Monday 7 April 2014

Do We Expect Too Much of Nurseries and Pre-Schools?

Do we expect too much of nurseries and pre schools?
This photo is how I know my child is well cared for at nursery;
I don't need EYFS stages and charts.

Last week, Ofsted's chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said that nurseries are failing to ensure children are ready to learn when they get to primary school. Apparently children are arriving for their first day at school unable to hold a pen, unable to recognise numbers or to use the toilet independently. In the poorest communities, as many as eight in ten children fall into this "unprepared" category.

I was a "people's panel" guest on BBC Wiltshire last week discussing this. You can listen here (the discussion is at about 01:27)

I went to a Montessori nursery school, where I learned basic letters and numbers before starting school. When I got to school though, I was in a minority - a lot of children had never attended any sort of institution before that point, and were all taught the alphabet at the age of 5. Granted, my first school was exceptional in that it had only 30 pupils in the whole building (years 1-4), so we all got an arguably higher standard of education any way, but still - not until we were 5. Many of the children from that school have gone on to great things, despite not beginning their education until they were 5. They have not been blighted by this terrible neglect faced by most children of the 1980s.

What is this rush with having children in a structured learning environment at younger and younger ages?

And is it really the responsibility of a nursery to teach children these things?

My daughter goes to an absolutely fantastic nursery. The staff are all lovely, the building is lovely, they do such a vast range of activities I can't keep up with it all. She wanders off happy in the mornings, and chatters all the way home. For World Book Day they had a whole week of activities, including a day where they re-enacted Oh Dear complete with toy animals and hay everywhere.

Do we expect too much of nurseries and pre schools?


Last week, I went to parents' evening, where her keyworker talked through with me how she was getting on, and we discussed her moving downstairs to the next room when she's two. She showed me S's Learning Journey, which I assume is something they have to do for each child. It was lovely to see photos of S playing with her friends, feeding herself, etc. It was nice to see photos of us together from the times I've been into nursery for things. It was nice to read little notes from her keyworker saying "S picked up this and played with this and I said this..." What bothered me about it was that this wasn't just something they'd done as a keepsake for S's time in nursery; beneath every photo and observational note, there was a list of the observational points the activity covered.

Example:
S was on her way outside to the playground. An adult held on to her hand and began to walk down the stairs. S held on to the banister as well as the adult's hand and walked all the way down the stairs, two feet to a step. 
- physical development; moving & handling; 22-36 months; Walks up or down stairs holding on to a rail two feet to a step.

Am I the only one who thinks this sort of thing is turning my daughter's childhood into some sort of clinical experiment?

Nursery staff have a tough job; they have to be there before the children arrive, setting up for the day; they have to be chirpy and happy and endlessly patient with a marauding gang of snotty toddlers, to think up endlessly fun activities, to field queries and complaints from over-protective parents. I've never asked S's keyworker how much the average nursery worker gets, but I'm pretty sure they're not paid the big bucks. Why should they then be pressured to also do mountains of paperwork on top of looking after the children all day?

Don't get me wrong; it's nice to look at her Learning Journey and see that she's had fun, but if I though the nursery weren't looking after my daughter well, if I thought she wasn't happy there, no amount of paperwork with EYFS key stages carefully noted down would stop me from removing her.

I judge how good S's day has been by the smile on her face, the number of bags of dirty clothes I'm handed at home time, and the amount of pen/paint/sand/glitter smeared across her face and into her hair. I can tell she loves it there; I know she's having a good time. The other day I arrived to pick her up to find one member of staff on the floor with a child on each knee having cuddles, another reading stories, and another watching several children playing in a tent. I couldn't see S until one of them called her name, and she emerged from a tunnel with a massive grin plastered across her face. That is what I pay nursery fees for; that is how I know my child is well cared for and having a good time.

The staff would tell me if she had any sort of problem with socialising or joining in with activities. They shouldn't have to try and fit her play into a specific framework set out by a government who really should be looking at those much larger fish they should be frying.

It seems to me that on the one hand, the government are trying to increase class sizes and change the law regarding ratios in nurseries and classrooms; but on the other hand, they're piling more and more responsibility onto these nurseries.

Furthermore, should it really be the job of the nursery staff to teach my child to use the toilet independently? Is it their responsibility to teach her the alphabet or how to hold a pen? I would count all of those things as my job, and while the nursery help with all of these things, it's not their responsibility. If S leaves nursery to start school unable to use the toilet by herself, it will be me who has failed more than the nursery staff.

What is this fascination with having children shoved into school-like settings at younger ages?
If you look back at the great people of our history, how many of those started school aged 4? And in countries where children generally achieve higher levels of literacy and numeracy, they tend to start school later. What's so wrong with letting our children play? What does government think will happen, if my daughter just gets to play and spend time with her friends until she is 5?

I've heard plenty of horror stories from friends who are primary school teachers of parents depositing their beloved child in the playground at the start of Reception year, still in a nappy. Or at a point where they probably should still be in a nappy. Whether they've been at nursery or not up to that point, it was the responsibility of the parent to toilet train the child. Perhaps if it was obvious they weren't succeeding - for whatever reason - more help should have been offered before September rolled around and the poor child had to sit in a classroom of peers who were all perfectly able to go to the toilet without assistance?

Perhaps, in those "poor" areas where children are arriving at schools without basic capabilities, more support should be given to parents early on. Rather than lumber nursery staff with the job of preparing a child for school, why do we not look to the parents to take an active role in teaching their child? Perhaps more funding should be put into the provision of health visitors and suchlike so that children can be visited in the home to see how they get on, and help given to parents to improve where skills are lacking. There are relatively few parents out there who genuinely do not want to help their child to succeed. Many may need extra help with it - but they need help, not someone to do it for them, surely!

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154 comments:

  1. Great perspective! Yes parents are ultimately responsible for their child's care and education, no matter what their age, not just before age 5! If the government would only let parents just do their job. They can do it better than any school employee. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. It's been awhile, my oldest is 30 this year, but as a parent I always thought it was my responsibility to teach my children their letters, numbers, songs, and how to read. By the time both my girls were in kindergarten they knew basic skills and both of them could ready basic books.

    You can find me on twitter at frazzled2fab :-)

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    1. I potty trained all my children taught them the values of life . I enjoyed that job as that's why I had children to watch them develop and grow into happy toddlers then teenagers, it was my responsibility something I enjoyed doing and would not have liked the pleasure taken away from me seeing my child talk or walk for the first time so yes its the responsibility of the parent.

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  3. I am so with you on this (although given N is still pretty much refusing to use the toilet or potty at just over 3, I'd love for someone to do the training for him lol)

    Like you, I love his learning journals, I love looking at all the photos and reading what he's been up to. And I love watching him develop through doing all the things he loves doing as well as the activities I'd probably never do with him unless I was a stay at home mum. He can sing his alphabet, and recognise the starting letter of his name (some of his friends of similar age are able to say whole alphabets/huge numbers and recognise them, but largely that's not down to going to a nursery, that's down to the parents being stay at home and having a child who's interesting to absorb that info quickly). However, I'm astonished at how much they're expected to know in terms of starting to do numbers or letters etc. I don't remember doing any of that stuff, until we went to school at rising 5. It wasn't a problem - if you went to a good school with interested parents, and some genetic disposition to learning, then starting at 5 was fine.

    I am in agreement as well about more HV. These should be the ones supporting - we've not seen ours since the old one left, oh and the waste of time 2 year check. These should be available for support for all parents as you say - because a lot of children who get sent to nursery are likely the ones who'll do ok at school anyway - to help with getting children through the personal skills they'll need for school if their home life isn't going to teach them it.

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    1. My son was 3.5 before he potty trained. He took to it very quickly and goes throgh the night. Good luck.

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    2. My health visitor told me not to worry - you never see a bride go down the aisle in nappies. This made me realise all things happen in their own sweet time.
      As a nursery practitioner I can assure you we would much rather be making play dough cakes and getting covered in glue that filling in learning journeys but we do it all because we love children. I often take my planning home (not the journeys just planning) and do another couple of hours work at home as well to keep up.

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    3. I completely agree with, what a great perspective on things. My daughter was in nursery at a very young age and had a couple of years off before starting her 3-4yrs nursery. In the couple of years she was off as parents with no help she had learned to use the toilet independently, hold a pen, write most letters, count and start the alphabet ALL before she was few months over 3. Nursery has helped her with letter sounds and her writing but we at home have managed to get her to write the family's name and the entire alphabet! I too am just happy that when she comes out of nursery she is happy and looks forward to going again, shes made friends and is always telling me how great her teachers are! Her learning story is beautiful and I appreciate it immensely, not only are the practitioners stuck around children all day, they even manage to find the time to write about them individually! I believe children do everything in their own sweet time and if a parent feels as though they need more help there are plenty of healthcare professionals who can support you and all the way through your pregnancy say that they will but after 2 weeks of giving birth you never see them again, these are the people that need to be looked at closer! Through having two children I cant say that HV's have helped at all! All the nursery practitioners I have met throughout the past 4 years have been beyond amazing!!

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  4. I visited my son's school in session. I popped there unexpectedly in the middle of the day. Every parent should do this. They had some structured learning but also a lot of playing which I think is the best way for children to learn.

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  5. Wow great post. I completely agree with what you say and I work in a nursery and have a 4 year old due to start school this September. 10 years or so ago before ofstead and EYFS regulated and dictated structure I worked in a few different child care settings where as child care workers we where allowed to teach preschoolers to write, learn the alphabet, recognising letters and numbers, counting and some even learnt to read simple words.

    I believe it depends on the area/local council guidelines but in recent years while my son has been at nursery I've noticed a lot of changes to include not being able to encourage writing/how to write letters of the alphabet and numbers.
    I personally think children need structure but they should also be allowed to be children and let thier own character shine. All lifes lessons start with the parent/s but nurseries should support those lessons. I also think that too much paperwork and ofstead guidlines at times deflects from the actual point of just letting a child be itself. If ofstead feel children are unprepaired maybe they should back off as most child care settings where playing a successful role in childrens learning journeys before they started dictating how children should and shouldnt be taught.

