Vie ws & Op inio n Views & Opinion


‘The forgotten girls in the nursery’


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Comment by ALICIA BLANCO-BAY Lecturer at Edge Hill University


AYO, Early Years the female Early


Childhood practitioner in England stil at the bottom of the school hi


‘underclass’ in the current education system. This role


‘The forgotten girls in the nursery’ are all those women caring for children from birth to 4 who have learnt to accept that professionals working in primary or secondary schools areMr andMrs, whilst they are often addressed by their first name. They are the women who take on a caring role which is often considered less important than the role of a teacher, and consequently feel themselves erarchy. The role of


suggests the gender l finds itself as the


division is still evident in some settings today. Some nurseries of course do have male practitioners who play an equal part in the day-to-day practice. This shows an initiative towards gender equality as recommended by the European Commission (2011). However, the disregard in which the profession is held is general and therefore impacts male and female Early Childhood practitioners.Many of the men interested in Early Childhood professions may question whether they could survive in a profession that pays such low salaries. Is this lack of financial reward what makes less men choose a career in Early Childhood Education and Care?


Many experienced practitioners have acquired an ‘undervalued’ social status within the schools they work for.Would Paulo Freire consider the


lack of professional status given to Early Childhood practitioners who work in nurseries a sign of symbolic violence? Could this be perceived as an example of the unseen violence the oppressed practitioner is subjected to? There are female workers with ambitions and aspirations working in nurseries today who do not believe their role within the field of Early Childhood education matters enough. These women often feel they do not matter because caring for children cannot be positioned within the school hierarchy as a recognised profession. The female Early Childhood practitioners I have discussed this with, do dream about demonstrating their ability to make a difference to children’s lives. It is visible in children, it is evident in practice but rarely noticed by those at the top of the school hierarchy. The longer these practitioners are par t of a system that pu ts them into the category of ‘not a teacher”, the more they might believe i t is where t hey belong .


bj Being valued for caring in va


career, but In order to


ng


‘value’ women who choose Early Childhood education as a might not wish to become teachers, the role itself must be


redefined. The thread of nurturing through a caring disposition, prevalent since the idea of ‘spiritual motherhood’ described by Froebel (1840), needs to lead the definition. The caring nature that shaped women through history (which can of course be attributed to men too) (Warin & Gannerud, 2014), is what must be perceived as a valuable skill.When the innate skills women bring to the Early Childhood education field start to be valued, a habitus can develop that enables practitioners to have self- belief. The social division created when the teaching role became more valued than the caring role has only discouraged more women to enter the field of Early Childhood education as practitioners. Those who become teachers are given permission to enter a more recognised professional category.Will those who want to work with children but do not wish to be teachers ever have the professional recognition they deserve?


Curriculum-ready for the newOfsted Framework


Comment by SIMON HICKT Cornerstones Education


KTON,Managing Director,


Primary curriculum provider Cornerstones Education has recently launched a new online platform, CurriculumMaestro, designed specifically to meet the curriculum challenges faced by primary schools ahead of the new Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF) which launched on 1 September 2019.


CurriculumMaestro has been created after extensive qualitative research with more than 150 primary headteachers, senior leaders, The Department for Education and Ofsted. The


research included face-to-face interviews, focus groups and online surveys.


Over the past two years, we’ve been researching and developing a time-saving solution to help primary schools design and deliver their whole-school curriculum.We wanted to make the process as easy and purposeful as possible and to find a way to bring everything together in one place so that schools can see ‘live’ coverage, planning and assessment at the click of a few buttons – all of which will help them to meet the needs of the new EIF.


As part of the research process we held in-depth interviews with the Department for Education, HerMajesty’s Chief Inspector of Education,


2 0 www www.education-today.co.uk.co.uk


Amanda Spielman, and Deputy Director for Schools,Matthew Purves. These interviews gave us a clear insight into exactly why Ofsted has chosen to shine a light on the curriculum and what schools can expect when they are inspected.


As an ex-primary headteacher myself, I wanted to involve current senior leaders, curriculum leads and teachers in the research and development process for CurriculumMaestro, so we knew exactly which features schools needed and how best to slash workload.We wanted to get it right!


Firstly, we spoke to over 70 senior leaders in primary schools of varying sizes across the country with differing contexts, demographics in both small focus groups and one-to-one discussions. It was to hear the issues they’re currently f acing in schools and i t


fascinatin g and needs


helped us to ensure that the solution we were developing provides the framework, functionality and content that schools need. They instantly saw how much time it would save them.


Following this initial research, we then held regional events for schools who are currently using the Cornerstones Curriculum. Over 300 schools attended events in Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, London and Middlesbrough to receive a demo of CurriculumMaestro. 100%of these schools signed up as pioneer schools to access the pre-launch version so they could make use of it immediately and to provide us with further feedback before CurriculumMaestro launched on 1st September.


Feedba ck during the testing stage of the online tool has bee n overwhelmingly positive. Christian Hilton, the Executive Headteacher at Shipston-on-Stour Primary School, says, 'It’s a real game-changer for curriculum design, leadership at all levels, planning and assessment, all while improving workload and the quality of teaching and learning. The balance of strategic leadership and operational use at the chalkface is brilliant.’


Octobe r 2019 2019


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