The decline of play in preschoolers...

...and the rise in sensory issues.

A few here will be interested in this article
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ensory-issues/

Agree with this a lot. After my Ofsted inspection it really does feel like the days are dwindling away where children can just play. Everything has to be for a reason with a huge amount of focus on what the children are getting out of everything.

The outdoor play when the Inspector visited, to me, about getting fresh air, exercising and HAVING FUN. Socialising, sharing, being together, playing role play in the car etc but the Inspector was talking about how I could incorporate numbers into the garden play.
In my head I was thinking why cant I just give the children a 20minutes outdoor experience where they can just be themselves and be with others rather than looking at Maths? When we go out on a walk, we want to get muddy and wet, we want to come back tired from the fresh air not reflecting how many trees we've seen on the way.

Yes we can incorporate the educational side into it, of course but does everything have to centre around it?

She told me I was too NNEB but I'm proud of that actually.

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Originally Posted by JCrakers

Agree with this a lot. After my Ofsted inspection it really does feel like the days are dwindling away where children can just play. Everything has to be for a reason with a huge amount of focus on what the children are getting out of everything.

The outdoor play when the Inspector visited, to me, about getting fresh air, exercising and HAVING FUN. Socialising, sharing, being together, playing role play in the car etc but the Inspector was talking about how I could incorporate numbers into the garden play.
In my head I was thinking why cant I just give the children a 20minutes outdoor experience where they can just be themselves and be with others rather than looking at Maths? When we go out on a walk, we want to get muddy and wet, we want to come back tired from the fresh air not reflecting how many trees we've seen on the way.

Yes we can incorporate the educational side into it, of course but does everything have to centre around it?

She told me I was too NNEB but I'm proud of that actually.

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I agree ... We went to feed the ducks this morning, for the pure enjoyment of feeding the ducks. Yes we walked and looked at/talked about autumn/leaves etc, counted ducks, tore and threw bread, chatted to people we met but that was all incidental to my mind than just enjoying feeding the ducks!

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Originally Posted by JCrakers

Agree with this a lot. After my Ofsted inspection it really does feel like the days are dwindling away where children can just play. Everything has to be for a reason with a huge amount of focus on what the children are getting out of everything.

The outdoor play when the Inspector visited, to me, about getting fresh air, exercising and HAVING FUN. Socialising, sharing, being together, playing role play in the car etc but the Inspector was talking about how I could incorporate numbers into the garden play.
In my head I was thinking why cant I just give the children a 20minutes outdoor experience where they can just be themselves and be with others rather than looking at Maths? When we go out on a walk, we want to get muddy and wet, we want to come back tired from the fresh air not reflecting how many trees we've seen on the way.

Yes we can incorporate the educational side into it, of course but does everything have to centre around it?

She told me I was too NNEB but I'm proud of that actually.

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Your inspector was not aware that the new EYE Level 3 is based on NNEB? ...shocking.
It was well documented that NNEB was and still is the 'best' qualification and EYE incorporates many of its features including a sound knowledge of child development and hours of hands-on practice.

Outdoor play and any activities cms do with the children outside the 4 walls IS maths, science, literacy, UW, PD...maybe nurseries who hardly take children outdoors, unless it is in those awful carriers, may be tempted to put bunting up with numbers or need prompting.

I really thought Ofsted training the inspectors themselves would have stopped the 'individual and subjective' comments made by Tribal/Prospects outsourced inspectors and stress they need to 'observe' teaching in whichever form or style we deliver it and not pass personal comments.
From your feedback on your inspection it felt to me your inspector was being a bit too personal...but you got a Good grade so that is important.

The sooner EY inspections are brought back in-house the better :thumbsup:.

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Originally Posted by Simona

Your inspector was not aware that the new EYE Level 3 is based on NNEB? ...shocking. It was well documented that NNEB was and still is the 'best' qualification and EYE incorporates many of its features including a sound knowledge of child development and hours of hands-on practice. Outdoor play and any activities cms do with the children outside the 4 walls IS maths, science, literacy, UW, PD...maybe nurseries who hardly take children outdoors, unless it is in those awful carriers, may be tempted to put bunting up with numbers or need prompting. I really thought Ofsted training the inspectors themselves would have stopped the 'individual and subjective' comments made by Tribal/Prospects outsourced inspectors and stress they need to 'observe' teaching in whichever form or style we deliver it and not pass personal comments. From your feedback on your inspection it felt to me your inspector was being a bit too personal...but you got a Good grade so that is important. The sooner EY inspections are brought back in-house the better :thumbsup:.

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Simona what do you mean "carriers"? What are they?

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Originally Posted by mumofone

Simona what do you mean "carriers"? What are they?

