CHCCN511A: Establish, manage and monitor the implementation of a safe and healthy environment

Monitor care provided by others

Contents

Observe care practices and give specific instruction as required3

Monitoring the care practices of our work team 4

Regularly review care routines with workers 8

Reviewing care routines 8

Review practices to ensure policies regarding care are met 10

Making care policies ‘live’ 10

2 Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCCN511A: Reader LO 9303 © NSW DET 2010

Observe care practices and give specific instruction as required

Care practices include feeding, bathing, dressing, toileting, programming and interactions.

As team leaders we must be aware of how our staff are carrying out these care practices. The way a carer carries out a care routine is just as important as when and how often it is implemented. For example, an employee might change a child’s nappy efficiently, competently and with hygiene principles in mind. However, if the employee does not interact with the young child, they are not really providing a caring environment.

Interaction is critical to a caring environment

A safe, caring childcare environment is one where:

• each individual child is emotionally and psychologically valued and respected

• individual needs are acknowledged and met • we as team leaders spend time reviewing and monitoring the great work

our team does every day.

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCCN511A: Reader LO 9303 3© NSW DET 2010

Monitoring the care practices of our work teamAs team leader of a room or service you will need to observe and support staff, especially untrained staff, students and volunteers to ensure quality and safety in the workplace.

When we are observing other staff, what benchmarks do we measure their performance against? Policies often provide guidelines of the practices we wish to occur in the service and as such act as a standard for staff assessment.

Methods of staff appraisalThere are formal and informal methods of assessing or appraising the performance of staff.

Formal methods of staff appraisal include:

• observations completed for specific reasons (eg to see if the workplace supervisor can identify the problem with a program or identify reasons for the increased number of accidents in the service)

• written instruction of work practice given after observation• review of policies against what is actually happening in practice in the

service• accreditation review and validation processes• setting up a subcommittee to look at a certain practice, eg inclusiveness• staff meetings held for the purpose of evaluating an area of service

delivery, eg guidance of children, inclusive practices• questionnaire and checklists that individuals fill out about themselves.

Less formal methods of staff appraisal include:

• noticing a dangerous or unhygienic practice or lack of supervision and responding to it appropriately at that time

• general supervision of staff within day-to-day routines • providing other staff with informal constructive feedback given on your

informal observation of their work or an incident they were involved in. You need to make sure that your feedback is constructive and is balanced with positive comments about caregiver performance.

• a staff meeting on the practices observed (as well as other matters) that affect more than one staff member. This should be specific in positives and confidential when issues are problems.

• the mentoring of a new, inexperienced staff member by a more experienced member

• referral to in-service courses or to readings on a subject to gather current information and ideas.

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Staff appraisal can take place during day-to-day routines

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What are we monitoring?We will be focusing on the areas outlined below as we monitor care practices.

Routines Here we will want to evaluate:

• how well the routines meet the individual needs of the children we care for

• how inclusive they are• if there are times where quality interactions between carer and children

are visible • if staff are using the teachable moments in these routine times to teach

children about the importance of good hygiene and safety.

Interactions with children Here we will need to ensure that:

• all children are given equal attention• children’s individuality is respected• children’s behaviours are guided in a positive manner • carers generally communicate in an encouraging, warm, respectful way.

Taking advantage of prime times for learningAre staff aware of theory about how children learn certain things more easily at certain ages? You may have come across the term ‘prime times’ for learning—when the ‘windows of opportunity’ for learning are open. This refers to the times when the brain is most ready to learn something new. Do staff know when these times are—and how to offer children opportunities to learn certain things at these times? When the ‘window of opportunity’ is open, it is easy to learn. When the window is closed, you can still learn, but it is harder. According to this theory,

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCCN511A: Reader LO 9303 5© NSW DET 2010

most of the brain’s windows of opportunity open and close during the first few years of life.

If you would like to know more, google: ‘prime times of learning’ or go to www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/PDF/FACS01-3.pdf

Interactions with staff and parentsOur review will also focus on the quality and frequency of staff-to-staff communication and interactions between staff and families.

Team work • How well developed is the sense of team within our staff? • How effectively do staff work together to achieve common goals?

