Author: Andre Coleman

Babysitters can range in age, tending to be in their pre-teens/teens, ages 11-19, yet it is not uncommon for students in their 20s to take on babysitting as a part-time job. The type of work for babysitters also varies, from watching a sleeping child, to playing games, preparing meals, teaching the child to read, or even driving (if the age is right), depending on the agreed upon terms and determined by parental permission.

In some countries various organizations produce courses for babysitters, mainly focusing on child safety and first aid appropriate for infants and children. These classes or courses can be provided at local hospitals and sometimes even schools. These classes can equip the babysitter with information to keep both the child, or children, and sitter safe in various health and weather scenarios.

[edit] U.S.

In the United States, the circumstances that babysitters face can change quickly. The American Red Cross is currently the most popular form of certification; its curriculum ranges from sleeping to emergencies to encouraging young entrepreneurship. It has been statistically shown that parents are more relaxed with a certified babysitter. [1]

[edit] Word History

The term “baby sitter” first appeared in 1937; the verb form “baby-sit” is first recorded in 1947.[2] The American Heritage College Dictionary notes “One normally would expect the agent noun babysitter with its -er suffix to come from the verb baby-sit, as diver comes from dive, but in fact babysitter is first recorded in 1937, ten years earlier than the first appearance of baby-sit. Thus the verb was derived from the agent noun rather than the other way around, and represents a good example of back-formation.”[3] The use of the word “sit” to abbreviate to refer to a baby-sitter is recorded from 1800[citation needed]. The term may have originated from the action of the caretaker “sitting on” the baby in one room, while the parents were entertaining or busy in another.

[edit] International variations in definition

In British English the term refers only to caring for a child for a few hours, on an informal basis and usually in the evening when the child is asleep for most of the time.[citation needed] In American English the term can include caring for a child for the whole or most of the day, and on a regular or more formal basis, which would be described as childminding in British English.

In the United States, the term is sometimes used when one parent is at home and the other, who would normally be present, is not.

In India a babysitter or nanny is known as an ayah or aya, a person hired on a longer term contract basis to look after a child regardless of the presence of the parents.

The Disadvantages of Baby-Sitting

Baby-sitting is a way to get some extra money in a short time period, but disadvantages are present, such as hours, behavior of children and irregular schedule. This is not a dependable way to earn income because you are at the mercy of families needing a baby-sitter.

On-Demand Sitting

Baby-sitters are needed sporadically. There is no regular schedule and are often called upon last minute. The jobs can occur once and then never again. It all depends on whether the employer ever needs a baby-sitter again and if he was happy with your work with his children.

Uneducated in Child Care

A person who is in need of a baby-sitter may require the sitter to have certain type of experience and certifications, such as CPR, before hiring a baby-sitter. However, typically, baby-sitters do not have an education in child care or several years of experience. This type of person is usually doing it to make a few extra dollars.

Hours

The hours of a baby-sitting job could be at any time during the day. If a baby-sitter limits the hours of her availability, the amount of work is decreased. Also, a baby-sitter needs to be ready for long night hours. Most baby-sitters are needed to watch children at night while the parents take in a movie, dinner or attend a work event.

Behavior of Children

The children that a baby-sitter tends to may appear have angel-like characteristics in front of his parents, but things may change when a sitter is alone with the child. The children may have foul language, tantrums if they don’t get what they want or display meanness because the parents left them with a sitter.

What are the advantages of babysitters?

One of the advantages of using a babysitter is that your baby or child will be one of a small group, and the babysitter can therefore offer plenty of individual attention.

Some babysitters take care of children from several families, and usually have mixed age groups, which closely mirrors family life. This may help your child learn to feel comfortable around older and younger children. It also makes it easier to care for all the children in a family, from babies to school age children. Often, babysitters look after children from babyhood through to secondary school, giving them a great sense of security and continuity.

Many parents like this family-friendly interaction, and sometimes what starts out as a babysitting arrangement becomes a strong friendship that lasts for years.

Taking your child to a babysitter can be the next best thing to your own home. If you’re lucky enough to find a good babysitter close by, so much the better; your child will feel even more at home.

From a practical viewpoint, babysitters can often be more flexible about pick-up and drop-off times. This extra flexibility may mean that you don’t have to organise back-up care as often and is particularly useful if you work shifts. However, like all childcare arrangements, it is important not to take advantage, otherwise you may find that you have to start your childcare search all over again.

What are the disadvantages?

If your babysitter becomes ill or takes a holiday, you may be stumped for back-up childcare. Make sure you ask your babysitter how she deals with situations like this.

Some parents worry that the babysitter’s children will get more attention than their own, which puts them off the arrangement. Even the best babysitters still have to meet the needs of their own families and the other children that they are caring for. However, all aspects of day-to-day life can offer learning opportunities, and good babysitters will ensure that the children in their care are regularly engaged in new activities and experiences.

Making a decision

In common with most childcare choices, there are pros and cons for you to weigh up. But depending on your own perspective, what one person might see as a disadvantage (such as fitting into the babysitter’s daily routine), might be viewed as an advantage by another (lots of learning opportunities in a family environment). The best decision for you will be based on what feels right in your individual circumstances.

Baby-Sitting Duties & Salary

For a great many people, baby-sitting is the first hired work experience in life. Non-professional baby sitters usually range between the ages of 15 and 22. For young people, baby-sitting is usually great non-family related flexible employment that can continue all the way through college. Baby sitters have two duties: to keep the children safe and to provide them with comfort. The rates, however, vary by location and circumstance.

Safety

The No. 1 and most basic of baby-sitter duties is to make sure that the kids are safe; that no physical harm has occurred to them on your watch. Accidents can happen, but it is the sitter’s responsibility to know where the child is at all times. If there are multiple children, it is also the sitter’s duty to make sure that they do not harm each other. Knowing the dangers in a house, especially for the first time can be difficult. It is important to go over all the safety details with the parents before they leave you. Where are all the doors? Are they locked? Do the drawers and kitchen cabinets lock? Are the electrical outlets properly covered? and so on. The best way to keep a child safe is to keep them in your attention at all times. Young children should be followed and monitored closely, older children can have a little more privacy if they desire. If you must drive make sure you have proper car seats. You must also need to know what to do in the case of emergency; where the first aid is, how to do CPR and where to call for help.

Care

Along with safety, a baby sitter’s duty is to provide the children with their basic needs. Usually you will have to feed them, bath them, change diapers or help them with the toilet. The basic needs of children depend on their age; an infant will require full attention at all times even when sleeping.

Entertainment and Comfort

Aside from what a baby sitter has a to do, there are things a babysitter should do. Many children are uneasy about seeing their parents leave, as such a baby sitter needs to comfort them by reassuring the child that their parents will return soon and in the meantime you are going to have a lot of fun together. Children love it when adults play with them; ask to see their favorite toy, or watch their favorite movie, read them a book, play outside if there is a yard, or if the parents permit it, drive to a park or bakery for the afternoon. Baby sitting is made all the more easy when the children like and enjoy the company of their baby sitter. Really good baby sitters can become almost part of the family in some cases.

Salary Rates

The wages for a baby sitter vary drastically depending on the circumstances. The average baby-sitting rate in the United States is between $8 and $10 per hour. Though the average seems low, it is higher than the minimum wage in many states. There are, however, variables. Some inexperienced sitters may earn as low as $5 per hour, or on the extreme opposite experienced sitters in wealthy neighborhoods can earn between $15 and $18 per hour. Usually babysitters can set their own rate depending on the situation; infants should generally add $1 to $2 more to your standard rate, and each additional child added should add $1 as well. If you provide yourself with your own transportation then consider adding between 50 cents and $1 to your salary.

Babysitting Older Children

Babysitting older children generally takes less work than taking care of toddlers or infants. Whereas babies need constant nurture and attention, older children can tend for themselves in a lot of areas. However, there still remains a fair share of work to be done when babysitting older children. Depending on the circumstance, you may be responsible for tasks like driving them to sports practices, helping them with homework, cooking them meals, and making sure their lights are out at bedtime.

Often your babysitting responsibilities will be based on everything from your age to the specific needs of the children. Before beginning to babysit for older children, be sure to inquire as to exactly what the parents expect your responsibilities to be. It can also be helpful to obtain a babysitting checklist from the parents that will guide you with helpful instructions and reminders.

Balancing Babysitter Responsibilities

Taking care of children is rarely an easy task, and handling your responsibilities as a babysitter can sometimes be difficult. For example, if you are babysitting three or more children, or if one or more has special needs, the job can seem overwhelming. That is why it is important to properly balance your babysitting responsibilities so you do not exhaust yourself completely by the end of the evening. Babysitting is work, but it should also be enjoyable. Here’s what you can do to keep your babysitter duties balanced:

Ask the parents to explain their expectations for your babysitting services and derive a clear picture of your specific responsibilities for each child.

Obtain a babysitting checklist from the parents, which will help you keep track of important information and requirements for each child.

If you feel like too much responsibility is being put on you, speak up and tell the parents in a polite manner. Some parents do not realize what a handful their children can be, let alone all the tasks they want you to perform for them or around the house. Letting them know that you are being overwhelmed will cause them to realize they need to give their children more responsibilities of their own or, in some cases, to hire an additional babysitter to help you out.

How to Use a Babysitting Checklist

Babysitting checklists are given to child care providers by parents to give specific instructions, and contact information in case of emergencies.These checklists are important to obtain and utilize as a babysitter because they will detail how your responsibilities should be carried out.

That way, if an issue arises, you will have the information that you need to deal with it. Some items that should be included include where the parents can be reached, the number of someone to call if you cannot get in contact with the parents, the child’s doctor and insurance information, and a signed emergency treatment release for the child.

With this information, you will be prepared for anything that might happen while you are babysitting. Once you are given a babysitting checklist, be sure to keep it with you in a pocket or purse at all times. Read its contents thoroughly before the parents leave, and scan through it several times during the day or evening so that you ensure all of your responsibilities are done properly.

Managing Babysitter Responsibilities

Managing babysitter responsibilities is one of the most important tasks involved in child care. When you agree to provide babysitting for someone’s children, it is imperative that you understand what your responsibilities are and how you should carry them out. Babysitter responsibilities can vary from job to job. Just as children differ, so will the ways in which they need to be taken care of.

In order to have a solid understanding of the responsibilities a parent will want you to uphold, you should first discuss exactly what will be involved in babysitting for them. If they are not upfront with explaining the specific responsibilities for the job, be sure to inquire about them. Some babysitting jobs will simply necessitate watching and playing with the children. Others will include more extensive responsibilities like driving, cooking, changing diapers, cleaning and doing light housework.

