Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce, Part 2: Professional practice in early years settings

Reflective practice has become a key part of working life in the early years sector in recent years. But while it is routinely talked about, practitioners often find it much harder to put into effect.

Now, the early years mandatory unit 4 of the new Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce aims to ensure that learners have the skills to engage in reflective practice. The three-credit unit requires learners to explore the issues of professional practice, reflection and review, and adopt a focused approach to the development of strategies to address professional development in challenging areas.

It is a lynchpin unit for learners because they are not going to be able to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of early years practice if they have not thought about what it is they are doing. Inevitably they will struggle to develop their practice if they are not able to question what they do and how they do it.

'People find reflection quite difficult,' says Vivette Eaton, quality control manager for the Childcare Company. 'If it is done properly, it gives people a wider perspective. Sometimes learners will say, "We do this or that because the manager says we have a policy on it." They are not thinking: if I do this, how does it impact on what others are doing - for example, other professionals such as speech and language therapists? When a learner starts their qualification with us, we look at where they are in terms of their reflective skills and their knowledge of how they impact upon the sector. Then we consider how we can help them to develop those skills by guiding them through appropriate learning. It's the same identification of developmental needs that practitioners undertake in their work with children in their care.'

Mrs Eaton stresses that the challenge of this unit is reflective practice. 'While this has been pushed in the last few years, it has only really ever been done in a very minimal way. We need to get people thinking about what they do and why they do it so they can move on, develop their own CPD and improve outcomes for children.'

CHALLENGING LEARNERS

Reflective practice is a key element in attaining Early Years Professional Status, but Mrs Eaton says that until now, Level 3 practitioners have not been encouraged to engage with it.

Emma Redman, who works at the Abacus Pre-School in Cosham, Hampshire, and is studying for the Diploma online with the Childcare Company, says reflective practice was a new concept to her when she enrolled.

'I had never worked in childcare before starting here in September. Previously in my work I had always been office-based, where sometimes your routines can be quite regimented.

'I worked at the pre-school in the office here for a year before deciding to train as a practitioner, so I have found the whole issue of reflective practice interesting. It has made me think about things in more depth and draw on my experience with my own children.'

She adds, 'You have to adjust to the children. When you are evaluating a key person activity and see that it maybe did not really challenge a particular child, you have to think about it and how you could do it differently.'

Siobhan Titley, the pre-school manager, says two of the staff are studying for the Diploma and their questions and reflection have prompted the whole team to consider their practice. 'It has made a big difference with them undertaking the course and they keep coming up with lots of ideas. With this particular unit they were asking about why we do things and other questions.'

As a result, the setting has introduced some changes in practice. For example, the team were not documenting their key person planning meetings very well, so Mrs Redman implemented a new key person planning sheet.

'The pre-school runs to school terms, so there can be quite a long gap between a child attending an induction session and eventually joining the setting,' says Mrs Redman. 'Now we give the children a photograph of their key person at their induction session to introduce them. They can then take the photograph home with them. We have had a lot of positive feedback, as it helps the children to recognise a friendly face when they start.'

Emma Redman says she has particularly enjoyed pursuing the course on the internet, because 'it means I can work at my own speed'. She adds, ' It is very interesting, but some of it is quite challenging and really makes you think.'

Mrs Eaton says the unit's requirement for learners to develop strategies to deal with areas of difficulty and challenge in professional practice didn't really feature in the old style Level 3 NVQ. 'It would have been more of a Level 4 question for people who were going on to manage their own settings. This new unit is more about all practitioners reflecting on the practice of the setting and the whole early years sector, rather than just reflecting on their own practice.'

Gill Mason, enterprise director for Vauxhall Neighbourhood Council, specialising in training and education for the children's workforce, explains. 'The unit requires practitioners to look at evidence-based practice as a way of empowering professionals to integrate knowledge to make informed decisions. Practitioners will need to explain the impact of the different policies and frameworks and their influence on their practice under, for example, the EYFS and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

'They will need to explore new research such as the concept of evidence-based practice, social and economic influences (work patterns) and the influence this has had on practice with children in their early years.'

The unit looks in detail at what the early years sector is all about and how it is composed, and so can give learners an idea of the different directions in which they can develop their careers. As Mrs Eaton says, 'Many people who enrol on our courses have started working in a day nursery without a thorough understanding of all the services there are for children and families. This unit encourages them to think more widely about the resources available to the sector, and their own place within that sector.'

Further Information

The sister company of the Childcare Company, Laser Learning, was commissioned by Pearson Education to develop a training resource pack for tutors of the new qualification. Two activity sheets from the pack relating to EYMP4 can be viewed free at the Laser Learning website at: www.laserlearning.co.uk/pearson. The Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce Training Resource Pack, published by Pearson Education, is available from Pearson Schools and FE colleges website. See the Laser Learning website.

Part 3, in Nursery World 10 March, will look at EYMP Promote Children's Welfare and Wellbeing in the Early Years

KEY ELEMENTS OF EYMP 4 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN EARLY YEARS SETTINGS

The unit introduces the competence required for the application of principles and values in day-to-day practice. The key elements of it are:

• - understand the scope and purpose of the early years sector
• - understand current policies and influences on the early years sector
• - understand how to support diversity, inclusion and participation in early years settings
• - be able to review own practice in promotion diversity, inclusion and participation in early years settings.

TOP TIPS

• - Learn to ask why. Become like the two-year-olds in your nursery who learn by asking why and in that way you can learn to reflect on your practice.
• - Read about research and development in the field.
• - Identify the key codes of practice and documents in your setting by talking to your line manager and colleagues.
• - Think of how these influence your practice.
• - Know your professional value base.
• - Keep a reflective diary/journal to keep account of your professional development.
• - Always listen to feedback from children, colleagues and parents/carers.
• - Think about what kinds of things you could do to develop an inclusive environment.