Independent childminders and... Training & CPD
I have talked about the following areas of provision -
· Introduction to childminding course
· Ongoing training
· Continued professional development - CPD
· Auditing provision
Introduction to home-based childcare course
If you are new to childminding / early years, you will need to complete an Introduction to home-based childcare course. There are a number of providers.
If you have experience working with early years children, you can apply to Ofsted without completing the course.
Ongoing training
There is one training requirement in the EYFS (apart from the Introduction to Childminding Course) - all childminders must complete 12 hours of paediatric first aid every 3 years.
Note that as well as having a first aid certificate, you also need some first aid kits in the house, in the car and for taking on outings. It is important to note in your diary or other documentation that your first aid kits are audited monthly and contents replaced when out of date or used. Store your first aid kits where children cannot get to them; risk assess them for taking on outings; do not put medication in them.
Further training might be required at a local level such as safeguarding - although the requirements for this might change when local authorities are no longer responsible for managing the training needs of childminders. In some instances, depending on Local Authority requirements, childminders are required to attend food hygiene training as part of their food business registration. Again, we have no clarification on whether this will still be required.
However, it is important that you work on the assumption that you will probably need to pay for all the statutory training courses in the future - first aid, safeguarding and food hygiene - and put away money every month to ensure they are affordable.
Continued professional development
CPD is not the same as training! CPD is the way in which you enhance your skills, knowledge and experience as you work. You need to consider how you can show evidence of accessing CPD. Most childminders do this by completing a learning log which details the time they have spent learning new things and implementing changes in the provision.
I think CPD will become more important in the future as opportunities to access Local Authority training courses are reduced. CPD covers the times when you -
· Read an online article from early years magazines and other sites such as TES - http://www.tes.co.uk/.
· Get involved in a discussion about childminding with friends or online colleagues.
· Join in with online discussions such as #EYTalking (every Tuesday from 8 - 9 pm) on Twitter.
· Read about changes to legislation and take steps to update your documentation.
· Visit a colleague and share professional development tips.
· Learn lessons from mistakes you have made which have enhanced your provision in the future.
· Purchase and use an e-book to enhance your provision or ways of working.
· Put together photo albums to evidence what you have done with the children - photos are an excellent way of evidencing everything you do... I have some albums of children on outings, in the garden, playing in the house etc. Keep albums updated and current to the children with you at the moment and make sure you put them out for Ofsted to see.
· Have a professional discussion on the Childminding Forum or other online groups.
· Pick up tips from Facebook pages such as https://www.facebook.com/KnutsfordChildminding.
· Take on a new child and learn something new from parents or the child to help you work with them effectively.
· Reflect on accidents or injuries which have happened in the provision and change your environment or outings risk assessments as a result.
It might be useful to document your CPD and to think about how it has impacted on your setting and ways of working.
Auditing provision
An audit is a checklist of things that you are doing / want to do in the future. I have lots of audits for different areas of my provision. I also use audits from the internet – they are great tools for self evaluation. A lot of childminders tell me they worry about self evaluation and don’t know whether they are doing it properly. The trick is to keep it simple -
· Ask yourself questions about how you manage your provision
· Answer them!
· Then you work to make things better.
· Introduction to childminding course
· Ongoing training
· Continued professional development - CPD
· Auditing provision
Introduction to home-based childcare course
If you are new to childminding / early years, you will need to complete an Introduction to home-based childcare course. There are a number of providers.
If you have experience working with early years children, you can apply to Ofsted without completing the course.
Ongoing training
There is one training requirement in the EYFS (apart from the Introduction to Childminding Course) - all childminders must complete 12 hours of paediatric first aid every 3 years.
Note that as well as having a first aid certificate, you also need some first aid kits in the house, in the car and for taking on outings. It is important to note in your diary or other documentation that your first aid kits are audited monthly and contents replaced when out of date or used. Store your first aid kits where children cannot get to them; risk assess them for taking on outings; do not put medication in them.
Further training might be required at a local level such as safeguarding - although the requirements for this might change when local authorities are no longer responsible for managing the training needs of childminders. In some instances, depending on Local Authority requirements, childminders are required to attend food hygiene training as part of their food business registration. Again, we have no clarification on whether this will still be required.
However, it is important that you work on the assumption that you will probably need to pay for all the statutory training courses in the future - first aid, safeguarding and food hygiene - and put away money every month to ensure they are affordable.
Continued professional development
CPD is not the same as training! CPD is the way in which you enhance your skills, knowledge and experience as you work. You need to consider how you can show evidence of accessing CPD. Most childminders do this by completing a learning log which details the time they have spent learning new things and implementing changes in the provision.
I think CPD will become more important in the future as opportunities to access Local Authority training courses are reduced. CPD covers the times when you -
· Read an online article from early years magazines and other sites such as TES - http://www.tes.co.uk/.
· Get involved in a discussion about childminding with friends or online colleagues.
· Join in with online discussions such as #EYTalking (every Tuesday from 8 - 9 pm) on Twitter.
· Read about changes to legislation and take steps to update your documentation.
· Visit a colleague and share professional development tips.
· Learn lessons from mistakes you have made which have enhanced your provision in the future.
· Purchase and use an e-book to enhance your provision or ways of working.
· Put together photo albums to evidence what you have done with the children - photos are an excellent way of evidencing everything you do... I have some albums of children on outings, in the garden, playing in the house etc. Keep albums updated and current to the children with you at the moment and make sure you put them out for Ofsted to see.
· Have a professional discussion on the Childminding Forum or other online groups.
· Pick up tips from Facebook pages such as https://www.facebook.com/KnutsfordChildminding.
· Take on a new child and learn something new from parents or the child to help you work with them effectively.
· Reflect on accidents or injuries which have happened in the provision and change your environment or outings risk assessments as a result.
It might be useful to document your CPD and to think about how it has impacted on your setting and ways of working.
Auditing provision
An audit is a checklist of things that you are doing / want to do in the future. I have lots of audits for different areas of my provision. I also use audits from the internet – they are great tools for self evaluation. A lot of childminders tell me they worry about self evaluation and don’t know whether they are doing it properly. The trick is to keep it simple -
· Ask yourself questions about how you manage your provision
· Answer them!
· Then you work to make things better.
