EYFS - have your say!

[sarah707]

I have just had a wonderful rant.... not sure how long it's open for, but it is a great opportunity to say what you think about EYFS!

http://vista-survey.com/survey/v2/su...?ID=5656670464

My answer... in the final box for the above survey. Feel free to plagarise all you like... Sarahx

There are many concerns for Childminders - my main one is that the EYFS is law - it is compulsory and may lead to much unnecessary and stressful testing for under 5s, as they are pushed harder and harder to achieve or be seen to fail.
The Govt is also introducing longer nursery entitlement, which will make it harder for Childminders to fill their places when combined with a year's maternity leave and schools offering wrap-around care and already being in a position to implement EYFS.
In the welfare standards, the medication requirements do not appear to allow us to follow parents' wishes with regard to eg using homeopathic remedies, without them being prescribed.
We are told not to allow children access to laundry facilites - yet we work from our homes.
Daily outdoor play is fine in principle, but to allow free flow, we will have a brisk wind (and other associated elements) coming though our homes much of the year and heating bills will rise. That, combined with the cost of replacing wet and damaged flooring and supplying outdoor clothing as parents 'forget' to send things, is making daily outdoor play somewhat less appealing. Plus I have a number of parents who do not want their children to get dirty - and a number of children who dislike getting dirty or wet... do I force them outside against their parents wishes in order to meet the standards? The other problem with outdoor free flow is that there is only one of me - the baby's nappy needs changing, the 2 year old is having a drink at the table and the 3 year old falls off the climbing frame... where will I stand regarding insurance? Yet Ofsted seem to suggest the 3 year old should be allowed to play outside whenever he wants and the 2 year old has to have free access at all times to fresh drinking water... and of course I need to change nappies on demand.
The learning and development requirements appear to be giving us less flexibility with regard to how children are allowed to play and I do not feel enough emphasis is placed on play, yet too much on testing and assessing.
The observe, plan, assess, observe cycle is excellent in principle and is what good childminders do already, but the expectation to write everything down is onerous for people who work alone and have to do extra, unpaid work in the evening to fulfil all the requirements - with the added problem that many parents do not want their child assessed and have absolutely no interest in reading the observations etc that the childminder prepares.
Not one of the 7 parents I work with wants to look at (let alone comment on) their child's folder, but I understand I will lose my Outstanding grading if I do not have regular feedback from parents when next assessed by Ofsted. One child left recently with a 40 page folder, full of photos and developmental info - it wasn't even acknowledged. The parents just wanted somewhere for her to go that was safe and where she could play, while they were at work - their perception was that she would learn when at school.
Courses for EYFS are also an issue. The local ones have been cancelled due to lack of interest (I was one of 4 people who applied to attend). Childminders are frightened that they will have to do too much, so they are avoiding learning - plus when you work a 60+ hour week and spend your evenings doing essential paperwork, finding time for courses can be onerous.
I sell books to childminders through my website and many of my customers have asked me when I am going to write the EYFS one. I have told them I am waiting for final clarification of the standards before I commit anything to paper - the feedback they are giving me is that the EYFS document is too complicated, too hard to understand and open to too much interpretation by inspectors... just like now.
I'm sure there's more but I can't think just now!

[Blaze]

I've replied. This is my answer....feel free to use any parts in your answers..you will see I've nicked sections of Sarah's LOL!

