Dilemmas surrounding childcare are ever-present thorns in the sides of many parents. But while there may often be reason for concern, generally the situation seems to be evolving for the better.
Martina Murphy is spokeswoman for the National Children's Nurseries Association, an organisation which represents 250 nurseries. "There seems to be more of an awareness of the needs of children and how to meet those needs in the nursery setting," she says. "Over the last few years we've seen an increase in trained staff in nurseries, which means there is a wider understanding of the needs of children as individuals within a group setting. "The trend is to look at the care of children in a nursery setting as more of a form of shared care, with the needs of the child as the focal point."
The NCNA is currently promoting the use of the "keyworker" system. This has been in operation in residential-care centres for a long time, but which is increasingly being adopted in daycare centres as a way to meet the needs of each child. "The `keyworker' has responsibility for a small group of children," says Murphy. "She might be with all or any of the other children throughout the day, but she is there for each of the children in her group at particular moments of the day. These are the moments known as key experiences - such as feeding or bedtime - when children need a certain amount of intimacy."
According to Norah Gibbons, senior social worker with Barnardo's - where this approach is used in the daycare service - "this system is about improving the quality of care in nursery settings. Recognising continuity of care is extremely important. If we were to come into work and have a different boss each day, we would find it very unsettling. "Children feel more secure if they are greeted by a particular member of staff each day and if there is someone they have a special bond with at the nursery." Implementing the keyworker system requires a certain amount of planning, she says. "The key experiences will be different for children of different ages and the size of the group will depend on the age of the children. All the staff have to be involved in organising a system like this."
Mary Corrigan spent eight years as a keyworker with Barnardo's and is currently working as a community resource worker with its pre-school service. "They crux of this system is that it is a three-way approach involving the parents, the child and the keyworker in a relationship which demands open communication," she says. "You can meet ratios by having three staff with 15 children, but children - especially small children - thrive in smaller groups, so if you can break that into a more clearly defined one-to-five ratio, then the children benefit. Research shows they are more co-operative and less likely to wander about aimlessly. "You have more time for all sorts of little chats, and it helps prevent impersonal routine take over. The day is more likely to evolve around an individual child's needs - and as the person who is with them at certain moments each day, you are more likely to foster warm and affectionate relationships."
Many nurseries do practice the keyworker system in an informal manner, says Corrigan, but "it works better if it is part of the whole nursery ethos. You have to plan, evaluate and review how things are going, which in turn gives staff the opportunity to talk about any difficulties that may have come up."
Some practitioners have found that parents can find the idea of a keyworker threatening. However, according to Gibbons, "the child and the keyworker may develop a strong relationship, but there is no question of taking over from either one of the parents. "It is more a question of looking at how shared care can work most effectively for the child. Parents facilitate this by filling the keyworker in on any issues at home that might affect the child - anything from how the child slept to serious family problems." Sharing information about how things work at home can be quite important for the child's development. "It makes life a lot easier for the child if the nursery and the home can share certain things in common. "For example, when it comes to something like language development, a young child in a nursery may be listening to the same word being said in different ways, or the same object being given different names," says Gibbons. "The parents might talk to the keyworker about terminology - just a small thing like that can make all the difference to the child.
"Equally, the keyworker will have a record of how each of the children she is responsible for has been during the day and she will share this information with the parents, letting them know what sort of new words the child may have said, or indeed any sort of development which may have taken place. "It is a system which treats children with a lot of respect," Gibbons concludes. "It also offers a greater degree of security, which is essential for their development and as a basis from which they will be able to become increasingly independent."
