Placement and Professional Skills

This chapter examines why placement is a critical aspect of learning and development and shows how to prepare for and start placement. It considers how to make the most of placement whilst developing professional skills. When working with young children it is crucial that early years educators are able to link child development theory and milestones to practice and an effective way of doing this is to actually experience this in the 'real world'. When looking for a suitable placement, it is important to find out the Ofsted rating of the setting. Many universities will only allow students to be placed at Ofsted rated 'good' or 'outstanding' settings, therefore the student must check this with the university prior to approaching a placement. It is important to build professional working relationships with children and staff, and these will develop over time. Confidentiality is a key skill within professional practice and one must adhere to confidential and ethical practice at all times.