I have many concerns! One being that even the EYFS material takes forever & a day to sift through!!! My main concern is that the EYFS is law - it is compulsory and may lead to much unnecessary and stressful testing for under 5s, as they are pushed harder and harder to achieve or be seen to fail. I believe that it is a stealth curriculum! Shame on you...let children be children & truely learn through play!
The Govt is also introducing longer nursery entitlement, which will make it harder for Childminders to fill their places when combined with a year's maternity leave and schools offering wrap-around care and already being in a position to implement EYFS.
In the welfare standards, the medication requirements do not appear to allow us to follow parents' wishes with regard to eg using homeopathic remedies, without them being prescribed.
We are told not to allow children access to laundry facilites - yet we work from our homes.
Daily outdoor play is fine in principle, but to allow free flow, we will have a brisk wind (and other associated elements) coming though our homes much of the year and heating bills will rise. That, combined with the cost of replacing wet and damaged flooring and supplying outdoor clothing as parents 'forget' to send things, is making daily outdoor play somewhat less appealing. Plus I have a number of parents who do not want their children to get dirty - and a number of children who dislike getting dirty or wet... do I force them outside against their parents wishes in order to meet the standards? The other problem with outdoor free flow is that there is only one of me - the baby's nappy needs changing, the 2 year old is having a drink at the table and the 3 year old falls off the climbing frame... where will I stand regarding insurance? Yet Ofsted seem to suggest the 3 year old should be allowed to play outside whenever he wants and the 2 year old has to have free access at all times to fresh drinking water... and of course I need to change nappies on demand.
The learning and development requirements appear to be giving us less flexibility with regard to how children are allowed to play and I do not feel enough emphasis is placed on play, yet too much on testing and assessing.
The observe, plan, assess, observe cycle is excellent in principle and is what good childminders do already, but the expectation to write everything down is onerous for people who work alone and have to do extra, unpaid work in the evening to fulfil all the requirements - with the added problem that many parents do not want their child assessed and have absolutely no interest in reading the observations etc that the childminder prepares.
Not one of the parents I work with or have worked for wants to look at (let alone comment on) their child's folder, but I understand I will lose my Outstanding grading if I do not have regular feedback from parents when next assessed by Ofsted. It's hard enough getting a signature once a week for the attendance register...often my parent questionairres are unreturned & parents are mostly unavailable for update's on their childs progress. What more would you have me do?When children leave my setting, they take their folder full of photos and developmental info - usually it isn't even commented upon! What an enforced waste of my time! Parents just want a home from home environment that is safe and where their child can play, while they were at work - I am not a nursary & parents for the most part don't want me to be one either (nor do I wish to live in a daycare centre)!
Courses for EYFS are also an issue. Half the time the tutors don't know answers to our questions on EYFS, so what's the point? In addition when you work a good 60+ hour week and spend your evenings doing essential paperwork, finding time for courses can be difficult. The alternative is to take time of..making me seemingly unreliable to parents & costing me a lot of money, aside from eating away at my annual leave time!
I am one person, with one pair of hands & there is only so many hours in the day...I also have a family I would like to spend some time with...what about my children's needs? I don't think EYFS takes these factors into account. I feel that childminders are being forced out of the industry...which is a real shame...what will Britain do without us? At best we will fair badly in an already unfair grading system!

Tasha

[sarah707]

Excellent Tasha! I thought mine was long....

[Blaze]

LOL...Well I am a wordy person!!!

Wish they had a spell check though!
Tasha

[ajs]

hi have either of you had replies

i am just getting my head round the eyfs and ona training on the 30th jan so will start implementing it from then but i still don't do planning and only minor observations.

[sarah707]

No, not had a reply - didn't expect one tbh. It's all down to how many people reply and what they say and whether the replies are listened to I suppose. We'll never know....

I use EYFS alongside BTTM and FS at the moment until I feel more fully able to implement it, though I am doing a lot of work on it at the moment. I think the bit that worries me is the fact that all 16 welfare areas will carry the same weight in an inspection, so the areas of learning and development are a very small part of everything we do (in relation to everything else)... yet those are the bits everyone seems to be focussing on most closely.

I need to get to grips with all the welfare standards and ensure I am implementing each equally - but until I have clear guidance on what Ofsted will be looking for, it's all hearsay and what other people share from training courses - which is invaluable, but not a lot of info is filtering through.

No rush though... we've got until September to be ready!

[Spangles]

I have to say this EYFS business is really stressing me out so I'm not going to think about it until after I've attended my EYFS course in January and February and the changes relating to childminders have been advised. I'm hoping that it will all become miraculously clear because if it doesn't I will be forced back into an office job which isn't what I want!

[susi513]

Thanks guys. I want to give em my opinions too but as my training isn't til May I'm feeling a bit in the dark about the whole thing.

