The setting should do everything they possibly can to safeguard children like I have suggested the following:
- A policy, procedures and a code of conduct for staff, volunteers and committee members
- sharing information about child protection and good practice with children, parents and carers plus staff and volunteers
- sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know and involving parents and children appropriately
- adopting and following procedures for recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers
- Providing support, supervision, guidance and training for staff and volunteers providing safe activities for children and young people.
When settings are employing staff they should make sure that everybody has a criminal record bureau check (CRB). Anyone that works around children weather it is kitchen staff, teacher or caretaker has to have an updated CRB. If a member of staff or a volunteer hasn’t got a CRB then they must never be left around the children alone or unsupervised because then the children are exposed to abuse; physical abuse, sexual abuse, mentally abused, emotional abuse or neglect. This is to make sure that all children are protected in every way possible.
Health and safety is a big key point on safeguarding children. The setting should always, make sure that there is a member of staff that has been on a training course for health and safety, and they are familiar with the health and safety equipment like fore extinguishers, fire blankets and fire exits etc. There should always be the right ratio of staff working in the classrooms just in case there are accidents or a child injures themselves.
Children are kept safe in the setting when partnership with parents is made, so everybody is being respected and valued, treating everybody the same and working together to support the children. Communicating to parents is very essential also; helping their children through the school life whether the children need extra help in certain subject’s or needs a mentor to speak to them about feelings or problems they are having or financial support, communicating with parents about their needs will keep children safe and valued. Confidentiality is also very important when working in practise making sure all the children’s information is kept safely and is kept in files, not sharing information with other people outside the setting; children have the right to be safe so it’s important their information is kept in files safely, this also includes having passwords on computers so nobody who doesn’t work in the setting can get information, and see other personal information that they are not meant to see, if visitors come to the setting making sure they sign in and out.
E4
An inclusion policy ensures that practitioners enable all children to fulfil their potential because they are used to promote fair, just and inclusive practices by treating all the children fairly and being able to achieve their full potential making sure that all the children are comfortable and feel safe and secure and are confident about their surroundings. Make sure the children feel welcome and all get the same attention as each other and including them all in activities through the school days. This applies for parents as well as the children, to achieve this they need to see if their meeting the children’s and parent’s needs. . Inclusion for parents and children is very important, for example if parents are on a low income, then helping them out giving them help with financial support, free dinners, government funding this is treating them fairly and showing support towards them and making them feel welcome. And for parents with communication difficulties, maybe English isn’t their first language, they could organise a translator or set up sign language courses for staff to go on to meet the parents needs. Also for parents who work shifts and don’t have the time to speak to their child’s teacher they could arrange for parents evenings where the parents can attend or maybe reviews at a set time for example every 3 months where the teacher can explain to the parents how the child’s work is progressing and then the parents can get a better understanding on their child’s school life, then they could work together if there is improvement needed. Also Children who are feeling insecure about themselves, would be a good idea to introduce role play, having one to ones with the children, doing more group work, different group activities with the children getting to know each other, always praising the children treating them the same, having start charts or maybe a reward and sticker chart when they have done something good or achieved something making them feel good about themselves.
Section 2
E5
When working with children it’s important to give the children appropriate responsibilities, to make them feel confident and grown up. The age range I have seen this with is 5-7 years. In my placement I have seen this happen when the teacher would choose the ‘helper’. Every day the teacher would choose one child and they would get a sticker saying ‘helper’ and therefore that means that the child would help the teacher throughout the day for example handing out the milk and fruit at play time, being at the front of the line when they line up for lunch etc, and choosing the book that the teacher will read to them all. By doing this is giving the child responsibility and choices. Throughout the day the teacher would praise the child and that would boost their self esteem. The teacher would change this person each day so everybody gets this responsibility and they can understand to take it in turns. By doing this is giving the children empowerment and feel confident even if it’s just giving fruit out at play time is improving their self esteem and self efficacy. The child who is the teacher’s helpers would get a lot of praise and encouragement of the teacher for doing it in an appropriate way and being polite and caring to their class mates. When the children get little jobs to do make them feel independent and like they have achieved something now they have the power to do things on their own, having the skills to be able to choose on their own, being polite will help speed up their development
D2
The effectiveness of these methods in empowering the age range of children is giving them the ability to get the chance to have the independence and make their own choices they need, it’s affected because they develop confidence and improves their self esteem. When encouraging children and praising all their work and giving them the support they need this will help them, again treating all the children equally and giving them the same attention will help with their self esteem. Also it’s effective because the children know every morning that the teacher will pick a helper so they all want the responsibility so all the children are sitting nicely and with their arm crossed hoping they will get picked. Also in the setting every morning the teacher will ask whether it’s sunny, cold, windy, raining or cloudy she will ask a certain child but will be a different child each day but every child will have a turn or an opinion on what they think it is, but when the teacher specifically asks this child, the teacher will take the child to the window and point outside and say ‘what do you think it’s like today’ when the child answer on what they think it is the teacher would say ‘oh yes I agree well done, looks very cold doesn’t it’ praising the child for what they have said and this is giving them the knowledge and confidence to describe the weather, then the other children would join in and say yes it’s horrible so just for one small job it gets all the children interested and talking about it together, boosting their self esteem and self reliance all the time.
