Positive and Trusting Relationships with Children in Early Years Settings

145 Pages·0.86 MB·English

by  Jessica Johnson

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A C H I E V I N G
E Y P S
Positive and Trusting
Relationships with
Children in Early
Years Settings
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A C H I E V I N G
E Y P S
Positive and Trusting
Relationships with
Children in Early
Years Settings
JESSICA JOHNSON

Series editors: Lyn Trodd and Gill Goodliff
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First published in 2010 by Learning Matters Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Learning Matters Ltd.
© 2010 Jessica Johnson
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 84445 402 0
This book is also available in the following ebook formats:
Adobe ebook ISBN: 978 1 84445 711 3
EPUB ebook ISBN: 978 1 84445 710 6
Kindle ISBN: 978 1 84445 996 4
The right of Jessica Johnson to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted
by her in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.
Text design by Code 5 Design Associates Ltd
Cover design by Phil Barker
Project management by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon

Typeset by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Learning Matters Ltd
33 Southernhay East
Exeter EX1 1NX
Tel: [phone]
[email protected]
www.learningmatters.co.uk
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Contents
Foreword from the series editors vi
Acknowledgements vii
About the author and the series editors ix
1
Why trust? The key to positive relationships 1
2
Time to tune-in . . . and out 11
3
Respect for self and others 26
4
Understanding relationships with children in
the context of professional boundaries 50
5
Trusting relationships as a secure foundation

for children’s learning 70
6
Supporting other Early Years practitioners to
build positive relationships 94
7
Reflection and learning as an Early Years Professional 111
References 125
Index 132
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Foreword from the series editors
This book is one of a series which will be of interest to all those following pathways
towards achieving Early Years Professional Status (EYPS). This includes students on Sector-
Endorsed Foundation Degree in Early Years programmes and undergraduate Early
Childhood Studies degree courses as these awards are key routes towards EYPS.
The graduate EYP role was created as a key strategy in government commitment to
improve the quality of Early Years care and education in England, especially in the private,
voluntary and independent sectors. Policy documents and legislation such as Every Child
Matters: Change for Children, DfES (2003); the Ten Year Childcare Strategy: Choice for
Parents – the Best Start for Children, HMT (2004); and the Childcare Act (2006) identified
the need for high-quality, well-trained and educated professionals to work with the
youngest children. The government’s aim – restated in the 2020 Children and Young
People’s Workforce Strategy (DCSF, 2008) – is to have a graduate-led children’s workforce
with an Early Years Professional (EYP) in Children’s Centres by 2010 and in every full day
care setting by 2015, with two graduates in disadvantaged areas.
This book is distinctive in the series in that its particular focus is on the interpersonal
understanding and skills of the EYP in order to work within the Early Years Foundation
Stage in promoting ‘Positive Relati onships’. It recognises the importance of emotional lit-
eracy as an aspect of professionalism and as fundamental to a commitment to young
children’s well-being and development.
As a leader of practice, excellent interpersonal skills are vital if the EYP is to model high-
quality practice to colleagues and to be successful in influencing other practitioners and
helping them reflect on and improve the way they work with children, families and col-
leagues. Jessica Johnson’s approach is to look at how EYPs can build and sustain trust in
relationships between the EYP and children and other adults. Each chapter considers the
responsibilities of an EYP for promoting positive relationships and explores the skills
needed to fulfil them. Jessica uses case studies and self-assessment questions to focus the
attention of the reader on how to meet the EYP Standards in full, the expectations of
excellent practice of an EYP and also to reflect critically on the issues they raise.
June 2010
Lyn Trodd and Gill Goodliff
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Acknowledgements
Positive and trusting relationships throughout my life have enabled me to risk ‘having-a-
go’ at writing this book. Thanks are due, specifically, to the following individuals.
My parents – Dorothy and Fred Chinnick – provided consistent unconditional love, so have
to come first. This is underpinned by a firm, trusting relationship with God, as a Christian.
My mother, as a trained ‘nanny’, shared the same zest for life with her ‘charges’ as with
her own children, showing consistency between personal and professional relationship
skills. Pauleen Preston (1930-2010), valued the attachment to her ‘Nanny’ throughout life,
with a real sense of ‘fun’, curiosity, and the ability to share ‘stories’.
The ever-growing Early Years Team at Kingston University keep the realities of maintaining
positive and trusting relationships at work alive through busy times as ‘I’ becomes ‘we’!
We are grateful to Anne Rawlings for challenging us to keep ahead of change in Early
Years and Inter-professional Practice and to Daryl Maisey for inspirational leadership
through those changes! My thanks are to all the lecturing and administration team, with
Head of School of Education, Andy Hudson, for creating an example of a dynamic environ-
ment, encapsulating the need for collaborative working skills as we retain positive learning
dispositions!

