Ellis.
While the Tots Talk programme in Liverpool is coming to the end of its funding period, its positive impact on nurseries and childminders is destined to continue.
Tots Talk was launched in 2012 to address the need to improve quality in a group of the city's settings. The focus was to build practice around speech, language and communication with two-year-olds and improve outcomes. It also built on the earlier success of Every Child A Talker.
In June last year, Nursery World reported on the fact that 120 settings in Liverpool were actively involved in the project and that evidence of improved outcomes was being gathered.
Since then, plans to accredit Tots Talk as a Level 3 Award have come to fruition. A total of 65 practitioners from settings across the city are now registered with the local training provider Merseyside Accredited Community Training and Assessment Centre for the City & Guilds' Level 3 Award in Supporting Children and Young People's Speech, Language and Communication. They have been working hard putting together portfolios of evidence to gain the award.
These practitioners will be responsible for overseeing language provision in their settings and ensuring that practice, routines and activities are as supportive as they can be - especially for the youngest children. In effect, these practitioners will be responsible for ensuring that Tots Talk carries on with its good work.
FIFTH COHORT OF CHILDMINDERS
Childminders have played a vital role in the Tots Talk programme, which I originally put together for nurseries, and subsequently adapted for them.
My first visit to them for the project involved an observation of each childminder with the children and a look at their environment and resources on offer. This, together with a self-evaluation audit and a discussion, gave me a picture of each childminder's practice and provision, particularly in relation to communication and language support.
The childminders were all given a comprehensive file of information during this first visit that covered everything to do with the subject of language development, in the form of fact sheets. They were also sent a detailed report celebrating the positive elements seen at the first visit, along with recommendations.
The childminders were required to read through the file, paying particular attention to fact sheets that related to their individual recommendations. They were then visited again six weeks later to see what progress or changes had been made, based on the first report.
A second group meeting then took place where everyone was invited to discuss the changes they had made or things they had learned.
We are now on our fifth cohort of training and it has been very successful and hugely enjoyable. Childminders report that they are now more aware of the importance of their role in supporting children's communication and language, and are more proactive in seeking opportunities to talk to the children they care for, especially those with delayed language skills. They are more confident in monitoring children's progress and know how to act on concerns appropriately.
Some have made quite radical changes to their environments after acting on information from current research. Others are offering a more balanced programme of child-initiated and adult-led activities, all the time focusing on their own role as adult supporter of language development.
Still more of them are more confident about sharing information with parents on issues such as dummies, mealtimes and TV use, and others have focused on the resources and activities they offer the children, actively looking for ways to get them listening, attending or interacting more.
Jan Ellis is an early years training consultant
FURTHER INFORMATION
- www.cityandguilds.com/courses-and-qualifications/ children/children-and-young-people/ 4337-speech-language-and-communication-for-children
- www.mactac.org/childminding-training/
- www.nurseryworld.co.uk/nursery- world/feature/1119249/ tots-talk-programme-strategy-quality-provision-achieved-results
CASE STUDY: ANNA JACKSON
Anna Jackson has an Early Years degree and gained EYPS in 2013. She currently works with her mother, Irene, as a childminder.
She says, 'Tots Talk inspired me to really focus on the children's speech, language and communication. It was very useful in giving me a shared experience and common vocabulary with which to talk to practitioners across the sector about best practice for supporting language development.
'After the initial audit, I chose to focus on new avenues for interaction with the children's parents - in particular, how I was communicating the children's progress, and how I could foster the parent's excitement about their children's communication skills.
'Particularly successful were the photobooks we made of stories the children had told us, with copies to take home, to reinforce new words and encourage the children to represent their thoughts and ideas in new ways.
'I really enjoyed meeting and sharing ideas with Jan and the other practitioners. It was great to see the creative ways in which everybody had implemented the information from the course, and it gave me lots of new ideas.
'One setting had created a lovely family tree display with removable leaves. With this in mind, when I recently updated our "All About Me" display, I backed each child's family and interest photos on circles of card and attached them with Velcro. The children can now take their pictures, sit together and talk about them - a great opportunity for conversation with us and their peers.'