It is also helpful to obtain a babysitter checklist from the parents. This checklist will contain, among other things, information that will direct your specific responsibilities, such as how much TV the children are allowed to watch, how to discipline them, and what they can or cannot eat. These instructions will help you understand how to carry out each of your responsibilities so you are not left guessing on your own. With clearly defined expectations and a babysitter checklist from the parents, you will be on your way to managing babysitter responsibilities like an expert.

Responsibilities for Babysitting Young Children

Babysitting young children brings its own set of unique responsibilities. While older children can tend for themselves in a lot of areas, infants and toddlers require constant nurture and attention. Babies must be fed often and, as a result, their diapers must be changed on a frequent basis.

Infants tend to spit up and toddlers make messes wherever they go, so you can expect to spend a significant amount of time cleaning up after them. Infants will also need to be held and comforted often. Young children require naps at certain times, usually specified by the parents, and it is important to make sure they get the rest they need. Most young children cry a lot and it is important to know how to handle such situations when they arise. In order to be fully prepared for babysitting young children, take a class on the subject and speak with parents who have experience. Also, be sure to ask the parents of babies you are considering taking care of what responsibilities they would expect you to have.

Responsibilities of a Babysitter

Babysitter responsibilities vary widely from job to job depending on the age of the children, their specific needs and the particular requirements set by the parents. For younger children, responsibilities may include diaper changes, feeding, and holding; on the other hand, babysitting older children may involve driving them to soccer practice or helping them with their homework.

While some children are nearly self-sufficient, all will have certain needs. This could include anything from fixing them a snack to helping them with a physical disability. Circumstances that may surround the job, such as the parents going away on business or the children wanting to take a trip to the museum, may require you to take on heavier responsibilities such as staying overnight or driving.

Specific expectations of the parents will also determine what you will have to do as a babysitter. For example, some parents want their children in bed at a certain time. In this case, you need to make sure that they change into pajamas and brush their teeth before that time comes. The best way to determine the responsibilities you will have as a babysitter is ask parents directly.

Nanny Vs. Baby-sitting

In-home child care from a professional nanny or an individual doing simple baby-sitting duties offers a parent greater flexibility and control with schedules, compared with day care. Though it may be more costly than day care, a nanny or baby sitter may be the best way to care for children. Ages of the children, the hours needed for care and additional expectations determine if a parent needs just a baby-sitter or a professional nanny.

Parent Expectations

A baby sitter is usually called when the need arises, or she may have regularly scheduled hours to care for children. Typically, the job of a baby sitter is to ensure the safety and comfort of a child while the parents are away for a few hours. A nanny usually is more involved with children for a major part of the day on a regular basis. The Nanny Network website says the responsibility of a nanny is to “partner with the parents to help raise their charges to be responsible, competent young men and women.”

Experience

A baby sitter may be a responsible teen or a trusted adult living in the neighborhood. Teenagers and adults who are serious about working as baby sitters receive training and certification from the American Red Cross. Professional nannies have experience that’s backed up with written references, whether they’re working independently or for an agency.

Household Duties

Household duties are negotiated with either a baby sitter or nanny for additional pay. In either situation, care of the children is considered a priority over chores. Younger children require greater levels of care than school-age children, so expectations about extra duties like laundry and kitchen cleanup must be reasonable.

Child Education

Both the baby sitter and the nanny can be expected to read and play with children or help school-age children with homework. A nanny will take a greater interest in teaching children and may serve as a tutor. Since the goal of the nanny is to raise children to become responsible adults, she will also educate children in manners, etiquette and how to care for themselves.

Child Discipline

Merriam-Webster offers three definitions for discipline: instruction, self-control and punishment. A nanny is involved in all three areas of discipline for the training of children, which may include corporal punishment at the parent’s discretion. Typically, a baby sitter is less involved in the child’s life and merely informs the parents about the child’s behavior.

Rate of Pay

As of July 2010, the hourly rates for baby sitting average $8 to $12 an hour, but can be as little as $4 or more than $18 an hour, according to the Babysitting-Rates website. A number of factors affect the costs of hiring child care providers. Some of the variables are the number of children, the experience of the provider and expected household duties.

In the Los Angeles area, Mirta’s Domestic Agency reports salaries from $250 to $500 for a five-day week for live-in nannies working up to 60 hours, or live-out positions for up to 40 hours per week. “Nannies usually receive one-week paid vacation after a year, plus six paid holidays,” Mirta’s says.

How to Describe Baby-sitting Responsibilities

Although all baby sitters share basic responsibilities, such as caring for children, providing entertaining activities and attending to the needs of the children, different parents and families may have their own expectations of their baby sitters. Help your baby sitter understand what your expectations are and what her responsibilities will be when watching your children by clearly describing her duties. By clearly defining the baby sitter’s role for the person you hire, you will help both yourself, your children and your baby sitter have the best experience possible.

Instructions

1

Schedule a meet and greet with your baby sitter before her first day caring for your children. After giving the baby sitter time to introduce herself to your children, communicate with her about her role as a baby sitter. Discuss simple things such as rate of pay, bedtime routines and television policies first.

2

Communicate with your baby sitter about tasks that you feel she should complete as a part of her job responsibilities. For example, some parents prefer the baby sitter to make lunches and dinners for the children, while other parents prepare meals before leaving. Let her know whether it’s OK to take your children for outings to the park, an ice cream shop or on bike rides.

3

Develop a baby-sitting checklist that your baby sitter can refer to when you are gone, especially if you have a lot of rules and responsibilities for her to abide by. Remember that getting used to another family’s routine may be overwhelming at first, so developing a checklist for your baby sitter of tasks to accomplish while you’re gone can be a huge help.

4

Remind your children about the rules of the house and ask them to remind your baby sitter if any of the rules are broken. For example, make sure that your children understand that they are not to watch television while the baby sitter is over if that is your rule. Ask them to remind her if she turns on the television out of habit.

How to Find a Babysitter Job

Babysitting is a great first job for teenagers. Babysitting is a flexible job that can fit around any schedule involving school work, extracurricular activities, and weekends. Through babysitting, you can learn patience, how to be a responsible role model, and how to handle money. To find a job, show parents of young children that you have the skills and commitment needed to babysit

Instructions

1

Create a resume. Include any babysitting experience you have had as well as the hours you are available. Ask parents if you can use them as references, and ask them for letters of recommendation that indicate your strengths as a babysitter.

2

Ask for referrals. Call family and friends for referrals of parents who are in need of a babysitter, or use a local referral program. Many states have free babysitter referral programs that screen families and teens to find the best fit. Call your local chamber of commerce to find a referral program in your area.

3

Take a CPR course. The American Red Cross provides training classes for all ages. Ask adults in your class if they need a babysitter or if they have any referrals, and hand out your resume. Parents are more likely to hire you when they know you are certified in CPR.

4

Post fliers around your community in grocery stores, churches, businesses and day care centers. Cut seven to 10 strips on the bottom of your fliers that parents can easy tear off and take with them. On each strip write your name, telephone number, and that you’re a babysitter. Get the manager’s approval before hanging up any fliers in a business.

5

Use the Internet. Advertise your babysitting services on your blogs and community pages to tell your friends and their friends you are looking for a job.

This essay will highlight how children’s health and the laws to protect them from being exploited by employers through the introduction of Parliamentary Acts have been effective. It has also been important to discover how taking children out of the workforce impacted on society and how it was able to support them. A further issue to be investigated will be how important it was to rescue children from living rough and trying to support themselves which was taken up by Nonconformists such as Thomas Barnardo and how the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) was founded (Cunningham-2006). Another aim of this assignment is to seek out how children’s health has improved through both Government and other organisations’ intervention. Therefore, what Government Acts were introduced to improve the living standards of the very poor and how they have been updated to deal with the problems of the twenty first century. Another part of trying to improve the lives of all children has been focused on providing all children with an education that would link into them achieving a better standard of living and being able to make a positive contribute to society. This has been a theme of Barnardo’s homes since Victorian times (Rose. J 1987) and is still been seen as a necessary goal in the Government’s green paper ‘Every Child’s Matters’ (2003) and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS-2007). Therefore this will be the final area discussed in how different historical and sociological views of childhood are linked to the in present day UK.

Cunningham (2006) & Miller et al (2002)research states that Victorian times saw fifty per cent of recorded deaths in children aged five years old and under, the biggest killers being diarrhoea, whooping cough, measles and small pox. In 1840 it became compulsory to be vaccinated against small pox; a vaccination founded in 1790 by Edward Jenner a country doctor working in a practice in Gloucestershire. He had a chance conversation with a milk maid who had contracted cow pox and she told him that folk lore said that if a person had survived cow pox they could not contract small pox. His vaccine was an important discovery as small pox was the biggest killer in Victorian time; in today’s terms it claimed as many lives as cancer or heart disease. During this period ten percent of the population suffered from the disease in rural areas, this rose to twenty percent in towns and cities who contracted the virus and subsequently there was a higher death toll due to overcrowded conditions. The largest group was of children, as one in three died. Jenner’s assertion was “that the cow pox protects the human constitution from the infection of small pox” (Health affairs, 24 No 3 2005) He called it the “Speckled monster” (www.Jenner museum.com-30/12/10). In 1853 an act was passed that made it compulsory that all infants under three months were to have the vaccination. If parents failed to have their children immunised they could be ordered to court where they would be fined, property confiscated and finally imprisoned. However, this did not deter some parents across all classes who continued to battle with the authorities until their children were fourteen years old and did not have to have the vaccination. This was because many parents feared that the conditions in which the procedure was carried out were not sterile. Their fears were well founded as there was evidence that other disease were spread e.g. erysipelas, syphilis and scrofula (Baxby, small pox vaccination). Although Jenner gave this vaccination to the world for free, the doctors charged for this service therefore many poor people, who were amongst the most vulnerable, could not afford it. If doctors had not charged for this vaccination, small pox would have been under control a lot soon than it was. (www.History Learning Site.co.uk-30/12/10).

However, children’s survival rate did increase as they got older although other health factors came to the forefront. Life expectancy was reduced due to the hazard of death at work, from dust in mines, quarries, barns, mills and bakeries alongside many accidents involving using dangerous equipment. In 1842 the mines act (Maybin.J, 2003) was passed so that no child under ten years old or woman were to work underground in mines but this did not stop them from working above ground where the conditions were not much better. Many acts were also passed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century that tried to control the hazardous, and what proved in many cases the fatal occupation of chimney sweeps or “climbing boys” as they were called (Cunningham, H 2006). All these previous acts proved ineffective and it took a court case in 1875 about an eleven year old boy, George Brewster who died when sweeping a flue at Fulbourn Hospital in Cambridge. The post-mortem showed that George had suffocated, his head was congested and he had large levels of black powder in his lungs and windpipe. Lord Shaftesbury then put forward another bill to parliament, this time with success. This ended what the Times newspaper called the worst “public scandals of the Kingdom”. (Strange, K.H, 1982)

Other Acts of Parliament were also passed to try and safeguard children in cotton mills and factories over a period of time e.g. 1802 Health and Morals of Apprentices Act and the Factory Act of 1819 (Maybin,J.2003) but no provision had been ordered for these acts to be enforced. Things did not really improve until 1832 when thousands of children and adults marched to York to listen to speakers calling for a ten hour day act. The outcome of this was the 1833 Royal Commission on the Employment of Children in Factories Act (Maylin, J.2003) which said that no child under nine years of age could work in a factory and it also said that the eight hours older children spent at work had to be matched with eight hours of time spent in school until they were fourteen years old. This was supposed to be implicated by inspectors even thought there were only four for the whole of Britain. However, their work did go some way to put into place regulations that refined a system that progressed through the century. This meant that children spent equal amounts of their time in work and in school until 1918 (Cunningham-2006).

