Help yourself - Quality assurance

Quality assurance is a buzzword that needs examining, says Alison Mercer Quality assurance schemes aim to boost standards by helping early years providers help themselves. They encourage staff to assess their own practice, compare it with the standards they aspire to and develop accordingly. At best, such schemes prompt childcarers to ask themselves what quality is and help them achieve it, increasing job satisfaction by supporting a questioning, reflective and involved approach. Self-evaluation is a key part of quality assurance (QA), but typically schemes also offer mentoring...