I guess the main thing that worries me is that most parents who sign up with me have chosen a childminder because they want a home from home environment - a safe, fun & friendly place where children can choose from activities & toys just as they would do at home with appropriate guidance, love & affection from their carer. They are looking for a carer with a homelife and outlook similar to their own. Parents tell me they don't want checklists, curriculums or a "forced education". At the moment we are free to adapt our services to the needs of the child and their family, but what I'm being told about the EYFS makes it sound like its not compatible with the wishes of many parents. I'm all for more & better training opportunities and raising the status of childminders etc, but I believe that if we have to follow too much mandatory "educational" stuff it will drive more parents to choose non-registered illegal childcarers in order to get the home-from-home experience they wanted. And theres plenty of them about already.

[sarah707]

That sounds perfect Susie - say that in the last box!! If you're not sure what to put in the others, just leave them blank. You're as involved as everyone else - you'll be using it in Sept...

[manjay]

I am glad it's you in England going through this!!! Hopefully it will all be sorted by the time it reaches deepest darkest Wales!

Amanda xx

[Schnakes]

Hi - excellent thread, thank you!

This is what I have written:
My main concern is that, although I have attended council run courses, been on the EYFS conference held in the Renaisance Hotel in Reading, read the material, ploughed through websites etc looking for a sign...Im still not clear about what Im supposed to be doing - particularly wrt planning, assessing, observing etc. I feel that if we (Childminders) have to do this extra paperwork for the children we really should have some sort of formal outlay for how to do it! Most of the other minders I have spoken to in my area also feel as though they are in the dark about it too.
Also, while I realise that this extra work is really for the childrens benefit, I have to say that parent arent interested in this sort of thing from us. I used to do diaries and all sorts of other bits and bobs for the kids but the parents in some cases have actually asked me not to bother!!

I think its great that the standards of childcare are being raised accross the board, and I will be making some changes in practice to meet them - however I dont think its fair that childminders should be treated the same as nurseries etc unless the government is prepared to provide us with extra support, training, equipment and so on. I would also appreciate it if the government would respect the fact that we are working in our home environments, and thats what they should look like - not nurseries. Parents want a home from home environment. The government should let the parents decide what they want for their children!

Hope its not too rambling!
Sx

[Spangles]

They all sound like excellent responses to me - I just hope that they will be listened to and acted upon!

[LittleMissSparkles]

you are all so much better with words than i am, well done xxx

[mumisme]

Hello Sarah,

I have just read "your say" and to be honest the whole thing makes me so cross. What happened to good old fashion "CHILD CARE" ? I became a childminder 4 years ago, my children were little and I wanted to stay at home with them. Perfect I thought, I enjoy caring for children and at the same time I am helping parents that need to go out to work, go out to work happy, knowing that their child is safe loved and happy. I too used a childminder when my eldest was a baby. So I understand how hard it is to go back to work and leave your precious bundle in someone else's care. Now all it seems to be, is confusing us minders, leaving some of us wondering weather actually do we really want to go through all this endless training and spending very little time with our own families. My husband works continental shifts, and my children and I treasure the time we have with him. We have had to move house recently, 72 miles away from all our family and friends. So that leaves me with a huge problem with training. I have no-one to help us with our children. So I will be looked down upon as I am unable to get as much training as i would like.

The new fee you talked about is shocking. Why would they do this to us. As you say we have enough to spend out on as it is.

I too spend time with producing Daily diaries and photo books, and do you know what, I have never had a parent comment in them, or acknowledge them. Thats a kick where it hurts very true, but these parents have busy lives ( as do we) and don't have time to. At this rate, childminders will just give up and do something else. How sad. Lets hope that things change for the better and that way keep good childminders still loving the job they do.

[mum2two]

This was my response...