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  6. As someone who has worked as a TA in a reception class it would be far more useful for children to learn skills like dressing themselves, buckling their shoes and zipping up their coats, if girls are goung to wear tights then teach them how to put them on! As well as more basic skills like toileting and recognising their written name. Most reception teachers I know prefer children not to have been taught how to read and write as they then have to unlearn bad habits! Nurseries and Reception/yr 1 should be for learning through play with no agenda, providing them with basic building blocks preparing them to be formally taught from yr 2. Why are we the ONLY European country who try and formally educate our children at 4 yrs old! Sorry, rant over!

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    1. I couldn't agree more. This is fantastic.

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    2. I work in a.nursery with 2_3 year olds and.yes we.do do as.much as.we.can.to.prepare the children.for reception however the.New foundation stage document and.order do.not.want.us to.sit the children.down and.force them to write 。as you say they encourage the.children to learn through play we ensure there is always activitys available for the children to access that encourage pencil.control reading. As well.as.resources to.encourage their independence . I agree that children.are.far.to.young at the age of 2 to have focused learning forced upon them they need.to be children.and.have.fun playing and gaining their social.skills

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    3. I work in an extremely busy pre school and try to perform miracles on a daily basis, not only providing care and support for the child and very often the parent, we have to collate evidence in all matter of ways, and ensure the children are having a brilliant day. I am already preaching School readiness'. Self care, independence, listening skills, the list has been a real eye opener for parents, several have raised an eyebrow and informed me, "oh little jimmy will be fine, he can write cvc words and add numbers to ten, he is so ready for school". I would have been able to agree if little jimmy was in pants, could identify his own coat and shoes let alone put them on. Parents need to be educated, not the children! Oh and just to add a basic nursery nurse earns a little over minimum wage. But, after all that, i love my job :-)

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    4. As a nursery nurse myself , I could not agree more.

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    5. My pre school tells me my 3 year old son won't be school ready. Well maybe the government shouldn't be making him go to school at 4 years 6 weeks old!

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    6. I wouldn't worry to much as you will find that by the end of the year they all end up on a similar stage of development, not being school ready doesn't matter too much because reception teachers these days get them up to speed in no time. My sons the exact same age and starts school this September I've pushed him at home so he recognises all lowercase letters, numbers and can write first and last name independently ......how ever looking around now at the children alot who are older than him, that will be in his year. I'm not so worried and wish I hadn't panicked about him being so young as the ones who are older can't necessarily do what he can either, yet I guarantee you they'll all be at a similar stage in their learning come the end of the year. If your too panicked the flashcards I picked up worked an absolute treat for bringing him on most book shops do them :) x

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    7. it is not a competition!! a child learns at his/her own speed! they are not all going to be 'rocket scientists'!

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  7. I actually gave up my job in a nursery to be a nanny due to the paperwork involved, it wouldn't be too bad taking photos and noting down children's development in their journals if it wasn't necessary to continually have to link it to the eyfs. But unfortunately due to a minority of bad childcare settings these rules have to be in place to stop the lazy people just being paid to sit on their bums and do nothing with the children all day. I know that I make a difference to children's lives by providing activities to get messy and explore but on the other hand I've worked with others who don't want to be doing the job they've chosen and do very little to stimulate the children's learning in their care. I am a strong believer that children learn through play and doing things rather than

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    1. I agree that the learning journey paperwork is to create some quality of care at the thousands of nurseries/preschools in the UK, your very lucky to have found one that's good enough to have such confidence in. Mothers are being encouraged to return to work as quickly as possible and hand over the education of their child to an unrelated person who despite best intentions is not that child's parent. It might be frustrating but the paperwork is essential. Other professions have considerably more.

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    2. And get paid considerably more.

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  8. As someone who currently works in a pre-school I wholeheartedly agree with what you are saying. I love what I do, but I feel it is one of the most under-valued professions. We too use Learning Stories, we try to make them into a keepsake for the children and familes but they are an observational tool - we have to be able to show that we know where all of our children are developmentally, we have to understand how they learn, what they are learning and how to TEACH them the 'next step'; we are supposed to assess every activity/toy we provide and ask ourselves "what will the children learn from this". There is a campaign for us to be called Early Years Educators - utterly ridiculous and unfair. We should support families with toileting etc but often we are the driving force behind a child coming out of nappies. We should be assisting in getting children ready for school - by encouraging independence (clothes etc), helping develop children's social skills and perhaps some basic skills (learnt though play) such as number/name recognition - instead, because of the new 2 year old funding for 'vulnerable' families we are now having to become involved in so much more - my colleague attended a Dr appointment recently with one of our families - at the request of the Social worker - or the mother would not have taken the child! It is a very rewarding career in many ways, especially as you wave the children off in July, ready for school, knowing that you have had an impact, but not financially - all this for minimum wage - I would get paid more if I went to clean the local school!

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    1. I completely agree with everything stated here.

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    2. here here!!! :)

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    3. I have practised this routine from the very first time my daughter and son went into their own rooms. Firstly I came said do not come out your room unless you really need me or for the toilet then I went and got them in the morning (usually around 7:45am) .
      When older I put in the clock and showed them the time and said the same , do not get up after the 7 but before the 8.
      My son still rises around 7:45am in the weekends and I wake him for school. He is 7 coming 8.
      It is all about respect and teaching good routines at an early age. Happy kids= happy parents.

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  9. This is fantastic. Yes.. teaching those vital skills ultimately lies with the parents. If a child did not attend a setting, it would be solely down to parents and nobody else. Child care settings and parents should work together to achieve those life long skills such as toileting. But I couldn't agree more, that learning journals should be lovely keep sakes..not a grid that is marked off day in day out. By spending time with a child, a practitioner will get to know them and understand their abilities. Way too much pressure is put on paperwork, which then takes times away from the children themselves. Children should be children...let them PLAY and get dirty and most importantly just make friends and build relationships. Children appreciate your time much more than they appreciate photos and writing. They're in school for so many years, they don't need any more structure put on them at such a young age. This generation will end up like robots otherwise. Nursery/preschool staff are paid appalling wages considering the amount of responsibility they have and the amount of work that actually goes into their day. I for one, put in many more hours than what I am actually paid for. And if the government are expecting us to do more 'teaching' then quite frankly I expect a teachers wage! However, I don't think children at the age of 5 and under need to be 'taught' in such a structured manner..it should remain that 'children learn through play'. It has never done past generations any harm.

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    1. i completely agree i am a nursery nurse and i am now going into nannying as i want to get involved with the childrens activities and enjoy the time with them rather than always thinking i need to write this down i also do more hours than i get paid for gone are the days when you just maked down a milestone its crazy just how much paperwork we have to do

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    2. I'm also a nursery nurse and have just finished my level three, I'm only 20 and it can be a very stressful job that's doesn't need to be, I love my job and I hate the fact that my time is taken away beacuse we have to comply with the government and compleate the EYFS within their learning journeys; it's a crazy amount of work. As I work with 4yrs we have the preassure from parents that we are getting them "ready" for school when all children want to do and have fun, get messy and make friends and learn through their play before going off to school where it will be different.
      I have a lot of key children (14) and I feel they are never ending. And our wage is awfull for the ammount of work all nursery staff do and do extra hours that are never paid for. I love my job it's what I've always wanted to do but the government need to look at this another way not just at nurseys and preschools. The parents also need help.

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  10. I agree with some aspects of this but there are also upsides to the Preschools following this framework. It enables children with undiagnosed learning/social issues to get help at a much earlier stage which then allows them to get the extra help needed before they start school. What about the children who want to read and write. My youngest started to write at the age of 3 so she would be help back if all they were doing was playing. The preschool that they went to also wrote and taught cursive writing which is what they use at the primary school.

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    1. I am a nursery nurse and do agree that we can provide the activities so all children can choose to learn not forced, also supporting the family's that need or want help with potty training, the learning journeys are lovely but a parent once told me it makes them feel stupid reading the eyfs areas an not understanding. We spend so much time writing about the child's development, additional need's health and safety, home books, room/nursery targets and displays with child's voice and eyfs links that sometimes there is no time 2 just play

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    2. Your daughter would not have been held back if she were playing, if she got pleasure from writing she would have incorporated it in her play. If she didn't, making her do it could put her off for a long time and damage her self esteem and confidence, which really would hold her back. Through play children learn without realising, they also grow as humans, learning to negotiate relationships, and solve problems. These skills can best be learnt before the age of 5, reading and writing can be learnt at any age!

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  11. As someone who was a room leader for babies in a nursery chain I was overwhelmed with the amount of paper work I was expected to do for each child and often took my work home with me. Even though the children left my room at 15 months they had already had their own folder with eyfs targets highlighted and evidenced to show they are meeting their targets. We provided fun activities and had to evidence the children learning within these activities which meant we were focused on taking photos and writing observations of the children rather than just PLAYING with them.
    We work with children because we love them and we love spending time with them, but to do all this for around £7 an hour (I was on 7.12 even as a team leader) is just demeaning.
    Nurseries used to be fun for the children and the adults!!! And I understand its not the nurseries fault, they are under pressure to perform well for Ofsted which is less about the children having fun and more about paperwork. Ofsted standards have to change, having fun doesn't mean children will receive terrible childcare!

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    1. Completely agree!

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    2. i totally agree with this! I was a deputy at an early years setting and on £7.50... I moved from that job due to stress of working long hours at home, with no pay! (which affected my kids home life!) I now work as a nursery nurse on £6.60and dont work extra at home but feel that the time I give the children is not enough because of all the bloody paperwork we have to complete just to make it a good 'ofsted' setting!! children need to be nurtured and that does not involve ticking boxes for a government department! when you play with a child and sit back and observe you will learn more about them than rushing around thinking about their 'wheres next' as most of the time there is no next step!!!!!

