The Student Room Group

Your opinion on childcare and the idea of playwork as a degree

Hello
This is just a simple question
What do you understand and think when a person has a proffesion in childcare ... specifing in Play/ playwork
Im looking for opinions in a polite manner ... i dont want people dissing other peoples professions
I would like to know for educational purposes only
Thank you x
Original post by Collins.SL
Hello
This is just a simple question
What do you understand and think when a person has a proffesion in childcare ... specifing in Play/ playwork
Im looking for opinions in a polite manner ... i dont want people dissing other peoples professions
I would like to know for educational purposes only
Thank you x


I d envision someone who works with early years children such as in a nursery or perhaps who work with sick children in hospital therapeutically through play.
You don't realise just how important it is until you work in childcare or know someone who does. I have a lot of family and friends who work in childcare, some of them have NVQs in it and a couple have degrees in early childhood. The vast majority of people think they just work in nurseries or just care for kids. Thinking that that's all a childcare specialist does is like thinking a chef can only cook mac and cheese.

My friend is a playworker and on top of helping her kids' (those she works with) development she looks for signs for development delays (physical, mental, speech, etc.), disorders and pretty much everything else. E.g. she has a couple of kids who she suspects of suffering autism so she keeps a good eye on them and watches for other indicators. Whilst doing that she's helping family support and social workers with families that have issues like domestic violence. She also leads a secret support group for women who suffer domestic violence - their husbands don't know that this group exists. During one of her sessions one of her mentally ill parents self harmed and attempted suicide in front of about 10 kids. She had to deal with that. Each week she holds various sessions for parents, some of these are lessons on cooking healthy food, sessions to encourage fathers to spend time with their children. When you have a job like that you're essentially early years teacher, gp (they refer kids and parents to services they require for whatever physical/social/mental issue they have), social worker, and god knows what else all in one.

I regret not taking the course in uni. At the time of choosing my course I had no idea that this subject/field is as big and important as it is. Such a shame it's such an underrated field which not enough people are informed about. All aspects of childcare aren't just about the children - it's all about parents and families and society as much as it is about the children. It's about their health, their wellbeing, most importantly, their development. I regret not taking it so much that I study it in my spare time. :redface:
Reply 3
Original post by Vixen47
You don't realise just how important it is until you work in childcare or know someone who does. I have a lot of family and friends who work in childcare, some of them have NVQs in it and a couple have degrees in early childhood. The vast majority of people think they just work in nurseries or just care for kids. Thinking that that's all a childcare specialist does is like thinking a chef can only cook mac and cheese.

My friend is a playworker and on top of helping her kids' (those she works with) development she looks for signs for development delays (physical, mental, speech, etc.), disorders and pretty much everything else. E.g. she has a couple of kids who she suspects of suffering autism so she keeps a good eye on them and watches for other indicators. Whilst doing that she's helping family support and social workers with families that have issues like domestic violence. She also leads a secret support group for women who suffer domestic violence - their husbands don't know that this group exists. During one of her sessions one of her mentally ill parents self harmed and attempted suicide in front of about 10 kids. She had to deal with that. Each week she holds various sessions for parents, some of these are lessons on cooking healthy food, sessions to encourage fathers to spend time with their children. When you have a job like that you're essentially early years teacher, gp (they refer kids and parents to services they require for whatever physical/social/mental issue they have), social worker, and god knows what else all in one.

I regret not taking the course in uni. At the time of choosing my course I had no idea that this subject/field is as big and important as it is. Such a shame it's such an underrated field which not enough people are informed about. All aspects of childcare aren't just about the children - it's all about parents and families and society as much as it is about the children. It's about their health, their wellbeing, most importantly, their development. I regret not taking it so much that I study it in my spare time. :redface:


Omg thank you so much for your reply x i have a place in uni to do playwork ! Im super exciting and i know its going to be rewarding !
It just annoys me how no one understands the importance of it . I work with children as i am just completing my lv 3 child and education so i undersatand the importance !
Its just nice to know other people understand my profession ! And thag really intresting about your friend !

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