Children and Young People Level 3 UNIT 13 – PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S PRACTICE

Learning Outcomes You will be writing an essay at the end of the unit for evidence and you need to show that You understand the legislation and policy framework for working with children and young people in social care and work settings Be able to meet professional responsibilities by reflecting on own performance and practice Be able to develop effective working relationships with professional colleagues Understand the implication of equalities of legislation for working with children, young people and families Understand the value of diversity and the importance of equality and anti-discriminatory practice

Understand the legislation and policy framework for working with children and young people Here are some links The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework - ent_data/file/335504/EYFS_framework_from_1_September_2014_ _with_clarification_note.pdf The Health and Safety Act 1974 – Health and Safety Executive Check the Apprenticeships,Skills, Children and Learning Act Child Protection Laws system/england/legislation-policy-guidance/ system/england/legislation-policy-guidance/

More Legislation – United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Check here for the UNCRC tion-pdfs/UNCRC_PRESS200910web.pdf tion-pdfs/UNCRC_PRESS200910web.pdf The Equality Act /contents

Responsibilities of Working with Children and Young People What is Corporate Parenting? When a child comes into care, the Council becomes the Corporate Parent. Put simply, the term ‘Corporate Parent’ means the collective responsibility of the council, elected members, employees, and partner agencies, for providing the best possible care and safeguarding for the children who are looked after by the council. A child in the care of the council looks to the whole council to be the best parent it can be to that child. Every member and employee of the council has the statutory responsibility to act for and for that child in the same way that a good parent would act for and for their child.

Other Responsibilities Child Protection Duty of Care Health and Safety Equality and Inclusion Providing support – see this example: social-care/childrens-social-care/common- assessment-framework

Reflective Practice and Proffessional Development Reflective practice is important as it ensures that you are able to improve on your work. There are many techniques to reflecting but a great method is to imagine an incident at work and then act as a fly on the wall. Also ask yourself What could have gone better? How could I improve on that next time Reflective practice is important as it enables you to learn and grow

The Reflective Cycle (Gibbs 1988) Description What happened? Feelings What were you thinking and feeling? Analysis What sense can you make of the situation Evaluation What was good and bad about the experience? Action plan If it arose again, what would you do? Conclusion What else could you have done?

Reflective account –When you write up your reflection, consider the following –Did it challenge your assumptions. Did you get further feedback? –How did the learning take place, and did you record it? –How your practice has changed by your learning? –What was the activity? –Feedback is very important as we often learn from good constructive feedback

Feedback… –should be both positive and negative –can come from anyone around you, including the individual in your care –should be used to improve your practice.

Using evaluation to improve practice Constructive feedback Reflective practice Improved practice

What opportunities are there to learn? – Induction – Supervision – Shadowing – Coaching – Mentoring – Instructing – Team meetings – In-house training – Counselling – Questioning – External courses – Projects

What methods are there for keeping your skills up to date? –Reading –Observations –Personal reflection –Training –Signing up to industry blogs, or social media

What is supervision / appraisal? – A supervision /appraisal is a two way conversation with your manager about your job and by law you should be having regular supervision as a way of supporting your pracice. It is useful for : –Monitoring standards –Sharing practice ideas –Sharing concerns –Two-way process –Developing a learning plan –Setting a time frame to meet goals

Equality and Diversity within Children and young People’s practice Equality is really important as could be seen from the materials on the equality act. There are many situations to consider such as working with disabled children, working with children from other religions and cultures. When looking at this in your practice ensure that you are inclusive and that you are valuing diversity.