What do you want from nursery?

[Annicles]

Hi everyone. I'm a nursery practitioner in a room of two year olds, my own three children are at senior school, so I've been through it all and I am now doing a Masters Degree in Childhood Studies. For my dissertation I am exploring whether parents and practitioners have the same aims, hopes and aspirations for their children as the EYFS. I would be really grateful if you would spare the time to write a sentence or two about what you want your child to get out of being in nursery or day care of any sort. I have been researching madly and cannot find any studies where parents have been asked what is important to them - education, hitting milestones, being happy, socialising or anything else you can think of. Do you care if your child is "school ready" or are you more interested in social skills? Thanks in advance!

My child will only be attending childcare three days a week and will go to a school nursery when she is three. I have just been looking at nurseries and while I had a shopping list which included things like outdoor space and the activities available I was more concerned about her being loved and cared for.

If you are doing a masters I would have expected this to be more formal with info about confidential, your name, your supervisor and how to withdraw from the study.

I am also doing a masters in early years education and am at the dissertation stage. It is hard to find research on parents views but they are out there...can you do a search though your uni moodle? That's how I found some. (This is partly why I am consulting parents as part of my research)

I was also told that information given by participants where consent wasn't obtained (and the consent giving process includes all listed above, right to withdraw etc) could not be included in my findings as not meeting ethical guidelines or having been approved by the university's ethics committee. so you might want to ask your supervisor about the use of info gained on here.

Hope you find what you are looking for...and good luck!

I believe it all depends on the age a child is attending nursery and whether it is a single child or a child with siblings.
My daughter is an only child and when she was two years old, my expectation was for her to explore and experiment with an array of material and equipment impossible for me to provide at home. For her to observe older children in a community, and to get as physically and mentally active as possible.
At three years old, I expected her to indulge in sharing, communicating, and socialising with other children from age three to five. Alongside being able to understand and follow simple directions, and to use a broad range of fine motor skill materials and resources, including painting, writing, drawing, cutting, etc. I expected her to be able to count up to twenty, know her alphabet, know her primary colours and simple shapes, etc. To have a broad vocabulary related to our daily life, and being able to hold a simple conversation.
Now she is four, I do expect her to understand her routine and to be prepared for reception.
I hope this help :-)

If you are doing a masters are you not in a setting already and therefore can you not ask the parents there?

Soft skills: socialising, being kind, learning to make friends, take turns, share, sitting quietly at times, being able to follow instructions and participate in short adult led group games, plenty to time for free play, some pre-reading and writing games. But parents need information to help them understand that making it like a formal pre-school setting and/ or trying to force them to read and write is not what they need and can be damaging.

Hi and thanks. This is not my research, it's an informal question that I might have asked as a parent or practitioner, just as much as a researcher. My problem is that I cannot find any research where parents have been asked what they want from nursery. All the studies seem to be from the point of view of the parent as the customer - what type of childcare, what hours, what availability, where. I am interested the day to day experience of the child and what parents give most value to. I hope that's ok :-)