Is anyone doing/done/want to do "Early Years Professional Status"?

[Katymac]

'Cos I need to talk about it.....if possible?

bump

I'm 'doing' a foundation degree in Early Childhood Studies which can lead to EYPS I believe.

Are you already degreed-up?

No - I had a youngster in my setting - she has a law degree & was doing her baby placement here

I found it really difficult as she couldn't hold/feed/dress/play with babies & I wonderd if that was 'normal'?

No that doesn't sound normal but it does sound possible. Who placed her with you? I would go back to them and explain your concerns. It's not really fair on the children is it.....fair enough, she may want to go more into the management side of childcare/education but she shouldn't be placed without some support if she is a real novice.

She has left because I am unreasonable (which I probably am)

She wanted to do an activity (despite being told we have opportunities here) with a child in a particular age range, but refused to include the other children.

She refused to do either of the shifts that my staff do (eg 8am start ot 6pm finish)

She maintained that only narrative observations were valid & that all others were useless - well I'd rather have a tracking/target child/wow moments occasionally as they have their uses

I feel a bit down about to be honest and feel I let her down

Did she come to you as a member of staff or as a college/uni placement? Placements often don't attend full shifts as they have other jobs/commitments as well. Some nurseries and schools acknowledge that professional development of the work-force means having people drop in and out and generally be a pain in the arse. Some nurseries and schools refuse as it is a real pain to have someone swanning in and out.

Bit of a double edged sword TBH. Did her college not give any guidence at all? My uni demands written narrative obs only too, shocking really but I imagine that if someone is EYPS then they should at least know about the others.

Also my course demands 10 conservation exercise experiments of a specific age group....I wonder if that was what she was trying to do. I just let everyone participate and only recorded the ones that fit my module. A little bit of flexibility is a must with children IMO. I think you have both been set up to fail, sadly.

She is a F/T student

College told me she is to do 8 hr shifts - but I only run 6 hr shifts because I work in the middle on nowhere & there is nowhere to go for lunch (apart from my lounge - which I don't want to share) - so I don't think fitting in with existing pattens is too much to ask (esp as her college told me to to make the placement realistic)

btw I am neither a college or a school - I run a group childminding practise

I have had 2 EYFS students before both qualified childcare practitioners who came in & improved things for the setting (eg rewritting a policy or improving thre recording to B23) - what they were told to do was to 'lead' the setting & they did effectively - I felt like I was 'minding' this child (btw I have staff members 5 yrs younger than her so I don't think it's an age thing)

It sounds like she was completely unprepared for the reality of placement then. I hope you feedback exactly what happened to the college.

I was always so chuffed to get a good placement, it's a real shame for everyone that this one was a dud.

I am trying too

So far the letter has been rewritten 3 times, to try & soften it

Can you inagine telling your setting manager that you don't care if it is inclusion or not you are only doing the activity with the baby

No.

We have a 19yo girl on our course who regularly bitches about her last placement. She was hoping that it would lead to a paying job as there was one vacancy in her setting. She couldn't believe that the other student was offered the job instead of her.

I asked her why did she think that the other girl got it and she said that it was favouritism. The other girl used to ask the other staff how they would approach activities and how did they come up with their ideas. People skills in other words methinks.

Anyway, have a good weekend.

Still struggling with the letter

Thanks - hope you have a nice weekend too