Blog 3 - Ongoing Professional Learning and Practice
The Early Years Sector is continually progressing and developing therefore to maintain a beneficial understanding of how to support children, their families and other professionals it is crucial to attend training and conferences. It is also important to have continued professional development as it is required by professional bodies and will provide knowledge of the most recent initiatives relating to childcare legislation (PACEY, 2016).
In my setting I identify my training needs and have a discussion every term with my supervisor who will provide the appropriate training to continue my professional development (appendix 1a) and I also was observed by my mentor to support me developing as a practitioner for example by setting a target (appendix 1b).
To maintain best practice I initiated an innovative change in my setting, I identified the need for particular children to be reading more than once a week at school to improve their literacy skills and created data by observing how many reading levels they progressed in a term (appendix 2). This change linked from my understanding of the schools OFSTED report that now the setting is meeting the national average in ability in the English subject and that as my school has an above average amount of EAL children literacy skills need to be continually supported (appendix 5).
I want to progress in my career so I have developed SMART Targets to show how I will manage my progression including a personal target and one set by my current employer (appendix 3).
As a professional I always strive to support areas of the setting that need improvement and from our team meetings I learnt that practitioners were concerned about the children's speech and language in the nursery after the settings hours extended.
I discussed this with my manager and we decided to create and compile the results from a questionnaire (appendix 4). The results showed that 100% of practitioners felt they would benefit from training to support children in their communication and language development and that they had already used Makaton before in a setting from these results I provided staff with further Makaton training to use in the setting and this initiative proved beneficial in supporting the children's language development in the setting.
My personal statement shows my consistant development throughout my experience as a practitioner and my commitment to continuing my professional development (appendix 6).
My personal statement shows my consistant development throughout my experience as a practitioner and my commitment to continuing my professional development (appendix 6).
References:
1257925632:0,6495360247922688:1,6750875905425408:1&utm_referrer=https://www.google.co.uk/ [Accessed 1 April 2017].
Ofsted (2016) St Mary’s, Prittlewell, CofE Primary School. Manchester: Ofsted. [Online]. Available from: https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/st-marys-prittlewell-coe-primary-school/UploadedDocument/c4629ac295f849cc8cf4d954f49c237d/st-marys-prittlewell-cofe-primary-school-10011775-pdf-final.pdf [Accessed 24 April 2017].
Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (2016) Why your training and development is important. Kent: PACEY. [Online]. Available from: https://www.pacey.org.uk/training-and-qualifications/the-importance-of-training-and-cpd/ [Accessed 30 March 2017].
The Makaton Charity (2017) How do I learn Makaton? London: The Makaton Charity. [Online]. Available from: https://www.makaton.org/training/ [Accessed 1 April 2017].
Appendices:
Appendix 1a:
Name
of course
|
Organising
body
|
Brief
description of course content
|
Date
|
Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for the Children and Young People’s Workforce
|
City
& Guilds
|
Level
5 Diploma in Leadership for the Children and Young People’s Workforce
|
08/11/16
|
Female
Genital Mutilation: Recognising and Preventing FGM V2
|
Home
Office
|
Recognising
the signs of FGM and how to prevent this by reporting to the relevant
safeguarding officer
|
05/10/2016
|
ELKLAN
Training
|
ELKLAN
|
Attended
ELKLAN Training on how to support children with speech and language
|
01/03/2016
|
Paediatric
First Aid Qualification
|
Primary
Lifeline
|
Paediatric
First Aid
|
18/02/2016
|
Level
2 Award in Food Safety and Catering
|
CIEH
|
Level
2 Award in Food Safety and Catering
|
30/01/2014
|
Autism
Awareness Training
|
N/A
|
Attended
an Autism Awareness course on how to recognise signs of Autism and how to support
these children in settings
|
29/01/2014
|
Early
Years Literacy Conference
|
Early
Years Literacy Conference
|
Conference
on how to support children with their literacy development
|
04/10/2013
|
Level
3 Beach School Qualification
|
Archimedes
|
Qualified
to lead and manage Beach School sessions with children
|
26/11/2013
|
Safeguarding
Level 1 & 2
|
N/A
|
Safeguarding
Level 1 & 2
|
26/04/2013
|
Appendix 1b:
Appendix 2:
Appendix 3:
SMART Targets:
Specific
|
Measurable
|
Attainable
|
Relevant
|
Time
bound
|
Personal Target:
To complete my BA Honours in Early
Childhood Studies
|
To complete my assignments I will use one
day of my weekend to study and complete tasks.
|
I will watch the online resources supplied
by my university to gain further knowledge of the topic for that semester.
I will have work complete a week before the
task is due so I can ensure it will upload and I can proof read my work.
|
When I am studying I will gain further
knowledge of Early Years or interpersonal skills that will help me in continuing
my professional development.
|
My degree course is for one year and I will
have completed this by the Autumn term of 2017.
|
Supervisor Target Set:
To have a child with an ILP in my class to
have progressed one reading level
|
To read with this child more than once a week.
|
I will read with this child twice a week
and if possible more than this.
To have attended a reading course to
support children with their reading and comprehension skills.
|
My support with this child will progress
their reading, literacy skills and holistic development in the class.
|
In June 2017 this child will have developed
their reading skills and if able to have tried the next reading level in the
Oxford Reading Tree.
|
Appendix 4:
Question
|
Results
|
Are you aware of what Makaton
was before this questionnaire?
|
Yes – 100%
No – 0%
|
Have you ever used Makaton
before in a setting?
|
Yes – 100%
No – 0%
|
If YES how often were you using
this?
|
N/A – 0%
Sometimes – 66.6%
Often - 33.4%
|
If YES how many signs do you
know?
|
N/A – 0%
1-5 – 66.6%
6-10 – 33.4%
10+ - 0%
|
Would you personally like
further training to support children in the setting in their communication
and language development?
|
N/A – 0%
YES – 100%
No – 0%
|
Do you feel that parents/carers
of children in the setting would benefit from support in helping their child
with communication and language development?
|
N/A – 0%
Yes – 100%
No – 0%
|
Appendix 5:
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