For a child to have a healthy development you will need knowledge of the developmental milestones for each age group, by having knowledge of child development you will be able to observe, assess and record a child’s development to see if a child is progressing accord to expectations. If a child is behind on his/her development it could be that a child has an undiagnosed learning disability or the child just could be good at some subjects but not as good at others.
Practitioners should be aware of health safety and welfare issues at all times for example; it is the practitioner’s duty of care to carry out risk assessments while planning activities to prevent possibly risks and hazards throughout activities they plan.
Practitioners should also liaise with parents and other professionals to support children’s development and progress for example; If a child comes and tell you that they are being harmed at home, you will have to pass it on to other professionals and you could possibility bring the parent of the child into school as sometimes children can make things up so they can get more attention. The practitioner should plan appropriate opportunities within the daily routine to interact and talk with the children and they should also keep up to date with new research and idea relating to child development. The practitioner should build a trusting relationship with both the parents and the child. If the practitioner doesn’t have a trusting relationship with the parents they might remove the child from the setting because they don’t trust the practitioner with their child as their child is their prize possession.
Practitioners must always show empathy and sensitivity and support towards everyone in a childcare setting, by doing this they will also be building a trusting relationship with the children because the practitioner is there for them and shows that they care.
Recognizing dangerous situations and managing risks.
A Practitioner must recognize dangerous situations and possible risks in a childcare/young people’s setting as it is in a practitioner’s duty of care to keep everyone safe. You would also take precautions to avoid hazards, you could do this by carrying out risk assessments while planning activities for example if you are planning an outside activity, you will need to go outside where you have planned your activity to take place and do a risk assessment to spot and remove all the possible risks and hazards, by doing this you will be preventing accidents and injury.
Practitioners could discuss risks with the children and young people they are working with and explain why they are called risks, the practitioners could also take the children outside to do their own risk assessments but being supervised at all times, by doing this you will be encouraging the children more aware of the risks around them and to take responsibility of for their own safety.
Practitioners also must follow the health and safety policy in relation to managing hazards because if the practitioner manages hazards in a different way and a child still gets hurt the parent(s) of the child could take the practitioner to court for now following the health and safety policy that they agreed to when they enrolled their child at the setting.
Dealing with accident and injury
When an accident or injury happens in a childcare/ young people setting you must always intervene with appropriate first aid, if you are not trained to use first aid you must send for someone who is trained and knows how to use the first aid kit, but never leave the child which has been injured or had an accident unsupervised, but you can deliver the right support that a child should having during these situations.
The practitioner should always display a calm and reassuring manner because if the practitioner is showing that he/she is panicking or scared then the child will