Yes, begin by looking at the 3 principles and 9 values of the childcare sector
[see below] and then apply this to what you do in your setting.
Principle 1 The welfare of the child is paramount
This means that the well-being of the child is the first and most important aspect of your work. The physical and emotional wellbeing of the child is the most important work of the setting.
Principle 2 Practitioners contribute to children’s care, learning and development and this is reflected in every aspect of practice and service provision.
This means that children are encouraged, promotion and supporting children’s care, learning and development and that their individual needs and rights are respected. Settings should practice that children learn through play and at all times will provide a child centred environment.
Principle 3 Practitioners work with parents and families who are partners in the care, learning and development of their children and are the child’s first and most enduring educators.
We know that children are generally regarded as very precious by their parents, carers and other family members. It is normal for parents to feel anxious about sharing the care, learning and development of their child with practitioners, who should not try to take over, as the parents are the people who best know and understand their child. But as a positive relationship is established between parents and practitioners over time, trust is built up and parents generally begin to gain confidence in both the practitioner and the setting. Good practitioners work in partnership with parents and carers – but this can only be achieved when a positive relationship has been established. Parents and practitioners are much more likely to share important information and concerns when a positive relationship exists. Parents have an enormous amount of information about their children to share with you. This information will enable you to do your very best for the children in your care. A relationship of mutual respect and understanding will result in consistency between home and the setting for the child. Therefore the sharing of information – both ways – can only benefit the child. Practitioners should show an awareness of family diversity and show respect to all parents and children.
Values
Value 1 The needs, rights and views of the child are at the centre of all practice and provision.
Children are individuals in their own right. They have differing needs, abilities and potential. Therefore, any care setting should be flexible and sensitive in responding to these individual needs. These needs should be recognised and supported. Adults should listen with respect to what children say and respond to their views accordingly. The children should be consulted about what they like and what they want to do. They should be given choice and encouraged to decide for themselves. All children should be treated fairly and their rights promoted.
Value 2 Individuality, difference and diversity are valued and celebrated.
All children benefit from an environment in which practitioners understand value and celebrate differences. Children are unique and differ as individuals and in their family and cultural lives. Everyone’s culture, race, belief systems, age and gender should be acknowledge, respected and celebrated. Differences are more likely to be valued and understood in an environment where difference is seen as a positive quality. In all settings, including those where there is less diversity of background, the use of resources that reflect a multicultural and multi-ability society adds to the richness of provision, as in having different activities to experience such as foods, multi-cultural materials (for role play, home corner etc..) equipment, toys, books, musical instruments and listening to world music etc . This prepares all children for their lives in a diverse society. Practitioners should accept family diversity and different childcare practices. This is essential if practitioners are to have an anti-discriminatory approach to their work.
Value 3 Equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice are actively promoted.
There should be no discrimination of children or parents on the grounds of race, gender, special needs, sexuality, cultural or social background, religion or language.
Equality of opportunity = Is about recognising and providing for differences.
Equality of opportunity enables people to have the opportunity to participate in every area of life to the best of their abilities. It can be promoted at government level by the passing of laws, at institutional level through working practices and codes of conduct, and at a personal level through increased awareness and skills in meeting needs.
Equality of opportunity is not about treating all people the same and ignoring differences; it is about recognising differences and providing for all people according to their needs. Ignoring differences can be the very reason that people are not given equality of opportunity – because their needs are not recognise. People are not the same. They have many differences and their individual and particular needs should be recognised and accommodated.
Anti-discriminatory practice = Means recognising, opposing and changing any way that discrimination occurs or might occur in the way that people work. Discrimination occurs when a person or an organisation behaves in an oppressive manner towards an individual or a group of people. The best way to oppose discrimination is to provide an environment that encourages a positive view of all people of the world. A positive environment celebrates difference and actively opposes any discriminatory practice. To develop anti-discriminatory practice you must understand the causes of discrimination. This includes being aware of vocabulary or jokes that are, or might be, abusive. You should also be sensitive and alert to unequal provision of resources and opportunities.
Any obvious abuse or discrimination should be challenged. Not to do so would be to accept and condone it.
Challenging abuse can be a difficult thing to do, especially for a young worker. It is, however, a skill that needs to be learned. So, differences should be recognised and provided for all children according to their individual needs, and enable them to have the opportunity to participate in every area of their life to the best of their abilities within the setting. The setting should never accept or condone discriminating behaviour.
Value 4 Children’s health and well-being are actively promoted.
You must actively promote children’s physical and emotional health and well-being. You can do this well if you are aware of the children’s needs and how to meet them. All practice should help children to be safe, healthy and develop into self-confident, resilient, well rounded people through the provision of balanced and healthy diets, and appropriate activities – both indoor and outdoor activities.