Although these acts gave children more rights they were also the cause of other problems for society and the policy-makers. The poor law amendment act of 1834 (PLAA) was still in place, which was a problem for certain authorities who had to care for the children as the work they were allowed to carry out was getting more difficult to find. However, factory masters in Northern England and the Midlands needed children to work their machines in these remote sites. This led to the London authorities who were in charge of the poor houses, to take these factories’ needs as an opportunity to send cartloads of children to these valleys to work. One boy, Robert Blincoe tells of how 80 girls and boys were promised “Roast beef and plum pudding “,but instead were forced to work 14 hours a day, were regularly beaten and given insufficient food .( Cunningham, H.2006)

Thomas Barnardo became one of the most famous men in shaping children’s history in Victorian Britain. He arrived in London from Ireland in 1866.The city at the time was coping without much success with the effects of the Industrial Revolution. London was over populated had bad housing, poverty, massive unemployment, and an outbreak of cholera had just ripped through the East End of London.3,000 people had died leaving many children without family, homeless and also many were left with terrible injuries sustained from accidents in factories. Barnardo was appalled at the site of these unfortunate children and in 1867 set up a ragged school, so called because of the condition of the children’s clothes, in the East End of London for poor children to receive some basic education. A young boy Jim Jarvis from the mission showed Barnardo round the streets one cold night, children were sleeping on roofs huddled together for warmth. This sight effected Barnardo greatly and he decided to dedicate his time and efforts to helping destitute children. In 1870 Barnardo opened the first home for boys in Stepney Causeway. One evening a boy, John Somers was turned away from the home because it was full. He was found two days later dead from malnutrition and exposure. The home from that day had a sigh which read “No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission”. Barnardo opened a home for girls in Barkingside which housed 1,500 girls. The aim of these homes was by the time children left they had a skill to help them make their way in the world and make a contribution to society. Boys learnt a craft or trade, girls learnt domestic skills. Barnardo believed that family life was the best for children to be bought up in. He started the first fostering scheme boarding out children to well to do families; he also started a scheme to board out babies born to unmarried mothers. The mothers worked in service nearby so they could still see their off spring. Victorians looked upon poverty, something they had helped to create, as shameful. They believed it came about through vice and laziness. Thomas Barnardo felt that all children, no matter what background they had come from deserved a chance and the best start in life . A philosophy that still inspires the charity today.

Even though Barnardo was seen as a benevolent person there were still those who opposed him and tried to undermine his efforts. He was accused of having liaisons with a prostitute, falsifying photographs by dressing children in ragged clothes and miss using funds. All this was unfounded.(Cambridge University 1998)

In 1946 The Curtis Report was published it was a national report on children “deprived of a normal home life”. Children were acknowledged as the nation’s responsibility. This report was the backbone of the Children’s Act of 1948 which placed local authorities responsible for the care of homeless and those children in need.

Another Act that helped to change history and the plight of children for ever is the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The Reverend George Staite caused a public stir in writing a letter to the Liverpool Mercury dated 1881 in it he asked “Whilst we have a society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, can we not do something to prevent cruelty to children?” This statement summed up the callous way the late Victorian era still treated its children. Social attitudes of Victorian people saw a very distinct line between public and private lives. Lord Shaftesbury, who himself had campaigned successfully for the Mines Act of 1842, warned Reverend Staite against trying to help protect children using the legal system. Shaftesbury said “the evils you state are enormous and indisputable, but they are of so private, internal beyond the reach of legislation”. However by 1884 The London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was born. Lord Shaftesbury was given the post of President and the Reverend Benjamin Waugh and Reverend Edward Rudolf were joint honorary secretaries. Waugh lived in Greenwich in London, and after seeing the high levels of child cruelty in the area, wanted to draw public and government attention to the unnecessary suffering of the children. The London Society lobbed parliament hard and succeeded in changing the law through what was called “Children’s Charters.” These charters reduced the parental powers. The society recognised that most neglect and abuse happened at home. An annual meeting was held in 1889 and the name of the society was changed to the “National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.” Queen Victoria became patron and Waugh the director. In 1889 the society had thirty two branches across the UK. Inspectors were paid by raising funds. They investigated reports of abuse and neglect usually from neighbours. The public had finally got behind this Act and by 1901 the NSPPC had 250 inspectors and had had over 50,000 complaints. The NSPPC continues to uphold the traditions set in place by its founders; it acts as an independent voice of children and young people to this day.(Hendrick,H.2003)

With more children now attending school scientific studies showed that were serious health issues. These studies lead to the 1906 Welfare Act .Until this Act was in place free school meals for children of poor families were suggested but optional so some local authorise did not provide them. By 1914 150,000 children were getting one good meal a day. These studies also paved the way for the 1907Act that meant that all children who attended school were entitled to a free health check. The floor in this Act was that not all children went to school and were still working more times than not to keep their family from poverty.

In 1986 a National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) came into effect in the UK and a similar attitude to that of the Victorians recurred with parents having concerns about links between vaccinations specifically the MMR and neurological problems. Research was headed by Dr Andrew Wakefield at the Royal Free Hospital London. The research suggested that there were links between the MMR vaccination and autism in children. It went on to also make possible links to bowel disease. Two reports in1998 and 1999 looked at the evidence from Dr Wakefield’s team and concluded that firstly there was no evidence to link the MMR to autism or bowel disease and secondly that there was not enough information available to cause concern about the safety of the MMR vaccination. The Department of Health did acknowledge that the final decision was with the parents or guardian of the child but they had no hesitation to advice the use of the MMR vaccine. In 2001 (WHO) the World Health Organisation came out in a report supporting the MMR vaccine (MacLeod-Brudenell 2004).

Even though things have improved for children from Victorian times, things are still not ideal for our children of today. Poverty is still a major concern in the 21st century .Three times as many people are living relative poverty compared to 1979. Families are experiencing high levels of divorce, separation and traditional networks decrease(DSS 1999a).These changes have an adverse impact on children’s emotional well-being and physical health. Children who live in families experiencing relative poverty are; less likely to eat healthy, to be breastfeed for any length of time, to do well in school and more likely to have childhood accidents, to have parents that smoke and have parents that suffer from depression. After the death of an eight year old girl ,Victoria Climbie, she was tortured and killed by her aunt and partner. Lord Laming chaired a public inquiry it asked how in the 21st century this little girl could have been failed so miserably. After the Laming Report, a minister for children,. The government published the green paper “Every Child Matters.”(DfES 2003)The spirit of this paper is positive. This policy outlined the care that needed to be in place to protect our children including the National Service Framework(NSF) for children’s health, Sure Start for families with children under five, improve access to health food, and reduce child poverty.(Miller,L.2002)

In conclusion, from Victorian days up to modern times there have been pioneers who developed vaccinations such as Edward Jenner’s small pox inoculation to Lord Shaftesbury’s law to protect the chimney sweep boys. However, any changes no matter how well intended have had some serious implications to families’ ability to survive poverty. Further, even though there were laws to ensure the authorities did take care of the poorest in society, reforms to protect children from working had serious implication to their ability to fulfil their role.

Video modeling is an evidence based practice used to teach a variety of socially relevant behaviors for children with Autism. Many times children with Autism are visual thinkers and learners. They learn best when information is presented to them visually rather than orally. Using video modeling, the children are provided with a visual model of a peer, adult, or themselves engaging in the targeted behavior they are expected to learn. After watching the video several times, the children are provided with an opportunity to imitate and generalize the behavior observed on the video.

A number of studies have shown that video modeling increases play conversations between children with Autism and adults and peers. Since children with Autism struggle with social skills, it is beneficial to teach them to initiate play with others. Video modeling produces faster acquisition of the behavior and greater generalization in children with Autism than live modeling and without the use of reinforcements or prompting. Studies have confirmed that with video modeling, verbalization and play actions was maintained over time. Video modeling can be implemented from early childhood to adulthood and taught by professionals and parents in a variety of settings. It can be used in the classroom and at home by the parents to teach new skills the child needs to be successful.

A benefit of using video modeling is that it allows for parents, teachers, and people collaborating with the child to use the same method to teach targeted skills. It is difficult to learn and master a skill if the child is practicing different ways with different people. Because children with Autism have difficulties generalizing it is important to work together to teach targeted skills the same way. Video modeling allows for caregivers to do this. By everyone working together the child can learn the initial skill quicker and then work on generalization systematically. The child will experience success when everyone is working together, using the same video, and teaching the same skill the same way. Video modeling procedures have been used successfully to teach a variety of adaptive behaviors such as social, play, self care, and academic skills.

Types of Video Modeling

There are several types of video modeling that are used with children with Autism. The most common types of video modeling include basic video modeling, video self-modeling, point-of-view video modeling, and video prompting. Basic modeling involves recording either an adult or a peer modeling the targeted skill. The child watches this video at a later time. Video self-modeling records the child with Autism displaying the targeted skill. The child then watches themselves in the video at a later time. The point-of-view video modeling shows a video recorded from the perspective of the child with Autism. Video prompting is used when teaching a step by step skill. It is recorded by breaking the targeted skill into steps and pausing after steps to give the child with Autism an opportunity to practice each step. Many studies have found great success when combining models.

Research

A study by Macdonald (2009) evaluated the effects of video modeling has in teaching children with Autism to engage in reciprocal pretend play with their peers without disabilities. The play included verbal interactions and cooperative play. The study consisted of two pairs of children, one with Autism and a peer without Autism. The pair was shown a video consisting of two adults acting out the sequence of pretend play. The children were directed to play and their responses, actions, and verbalizations were recorded. Both pairs demonstrated successful gains of play actions and increased verbalization between peers. The performance was maintained over time. The results of this study concluded that video modeling produced sequences of reciprocal pretend play between children with Autism and their peers without Autism. In this study, video modeling was an efficient strategy for teaching cooperative play. The appropriate play skills were gained with short exposure of the video and in the absence of reinforcements and prompting.

