National%20Children

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Childminders the road to professionalism

• Quality Employment in Care Work with Young
  Children
• European conference,
• Brussels April 21st- 22nd 2008
• Sue Owen
• Director, Early Childhood Unit, National
  Childrens Bureau, England

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The growth of professionalism in childminding

• Developing a sense of professional identity was
  not about being absorbed by existing professions
  or even emulating them. It was a grassroots
  process of connecting to other caregivers and
  building a unique sense of identity from the
  ground up
• Taylor, Dunster and Pollard, 1999

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What are the elements of professionalism for
childminding?

• To quote Moss (2003)
• Improved employment conditions
• Rising levels of educational qualifications
• Job related training
• The prospect of career progression
• Distinctive pedagogical approaches

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traditionally recognised elements of
professionalism

• Training and qualifications
• Recognised approach to practice (distinct
  pedagogy)
• Entry criteria
• Improved pay and conditions of work
• Emotional distance and limit setting
• Self-regulation

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What does the history of childminding in Britain
tell us about these?

• There has been a persistent opposition to
  characterising it as a profession
• Only the organisation and participation of
  childminders themselves has changed this
• This has culminated in the development of a
  system of quality assured networks which act as
  forums for this dialogue and for changing
  practice and offer possibilities for a strong
  profession in the future

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Low status and unprofessional

• In the 16th century vagrancy legislation (1536)
  noted the growth of a class of women who took
  care of other people's children and the poor
  conditions in which they were brought up. This
  was attributed to a lack of, or irregularity in,
  adequate payment for the service.
• In Victorian literature Left to be minded, Sir.
  I keep a minding school. I can only take three,
  but I love children, and fourpence a week is
  fourpence a week. Charles Dickens Our Mutual
  Friend (1865)

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Confusion between childminding and baby farming

• Mrs. Dyer the Baby Farmer
•  The old baby farmer 'as been executed,
• It's quite time she was put out of the way
• She was a bad women, it isn't disputed,
• Not a word in her favour can anyone say.
•  19th century rhyme.

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The Infant Life Protection Act 1870

• Daily minding was excluded because of what was
  described as its "unobjectionable character".
• The committee imagined what a childminder might
  say
• I shall not subject myself to be obliged to pay
  a sum of money to take a license out I shall not
  subject myself to be visited by an inspector who
  is to inspect my house, and my children, and all
  my arrangements, for the small sum of 4s a week.
  

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20th Century legislation

• by the end of the War, 1,400 day nurseries and 15
  supervised daily minding schemes were in
  operation, mostly run by local authorities.
• But..
• "the proper place for a child under two is at
  home with his mother
• Ministry of Health Circular 221/45

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Nurseries and Childminders Regulation Act
1948Childminders had to register with the local
health authority if they cared for more than two
children under five, from different families, for
the day or a "substantial" part of it

• We do not want in any way to interfere with the
  kindly relative or friend who looks after one or
  two children while the mother is at work...we do
  not think that much harm can come to children
  looked after by friends and relatives in this
  way. We want to distinguish here between the good
  neighbourliness, the kind of services that
  relatives provide, and the people that are going
  into childminding as a business.

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Fines reduced from 25 to 5

• ...the announcement of these penalties may
  deter a certain number of harmless old ladies who
  are in the habit of minding children and who,
  when they see these penalties, may discontinue
  their good work.

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After the 2nd World War the profile of
childminding continued to change

• In 1949 day nurseries took 11.6 children per
  thousand, by 1968 this had fallen to 5 per
  thousand. Registered childminders took 0.5
  children in every thousand in 1949 and 11.3 in
  1968.
• The Health Service and Public Health Act 1968
  brought more categories of childminder under the
  law. It became necessary to register with the
  local authority if you cared for any children,
  other than those of a close relative, for two
  hours or more a day and if you received a
  "reward" for doing so.

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The ChildmindersBrian Jackson, New Society 1973

• Too many children, especially West Indians start
  life in Dickensian squalor. If we dont tackle
  illegal childminding imaginatively, how shall we
  ever help them?
• I suspect, the biggest group of all are what we
  might call maternal minders. They half see
  minding as a career. They are not grasping for
  moneythey are not cruel.They see the good
  child as the quiet, undemanding, physically
  static child. The talking, playing, exploratory
  creature is the naughty child.

