Leading and Managing in Early Years Settings - Assignment Example

LEADING AND MANAGING IN EARLY YEARS SETTING Number December 3, Faculty Leading and Managing in Early Years Settings Introduction Quality care provision in the early setting starts with proper leadership and management. Effective leadership is vital in the early years setting since the committed, competent and adaptable leaders and managers are crucial in securing continuous quality improvement. The managers and leaders set a quality benchmark, tone, and aspirations for the early setting (Price and Ota, 2014). Communication is an essential tool for managing and leading early year setting. The practitioners involved in passing information to children should use proper communication strategies of substantial significance in the development of the children. Trained and skilled leaders and managers with the capacity to reflect upon and engage with the changing context of the early year setting, have the capability of ensuring and communicating the vision of the setting. In this case, through effective education, the leaders have a direct impact on the general quality of the setting. All practitioners working with the young children have a responsibility of developing the communication skills for the children. Whether the practitioners work pre-school setting, in the playgroup or with the toddlers, they have a key role in ensuring that they develop the children to their full potential. Besides, effective learning affects feelings and behavior of the children and, therefore it is vital in the early years setting to ensure friendly communication (Price and Ota, 2014). Leading and Managing in Early Years Settings The leaders and managers ensure quality practices of the setting by putting in place an example regarding how the staff interacts with the children they teach and care for (Rodd, 2013). The interaction between the staffs and the children that they teach helps in securing high-quality teaching and learning. Children and staff are in the most effective early years setting with an inclusive, warm and trusting relationship. Besides, the emotional well-being and development of the children are also other vital ingredients in the setting. According to Rodd (2013), effective learning strategies in the early year setting helps in the identification of the communication difficulties that exist between various children. Investigations have showed that most of the students that are prone to these difficulties are those that start schools with delayed skills in language because of lack of responsive parenting (Rodd 2013). Children with difficulty developing communication skills may have difficulty in all areas of their learning, especially emotional and social development. The children may withdraw from communication opportunities and behave in an aggressive manner to avoid the feeling of inadequacy brought about by communication difficulties. Therefore, the insecurity puts the children in a state of anxiety, and the emotions are hijacked by a stress response that prevents them from learning, listening and even paying attention. Language and speech are crucial to the ability of every child in getting and accessing the best most out of education and life. Children have a range of different language, speech and communication needs that all the practitioners involved in the early childhood development must meet. Communication development impacts on all the area of development of the child. If a proper communication exists between the student and the practitioner, then the child will be able to develop in all other aspects including the social and emotional life. Proper developmental learning skills in the setting enable the children to reach their full potential in reading and writing (Rodd, 2013). Therefore, language skills are a foundation literacy skills and that speaking and listening of the children is rooted from reading and writing. A child that can communicate effectively can be able to form various meaningful words and hence can listen effectively to the practitioner. The value of the early year setting has been touched upon by ensuring that the staff access relevant training programs. This take is more impactful if there are defined practices of sharing learning and new ideas from the staffs that have undergone training to the individuals that are back at base. The leaders can also develop learning from other settings through a ‘budding ‘approach with the setting working together on a common theme. In this case, the setting adapts to one style that is more impactful and satisfactory in boosting the knowledge of the students. Role of Sound Learning Environment in Leading and Managing Early Year Setting Robust structures and systems should be in place to promote the active engagement of the parents of the children in their children’s learning and development. The parents and the guardians should feel involved, supported and eventually recognize the importance of the home learning environment that they provide for their children. According to Price and Ota (2014), early years setting has set to raise the bar of the influence of the parents’ role in the learning and development of their children. Effective leaders will respond to this condition by reviewing the work of the setting with the families to ensure strong engagement. Focusing on the learning environment in the early setting helps in better understanding of the importance of communication to the children. The environment describes the opportunities, methods, and reasons that the children have to communicate within a setting environment and whether these are maximized (Rodd, 2013). Communication of the children is due to the response to the stimuli such as seeing, hearing, tasting, smell