E1 and E2:
• Describe three different types of settings which provide care and education for children in your area.
• Describe how each of the types of setting identified in E1 aims to support children and their names.
There are three different sectors which provide care and education for children in my area, these are:
• Statutory Sector
• Voluntary Sector
• Private Sector
Statutory provision: These are services that have to be available by law which are funded and provided by the government such as The Sure Start Programme, The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Children’s Centres, maintained nursery schools and nursery classes in primary schools. All of these services are free, as the child right to education. These services provide a wide range of education in different subjects.
Nursery classes in lily’s primary school aims are to support and educate children by giving them the early education they need in order to be ready for primary school. Children are in small groups with the same age group as themselves; therefore they would build a relationship with other children as well as mix with others who have a different background/culture and beliefs. They usually start at 9am -11:30am or 1pm-3pm. Most nurseries have extended provisions to work with families such as after school clubs, breakfast clubs and even holiday clubs.
Private provision: These services work independently and are profits making as they are funded through the fees. These services are not funded by the government such as private nurseries, schools and day nurseries. They provide care and early year’s education to children.
Alice private day nursery aims are to support children by giving them a friendly yet safe environment to plan and learn; this way a child can communicate with other children of different cultures and beliefs. The opening hours helps parents as they can leave the child early and go work for most of the day. Food is normally provided within the fees that the parents have to pay in the week. Parents have to be insured that the child is safe and at the same time getting an education and meeting new people.
Voluntary provision: Voluntary setting is settled up by volunteers wanting to help the community. These services are not funded by the government and do not make a profit but they may charge a small entrance fee between £3 - £6 to cover overhead cost; For example community nurseries, day school and pre-school. They provide care and early years education aged 2-5 years.
Green World pre-school aims are to support by providing learning and developing activities suitable for their age/ability. Not only those children meet new people but parents are welcome and come along the group and meet new people. Most playgroups are also offering longer sessions or even full-time day care to cater for working families. This service is beneficial financially as it does not cost much

E3: Describe the main legislation in your country that supports the rights of children.

In the UK there are many pieces of legislations that support the rights of children which involve The Children Act 1989, The Children Act 2004 and The Child Act 2006. This links to the United Nations Convections on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). ‘’UNICEF is the world's leading organisation for children, working in over 190 countries. We do whatever it takes to make a lasting difference to children's lives. In everything we do, the most disadvantaged children are our priority.’’ http://www.unicef.org.uk/UNICEFs-Work/Our-mission/Childrens-rights/ 20/09/13.
There is one piece of legislations that attempts to bring together a lot of different pieces of legislations. The child Act 1989 came into practice in 1991, in England; the act tried to bring other parts of legislations together. This would cover child protections and parental responsibility, and also security of settings.
The Children Act 1989 is very important as it that children were not getting many rights and that they wanted to make their first priority. In summary, the Act makes the following statements:
• What is the best for the child must always be the first consideration
• Children should be bought up in their own families
• Local authorities should help families with children in need
The Children Act 2004 - this Act was introduced following high profile investigations into child protection (for example, Victoria Climbie) and the introduction of the Government Green Papers ‘Every Child Matters’. As this affects the way you should work with other professionals to benefit children and their families, it is important to have knowledge of its contents. It says, briefly, that there are 4 key themes, and 5 outcomes that must be considered when working with children. This Act affects the way that practitioners should work around children and other professionals.
• Supporting parents and carers
• Early intervention and effective protection
• Accountability and integrating – locally, regionally and nationally
• Workforce reforms
The Child Care Act 2006 – This Act was the first legislation passed by the UK government; concerning with early childcare and early childhood services. Its aims are reduce poverty by supporting children’s parents to work, reduce, inequalities among children and young people. This will improve the wellbeing for young children.

E4: Describe the recognised principles and values that underpin working with children.

There are many principles and values that underpin working with child which involve:
• Put the child first – This means that the child needs comes first which involve food, water, shelter, warmth and many more. Recognizing what the child’s needs help or if the child has any learning difficulties. For example if the child is having any problems they would provide the child with professional support.
• Never use physical punishment – by no order should a practitioner should smack, slap, shake or humiliate the child. One way of dealing with poor behaviour without using physical punishment is through behaviour policies; for example an award system should be used for good behaviour.
• Respecting children and parents/career- this includes getting their consent and respecting confidently, professional communications which involves good manners, valuing children and what they need. Treating children and young people with respect, this means that you would have to listen to the child politely and carefully. In order for the child to feel comfortable and respected you would need to listen to child with eye contact and go down to the child’s level.
• Equality and Diversity- Every child is unique and have different needs that needs to be met, treating child the same and to make sure every child has equal opportunities.
• Confidently- By no order should you name or talk about the child outside the setting. All children’s information should be stored away in filing cabinet. Any information stored in a computer much has to have a password.