I am wary of the EYFS for childminders, as I feels this takes away alot of the under 5's childhood. I am a childminder, and I am quite happy for my 2 year old son to freely play with toys etc as he wants. If I was just a regular stay at home mum, then I would not be forcing him to learn & play in line with the EYFS, and I think that's the way the majority of my parents see it. They aren't interested in how their one year old's developing in line with the EYFS, they are just more concerned that thier child is happy, safe, and well looked after. Once they start pre-school, then they begin being 'assesed', and from 2yrs 9mts in my area, until they leave school at 16, why does a 'home from home' environment have to incorporate it too. Surely we can't be classed as a home from home, if we are having the EYFS to follow, as the parents aren't doing it at home.
There is already increasing pressure on childminders to ensure current paperwork & plannig is done, and available for ofsted inspections, and with a lot of childminders currently work 50 hours a week, then having to fit in time to spend with their own children, evening courses on top of this, and now more paperwork with the EYFS, when are we meant to get time to relax. I think the govt is putting too much onto home based childcare. There's always talk of creating more home based childcare, but this is just going to put people off, and make current childminders quit. I know of a few who have been doing it for years and are giving up as it's getting too much.
Schools can provide the EYFS because the teachers have had years of relevent training, at university, and constant inset days. Childminders are normally parents who want to stay at home with their children, whilst providing a safe environment for others. How can we even begin to compete with schools.
It's too much for childminders to learn in a few 6 hour courses, if it's taken a teacher years at uni in order to be able to provide it!
Give childminders a bit more freedom, it's our own home not a nursery!

Kelly x

[sarah707]

This was my response...

I am wary of the EYFS for childminders, as I feels this takes away alot of the under 5's childhood. I am a childminder, and I am quite happy for my 2 year old son to freely play with toys etc as he wants. If I was just a regular stay at home mum, then I would not be forcing him to learn & play in line with the EYFS, and I think that's the way the majority of my parents see it. They aren't interested in how their one year old's developing in line with the EYFS, they are just more concerned that thier child is happy, safe, and well looked after. Once they start pre-school, then they begin being 'assesed', and from 2yrs 9mts in my area, until they leave school at 16, why does a 'home from home' environment have to incorporate it too. Surely we can't be classed as a home from home, if we are having the EYFS to follow, as the parents aren't doing it at home.
There is already increasing pressure on childminders to ensure current paperwork & plannig is done, and available for ofsted inspections, and with a lot of childminders currently work 50 hours a week, then having to fit in time to spend with their own children, evening courses on top of this, and now more paperwork with the EYFS, when are we meant to get time to relax. I think the govt is putting too much onto home based childcare. There's always talk of creating more home based childcare, but this is just going to put people off, and make current childminders quit. I know of a few who have been doing it for years and are giving up as it's getting too much.
Schools can provide the EYFS because the teachers have had years of relevent training, at university, and constant inset days. Childminders are normally parents who want to stay at home with their children, whilst providing a safe environment for others. How can we even begin to compete with schools.
It's too much for childminders to learn in a few 6 hour courses, if it's taken a teacher years at uni in order to be able to provide it!
Give childminders a bit more freedom, it's our own home not a nursery!

Kelly x

What an brilliant reply - thanks for sharing Kelly... and for bringing this back to the top. It only takes 2 minutes to fill in and it's important we all have our say!

[wellybelly]

I was stressed, and felt physically sick when I went on the intro to eyfs course. Didnt get it at all and tutor/trainer whoever was so "everyone must know what I'm on about". I gave her a bad report in the course evaluation. I am getting it now though as dev officer recommended city and guilds eyfs practice course ( a 6 month level 3 certificate) and its sinking in... slowly

[deb24]

I am doing my EYFS training in May and I didn't choose childminding to to all these obs on children I am not a nursery nurse.Why can't they leave children to be children and let us get on with the profession we have all chosen. We love being around children not bogged down with extra paperwork.
I just hope this is not going to put parents off,I feel they are just as much in the dark.

[Pipsqueak]

Added my tuppence worth in ....

more or less along the same lines as you guys - I forgot to copy so I could paste it here.

[wendywu]

Twinkles and i are doing a days training 8th march. So we will see what it is all about then. I do remember BTTM getting everyone upset. But i find that quite good to use now. Hope to be able to cross some of it over.

On a different note there are loads and loads of minders we know who do no planning at all, do no observations or do not even do a daily dairy, and no training what so ever, and they mostly get good.

I do get miffed sometimes