THE PLACE FOR ICT
Having read several letters about children and ICT, I would like to share my experience as a childminder.
Television, video/DVD, the computer, remote control car, digital camera and any of the other amazing technological toys that grown-ups and children alike love to play with are a godsend and a fascination. As windows to a whole new world, children should use, enjoy and ultimately develop them, as most will need to, into the tools they will require for most of the jobs they will grow into.
I have found that when we have been to the mother and toddler group in the morning, swimming in the afternoon, completed the latest jigsaw several times and read the book of the moment once again, some form of television/video is welcome.
We do not often have time for it - and surely that's a good thing as well. I still laugh when I recall a child once confidently telling mum, 'Jenny doesn't have a telly' - and the child had been coming for about a year!.
Jenny Hazel, Peterborough
Letter of the week wins £30 worth of books
QUALIFIED OR QUALITY
Regarding the New Opportunities White Paper (News, 22 January), - do those people actually talk to childcare providers? Do they realise how much support is provided to settings by people who are not 'qualified' in the sense that they have not got a certificate?
They still have a wealth of experience to offer, even if they are not hungry for qualifications. How can it be said that if the qualifications are higher, then the standards of childcare will improve? Just because someone is not qualified does not mean that they cannot be led by someone who is, and work together to provide excellent levels of care.
I think this is an insult to all those people who do a far better job of devoting hours to looking after children without a qualification than some people who have one.
And who is going to pay for and deliver this further training? We already have problems getting staff on courses.
Parents will and do appreciate that qualifications are important, but it doesn't mean that they will be able to afford them when settings are forced to increase their fees to accommodate the expense of highly qualified staff.
Perhaps these people need to take heed of Richard Dorrance's comments on the lack of analysis of the impact that this could have on the existing childcare workforce.
Della Grizzell, owner, Early Doors Day Nursery, Powick, Worcestershire
GRADUATES WANTED
I cannot agree with Richard House on the issue of 'Too many graduates' (Letters, 15 January). Apart from the fact that the letter is full of contradictions, he is ignoring much evidence that the quality of practice in early years settings is strongly influenced by the background education and training of the practitioners. This is also evidenced in the Government's own requirement that a qualified teacher be involved in all early childhood settings.
'High quality vocational training' is unlikely to give practitioners the advanced level, in-depth knowledge, skills and understanding they need to analyse, evaluate and reflect on their own practices in ways that will significantly benefit the children they teach and their colleagues.
Effective early years practice has little to do with practitioners who transfer or portray only academic skills to children: it is about practitioners who understand deeply the learning capabilities and overall developmental potential of young children, not only in practice but also from a research and theory base. Such practitioners are able to employ a pedagogy and curriculum experiences that they have analysed and evaluated as being suitable for children's individual and collective learning needs. This is a highly skilled role which, in my opinion, vocational training alone would be unlikely to engender. In my view, there is no way that early childhood can have 'too many graduates' - they are vital to the quality we want for all our young children and for the status of all early years professionals.
Janet Moyles, Professor Emeritus, early years research/play consultant
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