Value 5 Children’s personal and physical safety is safeguarded, while allowing for risk and challenge as appropriate to the capabilities of the child.
It is essential that you protect children from serious harm and injury. However, children must also learn to be independent and allowed to explore their environment according to their age and capabilities. You must learn to judge how best to protect children while promoting their independence. Everyone working with children & young people have a responsibility for their health and safety. This can make practitioners feel nervous about providing challenging activities. However, as children get older, they have to learn to make their own decisions and to be responsible for themselves. This involves learning to assess situations and decide for themselves what they can do safely. They will not learn how to do this if the people who work with them always make these decisions for them. Often, the children who are most nervous of trying new skills are those who have not had the opportunity to take risks for themselves.
Of course, you have to balance this growing need for independence with making sure they are safe from serious injury. You have to make sure the challenges you provide are achievable, but also that they stretch the children’s abilities. We all know how good it feels to achieve something we thought we would not be able to do. It makes us feel good about ourselves. We feel more self-confident and less worried about trying something new next time. Similarly, if we are unable to do something despite our best efforts, we feel deflated and less positive about ourselves; the same is true for children.
Value 6 Self-esteem, resilience and a positive self-image are recognised as essential to every child’s development.
A child’s self-image is their view of who they are and what they are like. Children who think well of themselves have a positive self-image. They are more likely to develop high self-esteem. This means they have a feeling about themselves that they are good and worthwhile. It is essential to every child’s development that they have high self-esteem and a positive self-image. It they do, they are more likely to be able to cope well with difficulties and frustrations in life - that is they are more resilient. They are also more likely to be happy, successful, make better and more secure relationships with others and have better mental health. You can promote self-esteem, resilience and a positive self-image by always praising children’s efforts and achievements. Show them that you value them and what they do, and give them appropriate assistance to overcome difficulties. All practice must be safe but not stop children taking risks to explore, learn and develop.
Value 7 Confidentiality and agreements about confidential information are respected as appropriate unless a child’s protection and well-being are at stake.
All practitioners have a responsibility to maintain confidentiality at all times. Breaking confidentiality by talking to other people inappropriately is a serious matter and can lead to you losing your job. Maintaining confidentiality means that any information given to you should only be given to others, or received from others, according to the policies of the setting and in the interests of meeting the needs of the child.
However, to protect children from harm, the sharing of information among practitioners working with children and families is essential. In many cases, it is only when information from a range of sources is put together that a child can be seen to be in need or at risk of harm The Children’s Act (1989, 2004) are the laws that aim to protect children from harm in any setting. This legislation is based on the principle that all children have a right to protection. There are written procedures to protect children in all settings.
The nature of your work with children means that you will learn a great deal about individual children and their families. Sensitive information will only be available to you if you need it to meet the needs of the child and family concerned. Respecting confidentiality means that you should not gossip about details of children or their families with others either in the workplace or outside. (Imagine how you would feel is you were sitting on a bus and heard someone a few seats away discussing your private life). You should discuss relevant in formation in a professional way with your supervisor and others who work with the child. Understanding that sometimes you will have to pass on information, even when a parent has asked you not to
You cannot guarantee to keep something to yourself if there could be a risk, however small, to the child. Confidentiality is also governed by the ‘Data protection Act (1984 / 1998)’ which states – “The storage, retrieval and handling of confidential information verbally, written and electronically to protect the rights of the client. It identifies guidelines and practice and when certain information can be passed on if it serves to protect the client (child) from harm.” Therefore all children’s personal files should be kept locked away and access is restricted to relevant people and that information is shared with permission of parents unless there are concerns about the child.
Value 8 Professional knowledge, skills and values are shared appropriately in order to enrich the experience of children more widely.
Working as a member of a team will help you to share professional knowledge, skills and values. This will help you to provide a richer experience for children. You should be prepared to work hard, be helpful and co-operate, share things and offer ideas and information to other members of the team. If other members of the team make suggestions, you should in turn accept them positively and use them constructively to improve your practice with the children. Team meetings are good places to share information, ideas, and suggestions and to discuss new knowledge, skills or practice
Value 9 Best practice requires reflection and a continuous search for improvement
As a professional worker you must take responsibility for your own development and performance. Other practitioners can help and guide you towards best practice, but you will only make good professional progress if you become aware of your strengths and weaknesses. You must want to improve your skills and take responsibility for this. You should try to think about, or reflect on what you do, however, we all find it difficult at times to know how good or bad we are at something and to know our strengths and weaknesses. Most people need the help and feedback of others to do this. The most useful feedback will usually come from a line manager or an experienced worker. You should try to listen to others. Think about what they say to you and be open to suggestions about how you can change and improve how you work. During work appraisals is a good time to identify what your professional improvement needs are and to identify available training that may be needed.
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