Help what are PC's

Hello everyone, I'm new to this site and have enjoyed reading the threads. I completed the first year of the CCLD course last July, which was all classroom based doing units/asignments and have just started the 2nd year which involves the assessor coming to my home (I am a childminder) to assess and observe me in the workplace.

I have had the first visit from the assessor and had no idea she was there to observe me, although everything went smoothly. She didn't give me much info but asked me to email the observation to her. Can anyone tell me what PC's are as I have no idea!!

If anyone can give me any tips or advice on writing the observations (the ones done on me by the assesor) I would be very grateful.

Hi

PC's stand for Performance Criteria (silly NVQ language), which are a list of statements you have to achieve in your practice when being observed by your assessor.

eg if your were undertaking a cooking activity with a group of children there would be a list of PC's relivant to that activity which said things like
~ ensure all children wash their hand before starting the cooking activity
etc

If you don't manage to cover all of your PC's for 'Element' during that assessor's observation, you are always able to plan another activity for the assessor to watch you do another time to cover the other ones. However, it is quicker to complete your NVQ if you don't have to have activities observed by your assessor more than once.

In your portfolio there should be lists of all your PC's for all your Units. Normally when your assessor plans an observation with your for their next visit they should talk through with you the PC's for that observation so you should know what you need to achieve. But I would always suggest reading through the PC's for the oservation your are going to be assessed for next, as much as possible, as it helps you to plan the activity well.

I hope this helps. Although I have never assessed for the new CCLD, I am a qualified NVQ assessor and assessed many many studants for the previous Early Years Care & Education NVQ's and they are all set out the same way, evan though the title has changed.

Good luck with your course

hattyhar

Hi Hattyhar,

Thank you for explaining that to me. My assessor came for her first visit and had forgotten some of the paperwork she was supposed to bring and said she would explain what the portfolio was next time and said we were supposed to have been told at college what to expect (we weren't). She didn't plan the next visit or tell me what the observation is going to be so I'm just playing it by ear as we go along - hopefully things will become clearer in time!!

[DizzyDora]

:soapbox: I completed my NVQ 10 years ago (when it was childcare and education) and experienced similar problems. We are taught to respect children as learners, support their ways of learning etc etc when will colleges treat us the way we are being taught to treat children it makes me so cross! How would ofsted grade us if we made children "play it by ear"

hi there julie,
hattyhar has given some good advice. i have an observation in a couple of weeks. i had to decide what i wanted observed and am hoping to cover the following pc's
breakfast club: unit 307.2 pc 3 involve children in planning and prep of food.
307.2 pc 4 encourage children to make healthy choices
307.2 pc 5 provide food, snacks & drinks that are interesting & will stimulate childrens awareness of variety food n drinks.
307.2 pc 8 ensure high standards of hygiene maintained when storing and preparing food in line with gov guidelines.
307.2 pc 9 encourage independence in feeding routines according to family requirements.
hope this helps. its only a small portion of my observation. if you would like more suggestions let me know.

ps dizzydora, i quite agree when are our tutors going to practice what they preach. we always come out of college wondering what we supposed to be doing.

Hi there, my tutor is coming tomorrow for my first assessment, covering unit 301, relationships with children and adults. Sooooo not looking forward to it, keep telling myself it's what I do every day - but that's not helping. I work in the baby room so it should be fun ...