Tma_01

Myself, my setting and my roles and responsibilities Part 1 The setting, where I am doing my voluntary hours is large and expanding primary school for children aged 3-11 years old. I am located in a nursery class and I work with children who are 3-4 years old. We have a total number of 50 children; they come to school in two groups, morning and afternoon. Nursery school where I work serves a culturally diverse community where most pupils are from minority ethnic backgrounds and English is spoken as an additional language. Historically, in England, there was little government intervention in preschool provision, in curriculum and in curriculum implementation. Changes that did happen where social and political rather than educational concerns.(Book 1,Study topic 1 pg.16) Margaret and Rachel McMillan, two sisters who fought for education of young children where key influences, in the United Kingdom, emphasising physical care and development. Among theme where other very important pioneers whose influences is still evident in early years today including Maria Montessori and Rudolph Steiner.(Website: Figures of Education) Recently, in order to raise standards and improve the quality of early childhood institutions, government intervention in early year’s education has increased significantly. Early years education has become a key feature of national policy in the UK as government, local authorities and schools try to find ways of making a difference to the lives of young children and their families.(www.gtce.org.uk) The government has determined that local authorities in England must increase the amount of free nursery provision for 3-4 year old. Each child should be entitled with free care of 15 hours per week over a minimum of 38 weeks. The guidance applies to schools in England only. Children in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland start school at different ages and different policy and practices exits in these countries for education and care of 3-4 year old children. The nursery school that I work in provides 15 hours free care per week. There are three practitioners within my setting and we work as a part of an enthusiastic team. My setting follows Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS,2008). My role at nursery school involves, along with other staff members, making sure the children are kept safe and secure at all times. We work well together to meet the needs of the children in our care. Safeguarding and promoting children’s welfare forms a large part of our daily responsibilities and covers most of the requirements of schools registration with Ofsted. (PS2) Children learn best when they feel safe and secure and when they have positive relationships with adults caring for them. The school that I work in offers inclusive education of pupils with special needs. The schools aim is to identify needs at an early stage and allocate appropriate support, planed in partnership with parents. Over the years my setting has successfully implemented multiagency involvement with a large variety of people from a range of professions that includes doctors, speech and language therapists ,nutritionists, social workers and family visitors among others to ensure children needs are met.(KS4)(KS5) It is the first time in history of childcare that all this services are now brought together to create better environment for the children and their families.(CS1) Policy document: ”Choice for parents, the best start for children: a ten year strategy” (DfES 2004) (KS5)(CS2) A central aspect of the Ten Year Child Strategy is that all full-day care settings will be “professionally led” by graduate professional (DfES 2005) ‘Sue Owen and Gill Haynes’(Reader 1,Capter 3) I strongly agree that higher education should be required for anyone who is working with young children because this is such an important phase of education, and that is one of the reasons I am studying with Open University. I have to admit that I have already gained lots more confidence and knowledge in my work. Curriculum is used to describe what is to be learned or by McNaughton (2003) definition: “curriculum…a political engaged process in which the educators intentions and the children’s involvement interact to produce a ‘lived’ curriculum in a specific service or provision” (Book 1,Topic2,pg.42) Curriculum that my setting is following is Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS,2008) framework which aims to help children achieve the five Every Child Matters (ECM) and these are: firm foundation in the early years, working with parents and families, early intervention and safeguarding children, multi-agency working, workforce reform.(Study Topic 1,pg.34) The curriculum must be based on the six areas of EYFS, these are: Personal, social and emotional development, Communication, language and Literacy, Mathematical development, Knowledge and understanding of the world, Physical development, Creative development.(EYFS,2008) (KS2) All these areas of Learning and Developing must be delivered together. They are very important and depend on each other to support and rounded approach to child development.(KU3) I support children’s learning through planned and motivated activities as well as encourage them and help to develop spontaneous play.(CS1)Working in my setting I am gaining new perspectives of the EYFS and how to use it effectively. I discovered how the EYFS helps to guide practitioners through children’s learning and development by using ‘Development Matters’ in the guidance framework (EYFS,2008).The EYFS ‘Look, Listen and Note’ section states that observation help practitioners to assess progress, enabling them to plan appropriate play and learning experiences based on children’s interests and needs.(DCSF,2008)(KU3) There has been significant change in slimming down EYFS and reducing number of early learning goals. As Dame Clare Tickell said: ”although it has been proven as successful and parents are happy, in its current form it is very goal oriented and there is far too much time spent filling forms rather than interacting more with children”.(www.education.gov.uk)(KS5) Achievement for all is about giving all children the very best chance to succeed and recognising that every child is a competent learner even before birth. What I have learned from research and practice is that some children are more likely to fall behind in the achievement than others; reasons are various, living in difficult and disadvantaged circumstances and having one or more special needs, or as it is a case in the school where I work, where most children are coming from minority ethnic backgrounds and English is spoken as an additional language. My role and responsibility requires not only to work according to EYFS standards but also to make sure that the standards and policies of the setting are followed, including: equality and opportunity, risk assessment, access to information, safeguarding and child protection, confidentiality and data storage. Changing my profession and new career in education sector was a big change for me. Having an opportunity to work in nursery school and actively engage in implementing my skills and knowledge, supporting children and parents, and helping them to improve their health and wellbeing.(CS2)(KU3)(KS5)(KU6) Part 2 Website: (www.education.gov.uk) Every Child Matters: Change for Children I decided to write about “Every Child Matters” policy because it covers just about everything we do in my setting. The policy applies to everyone working with children, or providing services to children, including professionals such as teachers, social workers, foster careers, children’s homes, social services and the police, as well as voluntary groups or charities working with children. The idea is that the five simple aspects should be remembered and put in action and they are: to be healthy, to stay safe, to enjoy and achieve, to make positive contribution, to achieve economic well-being. Policy works in a way that all the different groups of people, working with children, in any way, join together to share information how they can best promote needs of children and help them gain the most out of life. Children, young people and their families all benefit from it because that means that their voices and views can be heard. Main focus area is early intervention, a share sense of responsibilities, information sharing and integrated front line services to prevent things from going wrong in the first place. I felt quite overwhelmed by the amount of information in the EYFS guidance packs but as I began research for my coursework and using them in practice things began to clarify. Researching policies in Study Topic 1 (pg.20) the EYFS framework highlighted just how many policies are needed to ensure child’s safety, health and well-being. Reading through them has made me realise how much work have to be done in order to make these policies fully operational document that meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.(KS5)(KU6) Part 3 I am really enjoying the challenge of studying this course and all that it has to offer. I found many things interesting, but most of all, reading about history of education and how it all started. The most difficult thing for me was writing this assignment since I had never did it before and I had constant feeling that I should do it better. I have learned that EYFS is what enables setting to operate appropriately. References Book 1,Early years practice:practitioners and children (Study Topic 1 pg.16) Website: Figures of Education, Webite:www.gtce.org.uk EYFS,2008 DfES,2004 (DfES,2005) ‘Sue Owen and Gill Haynes’(Reader 1, Chapter 3) Book 1, Topic 2, pg.42 Study Topic 1,pg.34 EYFS 2008 Website:www.education.gov.uk Website:www.education.gov.uk, Every Child Matters: Change for Children Study Topic 1,pg.20