Leadership Under the EIF: Building Confidence – Empower staff

Staff members should expect to be directly spoken to as part of an Ofsted inspector’s evidence gathering under the new Education Inspection Framework (EIF) and articulate what they are doing, why they are doing it and how children are moving on in their learning – the intent, implementation and impact.

This can be a daunting proposition for even the most experienced practitioners, so how can leaders support staff to be more confident?

‘Sadly, career advisors still suggest childcare to people who are not high achievers at school; it is the “hair or care” option,’ says Carol Bromley, nursery manager and owner of Puddleduck Nursery in Peckham, south east London. ‘Not achieving well at school can lead to people not feeling confident about themselves or confident about their ability to learn. It can be a barrier that we have to overcome.’

She adds, ‘My role in supporting staff is to help them to feel confident about what they know.’

Mel Pilcher, quality and improvement manager at the Early Years Alliance, says it is helpful to understand what will happen during the inspection and explain that it is not a test and the inspector will not be trying to catch anybody out.

‘They will want to talk to practitioners about the activities provided, about their assessment of what children know and can do and how they are building on it,’ she says. ‘These are all things that practitioners do every day, so the clearer they are about their role and responsibilities, the easier it will be for them to articulate it to somebody else.’

PRACTICE WITH PURPOSE

Introducing peer observation can be an invaluable way of improving practitioners’ confidence while also embedding a reflective approach to their work. ‘This process reflects the joint observations that inspectors carry out during inspection,’ says Ms Pilcher.

‘The focus of these is to observe staff interactions with the children, including the “teaching” that is happening and to assess the quality of the implementation of the curriculum – in other words, the intent, implementation and impact as described in the Early years inspection handbook. Peer observation helps practitioners to get used to being observed and to observe each other with a clear purpose. They can continually evaluate their own practice and, in doing so, can be confident that they are promoting the learning and development of all children in their care.’

She suggests holding discussions in team meetings around the inspector’s focus on intent, implementation and impact of the setting’s curriculum to help everyone to achieve a shared understanding of these terms and to practise using them.

TALKING TO PARENTS

Ms Bromley firmly believes that training gives staff confidence, so everyone has a programme of professional development. Staff also have regular supervision meetings and she often works alongside them and discusses how they respond to children’s questions and interests.

‘We will chat about individual children and observations and discuss why they have recorded certain things. It is important for staff to understand that the most valuable part of a child’s journey is understanding where they are at now, and that is where they need to start the journey from,’ she says.

Key workers at Puddleduck are expected to report back to parents informally on a daily basis and in termly parent meetings. ‘This is good practice for speaking to inspectors because an important role of being a key person is being able to articulate to parents, relate what the child is doing to their child development knowledge and pedagogy and represent that,’ explains Ms Bromley.

Staff who find talking to parents daunting are paired with a more experienced member of staff. They can role model what to do and remind them to pass on a particular anecdote and recall the practice that has happened. This supports them to become more assured in illustrating the children’s learning and explaining the next stages.

‘We work with many affluent parents and it can make staff feel like they are speaking to someone who is better than they are,’ Ms Bromley says. ‘We have to boost their confidence and remind them that the parent is coming to them because they are asking for their help or wanting their knowledge on how to support their child or why they are working in a certain way. We frequently remind them that they are the professional in their field.’

Advice for leaders

Preparing administration so staff are ready for the notification phone call can help the whole staff team to feel organised and more confident.

Mel Pilcher advises ensuring that information that the inspector may ask for during the call is accessible – remember that it may not be the manager who takes the call, therefore the deputy or person in charge on that day must have the relevant information to hand, including:

• your registration status
• number of children on roll
• age ranges
• opening times
• children subject to a child protection plan.

Consider completing a folder that is kept up to date, ready to be referred to during the notification call. This can include a list of the documentation that Ofsted is likely to ask for on the day, which is listed in the Early years inspection handbook.

CASE STUDY: Monkey Puzzle Sidcup, south east London

‘We reassure our staff that they know their children better than any Ofsted inspector so all they have to do is answer the questions,’ says owner and director Davinder Dhaliwal.

‘Some staff members will say that they find it daunting when we conduct observations or ask questions on learning walks that the inspector may ask, such as what are the children’s interests, what new learning is happening in the room or what the next steps are for a child. We will enquire about the intent, implementation and impact. We do this so they will get used to that type of questioning and break things down to show that they can answer because they know their children well. After a while it becomes second nature to staff and they grow in confidence.’

Ms Dhaliwal says they aim to empower staff by using praise, such as commenting on how well a staff member set up an activity around a child’s interests and demonstrated they knew the next stage of development. The nursery operates a coaching and mentoring scheme to give staff personalised support in areas they are unsure of or lack confidence in.

Regular staff meetings are used to give praise, highlight good practice and look at new research. ‘We believe our staff have the power inside them to find their own solutions,’ Ms Dhaliwal says. ‘Staff are given additional roles, such as looking at the latest studies on EAL so we can help a bilingual child. It would be easy for me or my co-owner to do it, but it builds confidence when staff do it themselves and feed back to everyone.

‘We also talk about our nursery vision and where we want to be. We listen to suggestions and take many on board, which helps the staff to feel appreciated. Regulations can’t be changed but everything else is flexible and they know we will always listen to their ideas.’

Some staff are naturally quieter than others or need more nurturing, so CPD is tailored to the individual. Ms Dhaliwal finds that taking some staff off-site for discussions can help them to relax and open up because it is less formal.

‘The thought of being questioned by an inspector can make staff nervous, but we tell them it does not matter who the person is, they should just continue to do their job as they would if a parent came in pre-Covid,’ she says. ‘We have confidence they know what they are doing and can articulate it.’