TDA 3.1 STLS LEVEL 3

TDA 3.1
Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults.
Area 1
Principles
A
Effective communication is extremely important within the development of a positive relationship with children, young people and adults.
Communication may be 'verbal' or 'non verbal'. Sometimes 'non verbal' communication has a more powerful impact than 'verbal' communication. 'Non-verbal' communication includes all kinds of emotional expressions, actions, and body language. Communication and relationships are strongly linked.
Children need to feel safe and happy to communicate effectively with an adult within a support role; therefore you must demonstrate a friendly and helpful nature.
Young people also need to feel secure in the fact that they can approach an adult within a support role. By showing empathy, understanding and being able to communicate sensitively they will gain trust and a positive relationship will be formed.
Once a child or young person feels comfortable with an adult working in a support role, the benefits of a positive relationship formed by effective communication include the following:
Children can separate more easily from their parents
They are more likely to participate in learning activities if they are secure emotionally when children and young people have strong relationships with a support role, they are less likely to show unwanted behaviour an adult in a supportive role can recognise and meet their needs more effectively because they can recognise their expressions and emotions. children’s language develops more quickly because they feel confident talking to us

Adults, much like children and young people, need to feel safe in the knowledge that you are friendliness, reliability and show willingness to assist. An adult within a suppostive role must display the capability to meet the needs of their child and themselves.
B
The principles of relationship building with children, young people and adults are in many ways very similar.
The differences

C
Different social, professional and cultural contexts may affect relationships and the way people communicate.
Recognising others’ individuality is the basis of anti-bias practice. Children, young people and other adults will all have different social and cultural backgrounds and attitudes. They will also respond in different ways. Valuing and respecting their individuality means showing that we are comfortable with their differences. Making an effort to learn about these differences will never go unnoticed.

Communication skills
Make sure you are friendly and approachable – smile!

Speak clearly and give eye contact to the person with whom you are speaking.

Ensure you use the correct form of address when speaking to others.

Use an appropriate method of communication for the other person.

Use positive body language and gestures.

Be sympathetic to the needs of others.

Acknowledge the help and support of others as much as you can.

Do not interrupt or anticipate what others are going to say.
Functional

Area 2
Skills

The skills an adult in a supportive role must demonstrate to communicate effectively with children and young people are:
Friendliness
Approachability
Helpfulness
Dependence
Compassion
Empathy

The skills of communication should be adapted depending on the age, context and the communicational differences the child or young person may have.
Age
To adapt effectively dependant of age, an adult within a supportive role must continuously ensure that their style and ways of communication changes according to a child’s age and key stage.

The vocabulary used must be age appropriate and the child or young person fully understands. An adult in a supportive role is less approachable by a child or young person if they are incomprehensible.
E.g. clear instructions are vital to a child or young person’s wellbeing.
Again, communication isn’t always about vocabulary; it is also about facial expressions, body language and gestures.
Context
Depending on the context of the communication, you may need to display authority by using an appropriate tone, body language and use commanding language.
Communication differences
The main differences when communication with adults as opposed to children and young people are that adults need to be reassured that you demonstrate professionalism within your role. They too need to feel assured that their child is in safe hands and that you have equal intentions by being consistent with a friendly approach. Parents also appreciate efficiency, honesty and to display the knowledge necessary within the job role and school you work at.
When communicating with adults, it also is necessary to adapt methods of communication. Similarly with adaption of age appropriate vocabulary used, the level of understanding varies within adults, this can depend on their level of education or they may lack understanding of e.g. educational terms or acronyms that, as adult to adult, one may assume they would understand. Therefore the use of such vocabulary should be judged as you can also be at risk of presenting yourself as pompous and, as a result unapproachable.
When communicating regularly with adults, you soon find their preferred means of communication and it is therefore part of your professional manner to accommodate this preference whenever possible to communicate most effectively with the individual. Preferred communication methods could include telephone conversations, email or personal meetings.

When managing disagreements with children, young people and adults, you must justify the discrepancy in a professional manner. Explanation and clarification are extremely important, communicate in a clear and calm approach and rationalise the reasons for the disagreement.

Area 3
Regulations
Adults who work with children in any setting need to have some idea about current legislation, as this will affect their practice. There is an increased awareness of how important it is to recognise the uniqueness of each child and have respect for their human rights.
Legislation is an area which is constantly under review and you will need to keep up to date through reading relevant publications.

Every Child Matters (England 2005) based on the Children Act 2004
This Green Paper stresses the importance of more integrated services and sharing of information between professionals. It came into being a_er the tragic case of Victoria Climbié, when there was no communication between health and social workers.

Data Protection Act 1998
In schools we ask parents and carers for a variety of information so that we are able to care for children as effectively as we can while they are with us. However, we can only ask for information which is directly relevant – for example: health or medical information records from previous schools records for children who have special educational needs.

This is confidential information and must be used only for the purpose for which it was gathered. If the information needs to be passed on to others for any reason, parental consent will need to be given. This usually involves parents signing a consent form.
Under the Data Protection Act 1998, any organization which holds information on individuals needs to be registered with the Data Protection Commission. This is designed to ensure that confidential information cannot be passed on to others without the individual’s consent. There are eight principles of practice which govern the use of personal information. Information must be: processed fairly and lawfully used only for the purpose for which it was gathered adequate, relevant and not excessive accurate and kept up to date where necessary kept for no longer than necessary processed in line with the individual’s rights kept secure not transferred outside the European Union without adequate protection.

As an adult working in a supportive role, it is extremely important to reassure children, young people and adults of the confidentiality of shared information and limits of this. When you are party to gathering information, whatever this is, you may sometimes be in a position where you need to reassure others about the fact that it is confidential. If you attend meetings or need to be told about confidential items, you should make sure that you let others know your obligations. In most cases, parental consent would need to be given before any information about children can be shared with other professionals.
However, if there are any issues to indicate that the child is at risk from harm or abuse, or if there is a legal obligation placed on the school to disclose information, this can be done.

If an adult working in a supportive role is in a situation with a child or young person where they feel they may disclose a child protection issue, the adult must explain clearly to the child or young person at the beginning of the conversation that they may have to pass the information on to another member of staff if they feel the child is at risk in any way. To make this clear from the beginning ensures that the trust is kept and therefore the positive relationship remains intact between the adult and child or young person.

There may also be cases where information on pupils needs to be accessible to all staff, for example, where pupils have specific medical conditions such as asthma or epilepsy. In this case there should be an agreed system within the school for making sure that all staff are aware of these pupils.

Situations when confidentiality protocols must be breached
If you find yourself in a position where another individual confides in you, it is important to remember that there are some situations in which you will need to tell others. This is particularly true in cases of suspected child abuse or when a child or young person is at risk. You should at all times tell the individual that you will not be able to keep confidentiality if they disclose something to you which you cannot keep to yourself for these reasons.