and feeling. Therefore, the opportunities for communication of the children do not rely on planned sessions or expensive equipment. There are some simple basics that create a positive atmosphere for children and parents in the early year setting (Price and Ota, 2014). In the setting, the children are taught on behaving friendly. For example, the kind of welcome that the families receive when they enter the setting makes the difference in the relationship between the practitioner and the parents. Therefore, the use of various communication protocols in the setting helps the parents and the children confident as they enter the setting. McCrea (2015) noted that positive relationship and the enabling environment of the setting imply that the practitioners will be confident in their interaction with children in a bid to further their learning. The expectations set by the leaders and managers within the early setting is that the staff should be able to provide meaningful personal developments to the children that are tailored to the interests and needs of the children. Besides the positive practices set out, encouraged and developed by managers and leaders in the early years setting, the enabling environment needs to be stimulating and safe. Most effective leaders are the most mindful of their workforce in the early year setting. Therefore, the leaders and managers emphasize a strong sign up to the understanding of child development for all the staff and ensure that the staff sees themselves as the lifelong learners in a fundamental. Parents involvement as an important aspect of Leading and Managing Early Year Settings Parents play a crucial role in the development of their children. They provide the immediate care to their children as compared to the childcare practitioners. Therefore, Leaders and managers of early year settings create an effectively linked ecosystem with the parents. Through the use of effective communication, the leaders and managers use effective strategies in creating a strong bond with the parents of the children and the children. Communicating with the parents Despite the fact that the core reason as to why the children attend the nursery schools is to gain knowledge, the actual reasons for the same are very varied. Some children attend nursery schools so as to develop some social skills; others come to allow parents to work while others come to have fun and learn new things. Despite all these variations, there is a common thread applicable to all these children in the level of communication between their parents and their chosen childcare providers. Communication has worked as an important media in breaking down the boundaries between the parents of the children and the setting which in return benefits the children (McCrea, 2015). Importance of communication between parents and the childcare providers Through communications between the parents and the childcare providers, the parents are encouraged to discuss concerns and issues and get advice from support staff and workers with a broad experience and knowledge with child development. Both the parents and the support staff of the early childhood development centers have abundant and different information pertaining childcare development (Price and Ota, 2014). Therefore, communication provides the link that they can share their skill that can be used to nature their children positively. When the parents engage in communication with their childcare providers, they eventually end up being part of the learning process. In this case, the presence of the parents in the learning environment of the children provides the best conducive environment. The parents can even engage in interaction with the children. Joint working between the parents and the practitioners benefits the children who develop and learn better. Communication with the parents of the children paves way whereby the parents feel comfortable when raising concerns of their children to the childcare providers. Communications help in building the confidence between the parents and the childcare provider and always excited that all the grievances concerning the development of their children are heard and addressed (McCrea, 2015). Communications help in keeping the children safe. Open communication fosters transparency in the protection of the children and that the parents believe that their children would receive the best care and protection from the providers. Additionally, when the parents communicate openly to their childcare providers, they receive peace of mind. Besides, depending on the age of the children, most information about what happens in the school comes directly from the key work. In this case, the process helps in involving and informing parents on the undertakings of the practitioners in developing their children. Therefore, the parents feel relieved from the emotions that can be associated with being away from their children for whatever length of time. Communication helps in including a relationship between the children providers and the parents of the children. The engaged parents who feel well involved and informed feel a stronger bond with their childcare providers (McCrea, 2015). This bond has various benefits to the setting. Many childcares are privately owned and, therefore, the impression that the providers portray to the parents play a significant role in the mouth to mouth referrals and testimonials that they receive. When strong bond exists between the two, the parents will be able to market the facility through either direct or indirect communication with their relatives and friends. Additionally, more satisfied parents raise their issues sooner meaning that they have the opportunity of putting things right. The parents are also more likely to inform