Early Years
Professional Practice Handbook
2016-2017
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Faculty of Education
Early Years Teacher Status
Graduate Entry Route
Graduate Employment-Based Route
Undergraduate Route
Contents
Contacts 03
Welcome 04
EYTS Programme Overview 05
DBS & Safeguarding 06
Health & Safety 09
Trainees ‘at risk’ 09
Assessment 11
Development Review Meetings 20
Information for the Mentor 21
Information for the setting’s Early Years Practitioners/Room Leader 22
Information for Visiting Tutors 23
Role of Partnership Quality Officer 26
Information for Trainees 27
Key Priority Checklists 27
Professional Practice Teaching Files 31
Ofsted Inspection of Initial Teacher Training 32
Health Clearance/ Pregnancy 33
Safeguarding – Management of a Cause for Concern 36
Disability Services Statement 38
Equality & Diversity – Policy Summary 39
Teaching Standards (Early Years) 2013 40
Education Partnership 41
NB: This Professional Practice Handbook contains information for all EYTS routes. Most of the information in this booklet relates to all routes. Any route specific sections are easily identified:
Graduate Entry Route (GE)Graduate Employment Based Route (GEB)
Undergraduate Route (UG)
Assessment Only Route (AO)
Contacts
Professional Support Team
Professional Support Team Leader / Angela Atherton / / 01695 584556Early Years Team - EYTS
EYTS Graduate Programme Lead / Patricia Burgess / / 01695 654381Graduate Employment Based (GEB) Route
Course Leader
Graduate Entry (GE)
Course Leader / Julie Goodman / / 01695 654382
EYTS
Undergraduate (UG)
Programme Lead / Louise Masterson / / 01695 654317
Assessment Only Route Lead
Assistant Head of Early Years / Dr Tim Lucas / / 01695 584727
Head of Early Years / Karen Boardman / / 01695 584020
Early Years Initial Teacher Training Professional Practices
Whilst on Professional Practice, a trainee’s first point of contact with the University will be their designated Edge Hill University Visiting Tutor. This tutor will contact the trainee in advance of the Professional Practice and provide their contact details. In the event that the trainee is unable to contact their Visiting tutor, they must contact their Programme Leader, who will direct the trainee to an appropriate member of staff.
Trainee absence
Trainees who unavoidably miss occasional Professional Practice days will be required to give full and prompt explanations to the setting/school and to Edge Hill University. Where absences are repeated, the Mentor or Visiting Tutor may ask trainees for documentary evidence of the reasons for absence.
If you are absent for unavoidable reasons, you should:
- Notify the Visiting Tutor and the setting/school at the start of the working day of the reason for and expected duration of any unscheduled absence.
- Make up any missed teaching and observations when you return to setting, at the expense of Self-Managed Time.
Welcome from the Head of Area: Early Years
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the Early Years Education Area and Team at Edge Hill University.
The Early Years Education Team have a wide range and variation of early years expertise, and research interests across the age ranges of 0 – 8 years and we look forward to working in partnership with all our partner settings and settings to support our trainees on Professional Practice.
The very best collaborative partnerships share celebrations together, recognise talent, achievement and success and support each other when things do not always go according to plan.
This handbook has been designed to give you an overall picture of our Professional Practice organisation and how it affects you, either as a Partner Setting, Setting Manager, Class Teacher, Mentor or Trainee. Please read it carefully so that you can make best use of the Professional Practice experience, requirements and expectations in your role. It is hoped that the content of this Handbook is comprehensive, and assists with ensuring Professional Practice is a valuable and enjoyable learning experience for all those involved.
We will ask and seek your opinion often and at key points across the year, as this is really important to us and enables us to support your individual needs more effectively. Please do engage in this feedback and talk to us about what is working well and how we can make improvements along the way to enhance our partnership.
We look forward to working with you and sharing our success together!
Karen Boardman
(Head of Early Years Education ~ Faculty of Education)
Welcome from a partnership setting
I feel it is a privilege and an asset for all concerned, to be a partner setting with Edge Hill University. Over the past five years I have watched as students, trainees and colleagues, including myself, develop and move forward on our early year’s journey together. We all have strengths and skills to share and build upon and working closely with the University enables us to do this. The University prepare and encourage trainees to be confident to ask questions and contribute to discussions and debates around current issues.
Offering guidance and support and acknowledging the students’ contributions is key to ensuring they feel valued. Celebrating achievements and setting clear targets is an essential part of our role in the setting.
Working together to raise standards and improve outcomes for children is something we all want to achieve. Gaining a place on this course of study already shows commitment, drive and a passion to be involved and an opportunity to make a difference.
It is exciting to be a part of this programme and I look forward to travelling in partnership on this journey.
Jan Davies (Owner and Manager of Penguins Nurseries)
Early Years Teacher Status: Programme Overview
Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS) is awarded tograduates who are leading education andcare and who have been judged to have metall of the Teachers’ Standards (Early Years) 2013 in practice from birth tothe end of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).EYTS is a status that recognisesthe expertise of practitionersand their professional leadershipand teaching skills.EYTS has evolved from the Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) programme. Those practitioners who have already achieved EYPS have equivalence with Early Years Teacher Status.
Early Years Teachers have to meet the same entry requirements as those applying for Primary and Early Years Initial Teacher Training (ITE) programmes with GCSEs in English, mathematics and science at grade C or above. They are also required to pass the same skills tests in numeracy and literacy that primary and early years student teachers with QTS are required to take before they commence on the programme. Please note that although the Early Years Teacher role has equivalence in status with QTS, it does not have QTS conferred on it.