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They are large push along things nurseries use...like a big pram where 6 to 8 toddlers sit in all strapped in and taken for walk.
No idea what they are called but I see them regularly in my area with 2 staff pushing and one additional staff.

I understand they give an opportunity for fresh air but here we have sooooo many parks the children could go and run around....all they do is walk up and down the high street...not a fan as you have gathered.

I strongly agree with the points in the article too. I chose this career as I love spending time with the children and enjoying the pure and simple joys of childhood with them. I'm sure most of us on here are natural "teachers" due to our love of the job and we don't even realise it half the time. I make sure the LOs in my care have plenty of time to just PLAY and I play along too if they want me to. It's just a shame that some inspectors have such a blinkered view of how children learn.

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Originally Posted by Simona

They are large push along things nurseries use...like a big pram where 6 to 8 toddlers sit in all strapped in and taken for walk. No idea what they are called but I see them regularly in my area with 2 staff pushing and one additional staff. I understand they give an opportunity for fresh air but here we have sooooo many parks the children could go and run around....all they do is walk up and down the high street...not a fan as you have gathered.

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They sound hideous, id hate my child to be in one of them...how depressing :-(

Interesting article, thanks Simona.

The nursery near me uses them and often walk up and down my lane. We don't have any traffic but still the children are not taken out to walk. We are surrounded by fields/horses, woodland and allotments bursting with fruit and veg ..........and yet I have never ever seen them stopping to observe the wonderful surroundings or point out and talk about what can be seen........to be totally honest.....I've never even heard the staff talking to the children at all as they are normally absorbed in their own conversations. A great opportunity totally ignored. Sorry have gone of subject, but it makes my blood boil to see this ' outstanding' nursery at work, I swear one day I will not be able to stop myself from saying something to the young nusery staff. Vent now over.......and breath....aaaaaahhhhhhh!

Circa 2004, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport produced one of the more sensible things to come out of government, based around the idea of a charter for children's play. It contained a highly insightful definition of play as (I paraphrase): that thing children do on their own initiative, when adults stop interfering and get completely out of the way. It went on to praise the many benefits of play on those terms.

About 5 or so years later, when I was looking to train for registration, there was still a strong emphasis on play: learning through play, and childcare workers observing children at play. But already there was a tendency to have adults interfering with play, under the guise of "guiding" and "themes" and "extending". The terms "play" and "activity" were already being used interchangeably, with adults at least setting up an activity for children to play, so losing all the creative thought input from children's spontaneity and originality and, above all, the element of choice.

And where are we now? EYFS, DfE and Ofsted breathing down our necks and forcing us to breath down children's necks with an overbearing emphasis on "adult-led activities" and "how CMs teach". I'm ashamed to say we are, collectively collaborating with this in our eagerness to be "just as good as nursery" (not to mention our compulsion to play with Happyland.)

I don't think it is going too far to say we need to reverse this ugly trend and try to restore the notion of the right to a childhood, and the freedom to play as it was meant to be done, before DfE et al effectively abolish genuine play from all childcare settings. :(

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Originally Posted by bunyip

Circa 2004, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport produced one of the more sensible things to come out of government, based around the idea of a charter for children's play. It contained a highly insightful definition of play as (I paraphrase): that thing children do on their own initiative, when adults stop interfering and get completely out of the way. It went on to praise the many benefits of play on those terms. About 5 or so years later, when I was looking to train for registration, there was still a strong emphasis on play: learning through play, and childcare workers observing children at play. But already there was a tendency to have adults interfering with play, under the guise of "guiding" and "themes" and "extending". The terms "play" and "activity" were already being used interchangeably, with adults at least setting up an activity for children to play, so losing all the creative thought input from children's spontaneity and originality and, above all, the element of choice. And where are we now? EYFS, DfE and Ofsted breathing down our necks and forcing us to breath down children's necks with an overbearing emphasis on "adult-led activities" and "how CMs teach". I'm ashamed to say we are, collectively collaborating with this in our eagerness to be "just as good as nursery" (not to mention our compulsion to play with Happyland.) I don't think it is going too far to say we need to reverse this ugly trend and try to restore the notion of the right to a childhood, and the freedom to play as it was meant to be done, before DfE et al effectively abolish genuine play from all childcare settings. :(

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Couldnt agree more. Eloquently put and oh so right.

