Suppporting children Essay Example for Free

Suppporting children Essay E1/E2- Five pieces of current legislation are, Children Act 2004, Human Rights Act 2000, UNCRC 1998, Equality Act 2006 and Protection of data act 1999. Children Act 2004 states that the interests of children and young people are better in all considerations of welfare and safeguarding and that safeguarding children is everyones responsibility. This is because safegaurding can only be achieved by building up a range of outcomes for children and young people, which include their health, education and growth and also safety. (0]). This will influence working practice in the setting because the Children Act 2004 makes sure that each setting has policies and procedures, such as multiagencies, this gives children more support within the setting and prevents anything happening to them because lots of agencies come together and work more effectively. Human Rights Act 2000 is all about, having the right to dignity, respect and fairness in the way they are treated. This is to make sure that no setting is able to use corporal punishment even if a parent allows it. This is because it is seen as degrading and breaking the law of Childs Rights. The Human Rights Act means that the parents of children are also pretected. (Penny Tassoni, childcare and education page 115) This will influence working practice in the setting because the Human Rights Act makes sure that no child is felt left out and is resepcted by the practitioner and also is treated fairly throughout there peers, this is because if a child is left out they will feel like they are different and thismakes them feel isolated and unincluded within the setting. UNCRC 1998, this policy was drawn up in 1989 and gives children and young people under the age of 18 years their own special rights. A few of the special rights are, Reinforces the importance of fundermental human dignity, highlights and defends the familys role in childrens lives, seeks respect for children and endorses the principle of non-discrimination (Penny Tassoni, childcare and education page 115). This will influece working practice in the setting because it gives the children there own rights are respect within the setting and allows them to keep there dignity. I have seen this in placement when a child wet themselves but the practitioners did not make a fuss about it so the other children didnt make fun of this child, this is keeping the childs dignity. Equality Act 2006, a key part of this policy is the organization of the commission for equality and human rights. It will plan equality legislation on age, disability and health, gender, race, religion or belief. This policy gives children equal rights no matter what there age, disability etc. This makes the children feel equal and not different to there peers, this is great because it will never make a child feel isolated within the setting and always feel like they have someone to talk to. I have experienced this in my setting because there was a child who was a Jehovah Witness and it was near christmas time so he wasnt able to do any christmas activities or the christmas play so i sat with him and we done lots of different activites together and made him feel like he was included even though the activites were different he still felt as a part of a group. Protection of Data Act 1999, this act set up a register of names of people who are unsuitable to work with children. It needs settings working woth children to make sure they do not offer employment or volunteer work to anyone before they have been tested by the Criminal Records Bureau. I have seen this is my placement where the secetary asked me for my CRB check to make sure i was suitable to work with children and also they always know who the parents or gaurdians are before they let them into the school. Also we have a system which is when a parent or gaurdian is picking up a child from school they have a password which they have to say to the practitioner and only close family or friends will know this password. This makes sure no onespicks up the children who shouldnt be picking them up and this keeps them safe. E3- Describe how the policies and procedures will help safeguard children Policies and procedures will help safe gaurding children because by following the right procedures will keep children safe, some policies and procedure which will keep children safe are, anti-bullying policy, collection by parents/carers, photography policy and safe internet use policy. The anti-bullying policy will keep children safe because if a child gets bullied there is steps the practitioner must take from the policy which will let the children know that bullying is wrong and not kind and that the child will be punished for it. This will then keep other children safe because the other peers will see what happens to the child if he/she bullies another pupil and will not want to do it because they will not want to recieve the punishment which could be, not being allowed to chose at over to you time or not being able to go outside at dinner. This is deffinately an effective method because children love playing outside and being able to be independant and chose what they can do them selves at over to you time. Collection by parents or carers also plays an important role within a setting because if this policy was not set into place then anyone at anytime could pick any chid up from school. This policy makes sure that all children are safe within there setting and cannot be taken from school by anyone random for any reason. The setting will make sure this doesnt happen by mkaing sure that the practitioners know who the parents/carers or they could also have a scheme which is a password scheme, this scheme is put into place to stop anyone from taking the children. This scheme consists of the parent or gaurdian having a password which allows them to pick up there child from school and if a close family member or friend is to pick the child up from school for some reason they will then say the password which wil then notify the practitioner that they know the child and that the parent/gaurdian trusts them. This policy would come under the Data Protection Act 2006. Photography Policy is an important part of a setting as only the practitioners are able to take photos of the children on a school camera for displays and other work which is used within a setting. This is because parents might not want other people to have pictures of their children, practitioners take this very seriously because it is part of Data protection act and schools take it seriously because if they dont the practitioners could loose there job for not following legislation and not be able to work with children again. If any photos are taken on a different camera by parents then they call the parents in and ask them to delete the photos and if they dont the school could take other precausions which would be highly nessessay. It is important to follow this procedure also because it is apart of the Data Protection act aswell. Safe internet use policy is important because this makes sure no practitioners arent watching or viewing anything innapropriate within the setting, because this policy is in place it will keep the children safe because the setting would be made sure that nothing innapropriate would be viewd to the children and that they would be safe throughout there school years. This policy isnt just for the practitioners it is also to make sure that no children or pupils try to search anything innapropriate on the internet. So to prevent this from happening all