School runs and childminders... a blog :)

[sarah707]

I have been asked to write this blog by childminder colleagues concerned about the implications of a recent Ofsted judgement that a childminder should take her car on the school run - because the inspector said the children weren't learning while they were out walking!!

It was a shocking judgement and one I hope the childminder complained about ... and here is the blog

Sarah's Blog: School runs and childminders

[hectors house]

I have been asked to write this blog by childminder colleagues concerned about the implications of a recent Ofsted judgement that a childminder should take her car on the school run - because the inspector said the children weren't learning while they were out walking!!

It was a shocking judgement and one I hope the childminder complained about ... and here is the blog

Sarah's Blog: School runs and childminders

Thank you for sharing - it's a crazy world we life in, you are damned if you do take the children out for exercise and fresh air plus all the learning and development you can include and damned if you don't go out or take the car! Hopefully your detailed explanations will make childminders realise that they need to be able to justify everything they do.

[loocyloo]

thank you sarah,

its amazing actually, reading your blog, quite how much IS covered 'on the school run' !!! and how little would be covered in the car!

[Simona]

thank you sarah,

its amazing actually, reading your blog, quite how much IS covered 'on the school run' !!! and how little would be covered in the car!

Begs the question how well trained are the inspectors not to realise that?

[hectors house]

thank you sarah,

its amazing actually, reading your blog, quite how much IS covered 'on the school run' !!! and how little would be covered in the car!

I completely agree with Sarah's points in her blog but actually we manage to cover lots of things in the car too (I don't do school runs, but regularly take children out for walks in the woods, but have to drive to get there) - when mindees are with parents I think they just sit there, hardly looking out of the window and in some cases watching the in car DVD - but with me we play a simpler version of I spy where they just have to take turns to spot something that no-one else has said yet - it makes them far more aware of their surroundings. (Even the little ones will start shouting Nemo before we get to the garden centre that has an aquatic section).

[sing-low]

Thank you, Sarah. A brilliant defence and I wholeheartedly agree that there are loads of learning opportunities on the school run.

But I think it is a worrying judgement for a more fundamental reason - that it implies that children must be constantly 'learning' whilst in our care and that this must take the form of adult interaction. That sounds like a definition of school, not childhood, to me. It makes me think of that quote:
'What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?'

[Simona]

Thank you, Sarah. A brilliant defence and I wholeheartedly agree that there are loads of learning opportunities on the school run.

But I think it is a worrying judgement for a more fundamental reason - that it implies that children must be constantly 'learning' whilst in our care and that this must take the form of adult interaction. That sounds like a definition of school, not childhood, to me. It makes me think of that quote:
'What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?'

We could apply Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child...children have a right to play and leisure...
which means time to relax and not constantly under pressure to learn...as if playing and walking is not learning?

This is what we need to challenge individual interpretations by inspectors with
http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf

[jackie 7]

I think I will print un rots of a child and put it on my notice bord. Just on case.

[sarah707]

Thank you, Sarah. A brilliant defence and I wholeheartedly agree that there are loads of learning opportunities on the school run.

But I think it is a worrying judgement for a more fundamental reason - that it implies that children must be constantly 'learning' whilst in our care and that this must take the form of adult interaction. That sounds like a definition of school, not childhood, to me. It makes me think of that quote:
'What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?'

Have you read this yet? Sir MW's letter to inspectors makes it very clear that we are teachers and children must be constantly learning while they are with us x

Ofsted | Letter from HMCI to early years inspectors - March 2014

[Ripeberry]

Have you read this yet? Sir MW's letter to inspectors makes it very clear that we are teachers and children must be constantly learning while they are with us x

Ofsted | Letter from HMCI to early years inspectors - March 2014

Well they are breaking the law on the UN 'Rights of the Child' and should be reported!

[Simona]

Well they are breaking the law on the UN 'Rights of the Child' and should be reported!

Even children in schools take a break from 'formal learning'...it is called playtime ...learning at their pace not under constant instructions!