I have been privileged to work with Neil Blumsom (Kingston), Sue Thompson (Merton),
and Alison Archibald and Claire Grayson (Richmond) to develop the Kingston, Merton and
Richmond Early Years Professional Support Network. We are on a continuous learning
journey together and I am grateful to all who have provided material for this book. I only
wish we had more time to do justice to the changes happening within early years practice
– it is hard to keep up! Special thanks are due to contributors Bex Halden and Geraldine
Hill for inspirational input to Network meetings. Written excerpts in this book can never
fully capture the true engagement of live presentations. Likewise representation of the
babies, young children, families and colleagues only touches on the impact of ‘tuning-in’ –
thanks to all.
Thanks are also due to Jane Mitchell, a past Foundation Degree, BA (Hons) Early Years
student who keeps us up-to-date writing relevant articles! Along with past and
present students on these expanding courses, and staff across nine colleges, you keep
me convinced that we have a quest to develop positive, trusting relationships through
conflict and change . . . remembering to celebrate achievements! We certainly show
resilience!
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Acknowledgements
Lyn Trodd has been the driving force behind having this key topic within the Early Years
Professional Status series. I have felt supported throughout this opportunity and am grate-
ful for her patient company in my own learning journey. Jennifer Clark, the development
editor, has guided me through this ‘new world’ and kept me on track – many thanks.
Final thanks are due to my immediate family – Wes, Stephen, Rachael and Liz – who pro-
vide love and support, and the many others who patiently encourage me from a distance.
I look forward to spending real time with you all again!
June 2010
Jessica Johnson

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About the author and the series editors
Jessica Johnson
Jessica Johnson is Senior Lecturer in Early Years at Kingston University and currently
Programme Leader for the Sector-Endorsed Foundation Degree in Early Years, Course
Leader for the BA (Hons) ‘top-up’ in Early Years Education and Care, EYPS Senior Assessor
and Project Leader for the Kingston, Merton and Richmond EYP Support Network. Rite of
passage to this role started in the National Health Service, tuning-in to babies, young chil-
dren and their families at The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. They
initiated ongoing curiosity in child development – specifically social and emotional rela-
tionships. Chameleon-like, she has experienced first-hand the challenges in creating
positive, trusting relationships through roles in health, social care, education and as a
mediator in the voluntary sector.
Lyn Trodd
Lyn Trodd is Head of Children’s Workforce Development at the University of Hertfordshire.
Lyn is the Chair of the National Network of Sector-Endorsed Foundation Degrees in Early
Years. She was involved in the design of Early Years Professional Status and helped to pilot
the Validation Pathway when it first became available. Lyn has published and edited a
range of articles, national and international conference papers and books focusing on self-

efficacy in the child and the practitioner and also the professional identity and role of
adults who work with young children.
Gill Goodliff
Gill Goodliff is a Senior Lecturer and Head of Awards for Early Years at the Open University
where she has developed and chaired courses on the Sector-Endorsed Foundation Degree
and as a Lead Assessor for Early Years Professional Status. Her professional work with
young children and their families was predominantly in the voluntary sector. Her research
interests centre on the professional identities of early years practitioners and young
children’s spirituality.
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