schools have a fire wall on there computers which stops the practitioners and pupils to open anythinginnapropriate. I think this is a great idea because it keeps all the chidren safe and it is also great in high schools where teenagers try to search silly things, but it stops them. E4- Describe how the policies and procedures promote fair, just and inclusive strategies Policies and procedures promote fair, justice and inclusive strategies. They do this because in a setting all children deserve to be included no matter what there race, religion or disability etc. The disability discrimination act is a good example because all schools should have disability access because it makes dissabled children not feel an individual and makes them feel as part of a group like they are not any different to the other children. Another one would be the Human Rights Act this means that the child has the right to reach their full potential so this means the practitioners push them to make sure that they reach their full potential. They do this by making sure that the classroom has different groups for different abilities, they do this to make sure that each child is pushed to there ability but not too far and also that theyre not given work that is too easy for them. If they are given work that is too easy they will not be pushed to be able to achieve there ultimate best. E5- Two strategies which the setting may use to empower children to develop independance and self-relience. One strategie would be over to you time this is because it gives each child the independence to choose what they would like to do for 40 minutes of the day, i think this is great because it helps the child to grow up and be more independant and help them choose freely what they would like to do, and make choices for themselves. This is also a goos stragagie because if they choose something they like they are more likely to pay an interest in it and have no problem doing it, where as if you gave the children maths to do they wouldnt be as interested but in over to you time they are also still learning something beause they could be on the writing table learning how to write there name, only because they are not taking part in an actual lesson doesnt mean that they are not learning anything because they learn something new everyday. Another strategie would be at dinner time and choosing their own food i think this is good because they can be independant again and choose what they like to eat, this is great because they are only going to chose food which they like which will mean they will eat it all and be strong and healthy, this is good because they also have healthy options which the children also choose. They can also decide when theyd like to have dinners. They dont have to have it everyday just on the days they know they are going to eat the food. They feel independant and all grownup when they can chose there own food because its what there parents do and their parents are there role models and they like to copy them. Being able to chose there own food makes them be self-relient because they can rely on themselves to choose food which they like and will enjoy. B- Discuss how the causes and effects of discrimination may affect practice in the setting In class we talked about Jane Elliot and her descrimination experiment, in her experiment she went to a school setting and split up the blue eyed people from the brown eyed people, she was fair to the blue eyed people and was unfair to the brown eyed people she was fair by praising them and letting them play with things they wanted to play with but for the brown eyed people she was being unfair by making them stand up and squash in into small places, this made the brown eyed people feel uncomfortable and not welcome in the setting. We tried this experiment in our lesson by the blue eyes people being allowed there phones out and able to sit on a chair whereas the brown eyed people werent allowed their phones and they had to stand up or sit on the floor and also the blue eyed people were allowed to talk to their friends and the brown eyed people got told off if they spoke. I was one of the brown eyed people and it made me feel unwelcome and unwanted, I can imagine what it would make children feel like in a setting and I think it would make them not want to go to school. Discrimination is brought on in many different ways, not just because of someones eye colour it is also because of their religion, race, beliefs and if they have a disability A- Feflect on influence of legislation on working practices within early years setting. In the placement setting they have to follow lots of different types of legislation such as the Equality Act 2006, this act gives ALL children equal righs whatever their race, religion, gender and beliefs maybe. Also another important legislation which the school has to follow is the Data Protection act 1998, this makes sure that all practitioners keep confidentiality of each child, this will mean keeping information on all children private and confidential, locked away for no one to be able to get at it, or if it is on a computer or laptop it is password protected and no available for anyone to see. Also it is important to not share or spread any imformation on a child which the parents or child has told you in confidence because then they will loose all trust in you and you will break the confidentiality policy. All of the policies within a setting are influenced by legislations, these legislations are then put into place within the setting to safe gaurd the children and also their families, this will kepp them all safe within the setting. Forexample in my placement we have a coded door at the back which only members of staff know the code to, then also at the from we have a buzzer which leads to reception so the receptionist can look at who is wanting to comeinto the building before letting them in, once she has let them in she asks them who they are and what they are looking for, doing this make sure that no one who shouldnt be in the school doesnt get in witout permission. This is mentioned in the Data Protection act 1998, it is important to follow the policies and procedures and correctly and to take the correct precautions because if you dont you could put a child in serious danger. For example if you think a chid is getting abused at home and you dont tell anyone about it they could be in serious danger, so by taking the right procedures you will be able to talk to the right people and then they will do what is bets for the child. Duties of being a practitioner is to make sure that each child is safe and also feels safe within the setting, I as a practitioner can do this by helping the child in any way and also making sure the classroom is not a danger hazard and that everything is put away correctly so no child will fall, or slip and hurt themselves. Also when the children go outside to play all practitioners have to make sure that the playing yard is safe for children to play on, so making sure there are no sharp objects or fieces on the floor and also making sure that all the gates are shut so no child can wnder off without anyone knowing, this is part of the child protection act 1998 and the health and safety policy in my setting. Also in my placement we have a behaviour policy which states that you are not allowed to use physical punishment on ny child under any circumstances evenif the parent gives you permission too, this is because of the human rights act 200, this legislation states each child have the same rights and is able to keep the same dignity as adults.