Brooklands College holds courses in Surrey on:
* Introducing childminding practice. This six-week course begins on 16 January at the college in Weybridge, 21 January at Camberley and 12 May at Molesey.
* Working with children and young people who have special needs. This ten-week course focuses on language and behavioural problems, and physical and psychological impairment.
* Skills and strategies for parenting children. This ten-week course is for parents who want to develop their behaviour management skills.
Children in Scotland runs day workshops on:
* Promoting positive behaviour in the early years. Young children's behaviour develops as a result of how they experience life, and how people behave towards them and each other. This workshop looks at how the early years setting can help children develop strategies to manage their anger, and understand how to resolve conflict without violence.
* Anti-bullying practice. Topics covered include definitions of bullying, how to assess the problem, identifying procedures for dealing with allegations, and preventive measures.
* An Introduction to child protection. This workshop looks at legislation to determine good child protection practice.
CJ Associates runs courses on:
* Managing children's behaviour. This day course covers topics including understanding children's behaviour, identifying techniques adults use to control behaviour, reinforcing positive behaviour, and the Early Learning Goals.
* How children think and behave. This course is an introduction to child development.
* Child protection.
The Council for Awards in Children's Care and Education (CACHE) offers units within the CACHE Level 3 Certificate of Professional Development in Work with Children and Young People, including:
* Influences on the behaviour of children and young people.
* CACHE Level 3 certificate in childminding practice.
Within its various courses, CACHE offers Professional Development units on:
* Contributing to the protection of children from abuse.
* Supporting families in distress.
* Protecting children.
* Child protection.
CACHE also runs:
* The CACHE Level 2 certificate in playwork. This is a nationally-recognised qualification that is based on the Take Ten for Play model.
* The CACHE Level 3 diploma in playwork, which is based on the Take Ten More for Play.
* NVQs in Playwork.
Common Threads Consultancy runs courses on:
* Playwork basics.
* Playwork NVQs.
* An introduction to child protection.
Crechendo Training runs a workshop in London on:
* Effective communication and assertiveness training. This day workshop looks at the different forms of communication and their importance in the effective care of young children.
Direction Training and Management runs workshops on:
* Managing challenging behaviour.
* Managing bullying effectively.
* Risk management.
* Child protection.
* The role of special educational needs co-ordinators.
* Awareness and development training, to support agencies wishing to recruited more men into childcare.
Educare is a distance learning process that guides participants through a chosen subject in bite-sized modules of information. Each module is accompanied by a multiple-choice questionnaire and participants work through the programmes at their own pace. Topics covered include:
* Planning for business.
* Supervisory management childcare.
* Health and safety.
* Stress management.
The Institute of Education is running a course in London on:
* Understanding and managing behaviour in the early years, on 3 March. This course is for people who are working with Foundation Stage children. It will discuss strategies to deal with problem behaviour, and how such behaviour relates to children's personal, social and emotional development.
The Kids' Clubs Network is the national organisation for out-of-school childcare. It offers advice and support to out-of-school clubs, parents, children, childcare providers, national Government, local authorities, employers and Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships (EYDCPs). The Network has years of consultancy and partnership work with a variety of organisations, from Government, to local authorities, business, development agencies and community organisations.
Consultancy areas include:
* Review, planning and strategic support.
* Developing and establishing new childcare places.
* Communication.
* Funding, sustainability and business planning.
* Recruitment and training.
* Practice development and support.
* Advice on setting up an out-of-school club.
* Business planning.
The Kids' Clubs Network also runs recruitment and training for childcare and playworkers, including recruitment fairs, training reviews, and practical training delivery. Its consultancies include:
* Training reviews and needs analysis.
* Training development strategies.
* Playcare course materials leading to NVQs.
Kidscape is a national charity that teaches children and carers about child safety. It runs courses on subjects including:
* Anti-bullying. Topics covered range from reducing incidents, changing behaviour, supporting and empowering victims to peer support and mediation.
* Child protection.
* Stress management.
* Ofsted preparation
* School management.
Maternity and Nanny Training (MNT) runs a day course on:
* Communication skills, at the University of Reading. This course is for nannies, nursery nurses, maternity nannies and nurses. Participants will learn how to tackle workplace situations assertively, approach agencies with confidence, handle interviews effectively, understand employment law, listen to their employer and say no to unreasonable requests.
Men in Childcare Scotland was formed by One-Parent Families Scotland and Children in Scotland in 1996. It provides information, organises training events and promotes networking among male workers and those interested in issues of men and childcare. It aims to increase awareness that childcare is a job for both men and women; publicise training opportunities for men; promote good practice in the recruitment and support of men working in childcare; counter negative attitudes about male workers among staff, parents and management; encourage local authorities and other employers to recruit more male childcare workers and to develop positive guidelines about men working with young children.
