Roles and responsibilities Working with:• Families• Other staff• External

agencies

1. Working with families

Transition into Reception or Nursery Class

• What will this involve?• Why is it important to get this right?

• Home visiting– What are the benefits and logistics?– What will a home visit look like?

Why home visit?

• Building relationship with family• Family and child at ease• Family as first and most enduring

educator• Emotional security• Shared understanding • Initiate communication

What is a family?

• More than a half of British families feel under-represented by media, politicians and advertising

• 57% say marriage is not necessary a factor• 77% feel single parents can be ‘a proper family’• 59% agree that same sex couples make a family

(Centre for the Modern Family, December 2011)

• Full nesters, child carers and family carers, boomerang kids, the bank of mum and dad –

• (Centre for the Modern Family, December Nov 2015)

Partnerships with families

• What are the gains from partnerships with families?

• For whom?

• What can be the barriers and challenges?• Who are the

losers?

Allen report ‘Early Intervention’ (Jan 2011): http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/early-intervention-next-steps.pdf Field report ‘The Foundation Years’ (Dec 2011): http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110120090128/http:/povertyreview.independent.gov.uk/media/20254/poverty-report.pdf

Really, really important bit….

There is only one perfect child in the world, and every mother has it.

Chinese Proverb

• Parents are (usually) experts on their own children

• Their skills complement professional skills• Parents can impart vital information and

make informed observations• Parents have the right to be involved• Parents can be highly effective teachers of

their own children• Parents should contribute to decision makinghttp://www.teachersmedia.co.uk/videos/leadership-parent-voice

EPPE Report from the Primary Phase: Pre-school and Family Influences on Children’s Development during KS2 (DCSF Report 061)

The HLE has a greater influence on a child’s intellectual and social development than

parental occupation, education or income. What parents do is more important than who they are, and a home learning environment that is

supportive of learning can counteract the effects of disadvantage in the early years

Factors used to measure the HLE:

• Reading to children• Playing with letters and numbers• Teaching number rhymes and songs• Painting and drawing• Joining the library• Taking children on visits• Arranging for children to play with peers at home

What will you do to encourage

these?

‘Establishing good home-school relations is not easy. The challenges include lack of time and the need for clarity . . . More fundamentally, mutual respect between home and school, though desirable, is not always present . . .’

(Alexander, 2010, p79)

NUT - http://www.teachers.org.uk

• Prepare for the parents' evening by making sure that your notes on your pupils are in order and easy for you to refer to. Take a pen and paper to jot down any important points that parents may make.

• Wear clothes that will make you feel confident about the image you project.

• Make parents feel welcome, smile and shake hands. Remember that parents may be feeling nervous and intimidated.

• Try and be as positive as possible about each pupil. Even when you have to say something negative, try to begin and end the discussion with a positive comment.

• Make sure you know to which parent of which child you are speaking.

• Be concise in your comments and avoid using jargon.

• You may wish to suggest one or two targets for the pupil and encourage the parents to discuss these with the child.

• Offer the opportunity for parents to make comments and to ask questions.

• Be polite, but firm, in saying goodbye to any parents who talk a great deal. Standing up and shaking hands is a good technique.

2. Working with staff within school/nursery

Reflections

Identify a particular interaction with a Teaching Assistant/Nursery Nurse

• What happened?

• Why was it challenging/interesting/ empowering?

• What did you learn from it?

• Did it or will it affect what you did or do subsequently?

Desirable skills and personal attributesidentified in each other by TAs and teachers

Teaching AssistantsRelationshipsCommunication skillsAbility to take initiative and be proactivePunctualityOpen-mindednessConscientiousnessGood standard of writing and subject

knowledgeAbility to plan, manage time and

manage behaviourBeing alert and sensitive to the needs of

the teacher

TeachersRelationshipsCommunication skillsEffective delegation and

enabling autonomyReward and celebrate

successEffective organisation and

management

Wilson and Bedford (2008)

3. Working with staff beyond school/nursery

• “. . . it is essential that we work together effectively, understanding the different roles and responsibilities and how we can facilitate each other as well as support the child. It is when the professionals do not work together effectively that there is a gap in provision and support that children suffer, sometimes disastrously . . .“

(Johnston & Nahmad-Williams (2009) Early Childhood Studies, p394)

Multi-agency or inter-agency?

Child and

family

Speech /lang

therapist Educational psychologist

Social worker

School nurse

Teacher

Interagency (transagency)

Child and family

Teacher

School nurse

Social worker

Educational psychologist

Speech /lang

therapist

“Primary schools need stronger support in ensuring that the range of professionals working in schools . . . are working in a cohesive team . . . in order to improve outcomes for all and to narrow the achievement gap for more vulnerable children.”

Alexander, 2010, p504

Common Assessment FrameworkAim:To identify at the earliest opportunity, a child’s additional needs which are not being met by the universal services they are receiving; to provide timely and co-ordinated support to meet those needsThe CAF is a standardised tool used to conduct an

assessment of a child’s additional needs [in the broadest sense] and help practitioners decide how those needs should be met (CWDC, 2008)

• ‘preventative services can do more to reduce abuse and neglect than reactive services’.

• Professor Eileen Munro, The Munro review of child protection: final report – a child-centred system, Department for Education, 2011; www.gov.uk/government/publications/munro-review-of-child-protection-final-report-a-child-centred-system.

• It is only right that local authorities and their partners are focusing increasingly on early help and prevention services for families.

• Early Help: Whose responsibility ? OFSTED 2015 :p4• https://

www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-help-whose-responsibility

Working together?

Sarah Cowley Nov 2011

Supporting tasks

• Read Ch3 in Edmond and Price (Aspire). This explores leadership and interagency working

• You may like to look up Whalley, M. (2001/7) Involving Parents in their Children’s Learning

• Field and Allen reports• SBT1: how does the school/nursery work with families

and colleagues in support of children’s learning and wellbeing to promote Positive Relationships?

• Watch more of the clips• www.brighton.ac.uk/education/national_priorities