Childcare Placement: Report on Regulations

Professional Practice

I will be attending a setting for my placement starting in January. The setting was established in 2007 by a qualified nurse and Montessori teacher. She set up this setting due to a shortage of childcare facilities in the area. It had been brought to the community's attention that the lack of childcare services in the area meant that parents/guardians had to travel to sligo town for their children to attend a pre-school facility. The service was expanded after three years. It is based in strandhill which is 5 miles west of Sligo. It is a very popular surfing spot and has many walkways including strandhill beach. The population is 1,753. The setting offers full time, part time and sessional services in the morning. It caters for groups of children between the ages of 11 months to 12 years. There are 30 children in the service and 7 members of staff that work directly with them. The service is open from 8 am until 6 pm. They have the ECCE and affordable childcare scheme. In the setting they have an outdoor play area for the children. They have a school collection service. 

My setting follows a high scope curriculum. High scope builds on the child’s strengths, interests and abilities. There are a wide range of settings that use high scope. It is believed that in this approach children construct their own learning by doing and being actively involved in working with materials, people and ideas. By using a high scope approach there is a flexible daily routine where both child and adult based activities can be incorporated. Children can plan their own activities and carry them out with their peers. They can then reflect on their own activities. The approach gives the children the opportunity to engage in the active participatory learning process. It allows adults to create a supportive and creative learning environment. The high scope approach involves the family in the learning by having a regular exchange of information between the staff and the family. The settings that use this approach provide workshops to support families with their child’s development at home. According to the high scope Perry preschool study they found that the high scope curriculum helped children develop self-confidence. It helped them learn about social relationships and develop positive attitudes towards themselves and others. In a high scope setting you would hope to see interest areas such as painting and sand. There will be lots of open-ended materials. The areas will also be clearly labelled. The main aim for the high scope curriculum is to prepare the children for primary school as here they will have to make their own decisions and take part in problem solving. Through high scope the adults can observe the children taking part in activities and decide if this is suitable for their age and stage of development. High scope uses scaffolding where the adults support and extend children’s thinking and reasoning. In a classroom that follows a high scope curriculum they follow a daily routine where the children make choices, follow their interests and develop their abilities in each area.

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There was an inspection report carried out on the setting in 2015. Regulation 5 states that “a person carrying on a pre-school service shall ensure that each child’s learning development and well-being is facilitated within the daily life of the service through the provision of the appropriate opportunities, experiences, activities, interaction and materials and equipment, having regard to the age and stage of the development of the child and the child’s cultural context”. According to the report all the needs for this specific regulation were met. Some of the following are examples of how they met these criteria. The children had a healthy snack break in the morning. This was supervised by the adults in the room. The children in the setting are encouraged to wash their hands before meal times. The children are encouraged to use the toilet independently but there are adults to assist if necessary. There is a toileting/handwashing policy in place and a reward system. A key worker system was in place where the same adults worked with the same children each day. This creates stable relationships between the adult and child. The service has a curriculum where a program of care is based on child centered learning through play and care. When I am in the setting I will ask to read the hygiene policy's so that I can promote this regulation by following the hygiene policies that are put in place. I will be attentive to the children's personal hygiene routine. I will promote children's self-help skills by letting them go to the toilet and wash their own hands but I will be there to offer any help if they need it.

 Regulation 8 involves the management and staffing in the setting. It says that “there must be the correct child to adult ratios. There should also be a designated person in charge, they must always be on the premises. There should also be appropriate vetting for all staff, students and volunteers who have access to the children”. In the report there was one written reference not validated for one adult. Tusla said that the two validated references for this person must be sent to tusla within 6 weeks. There was also no guarda vetting information on file for 2 adults working in the setting. Tusla said that this information was forwarded onto them by the setting the following week. It was also noted that police vetting documentation was not on file for 2 adults living outside the jurisdiction. Tusla said that this documentation must be forwarded to the early year's inspection office within 12 weeks. When I attend the setting I will make sure I have my guarda vetting complete and a form of ID with me at all times. I will ask who the designated person is in the setting so if I have any problems I can go to them.