A study conducted by Allen et al. (2010) examined the effects video modeling had on teaching vocational skills to four young men with Autism. The participantsaˆ™ ages ranged from 16-25 years old. Video modeling was used to teach the four adolescents to wear a WalkAround Mascot costume and entertain the customers in a store. The video for the training showed a mascot performing in a scripted and naturalistic setting. The participants watched the video twice and were then taken to the store to imitate for 10 minutes the behavior seen in the video. According to the results of this study, all participants learned to use the vocational skills after watching the video model. The young men enjoyed the experiment and reported they would be interested in continuing to perform at the store when the experiment would be over. Allen (2010) states aˆ?video modeling was an effective way to teach adolescents and young adults with ASDs to perform a vocational task in a social settingaˆ?.

A study designed by Nikopoulos and Keenan (2007) was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of video modeling on building sequences of social behaviors. The study included three boys with Autism from the ages of 6.5-7 years old. The boys were given common objects that included a ball, a table, two rags, a vacuum cleaner, a plant pot, and a jacket. These objects were selected because of familiarization and to avoid instructions of using the objects appropriately. The participants were shown the video and data was collected after 5 minutes by observing behaviors in the areas of social initiation, reciprocal play, imitative responses, and object engagement. The study data suggest that the participants were successful in building a sequence of social behaviors. All of the students performed the activities in the same sequence as presented in the video. The participantaˆ™s showed generalization across peers and the appropriate behaviors were maintained after the 2 month follow up period. Research proved that video modeling was successful for children with Autism in this study.

In the presented studies, video modeling has proven to be effective on children and adolescent with Autism. Results from these studies have demonstrated success across different settings and with the application of different skills. The results have also indicated that video modeling teaches skills at a rapid pace and with short exposure to the videos.

In conclusion, video modeling procedures have been used to successfully teach many types of skills and behaviors in the areas of academics, social, self-care, daily living, community, vocational, and play. When used effectively research has shown to produce more rapid acquisition and greater generalization than live modeling. Video modeling has also shown that prompting and reinforcement are not necessary to help children acquire the targeted skill. Video modeling is a great tool because of the visually cued instruction that allows children with Autism to learn by observation.

As educators our role is to teach children through curriculum. Through the years many different types of curriculum have been created. Curriculum is defined as the learning programs, activities, school subjects, materials, plans, and topics of study (Arce). The Montessori Method was established over 100 yrs. ago and is still used in some form in today’s class rooms. It is commonly associated with its popular child-size furniture in the classroom, but there is much more to Montessori Method as I will discuss detail later.

The Montessori Method was created in Rome, Italy by Dr. Montessori in 1907. During this time period in the early 1900’s the common age of children to start attending school was 6 yrs old. This age was determined based on the child’s ability to walk and understand, or “therefore deemed intelligent enough to go to school” (Montessori, The Periods of Growth) . However, in the 1930’s physiologists recognized that children become receptive to adult influences between the ages of 3-6 (Montessori, The Periods of Growth) . Just as it is known today children have a sensitive period for development and during this time it is more beneficial (Montessori, Education For Life) . The Montessori Method changed the focus then from how to teach children to meet the needs of the world, and focus on the child from their birth (Montessori, Education For Life).

Under the Montessori Method the teachers’ task which was to “the first thing to be done, therefore is to discover the true nature of a child and then assist him in his normal development” (Arce). This is achieved through the different areas of learning; Practical

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Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language and Literacy, Cultural Subjects, and Creative Subjects (ICME ). In most Montessori Schools the children are in vertical age groups 2 ? years to 6 years, 6 to 9 years, 12 to 15 years, and 15 to 18 years (ICME ). The exercises of practical life teach the children the importance of maintaining a clean environment, cooking and the practical skills of buttoning, sewing, and lacing (ICME ).

Next is the Sensorial, the education of the senses. This is considered to be one of more import lessons and is focused on children with special needs as well as “typical” children. The materials used are didactic materials and give special needs children opportunities to learn through the senses and it provokes auto-education in “typical” children (Montessori, Education of the Senses ). Exercises within this method include children learning to recognize the differences in dimensions by assorting various shapes and sizes of blocks (Montessori, Education of the Senses ). When a child selects the wrong size they are forced to correct it themselves. Once the child has accomplished this exercise with this specific material they then have outgrown it (Montessori, Education of the Senses ).

The third area is Mathematics. The materials children use in mathematics are similar materials to that of which are used in sorting. In mathematics the materials are color coded rods, pegs and virtually anything that can be sorted or counted (Montessori, Teaching of Numeration; Introduction to Arithmetic ).

The fourth area is language and literacy. In the Montessori curriculum the writing is focused on learning to draw lines and shapes that eventually lead to the children writing

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(Montessori, Methods for the Teaching of Reading and Writing ) . Another exercise to teach writing skills involves the children tracing the letters through materials. One lesson I found fascinating was created for children to correct themselves by using sandpaper on the outside of the letter (Montessori, Description of the Method and Didactic Material Used ). In teaching children literacy they start with vowels and then constanants to teach letter recognition. The focus is on the sounds they make and pictures of object similar to the phonics system today (Montessori, Methods for the Teaching of Reading and Writing ).

The fifth area is Cultural subjects. If you notice most Montessori schools are in environments with nature surroundings. Children are able to connect with nature by taking an active role in its care.

The last area is Creative subjects which include arts and craft, drama, music and movement. In art children are encouraged to draw anything that pops into their minds. Looking at other creative materials, children are given the freedom to explore with clay and coloring materials. Music was another way for a child to express themselves. With the Montessori Method the children create their own instruments as well as music (Montessori, Education of the Senses ).

In order for the Montessori Method to be effective in a classroom that encourages self-teaching and the freedom to move around the class and centers freely discipline is required. Self-discipline is taught to children through exercise, these exercises teach children instead of verbally commanding them to be quiet and still. Children learn these different actions by

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sitting and getting up quietly, tip toeing and the use of objects quietly, and other exercises (Montessori, General Review of Discipline ).

Montessori curriculum has advantages and disadvantage in comparisons to traditional classrooms. In a Montessori classrooms children are allowed and encouraged to experiment uninterrupted in centers for up to 3 hours opposed to a traditional classroom where the child sits at their seat a majority of the day and the teacher facilitates the lesson or they are only allowed an allotted time in centers. The teachers are to mainly observe the children and let them teach themselves and not force the child to learn. However, the disadvantages of Montessori curriculum are they don’t follow traditional grade scales, but conduct evaluations throughout the school year (ICME ) . Lastly, the name Montessori isn’t legally protected, so schools and the training they provide can vary and may not reflect Montessori Methods (International Montessori Index) . Regardless of the curriculum teachers choose it is still necessary for them adjust the curriculum to the needs of their students.

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The Concept of Child/Childhood

Aries’s argument “In medieval society the idea of childhood did not exist” provoked scholars to question what had previously been considered as child/childhood. In fact what Aries criticizes is that the past lacked the specific features of the modern concept of child/childhood. At most, Aries intends to “contrast a distinctively modern awareness of childhood with a pre-modern neglect.” (20) As in 17th century child/ childhood apparently considered by society as a time of independence and innocence, has been a time of oppression for children. Aries uses the representation of child/children in the visual arts in the middle Ages and the Renaissance as evidence of the fact that, before the 16th century, there was no interest in child/childhood as a specific category. Children were seen too fragile as yet to take part in the life of adults simply “did not count”. Lawrence Stone, the author of The Past & The Present, considers the conditions of pre-modern childhood:

“as a pessimistic one of degeneration from an era of freedom and sociability to an era of oppression and isolation, a period of happy social polymorphism, in which there were no divisions of ranks or ages, no separation of the child from the adult, no privacy, no external pressures from the state or the needs of an no privacy, no external pressures from the state or the needs of an industrial economy, no internalized work ethic. Children and adults mixed together easily and naturally, wearing the same clothes, playing the same games, and working together on the same jobs. They also shared from the beginning a common knowledge of both sex and death. This easy egalitarian familiarity was one in which child abuse could not occur”(316).

Many issues points out by Stone to convey that the concept of childhood coined by modern society and it has seen the turning point in the eighteenth century rather than the seventeenth. Similarly, Richard Farson concurs that childhood is exclusively a modern concept. He claims that concept of childhood is enforced and unnatural exclusion. However, in his belief “Children did not always exist; they were invented. The idea of childhood is a European invention of the sixteenth century. Before the latter part of the middle Ages there simply was no the concept of childhood. Most of languages had no words means childhood “(17), while, for Eva M. Simms, “by the seventeenth century the division between adulthood and childhood had become a wide gulf that separated the mature from the immature”(199).

However, childhood is not regression, but it is presumably a progression toward a meaningful, not an irresponsible freedom. Concept of childhood has varied across the centuries. In spite of the fact, children are eternally seen as social agents; the dominant view is that children are unable to make persuasive contributions and effort to society on account of their immaturity, minority status and incompetent individuals who are disconnected from the social world. But, it has usually got tangled in the haul-up ropes of viewing childhood as a period of deficiency. Aries clarifies that the child as we seen, was not missing from the Middle Ages, at least from the thirteenth century on (38). He goes further and explains “nobody thought, as we ordinary think today, that every child already contained a man’s personalit”(39). He insists in his arguments in a few next lines as the child that had died to soon in life was buried almost everywhere, much as we today bury a domestic pet, a cat or dog. He was such as an important little thing. Aries, however, argues in the renaissance “There are more children, but they are miniature adults.” Children are viewed essentially passive and childhood is considered as the most critical and crucial stage in life and by its social status as a subordinate group in need of protection in order to be prepared for adulthood. (39) Although, childhood theorists have opposed this by emphasizing the significance of exploring children’s views, an approach which underpins and makes possible this study. In fact, child/childhood is considered as a crucial stage in the development of an individual due to what society considered as good or evil and the way to relate to and care for the environment. But some theorists believe that children have not been the victims of ill-treated society and they have not been oppressed. To elaborate this, Margaret Wise Brown the American author of Goodnight Noises argues that:

“In this modern world where activity is stressed almost to the point of mania, quietness as a childhood need is too often overlooked. Yet a child’s need for quietness is the same today as it has always been it may even be greater or quietness is an essential part of all awareness. In quiet times and sleepy times a child can dwell in thoughts of his own, and in songs and stories of his own.”

These tensions are due to the writing about child/childhood from various perspectives. In this respect, John Locke who popularizes the idea that children’s begin as a blank slate and their personalities and moral compasses are not inborn but formed through their experiences. He argues that “children as the recipients of an ideal upbringing, citizens in the making, fledgling but imperfect reasoners and blank sheets filled by experience “, then , he believes in the priori knowledge and has faith in acquiring knowledge gradually through experiences. In spite of fact, he proposes that “childhood being a stage in the development process whose end is adulthood.” Therefore, he sees children as imperfect, not yet rational, and incomplete version of adult. That’s why adult should have power over their children. Furthermore, he insists that “children are only white paper or wax and they have to be moulded and fashioned as one pleases”. He continues the acquisition of reason is gradual process and may human vary from animals in being rational, but this doesn’t distinguish children from adults. Though, it’s part of natural and normal process of psychological development and maturation that a child should become a fully rational control. Therefore, adulthood is a state of mind rather than a question of age. Similarly, children have seen as weak, vulnerable and incapable of providing for their own maintenance. Locke concedes that “a lack of reason is not exclusive to children; they are adults _innocents and madmen_ who remain in the state naturally defines childhood”(7) However, his definition of childhood strengthens the irrationality of childhood within the framework of psychology. Nevertheless, he never denies children rights.

