Treating Every Child As Unique Individual Children And Young People Essay
Children are unique. They are individuals and no two children are alike: physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually, Because children are unique, even if there are common needs and characteristics that children of a particular age or stage of development share, they must be understood by their parents and teachers in their uniqueness, and their individuality must be respected.
The benefits of treating every child as unique individual:
Help to develop their personalities, talents and abilities irrespective of ethnicity, culture or religion, home language, family background, learning difficulties, disabilities or gender. This guidance helps adults to understand and support each individual child’s development pathway.
Make child responsible for this own actions, giving him the independence so many seek, typically acting out as teenager while trying to assert his independence. Listen to your advice and reasoning and take the more responsible choice.
Treat them as equals in every aspect of your daily life and you will be rewarded with honest, caring children that make good choices that celebrate them for the unique individuals they are.
Babies and children are vulnerable and become resilient and confident if they have support from others, also receive the chance to learn about other cultures and develop critical socialization skills that will serve them well.
By treat each child as unique individual we designing an environment that positively influencing all areas of children’s development: physical, social /emotional, and cognitive. Language and learning are nurtured in an environment that values and plans appropriate opportunities which can support the development of behaviours that are valued in our society, such as cooperation and persistence. An aesthetically pleasing space can develop a child’s appreciation for the beautiful world around them.
Help children and youth become full participating citizens of society and help to build a sense of community.
Question 2:
Describe how the principles of anti-discriminatory practice can be applied to practice.
Anti-Discriminatory Practice is an action taken to prevent discrimination against people on the grounds of race, class, gender, disability etc (see entry above). Anti-discriminatory practice promotes equality by introducing anti-discrimination policies in the workplace (i.e. the care settings.), Also known as anti-oppressive practice. All employees in a care setting should promote this practice in the workplace as it is way to combating prejudice, in doing so they are trying to eradicate discrimination and promote equality for service users and for staff.
Kind of discrimination:
1.Overt discrimination
this is when someone is openly discriminating against an individual, an example of this is a health and social care setting paying a male nurse more money than a female nurse for the same job, directly because of their gender. In the health care sector, overt discrimination is more likely to be seen in the way a patient is treated by staff.
2.Covert discrimination
Covert discrimination can be best described as being hidden away. An example of this is three individuals applying for the same job as a nurse; they should all be shortlisted using the same criteria. However, if the shortlist panel decided not to call someone for an interview based on their name or area they lived in, this would be covert discrimination.
Children have a right to non-discrimination. This means that all children, without exception, should enjoy their rights to effective protection.
The rights of all children and young people are stated in the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). The UK government ratified the treaty in 1991 and must ensure that the rights of children in the UK are protected through law. These rights are extensive and include the right to education and the right for children to have their views respected, No child will be discriminated against on the grounds of sex, race, religion, colour or creed. Wherever possible those designated disabled or disadvantaged will be considered for a place, taking into account their individual circumstances and the ability of the nursery to provide the necessary standard of care
The promotion of anti-discriminatory practice should underpin all work in settings. It is not sufficient to have policies in place which make statements about anti-discriminatory practice or just to pay lip service to it, they must demonstrate anti-discriminatory practice. They must also monitor the ways that positive practice impacts on the education and well-being of the children and young people. As a member of the care setting team we should share responsibility to ensure that anti-discriminatory practice is promoted, and must also recognise when discrimination is happening.
The Nursery will strive to ensure that all services and projects are accessible and Relevant to all groups and individuals in the community within targeted age groups.
We will strive to promote equal access to services and projects by taking practical steps such as ensuring access to disabled people and producing material in relevant languages and media.
It is important to practice anti -discrimination to ensure that everyone is included and 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. It shows them that they are valued and respected as unique individuals regardless of any additional needs, family and ethnic background, eliminate unlawful discrimination; promote equal opportunities; and promote good relation.
The Nursery and staff are committed to:
Encourage positive role models, displayed through toys, imaginary play and activities that promote non-stereotyped images. Books will be selected to promote such images of men and women, boys and girls.
All children will be encouraged to join in activities, i.e. dressing up, shop, home corner, dolls, climbing on large apparatus, bikes, etc.
Regularly review child-care practice to ensure the policy is effective
Ensure that individuals are recruited, selected, trained and promoted on the basis of occupational skill requirements. In this respect, the Nursery will ensure that no job applicant or employee will receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, gender, marital status, race, religion, colour, cultural or national origin or sexuality, which cannot be justified as being necessary for the safe and effective performance of the work or training for the work
Question 3:
Describe why it is important to plan activities that meet the individual needs of children.
