Task 1

From a young age, I have always wanted to work in the Education field and see how practitioners play a huge role in children’s life. Throughout the years, I have been involved in early years’ settings which have been a great experience and opportunity to work with children and alongside practitioners and teaching assistants. I have enjoyed helping others reach for success as I have always been passionate and wanted to look into children’s education and helping others. Having younger cousins allowed me to gain an insight working with children.

The first time I started to work with children was in secondary school. I had a two week work experience which was a great opportunity as I worked with reception aged children and year one children. I enjoyed working with reception aged children more as they were enthusiastic and engaged also their behaviour enlightened me. One thing I picked up during this work experience was the attachment children had with the practitioners and teachers, the children had a close bond with the teachers which allowed me to go into the field of teaching. This work experience involvement allowed me to see how children are holistically developing. emergent mathematical and literacy skill are key aspects to the Early Years Foundation Stage and children and developing on their learning. As the practitioners helped me and explained what the roles and responsibilities are and it helped me gain knowledge. Working in settings has really enabled me to look closely into the development and behaviour of children and observe closely the way they behave and respond to certain situations. As every child is unique and show their emotions in different ways, comfort is essential as well have having a close bond with a practitioner.

My passion and interest allowed me to choosing the pathway to early childhood through personal life as I have many younger cousins and they are a great influence to study and observe how they develop physically, emotionally, mentally and socially. Every child matters and is unique to themselves as they are independent. It is important to respect children’s needs and thrive them with success to gain a positive outcome.

Within the two-year college, CACHE Level Three Childcare course I have also been in placement so I have worked with children from ages 3 months up to 5 years. Early childhood to me is a very important as the period from conception to birth to three years old is a significant phase of development. Working in a setting has allowed me to identify my own strengths and weaknesses as a practitioner. The past few months I have been working in a private nursery which has allowed me to gain more responsibilities as ensuring children are learning, playing and making sure they are safe are the key responsibilities working with children. It is important the setting is a rich environment for learning to ensure children get the best experience.

I chose this degree as I was passionate and interested in looking further into this particular degree as I wanted to broaden my horizon and gain knowledge on the depth of this course. Early Childhood Studies itself, the name has interested me and allowed me to find out more as it has intrigued me and want to embark on this course at this university. The course Early childhood has allowed to me look deeper into pursuing a degree in the Education field.

Task 2

Playing Outdoors- why outdoor play? Chapter 2

Outdoor play is an important aspect of a child’s play. It enhances children to allow them to get fresh air and do more activities requiring large body movements. Some Nursery and schools take children outside so they can experience outdoor play and allow children to have a run around getting fresh air. This chapter gives three different examples of how outdoor play is used in 3 different settings. The first setting was to allow children to race around while adults focus on something else.  The second setting focused on good weather as there was a replication of having same activities as indoors the same as outdoor, hence the uniqueness of outdoor play was not exploited as there was a lot of adult-directed tasks. However, the third setting was more open as the children could play outside or inside as the doors are wide open, the setting reflects on first-hand experience as children can play and do what they wish.

Outdoor environment is unique as it is different from indoors, there is more space and children are likely to have a go at something, also weather change makes the environment unique as they experience different seasons, atmosphere and open space. According to Katz (1995) children have more opportunity to have a go at something without having to worry about the consequences. Allowing children to have a go is an important learning characteristic. In outdoor play space is more open, the child has their own preferences, in what they want to play with. Playing outdoors can free the child’s body and mind. Outdoor play is more sustained as Vygotsky (1978) argued that play leads to higher level thinking as children are using objects in a symbolic way which increases their cognitive development.

Outdoor play offers challenges to allow children to explore and take risks in their learning. It is important to assess the ability and manage risk as well as knowing how to be safe outdoors. Risk assessment are vital in settings to ensure children are safe to play outside freely.

Imagination plays a huge art in outdoor play and children can use the space more effectively and use their imagination in symbolic play so children can play with natural resources and pretend to cook using leaves as the food they are making. According to Vygotsky Imaginative play is a central element of a child’s development.

Natural resources in outdoor play help children learn about the different types of insects and plants. Some children may be comfortable whereas some may feel it is dirty so would not want to go near it. Play is vital outdoors as children can embrace using their gross motor movements. Children control play and their movement outdoors as they decide the speed, the actions, challenge and use their imagination. Emotional and movement is closely linked as looking at the perspective of how children move through different emotions. Children can experience outdoor play in a context they believe is meaningful. They can experience first-hand experiences and challenge play opportunities to provide a rich learning environment. Overall, playing outdoors is important for young children as is has a huge impact on their child’s health and well-being.

Bibliography

Tovey, H 2007, Playing Outdoors, chapter 2 McGraw-Hill Education, Buckingham. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [13 July 2017].

