absorb their surroundings. It also builds self worth in the child. You can create this environment by allowing the child freedom of movement and exploration. The importance of valuing a child is that they mature into tolerant adults; you must be a good role model and have resources that show all types of people. e.g people in wheelchairs, with hearing aids and other types of disabilities. Have resources showing different cultures, religions and races. Celebrate the festivals relevant to the children that are in the setting and also include other celebrations. Have resources showing different ages of people. Resources can include posters, puzzles and books. You must not show favouritism, and you must realise that each child has their strengths and weaknesses and some need more attention than others, but you should never belittle them because whether they are 5 or 50 they are still a person.
Self-esteem is an expression in psychology to reflect a 's overall valuation of his or her own importance. The word esteem comes from a Latin word that means ‘to estimate.’ So self-esteem is how you estimate or regard yourself. Your self-esteem depends on many questions such as: do I like myself? Do I like my job? Am I happy about where I am in my life? Would I like to look any different? Self-esteem is crucial and is the basis of a positive attitude towards living. It is very important because it affects how you think, act and even how you relate to other people. It allows you to life your life to your potential. Low self-esteem means poor confidence and that also causes negative thoughts which mean that you are likely to give up easily rather than face challenges. In addition it has a direct attitude on your happiness and well-being. Self-esteem can be the difference between success and failure. It can affect your thinking, causing your outlook to be positive or negative. Esteem affects your confidence, your self image, and your value towards others. Self-esteem enables you to have the right attitude to succeed at work, it affects your happiness.
Abraham Maslow was a psychologist and he believed that everyone is born with the motivation to progress. A visual aid Maslow created to explain his theory, which he called the Hierarchy of Needs, is a pyramid which is representing the levels of human needs, psychological and physical in drawing/art form When a human being ascends the steps of the pyramid he reaches self actualization. At the bottom of the pyramid are the “Basic needs or Physiological needs” of a human being, food and water and sex. The next level is “Safety Needs: Security, Order, and Stability.” These two steps are important to the physical endurance of the person. Once individuals have essential nutrition, shelter and safety, they try to achieve more. The third level of need is “Love and Belonging,” which are psychological needs; when individuals have taken care of themselves physically, they are ready to share themselves with others. The fourth level is achieved when individuals feel secure with what they have achieved. This is the “Esteem” level, the level of success (from self and others). The top of the pyramid, “Need for Self-actualization,” happens when individuals reach a position of agreement and understanding.