There are four routes to gaining Early Years Teacher Status as follows:
Undergraduate Entry(UG) route / For undergraduates currently undertaking full-time education and who are studying on a Childhood or Early Years related degree programme. Trainees on this route complete Early Years Teacher Status alongside their degree and they need to be committed to the additional training requirement that this will involve.
Graduate Entry
(GE) route / This is a 12 month, full-time route for trainees that do not work in early years settings and may have little or no experience working in the early years sector.
Graduate Entry
(Employment-based)
(GEB) route / This is a 12 month, part-time route for graduate practitioners who currently work in early years’ settings. Students study towards Early Years Teacher Status whilst in their current place of work.
Assessment Only
(AO) route / This route is for highly experienced practitioners who are already in a strong position to meet the Teachers’ Standards (Early Years) 2013 without further training.
DBS and Safeguarding (Initial Teacher Training)
September 2016
Dear Colleague
Re: Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Checks and Safeguarding Checks relating to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) trainees: updated guidance from Edge Hill University
I’d like to thank you for your support in working with trainees from the Faculty of Education, at Edge Hill University, in providing outstanding training in your setting.
The following information sets out the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and safeguarding checks which are implemented for Initial Teacher Training trainees.
As an accredited provider of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) the University is bound by the ITT Criteria[1] which set out the following requirements:
“that all entrants, as part of the provider’s selection procedures, have taken part in a rigorous selection process designed to assess their suitability to teach”.
Part of this criteria requires providers to have regard for the Department for Education’s statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education, when carrying out duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This includes ensuring that entrants on all routes, including salaried schemes, have been subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) criminal records check, including a check of the children’s barred list, and that records are kept showing that trainees have obtained these.
Our procedure in response to this DBS requirement is that every trainee is DBS checked and, where appropriate, considered by a panel of professionals comprising representatives from partner schools, settings or colleges and from the Faculty of Education.
It can be confirmed therefore that in order to enrol upon an Initial Teacher Training programme a trainee will have:
· completed an application form
· had references checked
· been interviewed face-to-face
· the necessary qualifications
· had an enhanced DBS check, including a check of the children’s barred list, and where the applicant has lived outside of the UK, provided a DBS check from the country, or provided a good conduct reference.
Sharing of information
You can expect that a trainee embarking upon a professional practice in your setting will carry with them an ID card showing their photograph and a letter from the University confirming their suitability to train to teach. Please be aware that the enhanced DBS check which is undertaken lasts the length of the trainee’s programme of study, including cases where the programme lasts longer than three years.
You may also be aware that it is an offence under the 1997 Police Act, and a breach of the DBS Code of Practice, for registered bodies (i.e. Edge Hill University) to share copies of DBS checks or any information contained in a trainee’s disclosure with a third party. Accredited providers must not therefore share this information with schools, settings and colleges, and trainees should not be asked to produce this documentation for their host settings.
Childcare Disqualification Regulations
It has been confirmed that Initial Teacher Training trainees training on an Early Years or Primary route must be asked to confirm that neither they nor, as far as they are aware, members of their household are disqualified from working in childcare settings. I can confirm that declarations relating to the disqualification requirements have been obtained from trainees.
Prohibition Order Check
It has also been confirmed that providers must check that trainees are not subject to a Prohibition Order. I can confirm that this check is undertaken.
Employment Based Trainees
Please note that in respect employed trainees it is the responsibility of the school or college to ensure that these checks are satisfactorily undertaken, as per the details set out in the partnership agreement.
This letter may be used in relation to your school or college’s safeguarding procedures as required by Ofsted, and, although you are not obliged to do so, you are advised to record this information in your central record.
I very much hope that these details provide you with the relevant information you require and also give you confidence in the rigorous procedures which are in operation.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of this further please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Nadine Baker
Associate Dean,
DBS and Safeguarding (Work Based Learning)
September 2016
Dear Colleague
Re: Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Checks: updated guidance from Edge Hill University
I’d like to thank you for your support in working with students from the Faculty of Education, at Edge Hill University, in providing outstanding training in your setting.
The following information sets out the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) procedures which are implemented for all undergraduate students undertaking work based learning.
Our procedures pay close attention to the information set out in the Department for Education’s statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, with regard to the duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This includes ensuring that entrants to identified degree programmes have been subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) criminal records check, including a check of the children’s barred list, and that records are kept showing that trainees have obtained these.
Our procedure in response to this DBS requirement is that every student is DBS checked and, where appropriate, considered by a panel of professionals comprising representatives from partner schools, settings or colleges and from the Faculty of Education.
Sharing of information
You can expect that a student undertaking a work placement in your setting will carry with them an ID card showing their photograph and a letter from the University confirming their suitability. Please be aware that the enhanced DBS check which is undertaken lasts the length of the trainee’s programme of study, including cases where the programme lasts longer than three years.
You may also be aware that it is an offence under the 1997 Police Act, and a breach of the DBS Code of Practice, for registered bodies (i.e. Edge Hill University) to share copies of DBS checks or any information contained in a student’s disclosure with a third party. Providers must not therefore share this information with schools, settings and colleges, and students should not be asked to produce this documentation for their host settings.
This letter may be used in relation to your school’s safeguarding procedures as required by Ofsted, and, although you are not obliged to do so, you are advised to record this information in your central record.