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Originally Posted by bunyip

Circa 2004, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport produced one of the more sensible things to come out of government, based around the idea of a charter for children's play. It contained a highly insightful definition of play as (I paraphrase): that thing children do on their own initiative, when adults stop interfering and get completely out of the way. It went on to praise the many benefits of play on those terms. About 5 or so years later, when I was looking to train for registration, there was still a strong emphasis on play: learning through play, and childcare workers observing children at play. But already there was a tendency to have adults interfering with play, under the guise of "guiding" and "themes" and "extending". The terms "play" and "activity" were already being used interchangeably, with adults at least setting up an activity for children to play, so losing all the creative thought input from children's spontaneity and originality and, above all, the element of choice. And where are we now? EYFS, DfE and Ofsted breathing down our necks and forcing us to breath down children's necks with an overbearing emphasis on "adult-led activities" and "how CMs teach". I'm ashamed to say we are, collectively collaborating with this in our eagerness to be "just as good as nursery" (not to mention our compulsion to play with Happyland.) I don't think it is going too far to say we need to reverse this ugly trend and try to restore the notion of the right to a childhood, and the freedom to play as it was meant to be done, before DfE et al effectively abolish genuine play from all childcare settings. :(

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Yes! Absolutely! The current policies have got it all the wrong way round. If we focus on play, the learning will come. If we focus on learning, the play dies.

Mrs Scrubbit...couldn't agree more
If only my local nursery would turn left instead of right into the high street they would find the wonderful Marble Hill park where those children could be let loose and enjoy a bit of running around. But no up and down they go on the High Street and I also agree no one ever talks to the poor children who look bored!

Bunyip...is yours a call to arms?
The vast majority of DFE policies have nothing to do with children's well being and play is slowly been reduced to an opportunity rather than a way of learning.
We seem to put up with a lot in order to comply so that once every 3 years we can get that inspection over and done with.

In order to change things we need to join, march, raise concerns and be vocal.
I'll quote Boris Johnson here 'there are too many vested interests and many interesting vests'...I am sure you will know what I mean!
I look forward to seeing many CMs joining the call against these awful 30 hours of childcare...did you by any chance watch Question Time last night and the 'lovely' Priti Patel in charge of the funding review?.....that is what we are up against
Nothing is gained unless we are prepared to stand up and be counted and heard.

And then there's this, from save childhood.net

Can I just say Bunyip you are spot on! The other day I set up an autumn tree finger paint activity - looks great, parents love it, fully adult led - yes, creative - no, children were bored in 5 mins. They wanted to just paint, which of course I let them do :-) they did about 5 paintings each and were clearly happier! To me this is what this job is all about :-)

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Originally Posted by Simona

Mrs Scrubbit...couldn't agree more
If only my local nursery would turn left instead of right into the high street they would find the wonderful Marble Hill park where those children could be let loose and enjoy a bit of running around. But no up and down they go on the High Street and I also agree no one ever talks to the poor children who look bored!

Bunyip...is yours a call to arms?
The vast majority of DFE policies have nothing to do with children's well being and play is slowly been reduced to an opportunity rather than a way of learning.
We seem to put up with a lot in order to comply so that once every 3 years we can get that inspection over and done with.

In order to change things we need to join, march, raise concerns and be vocal.
I'll quote Boris Johnson here 'there are too many vested interests and many interesting vests'...I am sure you will know what I mean!
I look forward to seeing many CMs joining the call against these awful 30 hours of childcare...did you by any chance watch Question Time last night and the 'lovely' Priti Patel in charge of the funding review?.....that is what we are up against
Nothing is gained unless we are prepared to stand up and be counted and heard.

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My suspicious mind suggests the nursery would probably love to be at Marble Hill but risk assessed it as too close to the River to stop your local yummies from getting stressed about the 'dangers' to their little princesses. :( I'm relieved to hear it hasn't been sold off to make way for another 'stunning new development of 1-2 bedroom executive apartments and studio penthouses' - btw, did your Liberal-Democraps ever get round to replacing the ice rink, as promised?)

"Call to arms" - a little grandiose, but I appreciate the sentiment. I suspect it's more a case of fighting a lost cause. Perhaps the best we can do is to demonstrate to Ofsted an adherence to EYFS whilst simultaneously subverting it (safely) for the genuine benefit of the children and families.

"Vested interests". Yes, very much so. Problem is that a lot of those interests are held by those of us within the childcare workforce and heavily promoted by those who purport to represent us and the children for whom we care. I could fill an entire website, never mind a single post with this. Pacey's "5 reasons to work with children" may well list "watching children play and have fun" ("rolling down hills and jumping in muddy puddles," etc.) But we all know the reality. Scratch the surface and they're just as bad as anyone when it comes to trumpeting EYFS, government agendas, and all the rest that underpins our 'professionalism' and status.