Children of different ages have different needs. These needs are based on each child’s stage of growth and development. Remember that two children of the same age can be similar in some ways but different in other ways. Try to understand the unique characteristics of each child. This helps children to feel good about them. This will also help you plan activities that are developmentally appropriate for each child. Appropriate activities help children learn and are lots of fun. The planning process helps to set goals for children and aims for staff. It is directed at what children need and defines how the practitioners supporting them are going to provide for this effectively. Planning also means the environment is kept fresh and children are given new choices in their play.
The importance of planning activates meeting children’s individual’s needs is:
Promote development. Some children develop and learn faster than others and it is partly our responsibility to ensure all children’s needs are cared for no matter what stage of development they are at.
Identify the exact learning needs of children by carrying out observations which can show us clearly what stage of development each individual child is at, to compare each child against milestones for that age and stage of development and then we begin to plan to meet the learning needs of certain children who are not meeting milestones and also plan to accommodate for those children who are over excelling the milestones. Children will develop better if there are adequate numbers of staff/adults present, taking into account the correct staff ratios for each particular age of children. With more hands on around the setting children will benefit greatly so
Plan how many adults/staff should be present for a particular day/activity, by doing so there is a higher chance of meeting all of the children’s needs.
Have successful planning that will support children’s independence, and a well organised environment that will make it easy for the children to find and to put away activities of their choosing. This doesn’t mean rigidity, lack of choice or the loss of spontaneity for children. The well-designed and carefully structured environment will be planned in a way that means those working with children are clear and confident about developmental, play or learning needs, and what and how they are providing for these needs .
Effective planning means that contingencies can be dealt with easily, so staff know where and how they can source materials quickly and according to the required need of the child, Good planning allows opportunities for change to occur and provides a backdrop of support for children’s all-round development.
Question 4:
Explain how the practitioner can promote children’s physical and emotional well-being within an early years setting.
When children have positive early experiences with physical activity they are more likely to enjoy being active later in life and this will contribute to their long term physical, social and psychological health. Children benefit from having a wide choice of gross motor experiences that are non-competitive and focussed on having fun.
The role of the practitioner in supporting children’s physical and emotional well-being
To provide a balanced programme of activities to support the physical development and well being of the children
To provide sufficient space (indoors and outdoors), time and resources to allow effective physical development
Providing material and equipment for the improvement of fine motor skills
Providing cooking, sewing, woodwork and other activities to enhance hand-eye coordination.
To provide time, opportunity and support for children with motor impairments or physical disabilities to develop their physical skills. If appropriate this will include working with outside agencies such as physiotherapists
The programme of work should include some or all of the following types of activity:
Movement:
1. Group games involving running, jumping and hopping.
2. Group games involving movement followed by stopping.
3. Moving to music.
4. Balancing activities and games.
5. Play on a range of landscapes.
Sense of Space:
Role plays activities giving children the opportunity to create pathways.
2. Giving the children the opportunity to create their own spaces (e.g. tent from blankets).
3. Group games that involve following or imitating.
4. Encourage games and activities that involve sharing resources with other children.
5. Discussions about body parts and bodily activity .
6. Singing action songs (e.g. Head, shoulders, knees and toes).
Health and Bodily Awareness
1. Discussions about keeping safe, fit and healthy.
2. Discussions about eating a healthy diet.
3. Encouraging children to make decisions by choosing between different types of food.
4. Making and eating food from a range of cultures that can form part of a healthy diet.
5. Providing opportunities for children to talk about health issues.
When we talk about emotional development, we are referring to children’s growing ability to:
Identify and understand their own feelings
Accurately read and understand the feelings of others
Manage the way they feel
Shape the way they behave
Develop empathy for others, and
Build and keep good relationships with friends, family and others.
From the time they are born, children quickly develop their abilities to experience and express different emotions, as well as their capacity to cope with and manage a variety of feelings.
To support the children’s emotional well-being practitioner roles are:
Work in partnership with parents in order to find out about the child’s experiences, culture and home background, to build up a profile of each child, using information supplied by parents as the starting point.
Being warm and affectionate towards them.
Giving them the opportunity to express how they feel , Help the children gain an understanding of their feelings through the use of books, board games, puppets, interactive storytelling or role-plays and Help children to understand the difference between their own and other people’s feelings.
Making them feel secure and valued
Giving children time and attention to adjust to new situations
Observe the child’s nonverbal behaviour for clues as to how he or she is feeling.
Problem solve with the child by encouraging him or her to think of options and decide what constructive action to take
Keep lines of communication open.