about the problem of the nursery as opposed to telling others outside the setting. Therefore effective communication between the parents and the setting plays a major role in the general performance of the setting (Allen and Whalley, 2011). Methods of Imparting Knowledge to the Children in Early Year Setting Effective methods of imparting knowledge to the children are considerations undertaken by the leaders and managers of early Year Setting. Good managers and leaders will always be mindful of identifying the needs of the children as early as possible as well as putting plans in place that support their next learning steps. The progress of the children is a central objective that helps in identifying the problems and obstacles that the students are facing (Allen and Whalley, 2011). Therefore ensuring that plans are in place to support the needs and interests of the children is an important leadership role. Leaders and managers in early quality setting enable their staff to give considerations not only to what the children learn but also as to how they learn. In this case, the leaders are concerned with the characteristics of an effective learning. Characteristics of effective learning are best demonstrated through the use of various learning methods that are employed to the children. These methods mainly entail the use of songs, rhymes, rhythms and repetition in imparting knowledge to the children. According to Eaves (2013), use of rhymes, songs and rhythm has a huge positive impact on the childs literacy and language development. Children love repetition, rhyme, and rhythm. Therefore, these three things that are found in rhymes and songs naturally help in boosting the skills and literacy of the children in language and communication. The language skills of the children start developing long before they are capable of verbalizing actual words (Clark and Murray, 2012). The children, therefore, pay attention listening to the language around them and keeping a track of words. The children reply through a variety of babbling and cooing and therefore through repetition of words, their literacy is improved, and they can speak meaningful words. Retaliation to the Leading and Management in Early Years Setting Despite the current years legal policies governing the equality of early childhood education, some retaliations have led to poor quality education and care in the settings. There are many and varied factors that have led to the current poor quality education offered to the children in the early years setting. It is therefore not only one factor that has led to the incidence but a combination of factors that have negative effects on the childrens learning. Factors such as professional learning, development, and leadership that contribute to high-quality education in some services are ineffective leading to low-quality services (Essa, 2014). Additionally, unsafe learning environments, rigidly implemented routines, poorly resourced and inappropriate teaching practices have affected in poor quality education and care. Ineffective leadership has resulted from the lack of experience of the practitioners. This case has been caused by the current learning policies that govern the managers and leaders of early year settings. Essa (2014) noted that some leaders although technically qualified, take on the role too early without the necessary support to performing the job well. Some leaders are not usually informed on what constitutes effective practice in their line of duty. A lack of good leadership is attributed to negative impacts on the operations and management of the centers (Penn, 2011). Poor teaching policies and practices with ineffective childcare management strategies have resulted in children who appear fractious and bored and that their learning needs are not being met. The managers of the early years settings are the only registered early childhood teachers. The managers are therefore incapable of accessing professional support and development to strengthen leadership, knowledge on center management, and current early childhood education practices. Lack of professional support within the centers in addition to mentoring and development processes is having a negative impact on the ability of various setting to provide the desired education, development, and care for the toddler, infants, and young children within the setting. Besides, the three newly appointed educators in the early years settings have limited experience and understanding of teaching in the centers (Penn, 2011). Self-Evaluation Leadership and management in early year settings have been of substantial concern in the development and care of the children. The settings form the basis of nurturing the children by providing them with the basic communication and learning skills. Learning in the early settings is a tool that helps in the social interaction among the children and their practitioners. Through the process of interaction, communication is an essential tool that aids in expressing the emotions of the children. Educational development of the children is measured by their mastery of communication skills. Development of children in the early years setting has not successfully provided the high-quality education and development to the children. The reason behind this is the current teaching practices and policies. Inadequate planning of the settings and underdevelopment self-review has hindered the development of the children within the settings. The affected centers should, therefore, improve their standards of child development and education by considering a major influx of capable and trained teachers, more ongoing and effective professional development programs as well as strong leadership within the settings. Conclusion Proper child