While, Archard argues Aries may be wrong to think that it is only modern society which has a concept of childhood; while he concurs there is distinctively modern conception of the particular nature of childhood but there are different views of childhood. Thus, the concept of childhood is infused with myth, mixture of cultural and ideological sources. For him “The concept of childhood requires that children be distinguishable from adults in respect of some unspecified set of attributes”(21). He proposes that “societies at all times have had the concept of childhood. But there have been different conceptions of childhood”(23).Indeed, it may differ in term of “its boundaries, its dimensions and its divisions”(23). Rousseau defends the value of having concept of childhood and stresses the recognition of child as a child. He argues that ” childhood has its in the order of human life. The man must be considered in the man and the child in the child”(80), whilst Aries implies childhood as a particular of nature. In other words, childhood is to recognize that children differ interestingly from adults, while Rousseau argues that “we know nothing of childhood” as such we “are always looking for the man in the child, without considering what he is before he becomes a man”(3). As a matter of fact, concept of childhood is strictly associated with the adulthood. Being child is the opposite of being an adult, and vice versa (Achard, 23). Of course, it simply implies that childhood means absence of adulthood, but it doesn’t represent childhood against adulthood. However, childhood has thus been verified as a stage of life and also the word child has been recognized in many societies to clarify a kinship but also to indicate as an age of servitude. Variously, it has been observed the beginning of childhood to occur at birth or has even been extended at the end of breastfeeding, which lasted sometimes at around seven years. Regarding constructing an ideal concept of childhood, Jean-Jacques Rousseau as an eighteenth-century philosopher who began modern educational theory, defines childhood as the “nature age” at which there is no space for reason and knowledge as such adults have been tried to denature it. Accordingly, he argues that:

The second stage, or the age of nature, is from around two to twelve years old. During this time the child should develop physical qualities and the senses, but not the mind. As a result of this negative education which includes no verbal learning, nor moral instruction, the child will display the necessary qualities of being both eager and pleasant. (Emil, 93)

Yet, biological features haven’t always been prominent in signifying childhood. According to Kehily, Henry Mayhew an English social researcher views childhood as “a period of life where play and carefree pleasure should be indulged, where the child is protected from the adult world of work and is cared for, kept warm and well fed” (3) Similarly, Thomas John Barnardo argues that “Children have only one chance of a childhood. They deserve to be protected from harm, to enjoy good emotional, mental and physical health, and to feel that they belong in their home, at school and in their local community.” Rousseau concurs that “Nature wants children to be children before they are men…Childhood has its ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling that are proper to it. Nothing is less sensible than to try and substitute our ways… It is the curb of strength, and the child does not need this curb” (258).

The romantic view of childhood imputes children as spirituality close to God. This idea is taken up in England by William Wordsworth who claimed that “The child is father of the man.” Thereby, Diana Gittins in her book The Child in Question encounters with childhood “an adult construction that changes over time and place.” Then, she continues the concept of childhood varies between children in relation to social categories such as gender, ethnicity and social class. However, Gittins draws attention to the development of childhood as a concept that increasingly differentiated adults and children, girls and boys. Similarly, Mary Jane Kehily explores childhood in relation to issues of sexuality. But, Stevie Jackson in his book Childhood and Sexuality 1982 explains children and sex should be kept apart.

Regarding negative aspect of child/childhood, children are defined as a one is becoming other rather than being. For Rousseau “We know nothing of childhood”, as such adults are always looking for the man in the child without considering what he is before always looking for the man in the child without considering what he is before he becomes a man. (3)Adults “destroys and defaces all things; he loves all that is deformed and monstrous; he will have nothing as nature made it, not even man himself, who must learn his paces like a saddle-horse, and be shaped to his master’s taste like the trees in his garden” (Rousseau 4).

To sum up, as Nodelman articulates that “Adults offer children images of childhood that they expect children to mimic in order to be the right kind of children. The necessity of this process itself inscribes its inevitable failure: children are not yet and not actually what adults wish them to pretend to be, which is exactly why adults wish them to pretend to be it, for their own good” (187).

The Children Act was first introduced in 1989 and was amended in 2004 after an inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie. After the death of eight-year old Victoria Climbie in 2000, Lord Laming was asked by the Government to carry out an investigation to know if new regulation and guidance were needed to develop the safeguard of child system in England. The Government’s answer to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry report (Laming, 2003) was the Keeping children safe report (DfES, 2003) and the Every child matters green paper (DfES, 2003), which in turn led to the Children Act 2004.

This Act’s ultimate purpose is to make the UK better and safer for children of all ages.

The Act also created a Children’s Commissioner;

putting in place services provided to and for children and young people by local authorities and other persons;

dealing with Wales about advisory and support services in regards to family proceedings;

dealing with private fostering, child minding and day care, adoption assessment panels, the explanation of reasonable penalty, the making of allowances as respects children and families, child safety orders, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales,

The publication of material in connection to children dealing in legal cases and the release by the Inland Revenue of data relating to children.

The government aims is for every child whatever their background or their conditions, to have the backing they need to:

be healthy i.e. enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle;

to stay safe i.e. to be free from harm and negligence;

to enjoy and achieve i.e. to make the most out of life and to develop the skills to become an adult;

to make a positive contribution i.e. to be in touch with the community and society and not taking part in anti-social or criminal conduct;

To achieve economic well-being i.e. not being prohibited by financial difficulty from reaching their full ability in life.

The green paper suggested improvements was into four main areas which are assisting parents and carers, early involvement and effective security, responsibility and combination – locally, regionally and nationally and staff improvement.

Being healthy

It is shown by a study that those smoking regularly aged 11-15 in England has gone down since 1996 from 13 to 10 percent. But obesity level is rising. Between 1996 and 2001 the number of children who were obese having between 6-15 years old in England increase by 4 percent.

Young rates of pregnancy were lower by 10 percent in 2001 than in 1998. But UK still has the most teenage pregnancies in Europe.

The World Health Organisation published a report in 2002 that UK had the least suicide rate amongst 26 countries, but suicide is still responsible for 20 per cent of young deaths.

Staying safe

In March 2002, 59,700 children were in care in England, which is an increase of 22 percent since March 1994. But, the number on child protection registers in England have been decreasing as there were only 25,700 in March 2002 compared to 38,600 ten years earlier.

Between 1981 and 2001 the percentage of young boys in England and Wales reprimanded or sentenced of a crime decreased from 7 per cent of young boys to 5 per cent, but the same rate for girls increased from 1.3 to 1.4 per cent.

A research of criminal and harassment found that 46 percent being the target of some kind of crime in the last 12 months among those aged 11 to 16 in ordinary schools.

In most cases of domestic violence where around one in ten women involved yearly, their children were present in the same or next room, and one in three child safeguard circumstances points to a past of domestic violence against the mother.

Enjoying and achieving

The number of those aged 11 reaching the normal level in English and maths went up by 12 percent, from 63 percent to 75 percent and from 61 percent to 73 percent in English and maths respectively since 1997.

In 2002 more than half of 15 year olds got a minimum of five GCSEs at grades A*-C, a rise of more than 6 percent since 1997. However success is not steady through diverse ethnic groups like for example pupils from Chinese and Indian backgrounds succeed considerably over regular GCSE results; black pupils and those from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds do inferior in their GCSE results.

Non-attendance has stayed the same from 1995/96 at 0.7 percent of half days absent.

At the end of 2001, in every eleven youngsters having 16-18 years old, one was not in education, work or training and in every four youngsters between 16 and 18, one spend time out of education, training and employment.

Making a positive contribution

A new research of secondary students who are 11 to 18 years old showed that 86 percent had taken part in certain sort of community activity in the previous year and half participated in raising fund or gathering cash for charity.

From the 2001 General Election, assessments found that attendance was lowest between those aged 18-24, as only two in five casted their vote.

Economic well-being

Between 1992 and 1995, 19 percent of children stayed in working age jobless homes, but in 2003, the percentage had fallen to 15.2.

The percentage of children staying in homes with comparatively low earnings decreased between 1996-97 and 2001-02 from 34 to 30 after housing expenses. The percentage of children staying in homes with virtually low earnings fell largely from 34 percent to 20 percent after housing deductions.

The Children’s Act 2004 established a Children’s Fund which is aimed to support in the abolition of poverty and economic difficulties felt by disadvantaged children or those whose family’s monetary conditions leave them deprived by making sure that children aged between five and thirteen attend school regularly and also decreasing the risk of crime being carried out by these children, so that they can get the best promising start of their life.

The Children’s Act 2004 specially caters for disabled children. Local authorities have a responsibility under the Act to arrange for facilities to ‘children in need’ if these amenities will aid keeping a child safe and healthy.

After the death of baby P, there was a review conducted by Lord Laming which suggested that those dealing with children need to be properly trained to detect any problem so that social workers or other practitioners can better safeguard children under their responsibility.

The Children Act 2004 provides a strong emphasis and a new approach to children’s services but is not sufficient in itself. Its application must be part of an extensive progression of transformation, concentrating on results and brought onward by local transformation packages in 150 Local Authority regions set within a national structure.

The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (NSF) is fundamental to this. It put forward a ten-year plan to encourage durable and continual progress in children’s health and well-being.

As it is applied by Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), Local Authorities and other groups including other health bodies, it will add to the realisation of the five outcomes.