Supervision How effectively do staff implement safe supervision techniques with respect to supervision of children, areas within the service and activities and equipment used?

Professional ability• How are our staff programming? • Are they completing accurate and meaningful observations of children? • Are these observations used to plan the program?• Is the program regularly evaluated? • Are staff familiar with their roles as scaffolder? • Do they work closely with families when concerns with a child’s

development are noted? • Are referrals to appropriate support services given? • Is the ‘code of ethics’ adhered to as staff observe and program for

children? • Do they document children’s work respectfully?

Safety • Are all staff committed to a safe workplace? • Is a culture of safety evident in the team?

Hygiene• Do all staff demonstrate consistently health and hygiene practices to

promote the health and wellbeing of others?

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• Do staff keep abreast of current health and hygiene practices?• Equipment, materials and furnishings• Are equipment, materials and furnishings regularly checked and

monitored for hygiene and safety?• Do staff receive training on the safe use of equipment and materials?• Application of the policies• How well do staff implement the policies and procedures of the service?• How well does practice fit with what is written down on paper?

Evacuation practices• Are all staff familiar with these procedures? • Are they regularly involved in fire drills and the review of emergency

situations?

The importance of feedback on care practicesIn order to promote ongoing improvement and quality care practices in our service, it is essential that we provide information, instruction and/or advice whenever we observe inappropriate care practices.

Of course it is equally important to acknowledge the professionalism and efficiency of our staff who consistently demonstrate best practice.

Activity 1

Activity 2

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCCN511A: Reader LO 9303 7© NSW DET 2010

Regularly review care routines with workers

Caring routines are a fundamental aspect of any quality childcare program. They provide a framework around which the program is structured and provide children with a sense of continuity and predictability about their day in care. This serves to develop trust relationships between carers and children.

Implementing caring routines also enables every child’s individual care needs to be met consistently. Routines also provide opportunities for children to learn and to achieve a positive sense of self as they complete their own self-care tasks and move towards independence.

Do our routines always deliver these opportunities?

Reviewing care routinesWe need to regularly review the routines in our service to ensure that all staff spend time monitoring and reviewing the quality of the routines to promote ongoing improvement.

Reviewing routines in an organised way like this is far less stressful than simply reacting when something goes wrong or a family member makes a complaint about our practice.

Other ideas to improve the quality and appropriateness of care routines may be:

• including a focus routine on the agenda at each staff meeting for all staff to consider and review

• organising a small working group to undertake a review of a specific routine and then present their conclusions to the rest of the work team for consideration

• collecting and distributing readings and articles about caring routines and how other services are working to achieve quality. These articles and anecdotes can then be used to stimulate discussion in the team. From this discussion, staff can brainstorm creative ideas for improving their care routines.

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It is important to highlight that the review process is not a fault-finding exercise. It is a means to achieving quality in our service. You have the important task of creating that culture of responsibility rather than blaming someone within your team.

Activity 3

Diploma of Children’s Services: CHCCN511A: Reader LO 9303 9© NSW DET 2010

Review practices to ensure policies regarding care are met

Reviewing staff practice is an essential process to ensure that what staff actually do and how they do it is a true reflection of our service philosophy, polices and procedures.

Policies must be made to ‘live’. Your role as team leader will be to make sure that staff are familiar and comfortable with the service policies and that the policies are workable for the team. Staff will implement them if they are meaningful and relevant.

Making care policies ‘live’ How do we make sure that the policies in our folders are carried out every day and translated into care practices?

We can do this in the following ways:

• Be a role model by supporting and promoting the behaviours we want our staff to display.

• Discuss issues and concerns in a sensitive way as they arise in order to draw our staff’s attention to potential problems.

• Collaborate with staff about policy and practice rather than impose policies and practices on them.

• Review and assess staff performance to ensure that policy is being implemented in practice.

• Clearly explain policies and procedures to new staff on induction and orientation to our service.

• Keep ourselves current by reading and researching best practice. We can encourage our staff to do the same.

• Recognise that just as times, information and people change, so too must our policies and procedures. Regular reviews of policies will ensure that they remain relevant and current.

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A calm and peaceful routine—a relaxed carer and child

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Activity 4

Activity 5

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