Call for some 'Sustained Shared Thinking' and a complete review of the Early Years & Childcare Sector (1)

With the Childcare Bill (HL) 2015-2016 http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/childcare.html having it's first hearing in the House of Lords on 1st June and a pledge from the government that there will be a funding review, I suggest to you that there is much more which needs to be overhauled in this sector than a tweak with the amount per hour that we receive for providing Early Education and Early Years practitioners have been calling for this for a long time.

What I hope to achieve by writing this blog....

Well in the back of mind I guess I naively hope that someone somewhere with some influence will take on board my points and get ready to sit round a table and thrash out exactly where we want to be, tackle the barriers to this and come up with a plan which meets the needs of all stakeholders and is updated to be fit for practice in the year 2015. This is why I call for some 'sustained shared thinking'.  In reality, I know it will end up being just a therapeutic way for me to rationalise my thoughts but I have decided to write it anyway....ultimate outcome, genuinely unknown.

Sustained shared thinking

We spend our time waiting for 'wow' those moments in our practice when practitioner and child interact to solve a problem or extend an idea.  Both parties contribute in order to extend the thinking to reach an outcome which is genuinely open-ended. The word ‘shared’ does not indicate just a sharing of time or resources but indicates sharing of power, direction and guidance.

It seems to me that employing such a method of problem solving would be an appropriate way to make progress in our sector too but most of us mere mortals will never get the opportunity to have our voice heard as the decisions are already made, awaiting just the seal of approval, before we ever get wind of them.

Usually a very positive person who sees the best in things, I have been reduced to seeing the sector as a circuit of outdated, complicated and incongruous systems.

When we should be spending our time focusing on outcomes for children and ensuring that our practice is second to none, we more often than not, find ourselves bogged down by boring bureaucracy and rules which seem to have been out in place to hinder, not help.

My thoughts and feelings on the issues will follow below....

Call for some 'Sustained Shared Thinking' and a complete review of the Early Years & Childcare Sector (2) - Did I always want to work in childcare?