Montessori Centre International runs seminars in London on:
* Child protection issues, on 8 February, which looks at the implications of the Children Act 1989, and explores common terms, court orders and how to handle disclosures.
* Spirituality. This seminar examines the nature of the child's own spirituality, the spiritual preparation of the teacher, and looks at practical activities for the classroom to promote a harmonious atmosphere.
* Helping children cope with life. This seminar focuses on the importance of early emotional development.
The National Early Years Network runs workshops across the UK on promoting citizenship, including:
* Managing difficult behaviour.
* Involving children in decisions that affect them.
* Understanding and building children's self-esteem.
* Teaching young children to resolve conflicts without violence.
* Aiding children's spiritual and moral development.
The New Learning Centre runs workshops for parents and childcare professionals in London on:
* Resolving child/parent conflicts: How to talk so that children will listen and listen so that children will talk.
* Parents who do too much: Fostering self-reliance and self-confidence.
* Dyslexia and dyspraxia: Positive approaches.
* Enhancing co-operation, confidence and motivation.
* Positive alternatives to punishment: Skills for increasing co-operation and self-reliance.
* Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and hyperactivity: Helping children to thrive, not just survive.
* The bullies and the bullied: How teachers and parents can change the culture.
NIA Consultancy Services runs on-site training workshops on:
* Promoting positive behaviour. This workshop looks at participants'
reactions to children's behaviour and the language used around them.
* Working in partnership: The value and importance of passing information on to relevant parties.
* Child protection.
NIPPA: The Early Years Organisation runs training courses in Northern Ireland that can be delivered in-house to staff in childcare settings or to parents. They include:
* Managing challenging behaviour in children. This course is designed to give practitioners confidence and practical strategies for managing challenging behaviour in children. Participants will gain skills in how to support parents and carers faced with children who exhibit challenging behaviour.
* Promoting child learning through adult and child interaction. This workshop is to enhance interaction with children. Participants will learn about the importance of supporting children's play, along with strategies for interacting effectively with children.
* The pre-school child with autism: Developing a visually-structured approach.
* Working with children who have special educational needs. This 20-hour course will help participants to develop skills to enable them to plan structured programmes to help children with SEN, in consultation with parents, carers and other professionals.
The Northern Ireland Childminding Association (NICMA) is running:
* Introduction to childminding, in Newtownards from January to April. This is a 12-hour pre-registration training course run by the Eastern Health and Social Services Board, in conjunction with the Ulster Community and Hospital Trust.
* Good practice guide workshops, policies and procedures, in Ballymena, Coleraine, Larne, Carrickfergus, Cookstown and Magherafelt in February and March.
* Child development course, in April and May. This is an eight-hour course.
The NSPCC runs courses on:
* Domestic violence. This course aims to raise awareness of domestic violence and its impact on children. It explores how legal remedies can be used more effectively and examines inter-agency issues.
* Working with the parents of children who have learning disabilities. This course aims to develop an increased understanding of the range of challenging behaviours and their possible causes.
* Multi-agency assessments. This course explores a multi-agency model for the assessment and provision of services to children and families.
* Protecting Children: A Guide to Recognising and Responding to Child Abuse, is part of the NSPCC'straining materials. The NSPCCalso has a range of consultancy services, including:
* Safeguarding Children in the Community. The NSPCC aims to meet the growing demand from organisations by providing a service or activity for young people. It has helped develop policies, guidelines and training for many sporting and voluntary organisations, including consultancy to childcare and early years organisations.
* NSPCC Educare Child Protection Awareness Programmes. The NSPCC, in association with Educare, has produced three interactive learning programmes to teach those in contact with children, through work or leisure activities, to gain the confidence to act upon concerns about children and to play a role in helping to prevent abuse.
The Playgroup Network has worked with CACHE and the Northern Council for Further Education (NCFE) to create courses for those working in early years, especially in playgroup work. The programmes are delivered by local support organisations, and include introductory courses providing underpinning knowledge for NVQ Levels 2 and 3 in early years care and education, such as the CACHE Diploma in Pre-school Practice, NCFE Certificate in Playgroup Practice, and NCFE Advanced Certificate in Playgroup Practice.
Other courses include:
* Preparing for Ofsted inspection.
* Early Learning Goals.
* Special needs.
* Equal opportunities.
* Playgroup administration.
* Committee work.
* Health, safety and First Aid.
* Displays.