C1
The role of an adult to empower children is supported by the theory Vygotsky. He believes that children learn through a social interaction and that social is a tool of language. He calls his theory the ‘social constructivist theory’. Vygotsky explains that he agreed with Piaget in that children at play are ‘active participants in their own learning’’ He believed play is a good way for children to learn but is not the only way. Therefore Vygotsky developed is theory known as the ‘The zone of proximal development’ which is developed by the idea of adults are a key source in how children learn, as well as children helping one another. He used this term to describe how children learn without help at all and explain the things children can do without assistance or nearby help as he called it. Relating to my activities in placement where children had activities, Vygotsky believes that children should be given challenging tasks as it would motivate them and develop their learning more. This process is called ‘Scaffolding learning’ in which means that you offer children more task in which they will find tricky, but he believes that children can go beyond and move to the actual zone of development, in which relates in with the theory of Piaget’s as children should have the opportunity to pass through stages of development naturally in their own time, and not be rushed with little interference from others. However this theory links with Jerome Bruner as this is a development of Vygotsky. His theory was called the ‘spiral curriculum’ in which makes reference to his belief that all children learn through their own discovery of things, they learn from others and what they get wrong. With regular assistance from others, providing them the opportunity to learn more, and return same activities to help them learn.
E6
All children go through changes in their lives, some maybe bigger to a child then others. The most common transitions are moving schools (primary to secondary), moving home, puberty, getting a job and learning to talk. There are different ways you can prepare and support children during changes in their lives, children can be any age when they experience change in their lives, and they could experience fear or stress when they move to a new school, or just starting a new school. For example say a child is moving from nursery to infant school you could be prepare this child for this whole big change by maybe giving them school visits to the school maybe a week before hand so they can get familiar with the building and the teachers etc. Also they could get to meet the other children in their class and make friends so they feel a bit more confident and comfortable. This would help a lot to this child so the child won’t feel as nervous on their first day. When a child is going through a transfer or transition they will have a lot of questions in the heads they would want answering like will I make friends?, will I get lost around the building?, what are the routines like?. To help with these questions that the child has you could do the visit to the school, role play, team bonding (get to know the other children), and maybe the parents could take the children out to get their new uniforms for school. When going through a period of change it is important to maintain some continuity of experience, particularly with babies and young children. The physical care that this might include are comforting the child, welcoming the child on the first day, 1:1 with the child and teacher and having a good routine. Taking a familiar object (teddy) to the new school might help the child and make them feel more secure about what’s going on. It is always important to realise if a child needs extra support through transition to help them develop and give them the best opportunities in life and full education.
D1
The key issues could be partnership with parents; local authorities must involve parents throughout the child protection process, this is for the welfare of the child. This includes, being in touch with the parents all the time giving them all the information they need about what is happening and what is coming up in the school, letting the parents share their concerns about the child’s welfare, always having respect and being considerate for the parents views and concerns, involving the parents in what is happening and the decision making. Just having all the information they need, will support the child in the transitions. Appropriate activities given to the children, and maybe having a certain day where the parents could come in and see how the child’s getting on and having one to ones with the teachers so they are getting involved and supporting the child and being there for them through out there change in their life, activities like group work, role play getting to know each other, going around the Circle saying their names and what they like as their hobby could be a good activity so the children are feeling like one big group and nobody if feeling left out.
E8
Including all the children in the group time, listening to them all and giving them the same attention, this is boosting their confidence and self esteem. Also having times where they can come to the teachers and express any feelings they have or thoughts that are running through their minds that they want to get of their chests, they could have a box where they can write down how they feel, or on break and lunches they can ask to talk to somebody, going out of class to talk to their mentor, after school sessions where they can have one to ones just to express their feelings, these will all support the children and make them feel somebody wants to listen to them and support them.
Section 4
E7
Discrimination may occur for children with a different race, religion, sexuality, or disability. For example discrimination can occur when people have stereotypical attitudes such treating children with a different religion differently this is discriminating against them just because they have a religion and this will lack their confidence and self esteem and make them feel like they’re not as good as the other children. During the early years children are developing their sense of identity, self worth and self esteem, they are learning how others see them and treat them. By the age of 3-4 years children have started to understand racial and gender differences. In some children’s centres they will introduce a persona doll to the children which is a doll but you can get all different types. For example a disabled doll, a different race doll, different gender etc. This is to show the children that no matter what age race, gender people are we should all be treated the same. They support children by teaching them about different disabilities as well as race etc. They are used in scenarios and everyday situations. They would have demonstrations, discussions, practical approach to learning. Different sessions could show different for example one session could be on body parts and another session could be on race. Making assumptions based on one set of stereotyped views this can also happen with children who have a disability so maybe they don’t get the access to their full learning development, this is discriminating against them which isn’t treating them equally and isn’t giving them the same attention as other children.
B1
In the children’s centres it’s important to always treat the children equally and involve every child all the time even when they have got a religion, race, disability and sexuality. In practise it’s important to work around them and still involving them treating them like everybody else, for example a child with a religion who can’t eat a certain food, then in practise the food menu should be changed so that the child can eat the food so everyone is having the same and everyone is equal, or if the child brings a certain food in no one else like it would be a good idea to do days where there are all different foods from different religions and the children can taste and get a feel for what types of foods are out there getting to know about the different religions and cultures in the world, still praising the child’s religion and what she likes for example ‘that looks very nice’ making them feel confidence, and proud of their religion and types of food there is.
