Hiya, best practice is an ability to understand, implement and practice methods that are flexible, open to adaptation, take on the views of others, are efficient, effective and work actively to support and promote complete inclusion.
I was taught a valuable lesson regarding quality assurance when getting things off the ground with the website back in 2005 and will always be grateful for the insight. My web developer had refused point blank to join a quality scheme/list implemented by local business support providers. As such it appeared the only absolute assurance of quality for clients buying services from the list was that the named had the ability to pay for inclusion. The assurance of quality may of been measured but also appeared as potentially unsustainable.
The concern for me was that as a business support client I was advised that by buying from this quality assured list I would also secure a small business start up grant/website cost reimbusement. I witnessed the controversy first hand, seeing silkysteps develop amazingly with excellent communication & unsurpassed customer support throughout and heard of others through trusted sources, of sites/businesses that had problems I'd of dreaded in the development and startup phases as well as ongoing and indeed in disappointing conclusion. It may of been a truly unfortunate perspective but I do view quality assurance a little sceptically - something I've come to consider a life skill!!
Quality assurance is quantified by the criteria it's measured against.
You will need to ask who produced the criteria, why and who assesses it for the assurance provider.
As a setting deciding on pursuing quality assurance first ask who wants the assurance and why they might want it - children, lea, ofsted, parents, staff ..
Do staff feel undervalued, are parents concerned at any percieved quality of service, do children know what they will be able to access, do external organisations feel the need to look for quality assurance given by others about an individual setting - is this to maintain impartiality or to bridge a gap in evidence a setting can provide or maybe it is an advertising and promotional need.
What is the financial cost.
What does the setting potentially gain or lose - 1. from having the assurance 2. from continuing without it.
There are many ways to measure quality and give assurance to it:
Your settings welcome literature
Your settings advertising material
Your settings approach to actively seeking feedback
Your settings approach to utilising feedback, changing, adapting, responding.
Your settings prospectus & who produces it.
Your policies and your procedures
Your contacts and sourcing.
Your approach to providing play
Your approach to supporting individual needs
Your approach to managing data.
You reputation within the community.
Your committees, your staff, your management ..
From others ..
Investors in people
The PLA
Healthy schools initiatives
Your Ofsted report
Your ofsted self evaluation form
As with uk eyfs CWDC induction standards are mandatory, however they're also seemingly unsupported for the depth of information/commitment required and the standing in which they're expected/regarded to have.
The status of EYP
The desire to promote workforce graduate status.
As a business/environment provider looking to help visitors reduce the amount of paperwork associated with risk assement
badge of approval may be of interest.
Understanding any of this list as true indication of quality would again be personal judgement or a group decision - the sef/critera that learning outside the classroom applicants are judged against can be found on the how to apply page.
You can evaluate whether you support a formative or summative approach to quality assurance combining the two or being content with focussing on one - summatively is where consultancy may be useful.
Combining the two would mean putting the work in to find out what the setting does, how well it's done, what can be bettered and how you let people know what you do and how well you do it ..
Summative approach, providing, displaying, handing out statements via certificates, awards, record of achievements, creditations, assessments, evaluations, observations, policies and procedures produced internally or externally.
Formatively - pay a visit, pop in, speak with others locally, formally and informally, see how policies & procedures work in practice, who do you speak to when you get in touch, how are you spoken to, how feely is information exchanged, how excited are you to take part ..
Summatively formative .. newsletters, updates, event posters, action plans ..
This pdf is from QCDA and looks at the quality assurance given to the EYFS profile data and in compliment the
eyfs scale reference sheet
www.stepstoquality.org.uk
I hope this all helps a little xx