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    3. Most nursery nurses in private or voluntary run nurseries/pre school in my area are on the minimum wage for their age unless they are a team leader, etc. Many nurseries also use apprentices who are on approx £2.60 an hour for upto a 40 hour week. I was a nursery manager until recently and was paid £8.00 an hour. I agree with everything said in the blog.

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  12. Nursery staff are underpaid, working an incredibly stressful job and are expected to jump through hoops regarding paperwork for Ofsted. As a baby room leader of two years (on £7.12 an hour) I was overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork I had to complete and often took it home to complete. For every eyfs target I had to evidence the child doing it with photographs and written observations ("baby rolled over into her front and lifted her head up to look at her key person " for example). This took hours, hours which I could have been playing with the children. For every activity I planned we have to evidence how the child would learn and how That would fit into the eyfs framework. Bearing in mind these babies were under 15 months, we couldn't just play!!! Understandably this added to the stress of dealing with a room of up to 12 babies, which explains why many nurseries are understaffed. It's not a workplace that many can handle.

    It's all too much, we would like nothing more than to focus 100% on the children, as stressed practitioners do not make great practitioners and all we want to be is the very best. I hope something will change, and I absolutely appreciate you actually noticing it. Thank you :)

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  13. I love your blog post on this topic! I live over here in the United States but we have many of the same issues. My degree and life work is in early education and children learn best through play! Teachers in preschool classrooms should be encouraging play! Play with a purpose - making the most of teachable moments. What better way to learn colors than to have conversations about the things they are playing in and with while they are playing. As adults - we learn through "trial and error" on most things - play IS that same thing for the little ones! They need to experience it - on their own - and it will stick with them. Once the basic social and health skills are in place - the learning becomes 2nd nature to the children because the base is already there. Parents are always the child's first teacher! We are there to enhance what the parent teaches the child - and that is the way it should be. And yes - some parents may need better skills to get some basic health and social skills in place - money would be much better spent educating and helping the parents that need that extra help. It is nice to hear perspectives from the other side of the world and see that we all want the same thing. There is plenty of time for formal education from 4/5 on up - let the little ones learn the way the brain is wired to learn - through play! Thanks for your insight and sharing!

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    1. Most definitely. It's nice to see that the majority of us who work within Early Years all have the same perspective on things.

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  14. I love your blog post on this topic! I live over here in the United States but we have many of the same issues. My degree and life work is in early education and children learn best through play! Teachers in preschool classrooms should be encouraging play! Play with a purpose - making the most of teachable moments. What better way to learn colors than to have conversations about the things they are playing in and with while they are playing. As adults - we learn through "trial and error" on most things - play IS that same thing for the little ones! They need to experience it - on their own - and it will stick with them. Once the basic social and health skills are in place - the learning becomes 2nd nature to the children because the base is already there. Parents are always the child's first teacher! We are there to enhance what the parent teaches the child - and that is the way it should be. And yes - some parents may need better skills to get some basic health and social skills in place - money would be much better spent educating and helping the parents that need that extra help. It is nice to hear perspectives from the other side of the world and see that we all want the same thing. There is plenty of time for formal education from 4/5 on up - let the little ones learn the way the brain is wired to learn - through play! Thanks for your insight and sharing!

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  15. I love your blog post on this topic! I live over here in the United States but we have many of the same issues. My degree and life work is in early education and children learn best through play! Teachers in preschool classrooms should be encouraging play! Play with a purpose - making the most of teachable moments. What better way to learn colors than to have conversations about the things they are playing in and with while they are playing. As adults - we learn through "trial and error" on most things - play IS that same thing for the little ones! They need to experience it - on their own - and it will stick with them. Once the basic social and health skills are in place - the learning becomes 2nd nature to the children because the base is already there. Parents are always the child's first teacher! We are there to enhance what the parent teaches the child - and that is the way it should be. And yes - some parents may need better skills to get some basic health and social skills in place - money would be much better spent educating and helping the parents that need that extra help. It is nice to hear perspectives from the other side of the world and see that we all want the same thing. There is plenty of time for formal education from 4/5 on up - let the little ones learn the way the brain is wired to learn - through play! Thanks for your insight and sharing!

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  16. As a childminder and mum of two I totally agree, there is so much pressure from childcare professionals to write reports, learning journey, observations it take the focus away from the carer to be able to play and interact with the child with out an hidden agenda. Yes the learning journals are lovely and I think it's lovely to be able to show a parent what their child has been doing while they are in a setting but it takes a lot of hard work to keep these up to date, especially if you have a handful to complete every week. I know of childminders who have an outstanding ofsted because their paper work is to perfect but their skill to interact with a child is limited and I know of others who have been given an 'requires improvements' because their paper work so not up to ofsted standards yet their ability to be able to interact with a child is good.
    My sin went to school knowing number, all his phonics and was starting to read. The rest of the class was not at the same level as him so he was made to sit for several months while the others caught up and became bored and his ability and enthusiasm to learn suffered.

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    1. Ofsted definitely need to look at the way they do things.. I also know that our preschool has been praised for things that another preschool has been criticised for.. There is no consistency which is just ridiculous. If children learn too soon, like you've said, they'll get bored once they reach school. Encourage their learning by all means, if they're at that level and keen, but overdoing it will end up coming back to haunt you in the future.

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  17. completely agree with this post. I used to be a nursery nurse myself and believe you me, we were lucky if we got paid just above minimum wage. It is not our responsibility to teach children there ABC's even though we did teach children there ABC's, which we enjoyed doing, it is still the parents responsibility to primarily be the ones who teach their children the basics. We had enough on our plates with watching, sometimes, 20 plus children a day, writing their daily diaries, changing their nappies, assisting with meal times and entertaining them, if this wasn't enough we still had to make sure we were keeping up with their learning plan diaries in preparation for school. Nursery staff should be given more credit for what they do, instead of slagging them off at every given opportunity.

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  18. I have taught in early learning environments and you can tell which students have received more support from their parents. (Support can can vary but the simplest form is having a structured & safe home environment (thereby enabling a child to get toilet trained quickly & have some independence).

    I think that the writer's idea of sending health visitors to the home of a student is excellent. If a child has not been toilet trained before reaching primary school then there parents may be neglecting their responsibilities in other areas. Demanding nursery staff to teach a child how to use the toilet properly effectively makes the staff a part-time parent. Where would the Government draw the line...how to eat properly, how to dress properly?

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    1. How to eat properly - actually in my nursery class we always have several children who need to be taught how to bite and chew there food, rather than push it al in their mouth and suck. It doesnt take long to teach them, but blatently they have never been taught this simple skill at home. I too agree it is an excellent idea to send in support to parents who have failed to toilet train their children. It normally takes us under two weeks to toilet train the several children who start untrained. But health visitors hmmm do they even exist in some areas.

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    2. we are the new health visitors!! we dont visit the family home (well we offer that in our setting if the parent so wishes!!) but we are now the ones that do the 2 year check and it is a statutory document that WE HAVE TO DO! where is the pay increase for us taking on the role that health visitors no longer do!!?

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    3. Health visitors do certainly exist... Many health visitors now have nursery nurses (aka myself) who work alongside them who regularly make home visits to families who SEEK support around parenting (toilet training included).. Whether parents choose to access help is another story...

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  19. I have taught in early learning environments and you can tell which students have received more support from their parents. (Support can can vary but the simplest form is having a structured & safe home environment (thereby enabling a child to get toilet trained quickly & have some independence).

    I think that the writer's idea of sending health visitors to the home of a student is an excellent proposal. If a child has not been toilet trained before reaching primary school then there is a chance parents may be neglecting their responsibilities in other areas. Demanding nursery staff to teach a child how to use the toilet properly effectively makes the staff a part-time parent. Where would the Government draw the line...how to eat properly, how to dress properly?

    As much as I like Anon's idea of having classes built around helping students learn these basic skills I am afraid that the current push towards academies and running schools like a business leave our kids on a bad footing because high grades will bring in the funding required to keep a school open. Our education system is about pumping out high grades and regurgitation...it is partly why I refused to become a teacher as I do not see this situation changing any time soon.

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    1. Reading your post I'm afraid I can't get past the fact that you are using the term 'student' for these very little children........

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  20. Hallelujah! As a childminder I am becoming more and more despondent with the ever changing goal posts, we are swamped with paperwork which has to be done in our own time as being one to one it cannot be done during our "work" hours, and there is always more "training" evenings to attend. I did ask at one training evening why parents are not issued with a copy of the EYFS Development matters, showing the ages and stages of development, presumably they are not responsible for the childs learning?!

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  21. This is a fab and very very true post.
    I am a parent my self and and qualified nursery nurse and now manager of my own setting.
    I go d it I intreguing that they are now moaning at nursery staff for NOT teaching children basic skills, letters numbers ect when it was them that said we were not allowed as when children got to reception some could do it and some couldn't and it was harder for teachers.
    It seems that nursery workers can not win.

    I totally agree with what you say about how you are happy with your child's care by the look on het face, the dirty ckothes, and how she happily goes off in the morning.
    This was the exact reason me and my business partner started our own nursery, to escape the clause of the dreaded ofsted dog's and don'ts. Of course we don't rebel against them all but the child's and parents happiness and satisfaction with the quality of our care is thé most important thing to us.
    our learning journeys air in a scrap book keep sake style and have the info for ofsted there, however it's discreet and if the parents want to kbow what it means and want more info then they will get it!!!!!

    Children need to play explore and use their imaginations in order to learn, basic skills like numbers shapes can be incorporated I to this!!!!