What is a Child? Initially this may appear to be a simple question: we all have some experience of children and childhood, perhaps through family, friends or your own children, most people have close contact and bonds with children. There is also a wealth of people, in many different professions, who work with children of all ages in many types of settings. Also it is impossible to ignore the simple fact that every adult on this planet was, once, a child themselves. It is clear we all have some experience of children and childhood, and most people will have some very clear notions of what childhood is or what it should be. However once you begin to look a little deeper, it becomes far more complex than one might at first imagine: there are many different factors which effect childhood today. This paper will analyse this question further, looking at definitions of a child and how childhood has changed during the twentieth and twenty first century. Taking into account the effect of the media, consumerism, advertising, adults changing attitudes and child related policy, in order to evaluate how these factors have changed and shaped modern childhood…

More than sixty years ago, in 1948, the majority of the world’s country’s signed up to the United Nations Declaration of Humans Rights (Lee, 2001). This stated that all human beings were entitled to certain basic rights, which no state could remove from them. Furthermore a little over twenty years ago, in 1989, the United Nations passed a further set of rights specifically for children: the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child (Lee, 2001). One might question the reasons behind this extra convention: the original declaration covered all human beings so why would children need their own special set of rights? (Lee, 2001). This gulf between children and adults within global guidelines reflects the trend of viewing adults and children as ‘fundamentally different types of human’ (Lee, 2001 pg.5). Traditionally the vast majority of societies have considered adults to be complete, constant and self regulating where as the child is seen to be incomplete, changeable and requiring guidance (Lee, 2001). The sociologist Jens Qvortrup (1994) explained this fissure between human adults and human children eloquently by describing adults as ‘human beings’ and children as ‘human becomings’ (cited in Lee, 2001 pg. 5). Now this paper will look at different standpoints, which can be used to view the notion of what children and childhood are…

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 defines a child in the following way: ‘a human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier’ (UNCRC, Article 1, 1989). This definition of the child would fall under the category of a legal definition; another legal way to define a child would be by using the age of criminal responsibility. The age that a individual becomes criminally responsible varies greatly from country to country, in England and Wales the age was raised to ten years old in 1963, it had previously been eight (Children and Young Persons Act 1963, section16). However until the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 the law presumed that children under fourteen were ‘doli incapax’. Meaning the law regarded them as being incapable of distinguishing the difference between what is right and what is wrong, and therefore could not be convicted of a crime they had committed. Unless the criminal prosecution were able to definitively prove that the perpetrator was fully aware that their actions were wrong (Crime and Punishment Act 1998, section 34). The age of criminal responsibility imposed by England and Wales and the even lower age of eight in Scotland, are the lowest within the European Union. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has criticised the UK for the low ages imposed: stating article three of the UNCRC which requires that during criminal proceedings the child’s best interests must be held in primary consideration (Broadbridge, 2009).

Another perspective to look at when defining the child would be to study the concept from a sociological standpoint. What does the term child and childhood mean to society? What is their notion of a child? These are complex questions and the answers will inevitably vary depending on the country and culture one is studying. Michael Wyness (2006) used the ‘playing-child’ construction to define childhood: this encompasses the notion that childhood equals a time of play, without responsibilities. By using this definition Wyness also offers a definition for adulthood: if childhood can be characterised through a lack of work therefore adulthood can be characterised as being a time for work and responsibility (Wyness, 2006 pg. 9). This would suggest that childhood is a socially constructed phenomena based on the ideas that people within a given society hold. This notion of childhood being a social construction is not a new idea: the French historian Philippe Aries (1960) has also suggested that childhood is a fairly recent construction of society. Aries claimed that until the fifteen century children in Western Europe were considered as miniature adults and therefore believed to have similar mental abilities and personal qualities as adults. Although due to their smaller physical presence they were viewed as physically inferior compared to a fully grown adult (Montgomery, & Woodhead, 2002). Philippe Aries work, Centuries of Childhood (first published 1960), was influential in attracting academic consideration towards the study of childhood; however his work has been subject to plentiful criticisms. Such as how he drew his conclusions about medieval society through the means of studying art from the period. Due to the subjective nature of art, studying a society in this way may give an inaccurate picture of how that society viewed a particular subject. A further criticism was the lack of explanation for the change in attitudes towards children (Hill, M, & Tisdall, K, 1997).

A society which views children as being a completely different type of human being compared to adults, will believe that the child has different needs to be fulfilled than the adults within their society. One example of this can be seen in prosperous areas of the industrialised world, where a wealth of products are available which are exclusively tailored for children. Items such as toys, clothes, cots, food stuffs and medicine are just a snippet of the vast array of child centred paraphernalia adults will encounter in various retail outlets (Montgomery, & Woodhead, 2002). As well as these rather necessary commodities, there is also an overwhelming range of products designed for entertaining children. There are books, magazines and television channels; holidays and theme parks; educational software and computer games. These are just some of the things available which cater for children, turning childhood into a lucrative, commercialized business (Montgomery, & Woodhead, 2002).

The increasing trend in this type of consumerism aimed at children, has further led to a massive growth in advertising aimed at children. Companies now spend huge amounts of money per annum on advertising their brand to children, whereas comparatively twenty years ago the budget for this type of advertising would have been virtually nonexistent (Dunn, & Layard, 2009). Research has shown that brand loyalty develops in children from a very early age: studies have shown that even children as young as two will treat a new toy differently depending on whether that child has been exposed to the toy previously through the means of advertising on television. Once they reach the age of three children tend to prefer leading branded products, which are subject to mass media marketing compared to a non branded product which tastes exactly the same (Dunn, & Layard, 2009). The purpose of advertising is obviously to make the consumer desire a certain item or brand over any other similar items available. However advertising also has the knock on effect of making people, adults and children alike feel that they need more materialistic items than they would otherwise believe. This can leave parents feeling that they need to spend more and more money in order to make their children happy; in a survey conducted by the Children’s Society nine out of ten parents stated that advertising pressurised them into spending more than they could realistically afford (Dunn, & Layard, 2009). Consumerism also has negative effects for the child; a major study was conducted in 2004 by Juliet Schor, into the effects of the media and consumerism on children. Her study has found that; if all other aspects of a child’s life were equal, high exposure to media would led a child to be more materialistic, having problems relating the their parents and being at higher risk of mental health issues. These risks increase even more for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are living with little household income to being with (Dunn, & Layard, 2009).

Children’s experience of childhood in the twenty first century will differ vastly from even their own parent’s experiences just one generation before them. This is partly due to the change in children’s leisure activities which in the last decade have shifted to included much less physically active pursuits (Dunn, & Layard, 2009). Studies have shown that children are spending less time than ever before pursuing physical activities. Physically inactive pursuits such as: television, video gaming and the internet becoming ever more popular (Dunn, & Layard, 2009 pg.54). This bloom in new technologies has brought a wealth of knowledge and entertainment to our finger tips. However it has also been linked with increases in three dangers: encouraging the discourse that wealth and beauty equal’s happiness; encouraging aggressive models of relationships and that it encourages less physical activity and unhealthy lifestyles (Dunn, & Layard, 2009).

The change in adults attitudes towards what pursuits can be considered safe for children is one reason for this decline in the amounts of physical, outdoor activity undertaken by modern children. Through the media, vast amounts of information regarding child murder cases are made available and easily accessible to the general public, resulting in these cases being more prominent in people’s thoughts (Dunn, & Layard, 2009). This leads people to believe that the number of children being murdered, especially being murdered by strangers has been steadily increasing over time; however this isn’t the case. Home office statistics show that the risk of children being murdered by a stranger are very minimal, averaging approximately eleven per year shows that for the vast majority of adults their fears for children’s safety are unfounded (Dunn, & Layard, 2009). In fact a child is at much greater risk within their own home. The NSPCC believe that for each generation more than one thousand children will be killed before adulthood, most at the hands of a violent parent or carer (Cunningham, 2006 p.235).

These high profile cases in the media have also led to children’s rights becoming more prominent within societies and indeed also the Governments thoughts. There has been a deluge of child related policy passed through the UK government, reflecting how attitudes towards children have changed; children are being viewed as separate beings that have individual needs and are in need of protection.

Just one of these policies is the Children Act 2004; this Act was developed and implemented following the findings of Lord Laming’s 2003 inquiry into the tragic death of Victoria Climbie, who died in 2002 (Duffy, & Pugh, 2010). In response to the Laming report the government published the Green Paper Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003); the prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, described it as ‘the most significant development for children for more than thirty years’ (Duffy, & Pugh, 2010 p.9). The overall outcomes that the Green Paper and the consequent Children Act of 2004 hoped to achieve was to improve the expectations of all children, narrowing the fissure between high and low achievers via the means of reconfiguring the services available for children and families (Duffy, & Pugh, 2010). The Act also set out five outcomes which all children, right from birth until the age of eighteen, should be able to achieve. These five outcomes are: to be healthy, to be protected from all forms of harm, to enjoy and achieve in their lives, to be able to contribute positively within their society and finally the ability to achieve economic wellbeing (Anning, & Ball, 2008). Whilst the intention of this Act appear to hold a child’s well being as paramount in its agenda, some professionals have voiced concerns over potential negative side effects, it might present for the most vulnerable of children (Womack, 2006). Under the Act a massive database containing information on all twelve million children living in England and Wales was created (Womack, 2006). Experts in the field of safeguarding children have suggested that the sheer amount of data recorded in this database, will make it easier for genuine cases of child neglect and abuse to slip through the net. Under a system that detects threat to a child, in even in the most trivial of matters, may mean a child under serious threat of harm will not be identified (Womack, 2006). When services are already looking for the ‘needle in a haystack’ is it really useful to make the haystack even bigger? (Womack, 2006)

Having looked at the legal and sociological perspectives of childhood and having taken into account the influence of the media, consumerism, advertising, adult attitudes and child related policy. The focus of this paper will now turn to look at the feelings and ideas that children have about what it means to be a child…

Wendy Stainton-Rogers conducted interviews with children from around the world as part of research for a book about childhood (Stainton-Rogers cited in Montgomery, & Woodhead, 2002). In these interviews children were asked, what did being a child mean to them? One child aged eight, when interviewed and asked this question replied: ‘I’m a child because, if I was a baby I would still be small. And, and now I’m a child because I’m not a baby any more. Because I’m, because I’m grown up. And a baby is sort of like, is like almost one year old, two years old or three years old’ (Stainton Rogers cited in Montgomery, & Woodhead, 2002 pg.7). This statement appears to show that the child questioned was somewhat confused as to exactly what a child is. They had some clear thoughts about what made them a child, but appeared hesitant in being able to justify their thoughts. Another child stated that they felt that they would become an adult after their bat mitzvah, saying that after that they would feel more ‘grown up’ (Stainton Rogers cited in Montgomery, & Woodhead, 2002 pg.7). This suggests that a child’s religion will impact their feelings of what it means to be a child: that childhood ends with certain religious rites of passage. One child felt that a child was somebody who was still learning and being moulded into an adult (Stainton Rogers cited in Montgomery, & Woodhead, 2003 pg.7). The answer that this child gave would fit in very well with a socially constructed model of childhood: that the purpose of childhood is for the adult members of a society to shape and mould children into acceptable members of society for the future.

From completing the research for this paper, it has become clear that there is no single, universal answer to the question ‘what is a child’. Both children’s and adults views on childhood and what it means to be a child will vary vastly depending on culture, religion and the country where they live. To state that a child is a human being under the age of eighteen simply just isn’t enough. Children are all individuals and no two will ever be the same just as no two adults ever will be. In order for children to be happy and grow into well rounded, balanced adults their individual needs have to be met and to be protected from serious harm. It is wrong for adult society to simply believe that a child is just an unfinished lump of clay in need of sculpting in order to become the adults society expects for the future. Children should be seen as important members within all societies, whom have the ability to positively contribute to the society in which they live.