Regulation 9 involves behavior management. It states that “no corporal punishment will be inflicted on a child attending the setting. They shall ensure that no practices are degrading, disrespectful or neglectful of the child in the service. A service shall ensure that there are procedures and policies in place to deal with and manage a child’s behavior”. The report stated that the child protection policy in place was not relevant to the early years' service. Tusla said that this child protection policy must be related to the early years' service and the children's first national guidance document for the protection and welfare of children (2011). The report also stated that the behavior management policy did not include strategies for moderately or severely challenging behavior that are age and stage appropriate. Tusla said this must be changed to include those strategies. When I am in the setting I will use the behavior management policies to help me deal with the children’s behavior. I will ask what behavior management strategies they use in the setting so I can use these when I start placement.   

“Professionalism needs to be considered as an ongoing process of lifelong learning, rather than as a status” (Urban, et al, 2012). Early years professionals have not been given enough recognition for their line of work. They follow a curriculum the same as primary school teachers but are not given the same status as them. Some people look at practitioners as someone who looks after children while their parents/guardians are at work. In recent years the early years educator's status is slowly improving in the childcare sector. The childcare sector is working towards a social change. Early childcare is becoming more professionalized. It is now required that all childcare workers have a minimum of a level 5. The professionals are dealing with complex issues from diverse angles. They are co-constructing new practice and knowledge with children, families and colleagues. According to Siolta standard 11 “practicing in a professional manner requires that individuals have skills, knowledge, values and attitudes appropriate to their role and responsibility within the setting”. It requires regular reflection upon practice and engagement in supported, ongoing professional development. Having a code of ethics is important as when working with children the professional must make quick decisions without any support. The code of ethics ensures that practice is grounded in evidence. Core values help the professional set boundaries about professional behavior. Reflective practice is important to ensure that high standards are maintained. The professional will take time at the end of their day to critically think about their daily activities and how they can change or improve these. The professional should partake in regular professional improvement activities. They can attend conferences and complete observations in other settings. To manage a service in an ethical manner it requires collaborative and respectful decision making. The service must have explicit principles and values reflecting the rights of the child to high quality care and education. Professionals become integrated into everyday actions and their values need to inform and be embedded in training and education programmes for practitioners. Professionals have a good competency. They are reliable and good at their job. In the setting there are many issues that can arise during the day that will disrupt the daily routine, but a good professional will find a way to work around this and come up with a solution. A good professional will put their opinions and values to one side when working in the setting as they cannot be biased towards a child or their family. They cannot let their own view or opinion decide for them. They must be neutral when working with children from different backgrounds. A professional will have good communication skills. In the setting they must communicate with the children in the daily routine by giving them instructions and asking them questions. They will communicate with other members of staff when discussing activity planning and they communicate with the families of the children to discuss any development or concerns. A professional must have good organizational skills. When setting up activities with the children they should have all materials and area ready to go as young children have short attention spans and can get bored very easy. The professional should also be flexible as not all children are going to want to do the same activity so they should be flexible and have other options for them to do.

To conclude I am looking forward to starting placement in the setting. I have learned about high scope in my course and I look forward to seeing how the professionals put this into practice in the room and how it is beneficial to the children. There are three rooms in the setting and I would like to see how the routine is different in each room depending on the age range. From reading the inspection report for the setting online I could see what areas very good and what areas are needed to improve on. I will be looking out for these areas and working with the adults to improve these areas. I will be watching out for the daily routines and how the children make their own choices and take part in problem solving. I am looking forward to putting all the theory I have learned into practice and improving my practical skills in all the areas. 

References:

Inspection reports-Tusla child and family agency

https://www.tusla.ie/services/preschool-services/creche-inspection-reports/

Siolta, National quality framework for early childhood education (2006)

Perry Preschool Study-highscope

https://highscope.org/perry-preschool-project

www.earlychildhoodireland.ie (2007)

Michael Mcdowell, Model Framework for education, training and professional development (2002)