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  22. I have been in Early Years Care and Education for many years. I completely agree parents are the child's main educators and every course and conference or training I attend tells me this. So why is it the government are constantly trying to get practitioners to teach children letters and numbers, early maths and put unachievable targets in place for young children. My role (as I see it) is to ensure children and emotionally ready, confident, independant children who have the social and development skills to accept learning when they reach Year R. The increase in behavioural issues in young children, I believe, is due to when we have babies we are encouraged to provide structure and routine. Then when they go to pre-school we have to provide a continous provision (limited adult led activites or intervention) then they start school with a highly structured routine. Surely as an adult this is confusing let alone a child. Children should be allowed to be children and play as long as they are emotionally and socially developed let the Year R teams teach :)

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  23. I work in a nursery in scotland and we were told we werent aloud to teach the children how to write properly or teacher type activities with them which I dont think is right. Also inspectors or government realise its bad enough with the ratios we already have within settings. We are on basic wages to look after the children and we do the best we can to meet their requirements but it's hard when you are on minimum ratio. Also people think childcare is an easy job to work in but its not. I would go on but would be to long

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    1. The correct spelling is allowed. Not aloud.

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  24. I dint go to nersury and am doon ok. Lol. YOLO. HASHTAG.

    Terribly sorry old fruit. I don't know what came over me.

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  25. I'm a childminder and couldnt have said this any better....well done.x

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  26. I have worked in day nurseries since 2003, back then our job was to look after the children, making sure they were happy, fed and entertained, while their parents were at work, sure there was paperwork, but it was basic things that children pick up anyway like stacking bricks, walking and making friends. I work with 2 year olds now, and there is so much more involved, so much paperwork we don't have time to play with the children, I often feel I'm there just to supervise them, telling them to stop running around or winding up their friends/snatching toys. As a nursery nurse I have to say that I feel it's unfair that some parents leave the toilet training to nursery, you think it's hard work toilet training one child? try toilet training 4 or 5 of them at the same time, that's a lot of dirty underwear you end up dealing with and still trying to keep a smile on your face and say 'it's okay, accidents happen, let's get you cleaned up and try to use the potty/toilet next time'. Sometimes I wonder why I'm still in this profession, it's often tough and the wages aren't enough for the hours and expectations of some parents

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  27. I agree. As a nursery nurse I struggle daily with over 10 key children and all the paperwork involved to meet requirements. When you go off a ratio and there is no time to do paperwork and most of the time this means finishing work to go home and do more work just to catch up and not fall behind it is very tough. I work for a nursery where the paperwork is just unreal.... ofsted say one thing what makes it easy but the nursery want more and more and make things so hard. Working 40 hours a week to come home and write till all hours... my word I could go on and on but it will be a big rant!

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    1. I worked in a nursery for a while after my degree and had 7 key children including a child with severe S&L delay and worked 1 to1 with her. We had half an hour lunch and had to take all work home after work and in the holidays. I did not last long as I feel it is totally unfair and felt like slave labour. The children were fantastic, but the workload was unreal. I am now a TA in Reception class and loving it !

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  28. I work in a nursery part time and love my job and find it rewarding. I am also a Mum of two. Your blog is well put.I don't have key children but have a special bond with many. I help those staff i cover for planning etc to contribute to their learning journal but feel my job is more important that i meet the childrens needs not the ofsted needs. I do my job to be part of their extended family. Thats what i wanted when my children were in nursery,so i try to do my upmost to offer that to the children i look after.

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  29. I work in a nursery part time and love my job and find it rewarding. I am also a Mum of two. Your blog is well put.I don't have key children but have a special bond with many. I help those staff i cover for planning etc to contribute to their learning journal but feel my job is more important that i meet the childrens needs not the ofsted needs. I do my job to be part of their extended family. Thats what i wanted when my children were in nursery,so i try to do my upmost to offer that to the children i look after.

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  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. I've been a Manager for years in a nursery and have now got to the point where it's an impossible job. Ofsted and early years are just piling more and more on nurseries, there is paperwork for paperwork now and it's ridiculous. It should just be about the children being well looked after and having a great time. The more paperwork staff do the less time they are spending with the children. Pressure on staff leads to unhappy staff. Ofsted also seem to give better grades for those nurseries doing lots of paperwork and having amazing resources instead of grading them for how wonderful they are with the children. I'm finding more and more qualified practitioners are getting out of childcare because it's just too much for them.

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  32. Wow! So many comments and responses, mostly backing up your theories, it seems you've hit the nail on the head! I work in Early Years and have done for 25 years, since I was 18. When I started working in nurseries the emphasis was on the safety and general welfare of the child - a child who feels safe and happy will develop and learn. I have seen a huge amount of changes to the expectations put on the staff in Early Years settings and, quite frankly, am surprised that young people still want to enter into this as a profession/vocation. The job has become more and more stressful over the years and we have more and more responsibility heaped upon us as each year passes.
    Every Early Years practitioner I know has to take work home with them to complete (usually unpaid) in their own time to meet the requirements of government and ofsted. We are paid VERY low wages and have one of the greatest responsibilities any job can carry - the care of very young, dependent people who have yet to learn about safety and how to be independent. To also expect us to 'educate' the children in our care is bonkers. Children learn through play and interaction with others, not because the people playing and interacting with them are marking off their progress in a book!

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  33. Wow! So many comments and responses, mostly backing up your theories, it seems you've hit the nail on the head! I work in Early Years and have done for 25 years, since I was 18. When I started working in nurseries the emphasis was on the safety and general welfare of the child - a child who feels safe and happy will develop and learn. I have seen a huge amount of changes to the expectations put on the staff in Early Years settings and, quite frankly, am surprised that young people still want to enter into this as a profession/vocation. The job has become more and more stressful over the years and we have more and more responsibility heaped upon us as each year passes.
    Every Early Years practitioner I know has to take work home with them to complete (usually unpaid) in their own time to meet the requirements of government and ofsted. We are paid VERY low wages and have one of the greatest responsibilities any job can carry - the care of very young, dependent people who have yet to learn about safety and how to be independent. To also expect us to 'educate' the children in our care is bonkers. Children learn through play and interaction with others, not because the people playing and interacting with them are marking off their progress in a book!

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    1. Thank you - as a preschool nursery nurse I agree entirely with you. (Btw where do you get paid over £7?! £6.50 or less is more likely for level 3 qualified and many years experience)

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  34. I completely agree with this post. IMPORTANTLY It is not a requirement of our country/government/law for a child to attend a pre-school setting i.e day care/nursery.
    So there could be many children starting school without any previous learning outside of the home. I have worked in the same setting for over 9 years now and Not only do we have to maintain that the care and safety of the child is paramount above all, we also set up daily activities and outings, battle with conflicts between children, Deal with irate parents, complete daily risk assessments, daily plans, daily observations, ensure children are meeting the correct age appropriate stages, complete individual and group progress reviews, Have regular meetings I.e every six weeks on a rolling rota with parents to discuss next steps, which could then lead on to involving other outside professions such as speech and language and FIRST team, which means taking the key person away from the children to meet with various other professions. We not only look after and support the children but the families as a whole, sometimes this means going to other meetings for there other children in our own leisure time, to support that family and any difficulties they may have. Meeting with schools in our own time to help with transitions to school for those who may have difficulties adapting. We also have to partake in endless training sessions to ensure we all have certificates appropriate to working with children, which is again in our own time. I love my job and couldn't think of anything else i would rather do, However i do feel that child care practitioners get a tough deal. It is so underpaid it's unreal. I find it utterly disgusting that we as a nation we would spend more money on an MOT for our cars than we do on childcare, Then have the ordasity to complain that childcare costs are too high. These are our children and i personally would pay over the odds to ensure that my flesh and blood, my precious baby was safe and secure and well looked after and in the care of professional people i trusted. people need to rethink having children, if they spent less time in front of the tv or video games and more time learning with their parents our children would be suitably ready for school. Rant over. sorry.

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  35. I am preschool practitioner and I absolutely love my job but we provide small sessions and have to cram so much into them to ensure we are getting the observations we need for learning journeys that the day always feels stressful from the paperwork overload. I completely agree that children do not need all this until they go to school, if children show an interest in such activities then we should support this but there is definitely to much pressure put on children at an early age and the practitioners working with them. Thr learning journeys are lovely for keepsakes but should jyst be for that reason. I hope the pressure put on both children and those working with them eases in the future.

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  36. As an Early Years Practitioner totally agree with all the comments made. There is no time for fun with the children anymore because of the endless amount of paperwork and the minimum ratio is ridiculous. If things continue in this vein there will b many great Practitioners leaving this particular profession.

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  37. Child care doesn't pay well but the smiles on the children's faces make up for it
    Only necular physics has more legislation than child care says alot really xxx

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  38. Completely agree with this. The government thinks that it's ok, they're getting unemployment down and mums back into jobs but at what detriment to society to future generations who, going on their own expierience of growing up will think well if I don't do it then someone else will. Parents should be able, supported and encouraged to be with their children.

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  39. Trusting parents to do the right thing does not help those kids with bad parents. The much lauded North European system of starting education later is augmented by such things as free childcare from birth. This means parents who can't cope, can put their children in the hands of professional caregivers who, like our nursery workers and teachers do a superb job of nurturing children.

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  40. Why do you go through so much education to just finger paint with a child? I could pay a 16 year old fresh out of school to come to my house to do that and for nearly half the money? This article is actually quite degrading as it is undervalued and underpaid job but why shouldn't parents expect more when the amount of learning you put yourself through to do your job? And I am a nursery nurse!

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    1. Play=learning. That's a simple fact which underpins many theories into early years education and is supported by the research.

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    2. Finger painting!!!!! We do alot more than that this article isnt degrading your comment is!!

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    3. This post is degrading ! Not the article ! We do alot more than finger painting!! Also I dont believe in getting a child ready for school. The school should accomodate for a childs individual needs. However if the child is given the right guidance and support from both child care and parents they should have the skills they are ready for to go to school with. I think people put a lot of pressure on child practitioners to 'teach' them when in fact they spend most time with parents who should be their main 'teachers'i also believe a child learns best from play and that is the great thing about nurseries is that the staff are trained to do this best by using childs interests n their individual needs to help them move on. But this is getting harder to do with all the paperwork and pressure piled on this job which should be the most rewarding job of all. A child who has just turned 4 is obviously at disadvantage to a child who has had an extra year to learn from play.

