Appendix 4 shows details of the Tuesday morning hydrotherapy sessions that I organise; it includes a brief summary about the session, the time table, the student’s objective sheets and recording sheets. This session has taken a great deal of setting up and has gone through a number of changes, due to staffing issues, pupil’s requirements and financial issues. The changes that have been undertaken has been an improvement to the sessions, they have made the sessions run smoother and caused less disruptions to lessons. I really enjoy these sessions, because I can really work intensely with the students, building up a working relationship with the individuals.
There are various other responsibilities that change from day to day, like everyone working within the school; we all work towards each individual learning programmes of each student, work with the individuals behaviour management programmes.
My role in my work setting changes from day to day, I have tried to work from a timetable to ensure that every child is seen equally by myself when I not expecting outside professionals, but I found that the demands of the job would not allow it, since some days I am needed to help the school nurse or like today, the hydrotherapy session was delayed by over half an hour due to a student needing first aid treatment for a serious cut to a finger. So I find it extremely difficult to define my role within the school as I cover the whole setting and no two days are the same and no two sessions with a student are the same.
Self as a developing practitioner
When I look back, I can see a dramatic change in myself since I took on the role of Health and Therapist assistant, when I was offered the job, my head teacher said she was very apprehensive about whether I had the maturity to handle the role, as it was a new role and would be totally different to working within the class room environment. She was also very concerned about my immature approach to things, I was often found bouncing down the corridors and I would say things without fully thinking, looking back now I cringe to think about what I was like. I must admit that I did find it very difficult to lose the ‘tiggerness’ that I have, but I have managed to control this, although it does slip out from time to time. I find my general professional conduct has improved considerably, since my role involves moving around in classes while lessons are carrying on, some days I have to move around within a class for a considerable amount of time, to sort out various problems.
I feel this role has made me actually look at myself on a regular basis; I now stop and review any situation or problem that may cross my path throughout the day. When I began this role I would often say yes to any task, meaning that I had more tasks to complete than I had time to do, I was spreading myself too thinly, often forgetting tasks completely, which made me frustrated and sometimes I would snap at colleagues. I now review my actions on a daily basis, and see how and when I could improve what has happened throughout the working day, some days when I look back at certain situations, I see that they could have been handled differently, there are some occasions that I have had to apologise to work colleagues. This is due to my own strong personal ethos and pride in my work. Appendix 5 shows a diary entry looking back on a dispute between class staff and myself, it is was a situation that I handled extremely badly, it also show some examples of my continual reviewing my practice.
I am continuously looking at ways to improve my own professional practise, which is why I am working towards obtaining this foundation degree. I order Nursery world to keep up to date with current practises and issues, I also use relevant books such as those mentioned in the bibliography. While at work I have organised regular workshops, where the physiotherapist gives active training on student exercise programmes, this means that the student benefits from regular physiotherapist input, while I receive important in-house training on new exercises and good practise. Appendix 6 shows copies of updated programmes that are overseen by the physiotherapists and the referral forms that I complete for students. These sessions are a good way to develop my practise, they allow the therapists to review my techniques and they can decide if I am ready to learn new techniques. These sessions are a good way to reinforce the importance of regular physiotherapy to the class staff and the exercises that the individual student. This session ensures that the directions come from the physiotherapists and not me; therefore they take some of the pressure off me, which is very reassuring and means I don’t have overall responsibility.
I am in the fortunate position to be working within a setting that has strict and clear policies, these policies cover almost every situation that might occur, so are directly written for individual students, such as the manual handling risk assessment and behaviour management policies, while others are general to all students. These polices make my job easier, as I know how and why I have to work in certain ways. Each area within the school has policies covering the use of them, such as the swimming pool and multi-sensory room. So although I don’t know every policy, I know where to find the policy should I become unclear on any details, and at the beginning of term, the staff meeting is used to remind staff of the policies. Appendix 7 shows the schools prospectus, school aims and policies that we work within, including risk assessments, the ICT policy and pictures of where and the number of the polices that are in place in the school. These policies are vital that everyone knows what they are working towards; they have been set out by the teacher and the governors, who ensure that they provide a balanced and quality curriculum. These policies are been approved by Ofsted, in the last inspection, I was extremely pleased and proud to be associated with my work setting as the report was very good. Sadly the report has yet to be published and the school has only had the limited feed back as the inspection was carried out in early July.
I feel it is important that I keep reflecting and learning from my experiences and from others experiences, to develop myself as a better practitioner. I find that I am learning from good and bad experiences, which I find encouraging. I also am finding my reflective practice diary helpful in identifying improvements that I can make to my practice. I find the in-house training, vital in my development, although some are irrelevant to my role within the school; they will be beneficial to my future career.
My work with others
My work with others, means that I need to ensure that I remain professional at all times, since I work in a female dominated environment. Maintaining confidentiality is vital, as I deal with some really personal and delicate information. I have to know medical and background information that is often distressing and needs to remain confidential, this can be difficult and upsetting.
My role within the school means I have contact with almost everyone that is involved with any student. I have a considerable amount of contact with parents and carers; this means I need to maintain a good working relationship with them, to ensure that the student reaches their full potential. I have had one incident where the relationship has broken down, due to a misunderstanding in communication. It resulted in an unfortunate incident and since the only person that has missed out is the student. Now I am slowly repairing the relationship with the parent. Looking back on this incident has now improved my practice, I am now ensure that the information that I provide parents with is clear and I double check facts before I contact the parents.
Teamwork and good communication within a team is something that I have been challenging with this role, sometimes due to the stressful nature of the setting the left hand forgets to work with the right hand, I see my role as the facilitator to encourage the team to work smoothly, some teams are easier to work with than others, but that is why I need to be able to alter my personal skills to fit in to the team and to get the best out of each team. As part of working within a team is being up to date with, what the team is working towards for individual students, so the communication within the team is vital.
While working within a team, I now feel that I am able to question other peoples practise and working, I now feel comfortable doing this in the right situation, It is a major part of my role to ensure that everyone is working in the best interests of the students, such as showing class staff and support staff, such things as correct seating positions, and how to use new equipment, to maintain this good practise and highlight bad practise in a positive manner.
I feel that the way I work with others has improved and is continuing to improve everyday; there will always be a need to improve this skill as people are dynamic individuals and are always changing.
Bibliography
Blenkin G & Kelly A, 1996, Assessment in Early Childhood Education, Paul Chapman Publishing, London
Foley P. (Ed), 2001, Children in Society, Contemporary Theory, Policy and Practise, Palgrave, Basingstoke
Nutbrown C, 1996, Respectful Educators – Capable Learners: Children’s Rights and Early Education, Paul Chapman Publishing: London