development is a central to each child’s potential to stay safe, be healthy, achieve and make a positive contribution and ultimately achieve economic wellbeing. The ability to communicate is an essential skill in the life of the children and the young people and underpins a childs emotional, social and education development. The leaders and managers in the early year settings develop sound learning environment by ensuring that the practitioners are concerned about the experiences and the interest of the children. The action aids in creating concern and preparedness to assist in the educational, social and emotional development of the children. Despite the fact child development is the core function of the early year setting; it has faced drawbacks related to proper interaction and communication difficulties. Effective strategies should be considered in curbing the current problems. In this case, the practitioners should develop good communication practices into procedures and policies of the setting. Putting good communication practices into procedures and policies emphasizes the need for developing learning through communication. The practitioners should consider the activities and procedures that work in eliminating the barrier of effective interaction and communication between the staff and the children in the early years setting and turn them into setting policies. It might be worth identifying a policy for ‘meet and greet’ in the morning, policy on supporting parents or even policy for key workers. The policies will help in representing a shared acknowledgment of what works best for the children in developing their skills. In many services with poor quality education, there is little sense of understanding by the managers and educators of what high-quality development and education entail. The educators and the managers lack the capability to change practice, believing that their programs are operating effectively. Besides, these leaders and managers are usually unaware of the risks and issues affecting the children. Therefore, despite the policies in place governing the early year settings, poor quality practice is attributed to lack of willingness and motivation of change by the managers and leaders. Bibliography Allen, S., and Whalley, M. (2011). Leading practice in early years settings. Exeter: Learning Matters. Clark, R. and Murray, J. (2012). Reconceptualizing leadership in the early years. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill. Eaves, K. (2013). Songs for early years. [Place of publication not identified]: Mfg Publishing. Essa, E. (2014). Introduction to early childhood education. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. McCrea, N. (2015). Leading and managing early childhood settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Penn, H. (2011). Quality in early childhood services. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Price, D. and Ota, C. (2014). Leading and Supporting Early Years Teams. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Rodd, J. (2013). Leadership in early childhood. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. Online Links https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=AsH9IjxAaSQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Allen,+S.,+and+Whalley,+M.+%282011%29.+Leading+practice+in+early+years+settings.+Exeter:+Learning+Matters.&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Allen%2C%20S.%2C%20and%20Whalley%2C%20M.%20%282011%29.%20Leading%20practice%20in%20early%20years%20settings.%20Exeter%3A%20Learning%20Matters.&f=false https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=C5pDYMKuIYwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Reconceptualizing+leadership+in+the+early+years.+by+Clark+R&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Reconceptualizing%20leadership%20in%20the%20early%20years.%20by%20Clark%20R&f=false https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=T5HUBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA70&dq=Songs+for+early+years.+BY+Eaves+K&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Songs%20for%20early%20years.%20BY%20Eaves%20K&f=false https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=ispqH-v-8PAC&pg=PR6&dq=Essa,+E.+%282014%29.+Introduction+to+early+childhood+education.+Belmont,+Calif.:+Wadsworth+Cengage+Learning.&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Essa%2C%20E.%20%282014%29.%20Introduction%20to%20early%20childhood%20education.%20Belmont%2C%20Calif.%3A%20Wadsworth%20Cengage%20Learning.&f=false https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=5BxEBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=McCrea,+N.+%282015%29.+Leading+and+managing+early+childhood+settings.+Cambridge:+Cambridge+University+Press.&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=U4NFBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA214&dq=Penn,+H.+%282011%29.+Quality+in+early+childhood+services.+Maidenhead:+Open+University+Press.&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Penn%2C%20H.%20%282011%29.%20Quality%20in%20early%20childhood%20services.%20Maidenhead%3A%20Open%20University%20Press.&f=false https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=srdwAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Leading+and+Supporting+Early+Years+Teams.BY+Price,+D.+and+Ota,+C&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Leading%20and%20Supporting%20Early%20Years%20Teams.BY%20Price%2C%20D.%20and%20Ota%2C%20C&f=false https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=NpdTBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Rodd,+J.+%282013%29.+Leadership+in+early+childhood.+Crows+Nest,+N.S.W.:+Allen+%26+Unwin.+Online+Links&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Read More