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    4. A 16 year old fresh out of school wouldnt want half the money we get!! lol. I dont think the person that wrote it is trying to make us feel degraded but to emphasis that we are worthy of a lot more respect as professionals!! :) I have told both my older children NOT to go into the field of nurseries/preschools as it is CRAP wages and they expect too much from you! I wish I had stayed in clerical work!

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  41. i started work as nursery nurse in 2003 until 2006, sadly due to the incredibly bad pay i had to leave for a job in a call centre dealing with sky broadband!!!??!! in 2011 as my partner was able to support me in going back to the job i loved, i returned to childcare and became a preschool teacher. i was completely overwhelmed with how much the paperwork had increased and had to work from home 6-8 hours a week (unpaid) just to keep up with the workload! my contract ended (i was covering maternity leave) and although they offered me a permanent position i turned it down as i realised i needed to value my time more. i have now become a private nanny where i do no paperwork, play with 2 toddlers all day and get paid £8 an hour. i do miss large group activities and working in a team of other adults who are as passionate about working with children as i am, but unless ofsted reduces the amount of paperwork or we are more valued and paid higher wages, i will never work in a nursery or preschool again!

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  42. I totally agree with this. Working as a childminder for the last sixteen years I have seen a huge increase in paperwork and spend hours and hours, in my own time, keeping up to date. My children all have learning journals and scrapbooks showing the work and activities we do. My eldest minded child is now at university studying a degree and she was never subjected to the observations and monitoring that the children are now. All children develop at different rates and teaching them to be socially acceptable in society is by far the most important early years training they could have. They should be enjoying life experiences out and about in the community, socialising with friends in a fun and caring setting.

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  43. I so agree with you but could I also point out I'm a childminder who not only does the same job as a nursery with various ages for very little pay but I also do all the same paper work am ofsteded----outstanding last time ,and do all this alone

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  44. I am a Registered Childminder of 23 years and I totally agree. I can honestly say that I give the children now the same opportunities and activities as I did when I started but I just have a lot more bureaucracy to deal with - none of which has any effect on the children's well-being or progress, it is just for the Government. Yes the parents love the Learning Journals, but for the photos, they don't really care about the observations. I have worked for several primary school teachers and when the EYFS first came out one of them wanted to write to Ofsted and tell them that he was forbidding me to do the paperwork! I wish somebody somewhere in the Government with common sense would have the guts to stand up against this system, but that is unlikely to happen as it would be deemed as a step backwards. Many childminders that I know who have also been doing this work for a long time, are at the stage now where we have decided to keep going as we always have in our own way and will continue to give the children a safe, loving environment in which they will feel valued and have fun. We are all ticking the legal boxes and the children are all progressing well, it will be up to Ofsted to argue with us if they think we are not good enough and we have been doing the job for long enough and are strong enough to be able to argue back!

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  45. I work in a school and yes I do agree that we are pushing too soon, but also getting to five and not being able to use the toilet properly isn't fair on the teacher. At school it isn't the responsibility of the teacher to change wet or soiled clothes. They should be able to do the basic skills.

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  46. Very interesting. I trained as a Montessori teacher, so can appreciate her experience and she must in turn understand that children learn through play, but that play is structured to ensure specific learning. Montessori in particular teaches the 'practical' side of life (dressing, cleaning, etc).
    As a mother I certainly think it is the responsibility of the parent to toilet train their child/ren but don't underestimate the importance of the 'Learning Journey' paperwork; the majority of communication disorders, not to mention physical disorders, are picked up at nursery therefore documentation is needed. At this point I would like to advocate that nursery staff, even in the best nurseries are poorly paid considering that they care for the next generation!
    Whilst the idea of further intervention in "poor" areas seems like the answer, it is the people in these areas who resent intervention; a local children's centre was closed recently because the people it was aimed at refused to attend. What is the answer? Unfortunately no one system will suit all, it never does.

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  47. I to work in pre-school, and totally agree with all you have said, let them be children , and start their schooling at 5 when most will be ready and then they will fly, Aren't Parents are suppose to be the main Educators in their children's lives ?,most children spend more time with their parents/parent than they do will us, its no good putting practices in place if they are not carried on at home.

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  48. I agree 100% with these sentiments. Having nearly 40 years of childcare experience (23 of those in the same nursery) I have spoken to many parents about their children. Although they love looking at learning journeys and how their child is developing, their greatest concerns are "is my child in a safe environment, being cared for and happy?" Everything else is secondary. Let children be children! Let them learn through their play;there is enough pressure put on children at a far too young age! I have worked with some amazing and dedicated practitioners who do it for the love of the job and certainly not the pay. So well done all you childcare workers out there - you do a fantastic job and don't let anyone get you down.

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  49. All children need a routine yes I believe in that but they should be allowed to explore their world they live in of which nurseries are very good at but I don't believe in paperwork there is to much especially if OFSTED say's one thing and early years say another and if yr setting is a good one the keyperson is always available to talk and they would , also recognise if there was something not right and kept an eye on then make referrals or help the parent to help their child

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  50. All children need a routine yes I believe in that but they should be allowed to explore their world they live in of which nurseries are very good at but I don't believe in paperwork there is to much especially if OFSTED say's one thing and early years say another and if yr setting is a good one the keyperson is always available to talk and they would , also recognise if there was something not right and kept an eye on then make referrals or help the parent to help their child

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  51. I used to work in a childcare as an EYP. The saddest thing is, we were so busy doing the paper work during the day, we only managed to interact and play with the children towards the end of the day (when the parents came to collect the children, which worked well as we were making a good impression). We had to 'stage' many photos for the learning journeys just to say the child is achieving in every area. Not talking about the constant pressure and criticism from the management, for not being good enough. Most of the girls were being paid the minimal wage, or slightly above. My aim was to leave ASAP and I really admire the girls for putting up with all the pressure. I agree the early years education does need an upgrade by bringing in fresh ideas, but unfortunately 'assessing' 13 moth olds by ticking boxes of their development according to the incredibly inconsiderable and inadequate EYFS is not it.

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  52. I agree with your post and a great read :-) I think it's the people in offices that are making changes without knowing what we do already! I'm sure they think what should we add now for practitioners to do. I was a senior nursery nurse in a busy well run nursery and the paper work at home was a joke plus still researching getting new ideas to enhance the children further. The pay should be reviewed especially on what practitioners do daily and at home nearly every weekend or night. More money for nurseries that need help and also the ones that have good practices to be able to pay staff well.

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  53. I agree with your post and a great read :-) I think it's the people in offices that are making changes without knowing what we do already! I'm sure they think what should we add now for practitioners to do. I was a senior nursery nurse in a busy well run nursery and the paper work at home was a joke plus still researching getting new ideas to enhance the children further. The pay should be reviewed especially on what practitioners do daily and at home nearly every weekend or night. More money for nurseries that need help and also the ones that have good practices to be able to pay staff well.

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  54. I couldnt agree more with this. I work in a very good nursery from 2002 as a nursery assistant and worked all the way up to nursery marager. I left it 2011 to have a family of my ow ans now a full time mum of two. And my god havent times changed when I first started out there was barely no paperwork to do and children were allow to be children and just play now it paper work for this paper work for that!! The child must be able to do this the child must be able to do that!! I'm so glad I left when I did as people I know who still work in tge nursery say it has got worse which is such a shame as nurseries and working with children can be amazing career if there wasnt so much pressure and stress that came with the title.

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  55. Can I please offer a perspective from a parent's point of view? I have brought up 4 children, and I have ALWAYS believed in talking and interacting with my children in my care. When .... went to nursery school attached to a main school,I used to read to my .... when parents needed to be with their children in the nursery class before 8.55 when the teacher would be in charge. I am proud of the fact I taught my children their colours,their name etc BEFORE they went to school,and you HAD to have yr child potty trained for both playschool AND nursery before they were accepted for either! Sadly,things do not seem to have moved on far from that time to this. I was told by the nursery teacher THEN,nearly 20 years ago that teachers could tell what child had been to some kind of organized play,or had had any interaction with their parent or not. Even then,all those years ago,children were going into school not knowing the basic knowledge of numbers,colours,letters etc. It is sad to see things haven't improved much from 20 years ago up to the present date.

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  57. The government is failing children, parents and childcare provider's by charging extortionate amounts for childcare. If it didn't cost more than the average days wage to send a child to nursery then maybe so much wouldn't be expected of childcare workers! And it's not even like the wages of nursery staff reflect the costs! I am a single mother who has to work to afford to live but I have to work 39+ hours a week to a pay for somebody else to look after my child. Who is going to teach children basic things if parents are expected to work all day every day to pay nursery staff who aren't paid enough and are given huge unrealistic workloads? But it's alright as long as MPs can have the money to pay their mortgages and have biscuits in parliament why should average joe have a child capable of going to the toilet by the time they are 5?? Rant over

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  58. Hit the nail on the head! Thanks for this post. I am a mum of two nursery-aged children and I used to work in a nursery too. The nursery was all about Learning Journeys and it stressed the nursery staff out so much. As a mum, I saw things in my son's Learning Journey that meant nothing to me at all. Things that they had seen him doing which I had seen a hundred times before, but which they had to put in to fill in the gaps. My son did love the nursery but I did all of his teaching at home.
    Working in the nursery and filling in Learning Journeys was dreadful! With a criteria to tick off every month for each child: a page of artwork, a mark making page, a page of observations, a page of photos..... and then for one of the managers to go round and check every single Learning Journey to make sure that all is present and correct!!! Total joke and totally missing the point!
    When I left the nursery, I took one of the staff with me, as our nanny. She is amazing with the kids but hated working in the nursery due to the Learning Journeys and red tape and paperwork. The kids have an amazing time at home with her. She fills in a little daily diary for me just with things about what they have eaten, nappies, and little remarkable things, but that's all I need. I know my kids - I don't need anyone else to tell me what they are doing.
    As a nursery nurse it was always a pleasure to see kids writing and reading and being successfully toilet-trained, but yes, some kids left us having few, if any of those skills. That's not the failing of the nursery setting. That's a child being not ready for those things yet.
    Let kids be themselves. I would pay anything for childcare where I know that my child is loved, respected, safe and understood, and to me, that is all that I want!

