The Role of the Practitioner in Supporting The Learning Needs

The role of the practitioner in supporting the learning needs of children is they have to do regular assessments on their development and learning to identify their progress and plan their next steps Beaver, et . al, (2008). The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), (2008) states that the role of the practitioner is crucial in observing and reflecting on children’s spontaneous play, building on this by planning and providing a challenging environment which supports specific areas of children’s learning and extends and develops children’s language and communication in their play.

Another role of the practitioner is to work professionally and responsibly such as to work as part of the team, work with parents and partners, participate in providing an environment that is welcoming and stimulating and to meet the learning needs of each individual child by providing a range of activities and experiences Tassoni, et . al, (2007).

Another role of the practitioner is to ensure they comply with the codes of practice that protect the employee, these could relate to storage of information, smoking and consumption of alcohol, recruitment procedures, professional development , workplace conditions such as hazards and temperature, risk assessments and equality of opportunity Tassoni, et . al, (2007).

Following policies and procedures is another role of the practitioner they help practitioners to carry out responsibilities and ensure that everyone in the setting including children, parents, staff and other professionals remain safe.

Examples of policies are Health and Safety policy, Equal Opportunities policy, Behaviour Management policy and Child Protection policy Tassoni, et . al, (2007).  Another role of the practitioner is to make sure children well-being is at the heart of everything they do and offer learning experiences appropriate to the development stage, interests and learning styles of each individual child enable early years training and consultancy, (2010).

Another role of the practitioner is to work with and involve parents, as parents are the people that know their child best and they will be able to inform you of any particular interests the child enjoys, this will help practitioners to plan activities and experiences Beaver, et . al, (2008). Another role of the practitioner is to respecting confidentiality of private information involving children and their families. To respect confidentiality practitioners need to keep all nformation about a child and family safe and should stored in a locked filling cabinet or on a password protected computer, this is to ensure that no information is disclosed, if information about a child was to be disclosed it could bring unnecessary upset or strain on the entire family Tassoni, et . al, (2007).  Another role of the practitioner is to meet the diverse needs of children. The DCSF, (2008) states that practitioners should meet the needs of each individual child by delivery personalised learning, development and care to help children get the best start in life.

It also says that practitioners need to promote positive attitudes to diversity and difference with all children. Being reflective is another role of a practitioner, this means thinking about effective you have been in planning activities or communicating with parents. By being reflective practitioners will be able to think about how to repeat something that has worked well or how to improve for next time Tassoni, et . al, (2007).

Being a reflective practitioner makes you aware of their strengths and weaknesses and identifying what they could do differently. There are many benefits of being a reflective practitioner for both themselves and the child some include; skills are developed, personal development, more confident benefits for the child include their individual needs are more likely to be met, practitioners will have a greater understanding of how to support their development Barber and Paul-Smith, (2009).