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The Jackson campaigns and the increase in
childminding led to lots of training initiatives
in the 1970s
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Childminders undergoing training.
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National Childminding Association

• Established in 1977, following publicity on the
  Other Peoples Children TV show
• Controlled by working childminders although
  others could join (hence childminding
  association)
• Formed of local group meetings (many set up as
  viewing groups for the programmes)

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This began to lead to connecting to other
caregivers and building a unique sense of
identity?

• 1970s attempts by childminders themselves and by
  childminding workers to develop groups in which
  childminders could work together for mutual
  support and the development of improved practice
• 1980sInformal local groups, meeting regularly,
  with toy and equipment loans or playgroups
  attached, were available in most areas and were
  usually members of NCMA

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More formal networks were developed as a means of
quality assurance

• More organised networks often run by social
  services departments or voluntary organisations
  which trained and supported childminders to
  provide services for specific groups of children
  e.g. of a particular employer or with
  disabilities.
• National Childcare StrategyThe success of
  networks led to them being copied for
  childminders in general, as a way of ensuring
  quality for the delivery of free nursery
  education
• Childminding In Business! set up by NCMA to
  provide employer-supported childminding

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Children Come First

• A quality assurance scheme for childminders
  networked together in groups
• Some accredited to provide free nursery education
• Every local authority was given funding to
  establish networks with paid co-ordinators and
  training
• An expectation that childminders would be
  qualified to the level which allows them to work
  unsupervised

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The contribution of networks
There is research evidence to show that
involvement in professional organisations and
organised networks are factors leading to higher
quality of care for children (Owen 2000, Mooney
and Munton 1998).

• networks were designed to address
  professionalisation
• the drive for recruitment and retention of
  childminders (status, pay and conditions, career
  progression)
• improved standards of care and education for
  children (pedagogy, training and qualifications)
• improvements in parents confidence in
  childminding (self-regulation, status)

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Ive always thought childminding was a good job
but its very responsible, hard work and there
isnt much appreciation for it. I think networks
try to help with those problems, I suppose they
try to make the best of a good job!(network
childminder in discussion group)
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In 2004-5 NCMA did a study on the effectiveness
of childminding networks

• To find out more about how childminding networks
  have affected the role of childminders which
  features matter most?
• To find out what can be learnt about quality
  issues from network co-ordinators reports.
• To make recommendations on the administration of
  networks and on how best to support childminders.

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Many things hadnt changed98 female
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97 white
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77 over 30
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But51 had the required level of qualifications
and 22 were working towards these (compares with
16 in the 2002-3 Childcare Workforce Survey)
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Access to training was also the most important
aspect of networks for childminders
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Training and qualifications

• The training teaches me how much I already know
  and how much I still have to learn
• 77 in the survey said training was one of the
  most important aspects of the network
• 91 said that network membership increased their
  motivation to do training and qualifications

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Training should be

• on-going, not one-off
• leading to recognised qualifications
• accessible in terms of finance and timings
• arising from their own debates and situations
• linked to improved pay and conditions (career
  progression and status)

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Beyond training.

• the most important part of the network is the
  support from the co-ordinator.
• The network toy library is great as I can hire
  things I wouldnt otherwise be able to afford,
  including multi-cultural resources and wooden
  toys
• the best thing about the network is the human
  contact, I am getting better at sharing and,
  therefore, at relating to parents
• I have gained more confidence and self-esteem,
  feel valued for the service I provide.
• It has definitely made the job more interesting
  so I am less likely to give up

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What isnt changing?

• parents don't seem to understand or be
  interested, I would really like to develop this
  area
• Pay A large majority (68) felt that network
  membership had not affected what they could
  charge for their services.
• Filling vacancies A similar number said that
  network membership had made no difference to the
  number of requests they received for places
• Butit is the more experienced and higher quality
  childminders who are being recruited into
  networks, now they need to be accepted practice
  for all if they are to address issues of
  professionalisation

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Contacts and more information

• Sue Owen (NCB)
• sowen_at_ncb.org.uk
• NCMA
• www.ncma.org.uk