Kaufman, B S, (2012) The Need for Prentend Play in Childhood Development. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201203/the-need-pretend-play-in-child-development accessed: 13/07/17

Task 3

Parental partnership

Parental partnership is a close trusting relationship with the key worker of the child. Frequent parent meetings are vital to show and gather an understanding of the child. From the start it is vital for the child to have a positive relationship with the carer. As parents are children first enduring educators, the parent knows the child the best. However, it is the practitioner’s role to make sure the child is settled in well and maintains a close relationship with the parent and child. Making sure there is a close partnership with the parent is vital as the child needs to feel safe in the setting and be able to go to their key worker if they feel upset or unhappy about something

It is important parent-teacher meetings are held often and feedback is given to the parent about the child on an everyday base, A summary of how the child was in setting and if there was anything unusual or any unusual behaviour about the child. As some parent may not have time for a discussion about the child they may be given a feedback sheet which has the progress of the child and what they ate, what activities they did and sleep and learning milestones. As some parents, may not have time to speak to practitioners on a day-to-day basis, a two-way diary is useful to write about the child’s behaviour at home and the setting, looking at the child’s understanding and learning milestones, interests and experiences. This enable both the parent and practitioner to know more about the child. Prowle, A and Stubbs,N , (2016).

Offering meetings for parents and practitioners is an opportunity for practitioners to share observations and look further into the child’s learning. Having meetings will be an opportunity to look at the child’s holistic approach to learning and ways in which the child’s learning could be enhanced and developed further. If there is a pattern of behavior or personal learning interest, the parent and practitioner can discuss to offer this experience at home as well as the setting to ensure the child is satisfied.

Folder work is essential as it focuses on the child’s development of learning. Summative records focus on the child’s learning and is covers by seven areas of learning. Daily evaluations and two-way diaries are a form of feedback to give to the parents, also meetings with the parent can be an ideal way focusing on when it is a suitable time to talk to the parent as work may correlate regarding the parent not having time.  Also, both the practitioner and parent can look at the progress holistically of the child at home and in the setting.

The continuum of relationships (Robson, 1996:73) is a checklist of how partnerships works with practitioners. It is important for the parent to be involved with the child for example by attending assemblies, attending parent-practitioner meetings, contributing to the child learning journey. Also, practitioners should encourage and develop the child’s learning through the seven areas of development. The second step will be to maintain contact between the practitioner and parent as meetings can be help and daily evaluations could be given to the parent regarding the child’s progress during the day. Being involved in the child’s setting could maintain a healthy relationship for example having lunch with the parent for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day shows a sign of involvement in the child’s life. Partnership is maintained both ways through the parent and practitioner, this is vital as it can be discussed to how the child is developing at the setting and at home.

Bibliography and references

Hornby, G 2011 Parental involvement in Childhood Education. Springer Science & Business Media

Prowle, A and Stubbs,N , (2016). Working with parents to support children’s learning |

Nursery World. [online] Available at: http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/nursery-world/news/1080052/working-with-parents-to-support-childrens-learning.

Montgomery, C, Goodall, J (2013) Parental involvement to parental engagement: a continuum available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131911.2013.781576 accessed 14/07/17

Task 4

Promoting children’s health and wellbeing is an important factor as the development of the child is vital. Ensuring children have a healthy lifestyle and will promote their well-being which will ensure they are satisfied. During the past decade, there has been a rapid growing interest in children’s well-being in the UK and internationally. McAuley and Rose, (2010). I chose to consider this lecture slide as it particularly interested me in how children’s well-being can be encouraged and promoted.

According to (Huppert and So, 2013) wellbeing has many positive consequences for example looking at the children’s effective learning, their productivity, health and their life expectancy to be longer. Well-being is taken as a serious issue as neglection of the child can cause various problems. Roberts (2010) thinks there are many different elements that are both separate but still bound together,

Going in to the definition of well-being, there are many possible ways to define wellbeing. One way to define wellbeing is ‘essentially contested’ meaning there are different ways to inhabit term of well-being. (Seedhouse 1995 In Camfield, Streuli, & Woodhead, 2009)

health and well-being is measured in various ways as it can be seen in a positive way or negative. Positive health and wellbeing is important for children to ensure they have all their needs met. The neds of the child can be met using Every Child Matters development matters which the settings use to track their milestones and what they are able to do and what they need to have a closer eye on.

UNICEF (2007:4) value children’s health and wellbeing and looks at their safety, material security, their education and social skills, also they look at the comfort needs and how they are valued in the environment and home.

Children’s rights is key to the concept of wellbeing which indicated and measures the focus on factors which provide children reach their goals and aspiration. Morrow and Mayall, (2009). Allowing children to choose their future is vital as the child will have a positive outcome in their health and well-being. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, (UNCRC, 1989) is where the child has their own rights to have a healthy lifestyle and healthy wellbeing.

In conclusion, I decided to choose this lecture as I was interested to find out about children’s health and wellbeing and how they can have a positive lifestyle. The comfort and needs of a child should be met for the child to have a healthy wellbeing. Going deeper into this topic of children’s health and wellbeing has elaborated my thinking on children’s health and wellbeing.

Bibliography and references

Huppert, F. A., & So, T. T. (2013). Flourishing across Europe: Application of a new conceptual framework for defining well-being. Social Indicators Research, 110(3), 837-861.

McAuley, C., and W. Rose. “Child well-being: Current issues and future directions.” Child well-being: Understanding children’s lives (2010): 207-218.

Morrow, V., & Mayall, B. (2009). What is wrong with children’s well-being in the UK? Questions of meaning and measurement 1. Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, 31(3), 217-229

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (2013) Child well-being in rich countries: A comparative overview. Innocenti Report Card 11. Available online at http://www.unicef.org.uk/Images/Campaigns/FINAL_RC11-ENG-LORES-fnl2.pdf