* Creative play.
* Working with toddlers.
* Parenting skills.
The Pre-School Learning Alliance runs courses and workshops in England on:
* Managing children's behaviour. This ten-hour course explores what is meant by challenging behaviour, its causes and the role of adults in developing a positive framework.
* A behaviour workshop to help those involved in early years settings to create an environment in which children can develop self-discipline and self-esteem.
* Legislation into practice. This introductory six-hour workshop is designed to helpearly years staff to apply the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. It will assist special educational needs co-ordinators to implement the Code of Practice.
* Workshops on the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. This 20-hour course provides a full briefing on current SEN legislation.
The Pre-school Learning Alliance also holds courses with CACHE for pre-school and playgroup assistants, including:
* CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Pre-school Practice.
* CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Pre-school Practice.
* CACHE Introduction to Pre-school Practice. This is the first unit in the qualification route for pre-school and playgroup assistants.
* Getting started in a pre-school setting. This is an induction course.
* Behind-the-scenes workshops dealing with organisational and business issues relating to parent and toddler groups and early years settings, such as health and safety, behaviour, who takes responsibility, money matters, meetings, parental roles and appointing staff.
The Riverside Early Years Training Centre has courses in Tyneside on:
* Working with children:Babysitting, between January and April. This introduction to working with children, from babysitting through to career choices consists of 24 hours of study and 12 hours of practical experience.
There are 20 free places on this certified course.
* Violence in the workplace, on 14 January. This course, which is suitable for all staff, looks at why aggression occurs and ways of managing it.
* Developing creative themes for out-of-school clubs, from 22 January. This is a 6-hour course.
* Working with young children, learning, communication and assessment, on 24 and 31 January, and 7 and 14 February.
* Putting adventure into play. This is a course for playworkers.
* Games from other cultures. This is a course for playworkers.
* Certificate in Playwork at CACHE levels 2 and 3.
* CACHE Level 2 certificate for teaching assistants. This 120-hour course is aimed at childcare workers who want to move into a school setting, or for people who are already working in schools on a paid or voluntary basis.
* CHOMP - Feeding under-fives training for staff in daycare nurseries. This course provides early years staff involved in food and meal preparation with an understanding of children's nutritional needs.
* Basic food hygiene.
* Making Choices. This is a 12-hour signposting course for students considering working in childcare, education and playwork.
* Protecting children (CACHE, Level 3 and 4), from 30 June to 26 July. This is a 60-hour course for qualified candidates who want to acquire in-depth knowledge in the principles of practice in the care, education and protection of children.
* Introducing Childminding Practice. This is a 12-hour course for newly-registered childminders and those people considering a career in childminding.
* The Children Act 1989, and its implications for those working in childcare. This course aims is to raise awareness of the Children Act and its impact on childcare settings.
* An introduction to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in relation to early years practice. This course aims to raise greater awareness of children's rights.
The School of Infant Mental Health in London runs a number of short courses and programmes for early years professionals working with children under five. They include:
* Mother-infant bond and attachment.
* Effects of parenting on brain growth in infants.
* Life's first feelings.
* Violence and babies: Reducing risks.
* The premature baby.
* Early autism and autistic behaviour: How to help.
* Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD): Early diagnosis and remedial action.
* Dyslexia: Early pointers of learning difficulties and language disorders.
* Sensory defensiveness.
* Touchpoints programme: Understanding development and regressive behaviour as a possible precursor to rapid growth.
* Knowing and managing the child's temperament.
* Special needs, part 1: Discovering baby's strengths, developmental capacities and challenges.
* Special needs, part 2: Encouraging emotional and intellectual growth.
* Special needs, part 3: Working with family and nursery.
* Early loss and attachment in fostering and adoption.
The Scottish Independent Nurseries Association is running a course on:
* Child protection childline, in Glasgow on 29 and 30 April and 1 May. This three-day course is for early years staff who wish to learn about the work of ChildLine Scotland. The course will also cover the issues of child abuse and child protection.
Tinies Childcare runs a course in London on:
* Child protection. This certified course is for any childcare professionals who work with children and want to update their knowledge in this area.
Training Leaders in Childcare (TLC) runs a course on:
* Developing and implementing a professional abuse policy. This course aims to raise awareness in nursery managers and supervisors, and address those emotionally involved. Topics include promoting and implementing good practice in protecting children, and also protecting staff from allegations of abuse.
The Working Group Against Racism in Children's Resources (WGARCR) runs day courses to enable people who work with children to act as advocates on behalf of children and their families in resisting exclusions and ensuring children are properly facilitated in mainstream schools.
