Summarizing Work Experience in St. Mary’s Montessori School

In choosing my work experience there was many factors I had to consider. One factor I had to consider was how my values and beliefs would impact how I work with the children at the center, their parents and other staff members. I also had to gain the skills necessary to carry out my work experience in the center I have chosen. This would all help me gain an insight into the importance of reflective practice, which is necessary to work well in my placement. I have chosen to do my work experience in St. Mary’s Montessori School in Clonmel Co. Tipperary. This is my chosen place because it is the closest Montessori in my area. I wanted to focus on a Montessori school because their framework is very inspiring and intrigued me the most after I carried out my research on all crèches and playschools in my area. My values corresponded with the rules and regulations of a Montessori. I had gained the skills and knowledge necessary to become a great practitioner in a Montessori by learning and investigating about Maria Montessori, who set up her first preschool in 1907. I had to evaluate the barriers I would face in expressing the skills and knowledge in the workplace. This was to ensure I was being realistic about accessing the Montessori. When choosing my work experience, I had to engage in reflective practice this helped me gain more skills necessary to work with children and to improve my personality while interacting with children.

I have very strong values when it comes to the care of a child, this made it difficult to find the perfect place for my work experience. I had to carry out intense investigations into the role of the childcare centers and to see if they met my standards. Thankfully, I found the place. I believe that the parents or guardians of a child are their primary source of health and wellbeing, therefore they should have the right to their input on how we care for their child. We as early childhood practitioners are the facilitator of enhancing this wellbeing. Often for working parents, their child is in our care longer than theirs. Parents should also have the right to confidentiality when it comes to communicating about their child, this should only be applied in the best interest of the child and if it is a serious matter then the right to confidentiality must be breached.

The place I have chosen for work experience also carried out another one of my values, that every child must have the right to access childcare services. I would like to work with children from different cultures and backgrounds to further improve my understanding of how each child develops differently. The Montessori facilitates this because it is full of diversity. It is easily accessible by children of all backgrounds, according to religion, race and gender. The free preschool year helped many parents to go back to work without having to spend high payments on childcare costs, this was an alleviation for them. Childcare and education services outside the compulsory school system and especially services for young children are expanding in many countries not just Ireland. All Montessori’s in Ireland must follow the Aistear curriculum framework. This also facilitates my belief that every child is entitled to their rights. Aistear provides information for us provide challenging and enjoyable learning experiences. I want to carry out my work experience in a facility that always protects the rights of the child. I would like to provide a safe and loving environment for the child, the Montessori will allow me to provide this to every child that I will interact with. My values will impact the way I work with the children I meet in the workplace. I believe every child should be treated equally and shown love and comfort. To carry out my values I will have to treat every child fairly. I will also have to comfort every child; I can do this by hugs or playing games with them. Me as a practitioner will differ from other staff members because of my values and beliefs. Another practitioner could have the belief that children shouldn’t have physical contact with them so their interacting and way of comfort will slightly change.

The knowledge I have gained from all my modules, especially early year’s instruction, will help me to carry out and improve my skills in work experience. One skill I have learned naturally is my leadership skills, I like to take charge but help provide the information to others while doing so. This is needed for working with children as we will have to give clear and easily understandable instructions to the children to help them develop. Another skill I possess is patience, this will be needed all throughout my placement because I will be working with children. I must understand that children are only learning normal day to day activities, example going to the bathroom, so I must facilitate this and take my time in everything I do, even if it means repetition. As an early childhood practitioner, I will need to work in ways that fully engage children and enable them to construct their own understanding. I have great interpersonal skills which is necessary in every workplace setting. I will be meeting children, their parents and other staff members so it is important to be able to work well with others. My communication skills will also be used. For the child to develop the Montessori must be a safe place for them to thrive. I know I can provide this as I have great knowledge about nutrition, hygiene, safety and the health of the child. We learn that play is an important part of children’s development, so I will get to see this firsthand in work experience. When choosing my work experience, I encountered possible barriers to carrying out my skills and knowledge in the workplace. One barrier was financial, I overcame this by choosing a place suitable in my area. This was to avoid high transport or living costs for the twelve weeks. Another barrier I may encounter in placement may be language differences with the parents. This means I will not be able to communicate efficiently with the parents. My solution to this is to translate as best I can. A child’s confidence is developed by removing barriers to learning.

Reflective practice is a skill, it is critically analyzing yourself and everything you do (thinking about what you do and pondering on it.) It is an important skill to have especially during work experience. The role of work experience is to gain practice before going out into the profession, I will learn from the work experience as I will gain more skills by performing the role of an early childcare practitioner. This is where reflection comes into place. It will encourage me to have a better engagement in my work. I will gain a better understanding of the other staff members because I will be observing how they work with the children. I must step back from the events or activities carried out in work experience and consider the various ways that I can interpret not only the activity but also my role in it. It is important for me to carry out reflective practice in work experience because I will gain an understanding of my own practice and improve my skills while learning. This way I will eventually achieve the best outcomes of development for every child I care for. According to Dall’Alba, the most successful early childhood practitioners reflect on their role of caring for children and always reconsider the roles they play in children’s lives. My mentors in work experience may provide the resources, skills and guidance for me to develop good reflective practice. Reflective practice also provides a common goal for all childcare practitioners, for the child to develop to the best of their ability. Practitioners working in high quality learning environments will most likely take part in reflective learning because they will also want what is best for the child. Findings of the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project showed that all high-quality early childhood settings had positive effects on children’s development both intellectually and socio-emotionally. It is important for me to engage in reflective practice so that the children I care for can learn more from me, so I must consider how my views of children impact on my practice.

In conclusion, my chosen place of work experience St. Mary’s Montessori School Clonmel allows children to carry out self-directed activities so they have creative choices, this is hands on learning. They also take part in group and collaborative play. The aim of the diversity is for children to gain a independence and a deeper understanding of language, mathematics, music, science and social interactions. When working with 0-3-year old’s I must provide a safe, engaging, nurturing environment to gain their trust. This will also develop a child’s confidence. When working with 3-6-year old’s I must support their social development by demonstrating respectful communication with safe consequences. I must also provide a large variety of materials to improve their literacy and mathematics skills.

References

• Clarke, P. (2000). Supporting Identity, Diversity, and Language in the Early Years. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
• Dall’Alba, G. (2009). Learning professional ways of being: Ambiguities of becoming. Educational Philosophy and Theory , 12.
• Montessori, M. (2002). The Montessori Method. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications.
• Sylva, K. (2004). The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project: Final Report: A Lonitudinal Study Funded by the DfES 1997-2004. london : Institute of Education, University of London/ Department for Education and Skills/Sure Start.