Summer 2014 TCP Sample

magazine professionalAssociation association for early years | april/may 2013 Magazine of of thethe Professional for childcare Childcareand and Early Years | Summer 2014

THE

GREAT OUTDOORS

BRAND NEW FACE

WELCOME TO YOUR NEW LOOK PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION LEARNING THROUGH PLAY

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Getting it right Written by Penny Tassoni

for 2-year-olds 18

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I have always found it easy to spot a 2-year-old when I am out and about. One minute, they are desperate to sit in the pushchair and, a few minutes later, they are equally desperate to get out and start steering it. They are the children who love carrying a shopping bag and filling it with an eclectic assortment of objects; they have internal weather patterns which means that one minute, they are smiling in the sunshine before howling in the tempest. They are also the children who love to play hide-and-seek, but when hidden tell everyone where to look.

As many childcare professionals will know, 2-yearolds are a joy to work with. They are also a challenge. It is for this reason that I wanted to dedicate a book to looking just at their development and play needs.

The book is timely as early years settings are increasingly taking in 2-year-olds, as free early education places are being offered to a larger number of families.

Getting it right for 2-year-olds does require much thought, and hopefully the ideas and activities in my new book will be helpful.

The very particular developmental needs of 2-yearolds is also a reason why I have grave misgivings about the recent suggestion that more 2-year-olds should find their way into schools.

Š Hodder Education

PACEY’s President Penny Tassoni is a well-known childcare author and trainer, having written over 20 books about the sector. Here, Penny tells us about the inspiration behind her new book about getting it right for 2-year-olds.

Getting it right for 2-year-olds does require much thought, and hopefully the ideas and activities in my new book will be helpful

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Penny’s new book supports early years professionals meeting the unique needs of 2-year-olds in their care. The book:

Addresses physical, emotional, behavioural and other developmental patterns with numerous examples so you can prepare more detailed and precise assessments ● Provides guidance on how to carry out the 2-year-old progress check and work with parents and other professionals to support development ● Includes tips on overcoming tantrums, fussy eating and other issues common with this age group ● Considers how to manage when 2-year-olds are in environments with older children ● Includes 30 practical activities linked to the EYFS, each focused on prime areas of learning and accompanied by a photograph of the activity in action ●

I say “more” because what many people do not realise is that schools can already take “rising 3s” into their existing provision.

Whilst I am sure that those behind the idea of placing more 2-year-

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olds into school do so with the best of intentions, I am less sure about schools’ capacity to meet this age group’s need for nurturing interactions, with typical adult : child ratios of 1 : 13.

I am also unclear about how, in what are likely to be large groups, the need for proximal and strong attachments will be met. Most parents of 2-yearolds report that, even in their own home, they cannot pop to the loo without their 2-year-old accompanying them. This is a good example of the power of proximal attachment and therefore the need for 2-year-olds to have strong, consistent and loving key persons. This need for a strong key person is beautifully reflected in Ofsted’s evaluation criteria where to gain an ‘outstanding’ inspection grade, early years settings have to show that children have a secure attachment to their key persons.

The technical hitch when it comes to schools is that their inspection framework does not currently focus on the quality of

the key person role, even though it is a legal requirement of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

There are other developmental issues at stake as well as attachment. Whilst the recent Early Years Report by Ofsted rightly stated that children should be talking well when they enter the reception class, one of the building blocks needed for this is for 2-year-olds to have plenty of one-to-one sustained interactions with adults who have developed a strong relationship with them.

The latter is needed for language development for two reasons: the speech of 2-year-olds is usually immature and hard to understand unless the adult knows the child well and 2-year-olds will usually only interact with people with whom they feel at ease. A formal education environment will not work for this age range. Neither will an understaffed school nursery. It is therefore important that the early years sector is able to pull together to show what getting it right for 2-year-olds looks like. ■

PACEY

About the book

As many childcare professionals will know, 2-year-olds are a joy to work with.

They are also a challenge

MEMBER DISCOUNT As members of PACEY you can enjoy a 25% discount on any orders of Penny’s new book placed before 31 July 2014.

Visit MyPACEY to access your discount code today!

19 16/05/2014 16:34

Learning through outdoor play

Outdoor learning hasn’t always been valued as it is today, but with thanks to pioneers such as Margaret McMillan and the help of the forest school movement, outdoor play has become an essential part of early years settings.

Written by Katie Lyttle

In the Victorian age, elementary school was rigorous and was viewed as a means to prepare children for the workforce; outdoor play was seen as something for children to simply let off steam between “real” work.