E5: Explain the importance of valuing and respecting all children in the setting.

As a practitioner, it important to value and respect all children in the setting; when working in a childcare setting it is very important to have a clear understanding of diversity. They will discover that when working with children you need to understand that every child has different needs and a different personality. For example a specific child does not like vegetable whereas another child may enjoy vegetables. In a childcare setting they are many children with different religions and cultures. In the setting you can demonstrate religions to children by celebrating religious festivals; for example Eid. They could have an Eid party which included food they eat in Eid and the outfits they wear.
In every setting children will have low ability of learning and as a practitioner it is their job to adapt activities to suit the children’s needs. It is very important that every child is included in every activity; if you do then the child self-esteem would be lowered. As a practitioner you have to respect and value every parent’s views, beliefs and needs for their children. This means you would have to keep your opinions to yourself.
‘’Any time you grouping races or individuals together and make a judgment about them without knowing them; this is an example of a stereotype. Racial remarks, sexual remarks, and gender remarks are the biggest stereotypes.’’ http://examples.yourdictionary.com/stereotype-examples.html 28/09/13
By no order should the practitioner should use stereo-typical behaviour. We should allow what the child wants to do; for example if a boy wants to dress up the practitioner should allow him to do so and should not judge him. Stereo-typical behaviour can come through colour, toys, books, activities and many more. If a child wants to cook instead of going out to play, we should respect that and let the child do what he/she wants to do. We shouldn’t be stereotypical on colour either, for example a boy would be given blue and a girl would be given pink.

E6: Describe three professional skills that will support your work with children.

There are many professional skills can support me in my work such as good communication, flexibility, good team member, confidentiality, reliability, organizational and many more.
One of the professional skills I has chosen are to be a good team member. Being an effective team member is very important as all childcare staff and other professional need to work together in order to provide the right education and care needed for them to develop properly. Without the skill of a good team member they would be a lot of arguments and the child may not get the right care that is needed.

Another professional skill I have chosen is to be consistent and fair. This is very important as children can pick on things and can realize that things aren’t quite the same. If the practioners are not consistent then it can be very confusing for the child. Fairness is also important as every child should be treated equality and it would not be fair if one child got to do everything when the other didn’t.
Finally being organized is very important as organizational skills are vital in childcare. This means they would have to plan out a range of activities for different days; for example a teacher would have to plan everything that they are doing for the day. Being organized links to management skills as you need to organize your time to see where you can fit in some work or planning.

E7: Describe how study skills can support your learning during your training.

In order to complete my training successfully I need study skills that will help and support me in my coursework. This includes Time management, note taking, motivational during study periods and research.
One of the ways that study skills had supported me with my coursework is Time management. Time managing would keep me organized and I would know what to do at what time. This way I would be able to manage my time efficiently and properly. For example I would spend 2 hours every day doing my coursework. I have made a timetable where I would know when to what to do at what time. This really helped throughout my training.
Another ways that study skills had supported me with my coursework was research. Research is very important for assignments as it has helped you learn certain things you are not taught in lessons. This usually was done in my spare time and it would show that I am interested in my work.

Finally note-taking really helped me as it helped me remember the key things I needed to know. I helped me as it kept me in tract and I knew what to write and what I had to include. Also when I will go to placement I can observe the teacher and study how they are with the children so I can use it in my own practice.

D1: Explain why the practitioner should develop and maintain appropriate relationships with parents and other professionals.