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    1. Great response and hurrah - you made a key point missed by so many - sometimes it's not the failing of parents or nursery or child - they just aren't ready to do something!

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  59. I have conflicting feelings regarding this issue. I am a single parent to a very forward three year old boy who will start school two weeks after he turns four. I am also a practitioner and at University half way through my Teacher Training.

    As a practitioner myself I believe that education is the responsibility of the parent and that the nursery are there to encourage the child's development. The EYFS isn't there for us to box children into achieving at certain ages, its to track there ability - some children will achieve early, some later on but it allows us to notice if a child isn't developing and if there require further assistance. Potty training is something that should be maintained at home by the parents and encouraged at nursery. I believe that children should be able to sit and listen for short periods by the time they start school but although this is something that is promoted within the nursery the responsibility lays with the parents for instigating and maintaining these skills.

    As a mother I have a totally different perspective. My three year old has be obsessed with learning since he turned one. He knew all of his letters, phonics and numbers and was fully toilet trained by the time he was two and a half. At three and a half he can write all of his letters, read the 50 high frequency words, write and spell all the family names and can blend all his words to understand how they are formed and spelt. Now a mother I worry that my son will attend reception and be bored to tears. I fight with the nursery who advise that they send Noah out to play during 'key group' as its far to easy for him rather than provide him with something a little more challenging. As a mother, I want the best for my son and I want him to be encouraged and challenged, surely if he is just faced with the same old things that he has been able to do for the last 18months he is going to stop trying and give up.

    I have come to the conclusion that learning SHOULD begin at home and be encouraged at nursery. Unfortunately not all parents have the time, energy or interest to engage and encourage their child's learning. Maybe if more parents sat at the table to eat and talk with their children they would in turn find it easier to sit and listen at nursery and school.

    My main point is I do not agree that children should be left to just play until they are five, do not get me wrong I believe play is one of the most important ways a child learns but we must remember that every child is different. Every child is an individual and it is with this in mind that we need to provide a varied curriculum that can be differentiated to suit each child. If a child is forward and wants to learn, why not praise and encourage this in the same way that if a child is struggling we offer an abundance resources to help them.

    All I know is that when my son starts school, I will expect them to encourage and develop his broad range of knowledge that I have encouraged at home. Just as if he was struggling I would expect them to provide resources to develop these areas.

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    1. They are not just left to play . It is all planned play from individual interests of each child. Hence LEARNING through play. The children don't realise to them it is fun, interesting and exciting. It is down to the person playing alongside them modelling skills and language that helps them learn. They are not left to just play in a nursery

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  60. I am. Dutch and the British school system is the scariest in Europe. start later with formal learning is better. you expect a builder to put proper. foundations in a building, why not do this with our children... stop rushing everything and stop skipping developing skills

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  61. I'm sorry but I don't agree completely. Although it is maybe true (i dont know!) that nursery staff are not paid big bucks, at least in the uk and in ireland, nurseries cost an arm and a leg. The cheapest nursery I have seen around my area charges 55 quid per day. If easter or xmas or st Stevens day or new year day fall on a day the child should have been at nursery, the parent IS CHARGED THE FULL PRICE FOR THE DAY. If your baby's sick, or on holiday, the parent IS STILL CHARGED even if the child doesn't attend the nursery. I think this is disgusting and yes, I DO expect more if nurseries charge that much. If you send 2 kids to nursery, either you have a VERY good job or there's no point for you to work. Why shouldn't I expect nurserues that are so expensive to not go the extra mile and find playful wats to start teaching my child some basic school information? Sorry but this is what I think!

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    1. When you pay nursery fees you are paying for your child's place [so the nursery is staffed to ratio and your child can attend on the days and times you request]. If this wasn't done and you were charged on a attendance basis, it would end up being first come first served, so you wouldn't always be guaranteed a spot for that day and therefore could not guarantee being able to go to work. so if your child is sick you have to pay as your are still retaining your child's place. Also if you didn't have to pay for sick days, then lots of children would be 'sick' every time a parent wanted an extra day off and would affect the running of the nursery and ultimately result in many closing. Most nurseries provide 4 weeks holiday time and i have never known a nursery to charge for days when the nursery is closed.

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  62. I have read the original post and all the subsequent replies and the overwhelming message I can see is that far too much emphasis is being given to paperwork and not enough on interacting with the children. I have just left my job after 8 years. In this time the paper trail has increased to a ridiculous degree. I myself didn't start school until age 5 and never attended a play school (they didnt exist way back then) I could read and write by then (thanks to my mum) and was put on 'the top table'. I always felt a little jealous of those other children who weren't as forward because they had more time to play in the sand and water or do painting. They learnt through play and by the time we left Infant School we were all at a similar level. My own children were in the care of a childminder during their formative years while I worked full time. One of my children was very quick to potty train the other was not, one was keen to learn to read the other was not. One loved sums the other did not. I think this just goes to prove that you cant pigeon hole children. Even with the exact same care and attention they developed at their own pace. Nursery workers face criticism from every direction. They do a remarkable job for very little reward (be that money or praise) yet every day they are there with a smile on their faces to greet the children and still there at the end of what can at times be a stressful day to say goodbye still with a smile. I don't know if those that run OFSTED have ever worked in a nursery or if as I suspect they have lived their lives behind a desk but I for 1 would like to see every 1 of them spend at least 1 month within a setting doing everything that is expected of a nursery nurse now. Let them see how hard it is for some of these practitioners. Then and only then should they be allowed to criticise. Sorry this has been a bit disjointed but its been written as its been thought of.

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  63. I work in a nursery as a nursery assistant and I absolutely love my job! The children I look after are my world and I enjoy each and everyone of them. I'm happy with the paperwork it's just the fact that i put so much effort in paperwork and follow guidelines to a t and parents don't take notice to the boring parts of the work. They just want pictures of them playing and they're amazing art work. This should be the paper work, just showing what children do best, which is play! I don't think parents gain anything from seeing bullet points from the EYFS guidelines. A parents evening every month showing how they're getting on and a solid report every 3-6months

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  64. It is so important that children have those social skills that they will need all through their lives in our society. They are not young for long we need to cherish the young and let them learn through play how to socialize and also emotioally. I have been in childcare for 10 years and can always see the joy and laughter through play that these children get and what a pleasure this is for me

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  65. Big bucks we wish. Nursery workers get minimum wage

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  66. I totally agree with this, I was under the impression my little boy is very clever he's not even 4 yet, but he can count to 30, he knows his alphabet, he knows shapes and colours. Most of which he s been taught by me and his dad. Yet attending his parents evening, it was bought to my attention that they are concerned with his attention span. Now I know that he gets bored very easily and he likes to be very independant. The fact that he doesn't always listen and seems like he doesn't concentrate on anything doesn't concern me...... He's only 3! and the fact that he seems like he doesn't listen but he usually always knows the answer. This is what his teachers said to me... So my question was, where's the problem? I think too much is being expected of little ones too early, when they should be having fun without a care in the world.

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  67. I totally agree with this, I was under the impression my little boy is very clever he's not even 4 yet, but he can count to 30, he knows his alphabet, he knows shapes and colours. Yet attending his parents evening, it was bought to my attention that they are concerned with his attention span. Now I know that he gets bored very easily and he likes to be very independant. The fact that he doesn't always listen and seems like he doesn't concentrate on anything doesn't concern me...... He's only 3! and the fact that he seems like he doesn't listen but he usually always knows the answer. This is what his teachers said to me... So my question was, where's the problem? I think too much is being expected of little ones too early, when they should be having fun without a care in the world.

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  68. How can you stop a child learning they are sponges, they will pick up on anything that interests them we are just facilitators good and bad, I have been in childcare for the last 40 + years ideas have changed many times but children stay the same far better for a child to feel wanted and loved, know how to dress themselves etc before learning to read and write. Please don't tell me we are going back to worksheets for 2 and 3 year olds.

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  69. Agree - targets are rubbish.

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  70. You can't stop children learning they are sponges, we are just facilitators good and bad. I have been in childcare 40+ years and children haven't changed. They need love and time and social skills learning to share, take turns, begin to dress themselves with the support of a caring adult in order to get on. It's not nurseries failing children it sometimes starts much earlier led by the fashion media for example how will a child learn to talk with an I pad docking station in a pram that faces away from it's carer. Nursery staff are mostly dedicated people who love children but are not miracle workers.

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  71. Could not agree more. I work my backside of doing paper work all day when i realy should be playing with the children and having fun with them. I get £6.36ph.. How is that justified for being a masive part of a childs life and educating them?

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  72. This article hits the nail on the head! So very true. The eyes seems to have forgotten that children need to play not memories numbers and letter sounds. Nursery staff are expected to do waaaaaay too much paperwork. We would be better off spending that time with the children rather than filling in endless streams of paperwork.

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  73. Private nurseries cost so much due to the untold costs, such as the various insurances you need to run a nursery, rent, maintenance, utility bills, food, resources, all this before you pay the staff . Nursery staff all work hard to maintain ofsted, parents , govening bodies are happy, everyone seems to forget about the basic needs of the children except the people that actually work with them , yes paper work plays an important role in child development but at the end of the day surely its the quality of care that counts.

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  74. They're trained and responsible to monitor children's milestones which can flag up any difficulties. That's why you pay the cost per hour in a professional setting. That's what I paid for. However, my daughters Autism was ignored by staff and was finally flagged up by the school. The educational psychologist said that the milestones that were recorded in her journal were way off of her ability.
    If I wanted a babysitter, I'd have asked my neighbour.

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  75. YES! As both a parent and a Nursery Assistant I agree whole-heartedly with everything you said here!

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  76. I agree completely with everything here! We live in a culture, though, of blame and the blame is always aimed at the wrong people. Its always 'Let that person take the blame'. If you choose to have a child, you accept the responsibility that goes with that and not blame others when you fail your child. My daughter went to a childminder and she thrived. Now at school since September she is moving on beautifully and doing her homework and reading with her is one of the best parts of my day as I work full time.

