Quality assurance, part 1 - E-Quality Counts: Helping staff to work together
Mary Evans
Monday, January 9, 2012
The NDNA's online quality assurance scheme aims to maximise the potential of every individual to energise practice and keep it moving forward, as Mary Evans hears at the start of a new series.
Quality assurance schemes are set to become more significant in the early years sector in the next 12 months.
The schemes have been operating for around ten years, gaining steadily in recognition and popularity, but there are still a number of providers who are not involved.
When trading conditions are tough and settings are struggling to stand out from the crowd, the question is not so much whether you can you spare the time and money to sign up to a scheme, but whether you can afford not to.
All the signs are that quality assured settings will carry even more clout in the coming year. The Department for Education has to demonstrate that the money it has wrung out of the Treasury for funding the free entitlement to nursery education is being spent wisely and well.
Accordingly, ministers and officials have made it clear that in streamlining the code of practice on the free entitlement, and extending the offer to disadvantaged two-year-olds, the focus will remain on quality.
As children's minister Sarah Teather told the Daycare Trust's annual conference, 'We know disadvantaged children are particularly sensitive to the quality of the offer and we want to find out how we get that quality right. There will be a basket of new measures to define quality.'
The statistics for the National Day Nursery Association's 'e-Quality Counts' scheme exemplify how quality assurance improves practice.
The scheme was launched as Quality Counts in 2001 and nearly 400 settings completed the paper-based scheme before it was re-launched online as e-Quality Counts two years ago.
Stella Ziolkowski, director of Quality and Workforce Development at the NDNA, says that many of the 37 settings which have completed the online scheme since 2010 have raised their Ofsted ratings. Twenty went from good to outstanding, one rose from satisfactory to outstanding, and ten progressed from satisfactory to good.
As a first step, participants undertake a diagnostic exercise looking at how they fare against the quality standards. This then generates an action plan for them. There is a training module and IT diagnostic that managers can access if they have any developmental needs to address.
Participants are asked to share the process with the staff team. For example, the section on care, learning and development would be allocated to the lead EYFS practitioner.
Ms Ziolkowski says, 'It is rigorous. You won't find another scheme that is tougher. Our chair has just been through it and although her setting is outstanding she said they still benefited from it. Quality is not stagnant.
'This is not just a document that sits on a shelf in the office. It is live. It impacts on practice across the nursery.
'Because the scheme covers everything that happens in the setting it has business benefits as well as quality. It enables settings to invest in staff, raise quality and improve sustainability.'
Feedback from participants completing the scheme suggests the process brings the staff team closer together (see case study) and, when accreditation is reached, there is a great sense of pride among the staff.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Contact your local authority to find out what local quality assurance schemes are on offer.
These organisations also run their own schemes:
- National Childminding Association - Children Come First www.ncmaccf.org.uk
- 4 Children - Aiming Higher www.4children.org.uk
- Pre-School Learning Alliance - Aiming for Quality www.pre-school.org.uk
Part 2
Investors in People will be considered in the 7 February Nursery World
CASE STUDY - MOSAIC CENTRE
Lisa Wightman and her staff team at the Mosaic Centre in Leeds achieved a grade 3, the top level, when they completed e-Quality Counts this summer.
The nursery is one of a small chain operated by Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. While Ms Wightman had worked on NDNA's Quality Counts when she worked at one of the other settings, this was her first experience of leading a team through on-line accreditation.
'There are both advantages and disadvantages to undertaking it online,' she says. 'You don't have a pile of paperwork hanging around the office and you are not forever printing things off.
However, we only have one laptop that is online so the staff were always giving me bits to upload.
'I introduced the scheme at a staff meeting. I asked every staff member to work on it and allocated the roles knowing their strengths and interests. So the person who took on the baby unit is someone who has been working with babies for a very long time.'
She used the scheme as a focal point in staff appraisals to help set goals. The people who were less confident were set tasks to work on in partnership with a more experienced colleague. This process has led to the development of a nursery mentoring scheme.
'The scheme makes you look at and reflect on everything you do,' says Ms Wightman. 'It brought the team closer together. Our communication has improved. To get the top grading was a real boost and the parents were so proud of us when we told them.'
E-QUALITY COUNTS
This online quality assurance scheme can be achieved with the support of a mentor, email and telephone helpline.
It is divided into 15 sections, 11 of which are mandatory. They cover:
- Management
- Staff
- Observation and reflection to inform practice
- Care, learning and development
- Environment
- Visits and visitors
- Equality and inclusion
- Safeguarding children
- Partnership with parents
- Nutrition, serving of food and oral health
- Health and safety.
The optional sections are about:
- Babies
- School escort service
- Out of school care
- Students.
Participants have to work through each section, reflecting on their practice and evaluating how they perform against the 485 standards which have been set for the scheme.
They have to upload evidence of their competence against these standards.
The scheme has been awarded a quality mark by the Intellectual Properties Office as a measure of its robustness. It is graded at Level 1, 2 and 3.
Level 3 reflects exemplary practice, equivalent to being judged outstanding. Because the system is online, the standards can be updated in line with the latest guidance and legislation, so participants can keep abreast of the latest developments in best practice.
Once the testimony is complete, a site visit is undertaken and the NDNA inspector verifies the portfolio against practice by observing and speaking to the children, parents, staff and specialist practitioners. The accreditation stands for three years, after which the setting has to undertake a review.
NDNA members receive a discount on the cost of the scheme. Information is available on 01484 407063 or by email at qualitycounts@ndna.org.uk.
For more management, training and careers advice, go to www.nurseryworld.co.uk.
Part 2 Investors in People will be considered in the 7 February Nursery World