It is important for a practitioner to develop and maintain appropriate relationships with parents and other professional. A practitioner should develop communication with the parents; for example making sure that you talk to them in an appropriate language such as using manner and listening to them. Parents are the most important in the children’s early lives so it’s important to have good communication with them. Having a good communication builds trust and makes a good partnership with them.
As a practitioner they should not keep friendship because it can cause problems for others for example if a child hits a child and the parent askes who was the other child that hit their child and that would be breaking confidentiality. When a parent has friendship with a practitioner then the parent may ask to treat the child differently which will be wrong as all child should be treated the same.
It is also essential that the practitioner work effective practice on parents as partners (EYFS). Their aims are to work in partnership with parents to provide a high standard of care and education for children. Parents are the primary careers and are a virtual role that they play in their child’s life. This also links to an ‘open door policy’ where parents can come at any times which have to be arranged. If a parents has a particular skill or an area of expertise what they like to share. They would value and welcome their contribution. Parents are kept informed and consulted about all aspects of their child’s care and education, and we will open access to their child’s record.
In every setting there are procedures to insure all parents are involved, this may mean different strategies for involving parents. Informing parents about how the setting is run and its policies and checking to make sure that the parents understand what’s going on.
If the practitioner maintains appropriate relationships with parents then it would benefit the child’s holistic development. This way the child will feel more secure and would benefit more from educational opportunities. The child would see learning more enjoyable and fun as their self-esteem would increase. The practitioner would have to show that they are trustworthy; this means that personal information remains confidentiality.

D2: Discuss the characteristics of working with a multi-agency.

‘’Multi-agency working brings together practitioners from different sectors and professions to provide an integrated way of working to support children, young people and families.’’http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/strategy/integratedworking/a0069013/multi-agency-working 25/09/13
Working with multi-agency would make sure that child gets the right professional support they need. Multi-agency provides benefits for children and families as they receive tailor-made support which will support them in them most efficient way. In an effective team every team member must feel valued and welcomed this means that peoples view should be respected, provide each other with support and encouragement to achieve goats and good communication. Professional in a multi-agency includes social workers, doctor, speech and language therapists, health visitor, educational psychologists and many more.
In the setting if the practitioner see’s that a child is finding difficult to speak properly the setting would provide a speech and language therapists (SLT) for the child. The SLT would use specialist skills that they would work with child to provide them with support. They will be working together with other professional such as teachers. The speech therapists may have one to one sessions where they can with the child and talk to them.
If the practitioner sees that a child is having problem with its education then it would provide it with an education psychologist. ‘’Educational psychologists work in a variety of different ways to address the problems experienced by children and young people in education. They have a central role in the statutory assessment and statement procedures for children with special educational needs (SEN). They work directly with children and young people individually or in groups and with a wide range of other professionals to deliver their work.’’ http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/careers/careeropportunities/b00201184/educational-psychology 25/09/13
The characteristics that are needed for a multi-agency team are to be co-operation, consistency, encouragement, respect, efficiency, support, communication and use common assessment framework.

C: Explain why the early year’s practitioner should listen to children’s views and value their opinions.

The early year’s practitioners should always listen to the children’s views and value their opinions because everyone has the right to freedom of opinions. All children need to listen so the practitioner can get an idea of their likes, dislikes and their ability. This will gain the children’s sense of belonging in the setting and realise that they are being respected and valued. Showing children that they are being respected and valued allows them to respect themselves and be more confident. Children should be given activities that they enjoy and are good at in order to increase their self-confidence.
If the practitioner is listening with respect the child will haves self-esteem as they will good about themselves. This will make sure that the children feel wanted and important. In order to boost the child’s self-confidence the practitioner would need to praise the child. The practitioner would also need to make sure that they meet the children’s individual needs which mean that they would have to plan activities which will show that you care and are interested.
If the practitioner does not listen to the child’s view and opinions then the child would feel neglected and would lead to poor self-esteem. They would feel devalued and would make them feel like their interests are being neglected. This will stop them from developing their full potential and they won’t listen to you. This would lead to lack of self-believe and lack of respect. This will have a negative impact on their self-confidence which would not be good.
As the UN convention says that they have the ‘’rights to be heard’’. We have to listen to children for them to gain trust on us. A child may have something important to tell you and if you don’t listen the child may feel like you don’t care. We need to show we care in order to help them. A child may need to tell you something that is going on at home so it’s very important to listen to every child and respecting their opinions.

B: Explain why it is important that practitioners understand the limits and boundaries of their role when working with children.

