VOLUNTARY CHILDCARE
Committee-run groups, like ours, initially were developed by parents for parents, but have embraced change and taken on board all the Government initiatives, becoming qualified professionals in well structured and managed learning environments.
We provide effective services at a fraction of the cost of other types of provision by using community facilities. We have also embraced the EYFS and the drive to raise standards within the sector.
Yet the voluntary sector is being squeezed out. We are told we are working towards a 'level playing field' with all sectors being funded in the same way, but from our perspective it is still uneven. Schools are pushing us out of the sector, and at what cost? I have listened to head teachers say they cannot afford to run the provision with reduced funding. So are schools using other funds that should be aimed at the school-aged children to sustain their nurseries? And are there voluntary-run groups in the area that are already providing this service? Sometimes the answer is yes.
Our setting takes children from two years old. By three, they are just starting to build up links with staff and the setting. Yet parents are being pushed by schools to transfer them to their settings. This is not in the best interests of the child's development. The EYFS talks about the unique child, moving children at their own developmental rate and nurturing them to be confident individuals.
We are the forgotten, cheap workforce, but it's time the Government recognised that the voluntary sector gives value for money. We enjoy part-time employment as many of us have young families. As working parents and qualified professionals, we believe high standards of childcare are important. Keeping costs down makes us accessible to a wider range of people in the local community.
Heather Drabble, EYP, pre-school playgroup leader, Malton, North Yorkshire
- Letter of the Week wins £30 worth of books
THE POINT OF PIAGET
The article on Jean Piaget by Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith (17 June) is timely. Much of the criticism of the work of Piaget since the 1980s has been by those joining a chorus that became a tidal wave, who, if they are honest, had not in fact read Piaget at all.
Because Piaget is difficult to read as a primary source, and often badly translated, they breathed a sigh of relief and welcomed the mantra that he was 'wrong'. This article goes straight to the point, focusing on the 'biologically inspired mechanisms', but placing these in relation to and connected with the neuroconstructivist view of how the brain 'changes across developmental time'. This gives us more insight into the importance of the relationship between the biological and social-cultural aspects and the way that 'the child's activities sculpt the resulting brain structure'.
For us early childhood educators who have continued to respect the work of Piaget despite the hostility of colleagues taking a dismissive view, this article is very heartening. Here is a respected scholar who also makes a practical contribution to our work with children.
I hope this article will become required reading for all who work with babies and young children. Thank you, Professor Karmiloff-Smith, for writing this in such an accessible form, and thank you, Nursery World, for publishing it.
Professor Tina Bruce CBE, Roehampton University
IT'S A DOG'S LIFE
It has been brought to our attention that Nursery World has featured nurseries that use dog baskets for children to sleep in. We are carrying out research into dog-bite prevention, and one of the typical instances where a child is bitten is when they approach or occupy a dog's sleeping place.
We recognise that the nurseries in question have no dogs on site, but we think using dog baskets conveys the dangerous message that it is OK to sleep in a dog's bed. This heightens the likelihood of a child crawling into a dog basket in someone's home and being bitten.
We hope the nurseries concerned will change the dog baskets for more appropriate child ones. Please look at www.thebluedog.org for more information.
Kerstin Meints and Tiny de Keuster, University of Lincoln
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