Explain The Main Principles That Underpin Working With Children

(C1) You must analyse HOW the main principles that underpin work with children can support the practitioners’ practice in the setting.

The welfare of the child is part of The Children Act 1989, and it means we as practitioners have to be reflective on our practice, it also means within our practice we have to put the child first. And treating all children so their needs are put first this is important because all children are different. (E8)
Working in partnership with parents and families helps us find out things about the child and understand the child for example the child’s interests, because of this we can plan better activities because the child will be more engaged if the activity revolves around something they are interested in.
Talking to the parents may also help us have a better relationship with the child and this links with Bowlby’s theory, that the child will form an attachment to us and therefore will gain trust in us. The parents may then also trust us and in turn we will have a better professional relationship. It is important to do all of this because of the Working with Parents Policy.
We also need to follow the Safeguarding Policy which helps keep children safe According to www.Ofsted.gov.uk (PDF) “Improved outcomes can only be achieved if children are safe from harm.” We must know how to keep children safe and by following this policy we can ensure children are safe from harm and then we know what is expected from us as practitioners.
Children’s learning and development is part of the EYFS, we need to know how to plan activities that are at for the right age and stage of the child, we can find out what stage they are at by doing observations, then if we feel they can move on we then plan an activity for the next stage of their development. And when doing the activity we can praise the child to encourage them to carry on and make them gain self-confidence this is part of Skinners theory which is about Positive reinforcement.
After doing an activity we can look back on how it went or reflect on how we could improve and change it. We can do this by using Gibbs Circle which involves Describing what happened, what our thoughts and feelings were, then an evaluation, analysis to what we made of the situation, the further analysis to what we could have done, and then planning what we could do next time. This makes good practice because we are constantly improving and making activities and better for the
child.
In a setting we also need to have equal opportunities which follows the Equal Opportunity Policy, this means that everyone is welcome no matter what needs, disabilities, race, culture or religion they may be. (E8) This is also part of The Equality Act 2010. Similarly to this Anti-discrimination is important as we must not exclude children or families from anything as this would be discrimination.
We must also keep information confidential due to The Data Protection Act 1998, and because it helps maintain good relationships with the parents, also having the Confidentiality Policy helps us understand what we can and can’t do and where we must store this information. We keep this information locked away in order to protect families and children.
Working with other professionals means we can share our workload and this helps staff have better relationships as they help each other out, it also means when we are not sure of something there may be somebody else who is more experienced in that field and can offer good advice. Giving feedback is also helpful and important because it can help us improve practice and how we work, then we can offer advice to others.