As practitioners there are certain limits that you can and cannot do and you are expected to behave in a professional manner such as respecting children, staff and parents. In the setting, they would have their own policies and procedures that you would have to follow. The main key areas of roles, limits and boundaries are:
• Managing children behaviour
• Health and safety
• Children protection
• Confidentiality
Managing children’s behaviour are the following; no physical punishment is allowed, you are physically grab or pick up a child, only if you have an appropriate reason to do so. The practitioner should always be expected to behave in a professional manner which includes using manners, respecting and valuing children, staff and parents. In every setting there is code of conduct which every staff has to follow.
Health and safety is very important as you need to make sure every child is safe and out of danger. For example if the fire alarm went off, the teacher would have to evacuate children out of the building and would need to check the toilets in case of children. It is very important that the children are taught not to take their belonging and would need to be registered in order to see every child is safe.
When working with children it is important to follow the rules of confidentiality; for example a child from your setting may have an issue at home with their family, you would keep this confidentiality and would only tell the member of staff. It is important that the member of staff can only breach the confidentiality only if the child is in danger.
A: Reflect on the importance of a child centred approach in early years settings.
‘’A child- centred organisation focuses its practices on improving outcomes for children and young people; it also works with others to promote and contribute to better outcomes for all children and their families.’’ Carolyn Meggit, Tina Bruce, Julian Grenier (2012) Child Care and Education 2nd Edition, London page 233-234
A child-centred approach is important to children because it shows them we value and respect the children and everything we do in centred around them. One of the key features in child centred is that every child is unique and they need adults to support them to reach their full potential. The child centred approach aims to keep children’s interests and the wellbeing of children central to the process, for example, engaging children and involving them wherever possible in the issues that concern them, giving them choice and independence.
Schools and Nurseries are based around children where they can focus on individual needs of a child or a young people. In order to show the child centred approach in a classroom environment is by having cupboard lowered so it can be easy for the child to access chairs and tables, colourful decorations books, toys and many more. This will show the child that we value them.
Another way we can provide a child approach is through promoting independence. This will involve letting children do their own thing like reading for example they may hold the book upside down or they may turn 2 pages at once but as long as they are independent and learning new experiences it does not matter.
The child centred approach first came out by Reggio Emilia. The people of Reggio Emilia believed that in early years of development that children form who they are as individuals. This led to a program based on respect, responsibility and community through exploring and discovering in a supportive based on the children’s interests.
‘’Every Child a Talker (ECAT) was a national project to develop the language and communication of children from birth to five years of age. The project was set up after concern about the high levels of ‘language impoverishment’ in the UK, and how this affects children’s progress in school and chances in life.’’ http://www.talk4meaning.co.uk/every-child-a-talker/ 26/10/13

References:
‘’UNICEF is the world's leading organisation for children, working in over 190 countries. We do whatever it takes to make a lasting difference to children's lives. In everything we do, the most disadvantaged children are our priority.’’ http://www.unicef.org.uk/UNICEFs-Work/Our-mission/Childrens-rights/ 20/09/13.
‘’Any time you grouping races or individuals together and make a judgment about them without knowing them; this is an example of a stereotype. Racial remarks, sexual remarks, and gender remarks are the biggest stereotypes.’’ http://examples.yourdictionary.com/stereotype-examples.html 28/09/13
‘’Multi-agency working brings together practitioners from different sectors and professions to provide an integrated way of working to support children, young people and families.’’http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/strategy/integratedworking/a0069013/multi-agency-working 25/09/13
‘’Educational psychologists work in a variety of different ways to address the problems experienced by children and young people in education. They have a central role in the statutory assessment and statement procedures for children with special educational needs (SEN). They work directly with children and young people individually or in groups and with a wide range of other professionals to deliver their work.’’ http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/careers/careeropportunities/b00201184/educational-psychology 25/09/13
‘’The EYFS set out an expectation of services to improve the way they work together to give all children and young people the best possible opportunity to grow up.’’ Carolyn Meggit, Tina Bruce, Julian Grenier (2012) Child care and education 2nd Edition, London page 15.
‘’Every Child a Talker (ECaT) was a national project to develop the language and communication of children from birth to five years of age. The project was set up after concern about the high levels of ‘language impoverishment’ in the UK, and how this affects children’s progress in school and chances in life.’’ http://www.talk4meaning.co.uk/every-child-a-talker/ 26/10/13
‘’A child- centred organisation focuses its practices on improving outcomes for children and young people; it also works with others to promote and contribute to better outcomes for all children and their families.’’ Carolyn Meggit, Tina Bruce, Julian Grenier (2012) Child care and education 2nd Edition, London page 233-234