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Street children

Introduction:-

Also Street children as defined by the UNICEF: is divided into children “on” the street and children “of” the streets. Children “on” the streets are the children whose have home to live in, but they have a full time work or a part time work. Children “Of” the streets are the children “whose home ties have been seriously weakened and who essentially live in the street” (UNICEF, 1993, p.22). Children “of” the streets are which lives all there time on the streets or in other words children with no shelter except for the street. Also, a “street child” is defined as “any boy or girl for whom the street in the widest sense of the word has become his or her habitual abode and/or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults”( Lusk, 1989).according to Kopoka Children whose work on streets and take streets as a shelter, usually come from poor slums and squatter settlements where everything is precarious: Family financial situation, overcrowded schools and even safe place where they can run and play. Moreover, wars or armed conflicts cause the increasing of this problem where the children parents are killed and leave them alone with no shelter or place to live . On the other hand, there are children whose have guardians, but the guardians sent them to work to help the family, others are forced to work and live in streets. Even there are children from well to do families or middle class who run away from homes. The purpose of this essay is to show some of the causes and its effects considering street children problem, and analyse the solution to differentiate between good solution and bad solutions.

Causes:-

According to Lugalla and Mbwambo, 1995; there are lots of causes for this problem, some are natural and others are man-made. Children have lost contact with their parents or families, which results the loss of the children in the streets. Some children are the offspring of prostitutes. Some families reject their children if there are handicapped. Some “respectable” parent disowned their own child because he/she is an outcome of an affair. In those causes the background is not allows poor.

Effects:-

According to Harding, 2010; for every cause there is effect, and there are devastating effects on street children themselves and on the society they belong to. The children without education are without future, which means that they will not be able to defend their future and they will face lots of difficulties to have a better life. Moreover, being undernourished from such a very young age causes bad side effects on their health like malnutrition which effects there immune system and as a result shorter life expectancy. There are approximately 48 million young ones whose are not registered in their country’s archives, which represents around 47% of the child population around the world. 20 out of every 100 births in Latin America never registered. That mean that all of those 47% are not on paper which means they do not exist. This is a huge problem as those poor kids do not have identity, which exclude them from other right like the right to vote or the right to have a proper education or even low level education. Moreover, criminal gangs which really represent a huge disaster, as they use those unregistered children to do criminals and violence. Those children have no criteria to know what is right and what is wrong. They may expose themselves to very cruel situations like prostitution, sexual violations, drug consumption and other forms of modern slavery. According to stolenchildhood.net “Street children in the third world, having no access to basic needs always become an easy prey of flesh traders. The demand of street children is high among the pimps and the brothel owners because these children sell themselves at cheap rates. These children are at high risk because they neither use contraceptives nor ask the clients to use them. Thus the chances of getting pregnant or catching a sexually transmitted disease is high”. A finite circle is problem, because when children grows to be adults. They will be the best shape for crime; there will be evil walking on his feet. There will be individual illiterate adults with low moral beliefs, with damaged psychology. Those lovely poor children in the past will be the evil which will oppress other helpless and innocent children. All of this means that street children of today will be criminals of tomorrow.

Analysis of Solutions:-

Street children are a huge problem and any solution, even if it is not good, it will at least push forward to solve this problem. ESCWA has developed good solutions which are

“1. to understand better the situation of street children through research in the following areas:

1.1 Quantitative data at national level to assess the magnitude of the problem. The statistics need to be disaggregated by sex and age.

1.2 Qualitative and quantitative research to examine the root causes that put girls and boys at risk, among them street children. This research will need to examine the link between poverty, inequality, exploitation, violence and exclusion.

1.3 Qualitative research to examine the everyday lives of the street girls and boys and the attitudes of society and the government towards them.

1.4 Policy level research examining the effectiveness of existing policies, planning and legislation and institutional arrangements and budgetary allocation targeting street children.

2. To shift the approach to street children from legalistic to preventive, protective and rehabilitative interventions, through a focus on:

2.1 Root causes and not only on symptoms

2.2 The economic and not only the social sector

2.3 Mainstreaming as well as specific institutions and actions for street children

2.4 The rights of street children as citizens and not as charity cases or delinquents 16

2.5 Street children not only as victims but also as citizens with the agency to participate in decisions which target them.

3. To enforce and monitor all international and national commitment to children

3.1 To review that all items of international conventions such as those pertaining to children’s rights and elimination of child labour are translated into legislation and other procedures.

3.2 To review that all enforcement procedures are in place and are implemented.

3.3 To strengthen all monitoring and reporting systems relating to relevant international conventions.

3.4 To review and further amend the ‘Child Law’ 126/2008 by removing all clauses that undermine its effectiveness and to put in place all the necessary procedures and monitoring mechanisms.

3.5 To review and amend articles pertaining to corporal punishment in a way that prohibits all physical violence whether at home, school, work or any other institution.

4. To establish clear mandates and lines of institutional responsibility for street children

4.1 Strengthen crossaˆ?cutting entities

4.1.1 To strengthen the establishment of a unit or department in the new Ministry for Family and Population with a clear mandate for responsibility for street children. This entity would be a catalyst advocating, legislating and monitoring the situation of street children.

4.1.2 To review and strengthen the role of what was previously the NCCM ‘Technical Consultative Committee’.

4.1.3 To strengthen the ‘Child Protection Committee’ according to the amended ‘Child Law’ through appropriate budget allocation, establishment of clear guidelines and protocols and awarenessaˆ?raising and training for the committee members.

4.1.4 To establish surveillance system such as a children’s Ombudsman

4.2 Establish responsibility of line ministries

4.2.1 To strengthen the role of economic sector ministries in addressing poverty, such as the creation of jobs for poor women and men.

4.2.2 To strengthen the monitoring systems of the Ministry of Labour in the area of child labour.

4.2.3 To lift all exclusionary conditions from access to education such as the rising cost of education, forced private tuitions by teachers, mistreatment of poor children in schools, corporal punishment and gender discrimination.

4.2.4 To establish effective internal and external mechanisms and multispectral interventions to identify children at risk and design suitable and sustainable interventions to reduce and eventually eliminate the risk factors.

4.2.5 To formulate a new Social Protection Strategy with the full collaboration of all relevant state institutions and NGOs that focus on the rights of the 17 child, with a dedicated budget and clear roles and responsibilities for its implementation and monitoring.

5. To devise a comprehensive child protection system that addresses the issues of all categories of vulnerable girls and boys in all their diversity of age, class, religion as well as family and regional background

5.1 To devise a Social Protection policy for vulnerable girls and boys.

5.2 To devise a Social Protection strategy translated into crossaˆ?cutting and sectorial programmes and projects and procedures.

5.3 To create realistic budget lines for the implementation of the various components of the Social Protection system.

5.4 To create clear institutional responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the strategy.

6. To devise a National Strategy, programmes and projects specifically for street children

6.1 To evaluate the implementation of the “National Strategy for the Protection, Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Street Children” of 2003, as well as all programmes and projects directly targeting street children.

6.2 To build on lessons learned and design a new Strategy in collaboration with key state institutions and NGOs.

6.3 To design innovative and participative programmes and projects that address the conditions and circumstances of children already living on the street taking into account that:

6.3.1 There is more chance of succeeding by helping children get off the streets through early intervention, before they establish their new “street kid” identity.

6.3.2 For those who have been a long time on the streets, it is possible to use participative methods and consult them in the design of the most effective activities.

6.4 To strengthen all programmes and projects that helps the reaˆ?integration of street children into mainstream society.

6.5 To put in place actions that address negative attitudes of both the general public and state employees towards street children.

6.6 To work directly with the police to address the way they perceive and treat street children

6.7 To solicit more resource allocation for items listed in recommendation 5 above from government and from bilateral and multilateral organisations.

7. To strengthen the advocacy role of civil society organisations working with street children

7.1 To strengthen CSOs ability to establish channels of communications with street children and to help make their voices heard.

7.2 To raise the capacity of CSOs working with street children in the area of advocacy and lobbying of policyaˆ?makers and politicians.

7.3 To support civil society networks and strengthens their roles as advocates of the rights and needs of street children.”

Conclusion:-

At last the author believes that street children are a huge problem that has a lot of causes which can be minimized and a lot of effects that are considered a real threat to all means of life, it is waste of man power which harm economy, it threats security and of course it is totally against human right .

Each Chid has his own ways and rates of development, growing and learning: physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually .children have different strengths and vulnerabilities so each one needs different kinds of support to meet his individual need, For that each child is unique individual, parents and practitioners must understand and respect their children needs.

As well as when treating children individually you must understand and respect their personalities, t abilities, culture or religion, home language, family background, learning difficulties, disabilities or gender.

The benefits for children when their individual needs are met will as followed:

– Helping each child to improve his talents and abilities and support him to progress and reach his goals in learning and development to meet the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance.

-child will get the opportunity to improve his own capabilities develop a healthy self-esteem and develop a positive attitude

-Child built his own personality which makes him more responsible on his choices and actions which reflect his individuality.

-Discovering each child strengths and weakness.

-Give all children the opportunity and support to develop and learn to become successful adult useful and helpful for his/her country and community

Question 2:

Describe how the principles of anti-discriminatory practice can be applied to practice

Discrimination is the way of treat an individual more or less favourably than others, or because of prejudice children and their family before you know them due to their backgrounds, class, gender, disability, race and culture.

It is important to practice anti -discrimination to ensure that every child has the opportunity to fully access any areas of learning within the framework. Providing an inclusive environment for children enables them to develop self esteem and confidence. Providing them an equal opportunity to learn to show them that they are valued and respected as unique individuals regardless of any additional needs, family and ethnic background.

The Nursery and practitioner are committed to:

Providing a friendly and welcome environment for children and their families

Providing books and songs in different language.

Set a celebration calendar for the different multicultural festivals.

A wide selection of toys of different gender and culture, and encourage children to choose their toys.

Inviting parents to join the nursery in some activities.

Encourage children to talk about their culture in their language about( Numbers, colour and country).

Question 3:

Describe why it is important to plan activities that meet the individual needs of children.

Before we going to plan activities we discuss the observation done for each child that so it give us information about each child current levels support he needs, and his interest which will be our base to plan our activities that will help the child to assesses the progress and achieve the aspect of his own learning and development stage .

When we plan activities that meet the individual needs of children we are:

*Children will get opportunity to progress in their learning and development stages; we will support their weakness and develop their talents and abilities

*Supporting them and help them to develop and learn by enjoyable playful learning ways by planning activities that are high on pleasure, and achievements

*Give the perfect support and opportunity for children with learning difficulties or disabilities to achieve their goals as any other children by planning activities according to their interest and abilities

*When planning activities that we observe it is related to their interest and needs we will achieve good ovulations and achieve the aspect of areas of learning and development goals of this activities

*Children will have self steam and self confidence since they will find them self in a good position where their interest and things they good at which make this activity more challenging which encourage them to be more creative and imaginative

*When planning good activities that promote progress we form apositive relationships with parents and with the children.

