The PEEK Project

When I am planning work an individual I will observe them and assess how they liked the activity, if it kept their attention and if they were able to do it and if not what they require practice on. By observations and assessments I can plan work for the child I know they can achieve and enjoy. The child’s interests are paramount so what they enjoy is essential to my planning.

How a playworkers behaviour can have a positive effect on the play and behaviour of children and young people –

There are many different theories of development that help us to understand children’s behaviour, reactions and ways of learning. All equally important as they influence practice. To begin with there is Piaget’s constructivist theories which look at the way in which children seem to be able to make sense of their world as a result of their experiences and how they are active learners. He also suggested that as children develop so does their thinking. Piaget’s work has influenced early years settings into providing more hands on and relevant tasks for children and young people. In other words the children are ‘learning through play’. Teachers are working out the needs of children and plan activities accordingly.

10. Explain how play work organisations seek to balance the health, safety and security of the play environment with children and young people’s need for stimulation, risk and challenge. A play work provision

Piaget developed a workable theory that has had considerable implications for education, most notably for child-centred learning methods in nursery and infant schools. Piaget argued that young children think quite differently from adults so therefore the teacher should adapt the teaching methods to suit the child. For example, nursery school classrooms can provide children with play materials that encourage their learning. Using sets of toys that encourage the practice of sorting, grading and counting. Play areas, where children can develop role-taking skills through imaginative play. Materials like water, sand, bricks and crayons that help children make their own constructions and create symbolic representations of objects and people in their lives. A teacher’s role is to create the conditions in which learning may best take place.

The protagonist of The Power of One, Peekay, suffers many hardships throughout his childhood because he is different, and consequently develops a camouflage to help himself survive. In the beginning, it is used as a life-saving disguise, however, throughout the novel Peekay’s technique and uses change. Peekay learns how to use his camouflage to not only survive but thrive, announcing, “The camouflage was intact and I’d moved up into the next evolutionary stage. From knowing how to hide my brains I had now learned to use them” (Courtenay 40). Nonetheless, Peekay’s illusion undergoes other changes upon meeting a prisoner named Geel Piet. A member of the shadow world, Geel Piet is a halfcaste old man, who had mastered the art of concealment.

My experiences working with children aged birth to five has contributed to my interest in working in the field of infant mental health. I’ve co-facilitated a bereavement group working with children age three and a half to seven and I have also had the opportunity to volunteer in a children’s hospital setting. In addition to these experiences working with young children, I have taken a course on play therapy.

The key to attain this solid foundation is through communicating effectively and clearly with the adults associated with the play setting. For example, it is important that parents and carers are aware of any issues that may have arisen during the session, any difficulties their child is encountering, or if their child has behaved or responded particularly well to a certain situation. Essentially, this involves being ‘updated’ on their child’s general behaviour and well-being. The importance of clear communication can be evidenced here. Being vague in ones communications can lead to problems such as misunderstanding, the child being reprimanded for something they didn’t do by parents, or by parents not grasping the full extent of the problem. Not only would this affect the support the child would receive, but many could argue that such misinterpretations or misunderstandings could result in conflict between play setting and parent.

Assessment 7: Understand How to Provide Play and Other Activities for Children in Home-based Settings That Will Support Equality and Inclusion.

Effective practice can support children’s well-being and development when looking at a child’s health and physical development. Effective practice means ‘About ensuring that all children get optimum benefit from their experiences in the EYFS. This apparently simple outcome can only be achieved when adults work together to get to know the children s that they can support their play, development and learning.’ (Early years’ matters,2017.) Children’s well-being means the quality of the child and how their life is, and to ensure that they child is happy, comfortable and stable throughout their everyday life. Children all develop at different stages, whether this is through additional needs or family issues or they might have a gap in there learning.

Research has proven that the debate of “nature vs nurture” is obsolete, with development being the product of both a unique genetic endowment as well as the influence of the environment (Shonkoff, 2003), and that the first five years of a child are crucial to learning and behaviour modification (Blakemore & Frith, 2008). It is therefore incumbent on families and teachers to provide an environment conducive and stimulating for children to grow and learn within. In response to these crucial findings, guidelines and frameworks like the Early Years Learning Framework (“EYLF”) and the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (“VEYLDF”) have been developed to incorporate play-based learning and teaching.

4. I relate most with cognitive theories of development. Piaget provides the foundation by explaining the distinct stages of development. His insights allow teachers and parents to have a basis of what children are capable of during each stage. If the child drastically strays from these stages, it allows the caring adults to take action to help the child to reach the appropriate stage. With an understanding of these stages, the theories of Vygotsky can then be successfully utilized. Vygotsky stresses that with the

Play contributes to children’s “physical, emotional and social well-being” (Else, 2009, p.8) and through play, the child’s holistic development and well-being is being constantly accounted for as is it led by the individual. The child decides what s/he wants to do and does it; it is

It is imperative that practitioners are able to observe and assess each child’s development in order to gain a full understanding of their development and how they can build upon this in order to cater to the needs of the child and allow them to fulfill their potential. This is highlighted by Wheeler (2009, p.63) in stating that ‘Observations are fed into family worker and team planning so that future activities can be based on an individual child’s interests and patterns of behavior and thereby enhance their learning’.

Secondly, it is important to consider the strengths of naturalistic observation as a method. This was identified when the child was consistently moving and doing different activities that allowed me to understand how he communicates with other children, how he behaves and what he learns from others. In the play setting the child was able to develop his thinking and according to the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (DOH, 2000) through social relationships, the child was encouraged to express his feelings, emotions, which was achieved by the setting creating an enjoyment environment.