Letters

As it is announced that youth unemployment has now reached a staggering1 million people, the debate continues as to the causes of thisunemployment.

One particular argument that keeps being repeated is that the studentsleaving school at either 16 or 18 are simply not prepared for the worldof employment. Many report that young adults lack the social skillsrequired to perform well as a part of the workforce. The acquisition ofthese skills begins in the early years.

Children are never too young to learn how to communicate and theplayground provides the perfect platform for encouraging goodcommunication skills. Traditional playground games, such as 'ChineseWhispers' and 'Simon Says', rely on the players learning how to listento their friends and to speak clearly. For the games to work, thechildren also need to take it in turns to play the central role, eithermaking up a sentence to whisper, or by being 'Simon'.

Providing a variety of outdoor play equipment will also give childrenthe freedom to encourage greater communication in order to create theirown playground games. In a child's imagination, a wooden play hut caneasily become a fort that needs protection or a gateway to a magicalfairy kingdom.

Teaching children how to play together co-operatively can be achieved byfacilitating simple playground games. Try putting the children intoteams and asking a team leader to choose a special meeting place fortheir team within the play area. The early years practitioner can thenencourage them to run around as a team to their 'special meeting place'as soon as a whistle is blown. Only by working together and ensuringthat the meeting place is correctly communicated to the whole team willthey win the game.

Numerous studies over the years have proved the importance of roleplaying in a child's development. Mimicking what their classmates,teachers and parents do is a fundamental way to acquire social skills.It is therefore important that all children are given the freedom toengage in role play during their time at nursery.

Playground games and activities are an excellent way to promoteself-confidence in young children. Each child has their own strengthand, be it jumping, running, communicating or more tactical, there areactivities to develop that and other skills.

By providing children with a mixture of facilitated games andactivities, and the freedom to create their own entertainment, theplayground provides children with the tools they need to developessential life skills.

Good outdoor play providers will have a team of experienced staff onhand to help you plan your play areas to support children in learningthrough play.

Dr Colin MacAdam, director, Playforce

Our star letter wins 30 worth of books

TUTORS MUST GET BACK INTO PRACTICE

I totally agree with the NDNA (online 30 January) that today's trainingfor qualifications is not good. I work as an independent consultant andalso part-time in an FE college where I find there is too much emphasisplaced on learning about theorists and very little on actualpractice.

I was asked to lecture second year students and all were unfamiliar withthe EYFS. Only two students had a copy. The tutor felt this knowledgewas not essential, as only theory matters.

I have worked in early years for over 30 years, so I have seen practiceas a teacher, advisor, consultant and lecturer. As a teacher I have seenstudents on placement who had no idea how to interact with children. Asan advisor I also saw students in settings and often found that it wasthe poorer settings which took more students as the better settings werenot happy with their quality.

From lecturing on the foundation degree I have found the standard of thestudents to be very poor on the whole. With this course I do feel thereshould be some assessment on the improvement in their practice as resultof the three years of study. Again, lecturers should have some recentpractical experience of working in settings and/or schools. Please, isthere any way that staff in these colleges can be encouraged to workregularly in settings or schools? And not just a quick visit, or theywill be left out of touch.

I am passionate about quality from which children really benefit intheir formative years. I also agree that the NNEB was a fantastic course- please bring it back! I am so pleased that Professor Cathy Nutbrown isdoing something about it and hopefully people will listen to her.

Name withheld

Send your letters to ... The Editor, Nursery World, 174 HammersmithRoad, London W6 7JP, letter.nw@haymarket.com

020 8267 8401