*Promote anti discriminations practice by planning activities covers different needs and interest irrespective of ethnicity, culture or religion, home language, background, learning difficulties, disabilities or gender.

Question 4:

Explain how the practitioner can promote children’s physical and emotional well-being within an early years setting.

In this point i would like to explain how and what role the practitioner can promote for children within an early years setting which is very important and positively affect the children life physically, emotionally and psychological health from the experience they gained during the early years from the physical and emotional activities provided to them by the practitioner.

The role of the practitioner in supporting children’s physical well-being.

To provide a balanced programme of activities to support the physical development

To provide sufficient space (indoors and outdoors)

Providing the suitable material and equipment for children to improve their skills .

Providing other activities such as cooking, sewing, woodwork and planting to increase the hand-eye coordination.

To provide time, opportunity and support for children with special needs to develop their physical skills, working in coordination with the special education need coordinator(SENCO).

The role of the practitioner in supporting children’s emotional well-being.

The practitioner need to understand the children feelings, respect and listen carefully to them to be able to manage their feeling and control the way they behave to help them build a good relationships with friends and family .Understanding the children feelings and needs help the practitioner to provide for them the appropriate planning and activities which meet their needs to improve them emotionally and physically.

In order to support children’s emotion the practitioner must:

Communicate with parents

Help the children to understand their feeling by using books, board games, puppets etc…….

Make them feel valued.

Giving them the time and the attention

Observe the children’s behaviour

Communicate with children and encourage them to decide the way to solve their problem

Give them the time and the opportunity to talk.

The activities should include:

– Drawing , painting and creative activities.

– Group games involving running, jumping and hopping.

– Group games involving movement followed by stopping.

– Balancing activities

– Giving the children the opportunity to create their own spaces (e.g. tent from blankets)

– Encourage games and activities that involve sharing resources with other children.

– Discussions about body parts.

– Singing action songs (e.g. Head, shoulders, knees and toes).

– Discussions about keeping safe, fit and healthy and encourage them to talk about health

– Discussions about eating a healthy diet.

– Encouraging children to make decisions by choosing between different types of food.

– Making and eating food from a range of cultures.

Identifying the beliefs of Children’s Learning, Development, and the Social Influences that shaped them. A child’s learning and development begins from the moment they are born, the early years from birth to five are an important milestone in a person’s life, what a child experiences in the early years has a major impact on their future chances in life. A safe, secure and happy childhood is important in its own right. We can shape a child’s learning from an early age, children learn through experience and adult involvement, therefore interaction with babies and young children is fundamentally important, it helps to build ideas, creates thinking and helps them develop as learners. Babies are born with an interest in people and a drive to find out about their world. Observing and assessing babies and young children is an important basis in their learning and development. ‘Watching children learn can open our eyes to the capacity of how they learn’ (Pugh, 2001, p. 66), and this shows us the importance of these first few years in a child’s life.

Over the decade’s early education, policies and practices have seen significant changes. We still use many of the earlier theories and methods through the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in our early education settings today. The EYFS is part of a ten year Childcare Strategy introduced in 2008, it relates to the Childcare Act 2006, and its aim is to give young children the best start in life, it sets standards to enable early year’s providers to implement the rich and personalised experience many parents give their children at home. It provides legal requirements relating to learning, development, assessments and welfare. The EYFS principles which guide all practitioners consists of four themes; a Unique Child, Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments, Learning And Development. It implies that all children from birth to five will acquire the same skills and knowledge in preparation for school while at the same time recognising that all children are individuals that require individual learning strategies. The construction of early education and care of children and young people dates back many years, as early as the 17th century. Friedrich Froebel a major theorist was born in 1782 in Thuringia what is now Germany and was well known for saying “play is a child’s work”, he formulated the idea of kindergarten meaning ‘children’s garden’ as a means of educating young children. Play and the outdoor environment were important in Froebelian kindergartens. His approach emphasized that children are able to develop their capacity for learning through play, and that active learning is essential with guidance and appropriate direction. He believed that training of workers within the early years was essential, and the importance of parents as partners in the education of young children. The influence of Froebel’s methods are well established in early years settings to date, his work was one of the theories that made the basis of early education. Many recent theorists based their work on these early findings, and say, he was ahead of his time as one of the EYFS themes and commitments, of today states active learning. Active learning it is implemented through the learning and development principle of the EYFS, it provides physical and mental involvement, decision-making and personalised learning, and it occurs when children are keen to learn and are interested in finding things out for themselves. Play is a dynamic process that develops and changes, it provides children with opportunities for developing cognitive, social, emotional and physical skills. ‘Froebelian kindergartens were seen to be middle class; despite this his methods were adapted for use with disadvantaged children and families’ within developing 20th century nursery and infant schools. (Pound, 2008, p. 16).

The first nursery school opened in Scotland in1816 by Robert Owen(1771-1858), he was a mill owner who refused to employ children less than 10 years of age, he believed that education should be a common right for all children, and that children are passive, contrived and by due preparation and accurate attention can be formed into any human character. He managed their behaviour through kindness, which in the19th century was unusual, children as young as 2 years attended his school. The opening of his nursery school influenced changing attitudes on child labour, and set the basis of early education for young children. The start of the curriculum method was one of Owens’s ideas, his vision on education-inspired generations of activist; he recognised the link between social welfare and early education this is an important part of practice in modern day settings. ‘His commitments to education were radical as were his ideas on the importance of equality, although his policies were a bold step forward, he was criticised as being rooted in his desire for profit. (Pound, 2008, p. 13)’

‘In the UK the development of early education was very slow compared to Europe, it was In 1870 that publicly funded education became compulsory for children age 5, the need to understand these early childhood services is important as they laid down the foundations of our education system (Pugh, 2001, p. 8)’

During the 1960’s the voluntary playgroup movement emerged. A letter sent to the Guardian by Belle Tutaev, a young mother of a four-year-old expressing concern to the lack of appropriate nursery provision within our education system. For many years the main means of early education was state primary schools, and this was aimed at children over 5 years, after campaigning to the authorities to no avail she opened her own playgroup, this progressed and by the seventies playgroups became a recognised form of pre-school provision.

Over the next 2 decade’s the changing family patterns and employment patterns meant early years provision were a much needed source, this saw the growth of private nurseries. Only after a review in 1988 on early childhood and education services, (The Education Reform Act) did the government realise there was a growing problem. It found flaws, in uncoordinated services, which varied between different parts of the country, compared to the rest of Europe there were low levels of public funding. It had different services ran by a diversity of different organisations, this meant a wide range of clients used them, all with different aims and purposes. The education system needed the government to intervene. A number of national reports was to be published, one of them the Rumbold report published in 1990, expressed concerns about education and the lack of access to Early Years services. It highlighted the need for the development of good quality provision in the early years, and ‘believed it to be vital that all that work, or are involved with young children recognise the importance of their educational role and fulfil it. She urged those who make provision recognise the growing demand for and the expansion of high quality services to meet children and parents needs (rumbold, 1990). The report also highlighted the way in which young children learn are as important as what they learn, and argued against the introduction of formal learning. At the time, this report was ignored but it is now used as a basis for best practice in today’s Early Years settings.

‘The establishment of the Early Childhood Education forum in 1993 meant bringing together all national agencies working in the field,’ (Pugh, 2001, p. 11) it clarified that an early year’s policy is needed, and an expansion in services, the forum gathered strength with over 45 national organisations by 1998. Its aims were to champion children’s rights and entitlements, support the training development and education of early childhood practitioners, and all those who work with children and their families. The government took action and in 1995, funding for the education of 4 year olds was introduced this was in the form of vouchers that could be redeemed in private, voluntary, or local authority nurseries, the vouchers were extremely criticised at the time and was abolished in 1997 when Labour Government was elected.

The election of the Labour Government brought big changes in the way our whole Education System was run, especially Early Education; its key issue is to eradicate child poverty, and provide more family friendly policies and children’s centres. The Sure Start initiative, launched in 1999 under the National Childcare Strategy plays a major role in doing this, by helping families in local communities of need with children under 4years old. The government pledged 1.4 billion pounds over 6 years. This meant that parents had access to a multi agency of services within the Sure Start Children’s Centres. They are now a key influence within our communities helping children, families and society, by learning and developing life skills in the early years so that young children grow up to be happy, healthy and are able to achieve their goals in life. The centres are at the Heart of the Every Child Matters Change for Children 2004.

The green paper Every Child Matters was published in 2003, in response to a report by Lord Laming in 2001, into the death of Victoria Climbie. Victoria was a young girl who was horrifically abused, tortured and killed by her great aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao and partner Carl Manning; they were the people who were supposed to be caring for her. Shameful failings within a number of systems meant on 12 occasions over 10 months the chances to save Victoria were missed. Evidence from this Inquiry demonstrated the dangers of staff from different agencies not fulfilling their separate and distinctive responsibilities. The death of Victoria showed a fundamental need for an integrated service that would be part of a political agenda for many years, despite the Children Act 1989 provisions, child protection strategies and services stayed within the social service system, and the level of communication and co-operation between these and other services in health and education were variable. The Every Child Matters agenda is recognised by five outcomes; be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, and achieve economic wellbeing; these outcomes are a universal ambition for the government, and form a strong basis for the EYFS curriculum used in Early Education Settings to date.

The transfer of responsibility for children under 8-years-old were made from the Department of Health, to the Department of Education and Skills and from 2001, an integrated inspection service was introduced, bringing together all the services, enabling multi-agency working, which was an important step forward. The Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership in local authorities were also introduced, helping to increase levels of provision in Childcare. Working in partnership with the Local Education Authority, each authority completed an audit, with a plan to reach the government’s targets for early education places for all 3- and-4year-olds. This was made easier in the change of policy earlier, that allowed non maintained sectors to apply for nursery grants, ‘children in private day nurseries, pre-schools and some childminders could now access their free half-day nursery provision. In this way the strategy started to tackle the long-term split between Early Years education services and the childcare services.’ (Macelod- Brundenell,and Kay 2nd edition 2008 pg 352 ).

It has been without doubt that Early Education has come a long way since Froebel in the 17th century, and the opening of Owen’s nursery school in 1816, but not many things have changed, it was evident then that children learn through play and exploration, and early learning is important in the first five years. Maybe many generations of children have missed out the chances given to young children of today.

The EYFS has been an important milestone for early education and young children, and is now the way forward in preparing a child for school, but its existance is still in the primary stages, and many small nursery settings may find adapting to these changes and sustaining them quiet difficult as the standards and welfare requirements set are extremly high.