But this view has been challenged over the years by those such as Margaret McMillan, who believed that outdoor play could benefit children’s learning, health and wellbeing.

As stated in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 2014, all “EYFS settings must provide access to an outdoor play area or, if that is not possible, ensure that outdoor activities are planned and taken on a daily basis.” Similarly, the Foundation Phase in Wales states that: “Children should be given opportunities to experience activities in the indoor and outdoor learning environments.”

So, what benefit does outdoor play and exploration hold for our children?

Natural exercise

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According to a review by McCurdy et al (2010), children with greater exposure to the outdoors and natural environments show fewer signs of stress and anxiety. They also found that outdoor activity improved children’s levels of concentration and had significant health benefits, including cardiovascular health, emotional wellbeing and a reduced risk of obesity later in life. According to the NHS (2014), one in seven of our children is obese, so it is clear that we are a nation that needs to

get moving. Outdoor play, which is often more exuberant than indoor play, gives children the opportunity to exercise naturally – physical exercise is the by-product of imaginative outdoor play.

In a review by Stephen Moss for the National Trust (Moss, 2012), a play worker reflects on her observations of children at play in the outdoor environment, “If you watch a child playing outside, they’re just doing so many physical tasks – they run for hours, dig, climb. If you told them to do it they wouldn’t, but they want to because they’re playing. You won’t get that level of physical activity with anything else.”

In the book, Play, Development and Early Education by Johnson, Christie and Wardle (2005) they argue that, “Playgrounds are places where children’s play can take off and flourish. Good outdoor playgrounds are large enough and designed in such a way that children’s play can come to full expression, where children can make a mess, run, jump and hide, where they can shout, whistle and explore the natural world.”

Communication skills

We know that the outdoor environment offers natural opportunities to enable our children to grow and learn, but how does it affect skills such as communication? Case study results looking at the impact of outdoor play are staggering. One such example took place in a UK-based nursery school: after introducing a six-week programme of forest school learning, the

“To move, to run, to find out things by new movement, to ‘feel one’s life in every limb’, that is the life of early childhood” practitioners had to rewrite the children’s end of year reports to “reflect the dramatic changes in the children’s communication skills” (Forest Schools Education, 2012). Some of the children in the project had previously been

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Promoting independence

described as quiet, but throughout the outdoor play sessions the children had interacted much more confidently than usual and their self-esteem was recorded to have increased. Parents also noted that the children had become

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more communicative in the home environment.

To further this, in an extensive study of 700 schools, playground improvements and increased access to play areas positively influenced children’s overall

The benefits of outdoor play for our children’s learning are now widely recognised, and large, national organisations such as the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have responded to this interest and increased their involvement in promoting outdoor education. In Natural Thinking, a report commissioned by the RSPB (Bird, 2007), Dr William Bird remarks on the long-lasting effects of outdoor experiences, “The sense of freedom of unstructured play that occurs in nature creates a source of independence and inner strength that can be drawn upon during stressful situations for the rest of their life.”

McMillan was an advocate for the early years child to have physical space in which to grow and learn: “Children want space at all ages, but from the ages of 1 to 7, space, that is ample space, is almost as much wanted as food and air. To move, to run, to find out things by new movement, to ‘feel one’s life in every limb’, that is the life of early childhood.”

Far from needing expensive equipment, outdoor play is about utilising the resources we do have; using local parks or woodlands for play and exploration experiences and showing the children how to engage with the outdoor environment, leading by example.

As McMillan herself said: “The best classroom and the richest cupboard are roofed only by the sky”. n

RESEARCH

attitudes to learning, including academic achievement and selfesteem. There was also a reduction in levels of bullying (Learning through Landscapes, 2003).

References Bird, W., 2007. Natural Thinking: Investigating the links between the natural environment, biodiversity and mental health Forest Schools Education, 2012. Forest Schools Case Studies. www.forestschools. com/case-studies Johnson, J.E., Christie, J.F., Wardle, F., 2005. Play, Development, and Early Education. Pearson/Allyn and Bacon Learning through Landscapes, 2003. National School Grounds Survey McCurdy, L.E., Winterbottom, K.E., Mehta, S.S., Roberts, J.R., 2010. Using nature and outdoor activity to improve children’s health The Nursery School by Margaret McMillan. London and Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd

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The Level 3 Diploma

Government-led changes are coming to early years qualifications. If you’re thinking about beginning a formal qualification in childcare, you should consider enrolling on the Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People’s Workforce before September 2014. From September 2014, Early Years Educator (EYE) will replace the Level 3 Diploma as the new early years qualification.