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  77. I'm retired nursery teacher with 4 grown up children and 6 grandchildren. Early years education should be fun - children learn best through play. Children who are ready to read before they start school will pester you until you teach them - I was one of those and I had one of those! I also had one who could just manage the first initial of his first name. The former has gone on to be academically and professionally successful and the latter has a routine job needing no real qualifications. They are both happy and in employment - isn't that the important thing? They could both dress themselves and understand instructions before they started school. The children who come out worse from all this formal education are the children from deprived backgrounds, they soon learn they are at "the bottom of the class" With more time to play, staff to talk to them and listen to them to take them to the park etc, they would have the opportunity to progress and make discoveries for themselves. Learning through play is the answer.

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  78. Totally agreeing I work as a nursery nurse and between nappies, meal time, activities, books and everything else I never get any time do all this paperwork. every time it changes theirs just more paperwork I love working with the children and messy play but trying to box, group and label each child for everything they do just seems wrong. children should have our full attention instead of worrying if they have meet their next criteria. they would certainly benefit from us just getting stuck in and learning through play.

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  79. I'm currently training to become a nursery nurse and I've been in several placements and I've seen the amount of paper work each person has to do and it's alot. People think working with children is all fun and games. I have always wanted to work with children I have loved my 3 years training! Children in nursery don't want to be sat down and told they have got to learn how to hold a pencil they want to be having a good time with their peers. Children will learn in their own time, each child is individual.

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  80. My daughter goes to a private nursery part of the 2 year funding so she gets 15 hours 'a week free since september when she started she toilet trained talking more and come homes singing nursery rymes and can count to 20 at 2 years old i think they do a fantastic job wiv her and always look busy when i go to collect her :)

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  81. https://megaminder.co.uk/welcome.php
    We offer early year practitioners a FREE secure online environment to make their jobs more efficient, and by doing so, giving them more time to focus on the children in their care and in return they provide the parents of the children insight to their child's daily activities and being able to demonstrate that they meet the requirements set out by Ofsted whilst working in partnership with the parents of the setting.
    Our online tools allow you to easily carry out observations, daily diaries, incident reports and more. Everything you could possibly need to run your setting and comply with Ofsted's requirements.
    By using our online tools that have been specifically designed for two way interaction between parent and practitioner, the gap is bridged in working in partnership and the information shared relevant to each individual child's needs.
    Parents can comment on all areas with many more features inside.

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  82. I absolutely agree. As a mum of two (2 and 4) I feel like the government no longer trusts me to know what is best for MY children. Instead they are slowly handing out parental responsibility to institutions such as nurseries. I can't help feeling that we are a short step away from this type of childcare becoming compulsory. The free 15 hours from age 3 certainly goes some way to putting children into childcare who wouldn't ordinarily have gone.

    I'm lucky that my children have never needed to go to nursery. I have however put my eldest into a pre-school for 3 mornings a week. I have no interest in them 'teaching' him anything. For me I want them to give him things that I can't offer: to form friendships with children who will go on to be in his class; to feel comfortable on his own in a setting with other children; to learn that after being left I will pick him up.

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  83. Perhaps instead of asking if nursery children are ready for school, schools should be ready for our children - whatever stage they are at.

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  84. I totally agree with this post, so much pressure is put on to nursery nurses to teach children all of these life skills which is very unfair!!! Surely Parents should want to be the ones that teach their own children toilet training and numbers, to me I thought that was the whole point of having a child to nurture buy it seems the job of those in the childcare business now who then are being accused of failing the children!!!!

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  85. This is so true. I worked in a nursery up until ayear ago and i loved my time with the children but hated all the rediculous paperwork, It would often take half a day of my sat down doing paperwork just to get a weeks worth done, during this time i would be in the room with the children counted into ratio but unable to give them attention as i had to do the paperwork. Surely my time would have been better spent with the children.
    In alot of scenarios we would try to potty train children but because the parents wouldnt or couldnt do it at home it was never fully successfull, especially if the child was only at nursery once a week and god help you if you tried to speak to the parent and upset them. Everybody needs to assist.
    You are right the wage is bad i was fully qualified and still on minimum wage whilst the owner of the nursery drove a range rover. I left due to lack of pay and stress of paperwork and a year on i still miss my children and helping then to learn through new exciting experiences not doing paperwork.

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  86. I completely agree with you. As a Pre-school Manager working in the field for over 10 years we have had increasing pressures to achieve what many of us consider unrealistic targets with regard to evidencing and documenting children's learning. Every so often we stop and remind ourselves that these unrealistic targets set by government are only there to satisfy Governments need to control and scrutinise what is done by others. We all know that endless reams of what you describe as 'clinical' detail means very little to some parents and unfortunately diverts away from what is supposed to be a wonderful keepsake and diary of your child's strengths and achievements and joyous moments of childhood. However with increasing demand to prove we are doing a good job we have had to increase the evidence base for this - tracking children's Social, language & Communication skills on separate forms, using cohort trackers for individuals and groups, ensuring children's 'Next Steps' are detailed continuously and then ensure they are met and documented. I personally love creating the children's folders - making them look inviting, lots of little comments next to photographs to capture the child's real personality, pieces of 'work' however scrunched and mauled!!! as these are the things that parents and children feel are important to them. I do obviously do all of the things asked of me in relation to documenting and evidencing - maybe not documenting everything but who can? I do this because I am terrified of Ofsted or any other power that be telling our setting that we are inadequate! I am highly confident that my staff team and I know our children that attend, we know what makes them tick, we know what makes them smile if they are missing home or someone has upset them, we know how to make them laugh, we know where they need individual support, we know where they excel and most of all we know they are safe, cared for, and happy to come to pre-school. Everything that is expected of them can be and is 'taught' but in a way that allows them to be themselves - through play! Through fun! Through giving them the confidence to try again at a time when they feel confident and ready! Through us being with them, nurturing, inspiring, encouraging, modelling and supporting!!!! If government want us to sit in an office all day doing even more paperwork and turn our pre-school's into structured teaching environments like class rooms then fine! See how children's development declines then and see what workforce you are left with. No number of graduates or students who truly feel passionate about children's development will remain. Government wanted to raise the bar of qualified persons working in Pre-school settings - well that bar has been raised and these qualified people know what absolute utter nonsense the government expects of children and childcare staff. We will all continue to do what is asked as we do not want to fail our children or fail ourselves but they must realise soon that we as practitioners are the best resource we can offer to support children's learning and development. We want to be with the children having fun, teaching manners, encouraging them to socialise and play and be happy - not filling out endless reams of paperwork.....!

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  87. My question is if both parents work full time who teaches the child? Don't parents want to to know what their children will experience/learn/be taught when they are paying someone to deliver this? What do we do about nurseries/crèches/child minders where children's learning is not encouraged? If parent s spend 20hrs a week teaching and nurseries then spend that time ignoring will mom and dads hard work be undone? And the whole purpose of the initiative, bridging the gap between rich and poor, what about the children of parents who do not have the wherewithal to help their children develop? If you say they're not your problem, you may be right it's our children who will pick up the tax tab produced by these children and the problems they accumulated through life which can be avoided through better early education.

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  88. My question is if both parents work full time who teaches the child? Don't parents want to to know what their children will experience/learn/be taught when they are paying someone to deliver this? What do we do about nurseries/crèches/child minders where children's learning is not encouraged? If parent s spend 20hrs a week teaching and nurseries then spend that time ignoring will mom and dads hard work be undone? And the whole purpose of the initiative, bridging the gap between rich and poor, what about the children of parents who do not have the wherewithal to help their children develop? If you say they're not your problem, you may be right it's our children who will pick up the tax tab produced by these children and the problems they accumulated through life which can be avoided through better early education.

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    1. My response to this would be: if both parents are too busy working to teach the child, why are they having children in the first place?
      As I mentioned in my post, those parents who don't have the wherewithal to help their children should receive the help.
      And I'd like to see your evidence that if children don't receive early education they will somehow be less well-off later in life. I'm wondering what age Bill Gates was when he first started to receive formal education. I'm guessing he wasn't two.

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  89. Regarding health visitors helping more, like a previous comment, I am a community nursery nurse within the health visiting team, I carry out 2 year checks everyday where I discuss toilet training (in depth!) I also do home visits everyday offering support when needed. I also have additional training from ERIC who also advise starting the potty training when the child is ready, not what age they are at! Children develop at their own rate which is something we all learn when becoming nursery nurses! There is far to much pressure on children these days!!!

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  90. From an "Early Years Practitioner"....thank you for those words. Too much time is spent on paperwork and marking off developments on the EYFS framework that we are losing sight of what the children benefit from - learning through play and doing what comes naturally

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  91. I work in a day nursery as a member of staff in the toddler room, I could not agree more. Working the nursery's opening hours to cover up for the fact that there are not enough staff in the nursery, then to have a one hour lunch break, very difficult but lovely children, demanding parents who all turn up at the same time making the room even more stressful. Me and the other staff in the room are in the room from 8 until 6 and never have any time out. We are STILL expected to have completed all of our childrens next steps, the board work, their learning journeys, parents evening and many other jobs. It is awful. Parents still come in every day and find something to complain about showing no concern for the staff in the room or their stressful job. Noticing children's development is one thing, tracking every thing they do is another.

