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Title: Response to A Consultation Paper on ‘A PLAY POLICY for Northern Ireland’
Date: 31st January 2007
News Details:
NICMA – the Childminding Association welcome the development of the new Play Policy for Northern Ireland and the opportunity to respond. A full consultation exercise has taken place with NICMA staff and Executive Committee, which represents the full childminding membership of over 2,500 registered childminders. Our response reflects all of these views.
Background
NICMA is a voluntary sector organisation with charitable status, which provides a range of services to promote the development of children through home based registered Childminding.
Childminding provides care and education for children aged between 0 – 14 years and is regulated by the Children [NI] Order 1995. It is normally provided in the Childminders home. Childminding supports the effective learning of children by providing opportunities for individual attention as well as the rich learning environment of the home and local community.
NICMA’s role within the wider Early Years sector is to develop and deliver a range of universal childminding services for all children.
Introduction
NICMA are very concerned that they were not consulted on the development of this policy document and feel that this omission reflects a general view externally that childminders do not provide play and learning opportunities for children. The Ministers Foreword states that: “The Policy has been developed in partnership with organisations considered expert in the field of play”; unfortunately, this has not included NICMA and childminders, who are the experts in the field of play in home based childcare settings. Currently there are over 4,000 registered childminders in Northern Ireland, providing 20,185* childcare places for children aged 0 – 14 years. This equates to 75% of full daycare and 44% of part time daycare and therefore is a substantial element of the wider Early Years and Childcare sector. With most childminders caring for between 3 and 5 children at any one time the support they give to developing children’s social, physical, intellectual and emotional development can not be under-estimated and therefore the absolute need to have been consulted on this draft policy at the outset with regard to home based childcare services. The policy currently shows a limited understanding of how and where play happens and what is needed to ensure that all children have the same opportunities for play. From the outset, there needs to be a recognition of the importance of play within childminding settings and the value of the home as a primary delivery of play based learning.
Play is all about encouraging children to develop and learn in every way possible. The home environment [ie. where a childminder operates] can provide the perfect opportunity for children from babies upwards to learn through play. There are many activities and routines around the home that a childminder can do to help children of all ages to develop through play. Children looked after by a childminder enjoy real-life experiences like cooking, shopping, gardening, mealtimes and outings to the park and library. The advantage of this type of learning is that it is not set up – it occurs naturally within the home environment. From these everyday activities, the children can learn basic science, maths, social skills and language skills. Childminders also have more opportunity to offer outdoor play as they would all have a garden or access to an outdoor area as part of their setting. An excellent example of childminders supporting children’s learning through play is: NICMA’s ‘Learning Bags’ project where childminders use the ‘story sacs’ concept to develop a Bag containing a range of books, games and fun activities that have been developed and handcrafted by the childminders. Each bag is for a specific age range of children and takes one theme which the bag is built around. These are a model of good practice that that will encourage a childminder to stimulate a child’s learning and development needs within a home setting.
Childminders are also in a unique situation to communicate the value of play to parents as they engage with parents on a daily basis.
1.Agreeing the Vision
The Vision for Play
“To recognise, respect and resource play is to recognise, respect and value childhood”
Comments:
Overall, NICMA agreed with the Vision for Play as a succinct, overarching statement that will form the starting point for the development of a policy.
2.Delivering on the vision
For the reasons outlined above in the Introduction, NICMA believe that registered childminders are integral to the delivery of a Play Policy. If we are striving to meet the vision for all children in Northern Ireland, to exclude those children in childminding settings would make a ‘nonsense’ of a policy that is intended to have a significant impact on outcomes for children and young people.
Comments:
1.The mapping of provision [page 12] does not include the provision within childminding settings. An in-depth mapping exercise needs to take place in order to have a complete picture on facilities where children play or where there is potential for them to play and home based childcare settings must be included in this. If “Play happens where children are” [page 7], then childminding can not be excluded.
2.Of the three important reference points used as starting points for the mapping of play [page 11], two of these did not refer to play provision in childminding settings ie.
a.children in childminding settings were not consulted
b.Facilities used by children in childminding settings were not mapped
This must be remedied to ensure a complete picture of play provision.
3.The policy refers mainly to facilities ie. outdoor play areas and indeed all the photographs in the document show outdoor provision. Indoor facilities, including the home environment, must be incorporated.
4.NICMA agrees with the need to develop separate policies for the age ranges 0 – 11 years and 12 – 18 years as they believe the needs of children at that age are very different and need to be addressed differently.
Any areas specifically like to see included?
1.NICMA would wish to see the inclusion of all settings that offer play opportunities to children included in the Policy i.e. childminding settings
2.NICMA would wish to see a commitment to fully resourced training and information for both play providers [including childminders] and for parents so that the quality of the play provision is an integral feature in moving forward. It is NICMA’s experience that parents do not understand the educational value of play and the important role that a childminder plays in supporting children’s learning and development.
3.The age range of 0 – 3 years appears to have been excluded from the policy; there is little reference to this age range either in text or graphics. As children start to learn from birth, it is vital that the needs of this group in terms of play, is recognised.
4.NICMA is concerned about the cross community element of external play provision and feels that there needs to be a focus on this area in order to prevent further division in society. Much of external play provision for the 0 – 3 age range is affiliated to the church [e.g. Mother & Toddler groups] and it was felt that there needed to be choice in this matter.
5.The development or upgrading of any new external play provision needs to reflect the needs of the users. Childminders regularly make use of a range of external play provision and are best placed to advise if the facilities meet the needs of children e.g. Toilet facilities
6.In developing a Play Policy, there is also a need to have in place standards, guidelines and procedures for delivery.
7.In developing and implementing this policy, it is vital that Government ensures that resources are made available to meet the play needs of ALL children. Those resources must be also be channelled into those providers who are delivering on the play agenda e.g. childminders
*Key Indicators of Personal Social Services for Northern Ireland 2002
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