PACEY believes that signing up to do the Level 3 Diploma can benefit your career. PACEY’s Standards and Training Manager Chloe Rowlatt explains: “The Level 3 Diploma prepares learners to work with children and young people from birth to 19 years and follows different pathways depending on the career you choose. The new EYE qualification prepares learners to work with children aged 0 to 5 and gain knowledge of children aged 5 to 7. However, our members are responsible for, and care for, children of all ages,

including vulnerable teenagers, so we recommend people who are thinking about furthering their knowledge to sign up for the Level 3 Diploma before it’s too late.”

Another reason for exploring the Level 3 Diploma is that learners are not required to have a qualification in English or Mathematics (grade C or above at GCSE level) to proceed and be counted in the Level 3 staff : child ratios.

From September, if you choose to study the EYE, you must also seek to gain a GCSE in both English and Maths. If you are going to be

publicly funded to do the EYE, you must ensure you have both English and Maths prior to beginning the course; if you’re paying for the qualification yourself, you are advised to undertake the GCSEs alongside the EYE. Either way, having to jointly study for English and Maths as well as the EYE could be challenging for lots of people.

This requirement does not apply to the current Level 3 Diploma.

The table below shows the main differences between the Level 3 Diploma and the EYE:

Level 3 DIPLOMA

Early Years Educator

Work with children aged 0 to 5

Yes

Yes

Work with children aged 5 to 7

Yes

Gain knowledge

Work with children aged 7+

Yes

No

Career pathways

Various pathways depending on the career you choose

Limited to a career in early years.

There is a higher education route mainly aimed at 16- to 19-year-olds or a work-based route for those already working in early years

Need English and Maths GCSEs to enrol

No

Yes

Length of course

18 months

24 months

Written by Barry McGinness

Don’t worry if you already have the Level 3 Diploma. The Diploma remains a full and relevant qualification. You will still be qualified at level 3 and be able to be counted in the staff : child ratios.

Remember, your Level 3 Diploma can now be paid for in four smaller instalments, making it more accessible than ever, so think ahead and book onto the PACEY Level 3 Diploma now to make sure your skills are transferable.

Visit www.pacey.org.uk/level3 today for an application form, or call our training team on 0300 003 0005 for more information. You can also access a set of FAQs about the new EYE qualification at www.pacey.org.uk/faq

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16/05/2014 18:55

Since PACEY launched its nursery worker membership in March 2013, we’ve received some great feedback from nursery worker members who have impressed colleagues with the knowledge and expertise they gain through PACEY membership benefits.

Nursery managers in particular have been contacting PACEY to see how we can help take care of their staff through benefits, training and continuous professional development (CPD). PACEY understands the challenges facing nursery managers, from the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Foundation Phase requirements, staff turnover and incredibly busy settings to inspections and the cost involved in training your workforce. That’s why we are now offering nursery team membership as a method of helping nursery managers and nursery workers alike.

We provide the tools that nursery managers need to ensure

their entire team has access to professional and personal benefits, supporting them to provide the best care for the children, as well as enabling their own development and happy working lives.

PACEY nursery team membership is a low-cost solution to a nursery’s staff development needs. From only £34.50 per staff member per year, PACEY can provide:

Excellent staff training PACEY currently offers a range of professional online courses, with more to come in 2014, tailored to cover the EYFS or Foundation Phase frameworks.

Continuous staff development PACEY has many hours of materials that all contribute to the CPD of childcare professionals.

Benefits

Nursery team membership

Written by Barry McGinness

Expert help and advice Staff members receive full access to our three helplines for expert help and advice, covering: l Health and Wellbeing l Childcare and Early Years l Legal Support

Complete peace of mind We take care of staff as individuals, ensuring they are kept up to date with the latest childcare policies and have access to a wide variety of materials and training.

If you’re a nursery worker, you can let your management know that this is now available to you.

We also know our childminders have excellent links with their local nurseries, too. Why don’t you copy or tear out this page and give it to your local nursery manager to show them the benefits of all their staff becoming part of the PACEY community?

Interested nursery managers can discover how PACEY can support their team by calling 0300 003 0005 and quoting ‘nursery team membership’ for a chat about their requirements for their nursery, no matter how big or small. n

Nursery managers in particular have been contacting PACEY to see how we can help take care of their staff

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