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  92. As a nursery practitioner I echo many of your comments. I also think of a phrase I learnt while researching and studying childcare for my qualifications. I think it was from Africa where there is a saying that the child is brought up by the village. In other words we all play our part, parents, grand parents, neighbours, relatives, sisters, brothers, aunts uncles, doctors, etc. etc. I still have my reservations of children being in the nursery setting often for long hours several days a week but that is how it seems to be today, no such thing around as nurseries when I was small but I learnt all the same things anyway and was well prepared for school at 5. Perhaps we should have more days where parents take part in a typical whole day rather than the glossed over parents evening with tea and biscuits and tidy rooms. Yes the paperwork is immense but the people who compile this have the children's interests and development at heart but they do not allow for the grey areas, the typical household chores that are exactly the same in a normal home, changing soiled or muddy children, laundry, cleaning, fridge cleaning, sanitizing, toilets, snacks and lunch prep and clearing, not to mention cleaning up after activities all part of the days work, allocating time for paperwork while still maintaining legal ratios. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love what I do and feel sorry that parents cannot share some of the things we witness and enjoy. I suppose we are in a sense extended family and get so much satisfaction from what we do. I have colleagues that have degrees in childcare but t is not a well paid job and not to be entered into lightly because it is very hard work both physically, emotionally and mentally and can bring a lot of stress but and it's a big but it is so rewarding. With all the media attention around childcare costs I do not know what the answer is only that the government are trying to address it

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  93. I also work with children, I wholeheartedly agree. It has turned all children into a herd of cattle and has taken the parent out of the equation. This will eventually have a knock on effect to the whole of education. The children who should have certain monitoring should be the ones who require it through the identification of differences which may not fit into a mould as the government would have it! If you fit too many people into moulds they all wobble the same way eventually and you gain little from free thinking. Wonder what Einstein would have thought of all this mass produced thought?

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  94. Thank the Lord...Someone speaking sense finally..

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  95. Thank you lord. Someone speaking sense at last. Butt out government and let our kids be kids and let the parents do their job.

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  96. As a manager of a day nursery I could not agree more, gone are the days of spending the whole day playing with the children, the amount of paper work that has to be crammed into a day is ridiculous the childrens play is now observed to fit into prime and specific areas of learning , for what.... Because the government and Ofsted say we have to. Learning journeys are a fantastic book to look through and see photos of your child and observations but really are parents interested in where these link into to aEYFS framework.... Not really NO !!!!

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  97. I have worked in various nurseries,
    and it has been a real hard challenge.
    I will never work in a private nursery again.
    I do thank you for appreciating are role as careers.
    I was so stress at work with all the responsiabilities they put on us.
    I am now a waiting for my ofsted check to become a childminder.
    Thanks for bringing this into the light!!

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  98. Great post and oh so true. I think too much emphasis is put on teaching children from a young age and not allowing them to learn through play! Fortunately my two went/go to a fabulous Preschool!

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  99. So what are we all going to do about it?

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  100. I totally agree with this a leading practitioner of a baby room i am on 6.60 an hour and have to do 8 observations each linking to the eyfs and one long they then have to be writen up to go in the childs profile which means that most of my time at work i am doing paper work instead of playing and looking after the children which is why i went into childcare. There is far too much paper work and parents should be aloud to be parents and bring their own children up at a pace they know their child will learn at.

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  101. I am an owner of a couple of nurseries and couldn't agree with these comments more..

    One of the issues as I see them are way too many public sector workers (within Ofsted, Sure Start, CIS or any of the number of departments that put their oar into the mix) trying to justify their positions by "inventing" ever more labour intensive practices that unfortunately has to be completed by the childcare practitioners.. This is all done under the banner of "quality improvement" what in actual fact it's reducing the quality of childcare because the practitioners have to spend so much time on paperwork..

    In addition, and I may be wrong, but is seems the people who make the decisions and put the policies and practices together have absolutely no idea what is best for children.. I am often shocked at the utter stupidity of some of the things they come out with..

    I believe if the public sector workforce was significantly cut and that saved money put towards funding that directly benefited nurseries and the children it would make a far larger impact on "quality improvement"..

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  102. Oh how I love this post!! As a child care centre staff member and as a mum myself, I see this from both a workers perspective and a mums and agree with everything! I dont send my child to daycare to get an education before school. That is my responsibility. She was toilet trained at home. She is learning to write at home. She is learning manners at home. A day in the life of a child care professional is HARD enough without extra paperwork being added every five minutes. Here in Australia you find some staff even need to go to University and do a an Early Childhood Teaching degree to be able to run a room of preschool children.

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  103. As a nursery manager its nice to read that the amount of paperwork early years professionals have to do is being acknowledged. 12 yrs ive worked with children and year by year the paperwork has increased and has impacted massively on staff's time with the children. Its not about the care anymore, my nursery was inspected by ofsted a few months back and all they wanted to see was paperwork, there was no acknowledgemwnt of the care or how happy the children are. The learning journeys are great for parents but they have to be far too structured, parents want to read things like that their child loved playing in the cornflour it was all over their face accompanied by a photo etc not a link to the eyfs that puts them in a certain development band.
    I do agree staff should monitor development etc but the way it was done yrs ago, before it was all this paperwork! I Have to give my staff time out to do paperwork cos i dont agree with staffhaving their heads in a book whilst caring for the children, again is taking them away from the children, parents pay alot of money for childCARE but in the eyes of ofsted and the government these days the fact a child can hold a pen or count to 20.or recite the alphabet before they go to school is far more important than quality care. The government and ofsted should spend a week running a nursery amd see just how much time they spend with the children and how much paperwork is involved on a daily basis!

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  104. What a fantastic post as a nursery nurse I agree with what is said.As a mother of 2 I agree even more.My children attend pre school for 3 hours every morning.However the potty training, dressing skills etc all come down to me.It is impossible for nursery staff to do these tasks how can you potty train one child when you have another 7 or 5 children as your key children?
    However i feel I should point out that sometimes it is not the fault of the parents we had children who were dropped off at 8 and picked up at 6.They were working exactly as the government wants to them to, they will be classed as poor but how will parents find time to do everything! Either the government want parents to stay at home and teach these skills or they want them to work full time and for nurseries to do it.Where the staff ate pushed to breaking point with minimum wage.

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  105. Have worked in childcare for 17 years + and agree with all previous comments. We are heading in the wrong direction putting to much emphasis on paperwork and targets. One year your being told yo do one thing the next something else we have been told many times not to focus on writing numbers and letters and I quote they will learn that when they go into reception now we're being told they need to be able to do this on entry.

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  106. I am a nursery nurse in a nursery, the amount of paperwork we have to do for each and every child is crazy! When I did my training I thought i was going to be able to enjoy playing with the children and spending time with them but the paperwork is always there and never enough time to do it. As for wages and pay, childcare is poorly paid considering we are looking after people's children and the hours are really long. I work 8-6 5days a week I sometimes see more of some children than their parents do.

    I feel that we should be there to support parents in tasks like potty training, teaching children to read and write but not until they are in preschool. In the nursery I work in we encourage the children to use the toilets and dress themselves (helping when they need it) alot of children just need some encouragement.I believe the best teacher for things like reading and writing are the parents, they sometimes have less children at a time (nursery nurses are trying to contend with other children in their ratio) and the government wanting to put the ratios up a while back can any parent contend with 8choldren all at one time? Why should a nursery nurse have to try and decide their time between potentially 12-13.

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  107. SOOOOOO right!

    Here in Western Australia my son has started school-based kindergarten (half-time) this year (he turned 4 this month). Before that he was in daycare (like your nursery I think) and the reports were similar. Thankfully (to me) his teacher at kindergarten, while having to report on these similar things, makes it very clear that the emphasis is on play at this age. But one of the parents said to me after less than a month at school "Do you think they are learning enough? I think they should do more reading and writing!" I said ... but they are THREE! I told her I am happy if (a) he is happy to go to school most days (b) he learns to play nicely with other kids and (c) he comes home uninjured at the end of the day!

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  108. I agree so much with your comments. We keep being told that our children are not achieving as well as children from other countries - and then we do the opposite to other countries and start them in formal education earlier and earlier. It is CRAZY. It simply sets up children to fail (or at least be discouraged) from the start.
    I also notice several comments saying there should be more Health Visitors to support families who need help in teaching their children these things. However this is exactly what Children's Centres were set up to do. But many, many of them are being closed because of cuts to Local Authority funding - including Centres in the most deprived areas of the country where they are needed most. And if they are not being closed totally, the Councils are claiming they are not shutting them, but they are really only open for a few hours each week.

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  109. A year ago I completely agreed with you and to some extent I still do. I think we should take responsibility for our children's development but sometimes if your child is in nursery full time you only have them 2 days so nurseries should take some accountability to prepare them for school, but it is more important for them to be happy and feel safe.
    Since you wrote this I have had a terrible experience with my sons preschool where they did not keep him safe and he regressed socially and developmentally. The preschool refused to take accountability for the physical abuse my son suffered by another child over the period of 6 months (even with me going in over 3 months complaining) we had to remove him and now is scared of any enclosed spaces with other children - not setting him up well for school or keeping him safe.
    I reported them to Ofsted and because I wrote about our experience on my blog the preschool spent money not in training or safeguarding but using a solicitor to try to sue me. They had no case but when this is the attitude over children's safety and development then they need to be held more accountable these are our children, our pride and joy.
    Nurseries and preschools differ so much in standards that some good ones may be tainted with the same brush as those that genuinely need to be brought up to speed when it comes to children's development. But acknowledging a problem is better than ignoring it and letting kids slip through the net.
    I hate to think what would have happened to my son had we not taken him out.

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  110. I agree with you wholeheartedly - children don't need these obsessive observations to prove that they are developing and progressing in their learning. I used to be a Deputy Head and Class Teacher and you should see the data teachers now have to keep. There's a great quote by Stephen Covey 'Reducing your child to a test score is like stealing their identity' http://www.sueatkinsparentingcoach.com/2013/05/reducing-your-child-to-a-test-score-is-like-stealing-their-identity/
    Parents that struggle with potty training their child, helping them to do up their coats or hold a pencil need help, support and information not finger pointing and judgement and that's where I'd like to help but reaching those parents is difficult and they often don't want to come on courses or admit that they are struggling ....

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  111. I like this. It is a very gd point but nursery staff shouldn't blamed for not teaching a child to toilet train or learn other important stuff in there life. When it come to train a child of toileting you have the with parents and staff. I had to say this coz I work in nusery

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