The whole thing is insidious and highly contagious. Take the latest Tory idea of grandparent leave to provide childcare (leaving aside the fact that it's no more than yet another rather desperate and disingenuous piece of cheap politically-motivated populism.) For a moment, I found myself joining ranks with the 'professional' outcry against this attempt to "undermine our status" by suggesting untrained grandparents were competent to deliver EYFS or even keep children safe and happy. And, of course, the children would lose all those "learning opportunities" and suffer "developmental delay" as a result.

I had to stop and count to ten before I remembered this was exactly what I'd moved halfway across the country to do. This is what so many grandparents already do, and have been doing pretty successfully since we climbed down from the trees and started walking upright.

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Originally Posted by natlou82

Can I just say Bunyip you are spot on! The other day I set up an autumn tree finger paint activity - looks great, parents love it, fully adult led - yes, creative - no, children were bored in 5 mins. They wanted to just paint, which of course I let them do :-) they did about 5 paintings each and were clearly happier! To me this is what this job is all about :-)

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And you are spot on too.....we can still do what is enjoyed by the children and not do it for anybody's benefit.

I have often seen beautiful displays on a wall and wondered if that was the children's work?
I have never come across a 2 year old able to draw a face and put the eyes in the exact position on a face...a well trained and knowledgeable inspector would pick that up immediately!

Maybe we should regain our territory and stop the nonsense that is coming up now...very little is in the interest of the children....if the govt has its way children will end up in institutions very soon.

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Originally Posted by bunyip

My suspicious mind suggests the nursery would probably love to be at Marble Hill but risk assessed it as too close to the River to stop your local yummies from getting stressed about the 'dangers' to their little princesses. :( I'm relieved to hear it hasn't been sold off to make way for another 'stunning new development of 1-2 bedroom executive apartments and studio penthouses' - btw, did your Liberal-Democraps ever get round to replacing the ice rink, as promised?)

"Call to arms" - a little grandiose, but I appreciate the sentiment. I suspect it's more a case of fighting a lost cause. Perhaps the best we can do is to demonstrate to Ofsted an adherence to EYFS whilst simultaneously subverting it (safely) for the genuine benefit of the children and families.

"Vested interests". Yes, very much so. Problem is that a lot of those interests are held by those of us within the childcare workforce and heavily promoted by those who purport to represent us and the children for whom we care. I could fill an entire website, never mind a single post with this. Pacey's "5 reasons to work with children" may well list "watching children play and have fun" ("rolling down hills and jumping in muddy puddles," etc.) But we all know the reality. Scratch the surface and they're just as bad as anyone when it comes to trumpeting EYFS, government agendas, and all the rest that underpins our 'professionalism' and status.

The whole thing is insidious and highly contagious. Take the latest Tory idea of grandparent leave to provide childcare (leaving aside the fact that it's no more than yet another rather desperate and disingenuous piece of cheap politically-motivated populism.) For a moment, I found myself joining ranks with the 'professional' outcry against this attempt to "undermine our status" by suggesting untrained grandparents were competent to deliver EYFS or even keep children safe and happy. And, of course, the children would lose all those "learning opportunities" and suffer "developmental delay" as a result.

I had to stop and count to ten before I remembered this was exactly what I'd moved halfway across the country to do. This is what so many grandparents already do, and have been doing pretty successfully since we climbed down from the trees and started walking upright.

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Oh Bunyip you now have got me going...childcare and politics just clash!.

The lovely Marble Hill is still a beautiful park free for all and there is a special 'enclosed area' so no dogs and far away from the beautiful flowing Thames...so yes they can go there safely
Mind you a long time ago I did spot a few nursery children in there...all lined up in buggies, strapped in and with nowhere to go while the cms' children were having a picnic and free to run around !! :angry:

The ice rink has gone but we may have a Lido built in my own little town....I can only envisage the RA that will go on there!!
Our new Tory council is very happy to spend millions on new pavings for the Rugby World Cup and other big ideas like a Piazza but when it comes to funding childcare they are still giving providers £3.60....with the average fees being around £7 or more that is a subsidy of over 50%...ouch.

I do agree about the representing associations but will stop at making further comments for now ....vested interests indeed.
I did hear a few promising sounds from the Big Childcare Conversation so will see if anyone will stand up and be counted.

One bit of good news...sorry for the deviation...we met our new councillor on Monday at our CLP...she recently defected from the LibDems and it was good to hear one of her interests is 'childcare'!!...bring it on I say!

Our CLP Focus group meets next week and I am representing EY and she will be there...so I am ready to let her know a few home truths about funding, our vey own Cms agency, the 30 hours saga and so on.

I was tweeting about this potential increase in hours and its 1 billion underfunding and got a message from the Shadow minister for Childcare who asked me to send my concerns to her...so I did....just as well I am interested in politics.

I probably won't get far but I am willing to have a good go at it!