Supporting Children’s Well-being         

 

Unit:  Supporting Children’s Well-being

Portfolio Guidance

Please note that this document is for guidance only. It will only help you with the structure of the portfolio, not the content; adopting this structure does not guarantee a particular grade. You will still need to work hard to meet the learning outcomes in a sufficiently academic manner, including excellent referencing skills. You do not have to use this structure; particularly for those who are confident and adventurous with their academic style!

 

Submission date 26th November 2018

Word count: 2,500 words – Weighting 75%

 

General Guidelines: (You should know the drill by now!)

  • Font size 12 (Arial or Times New Roman)
  • Set the tab to 1.5 line spacing
  • Insert page number at the bottom of the page
  • Insert your student number into the header with your name
  • Read the outcomes and assignment title carefully as they are guiding your direction.
  • Have the Rubric at your side – this is important because it explains the criteria for higher grades!
  • When you have completed the assignment check grammar and punctuation; have you used a thesaurus to extend your vocabulary and is it in context?
  • Use the unit assignment support handbook to check referencing – see Skoodle assessment support.
  • You may send 500 words for the tutor to look at before the submission date.

 

 

How to set out the Portfolio:

  1. Front sheet – create a front cover e.g. the title (Supporting Children’s Wellbeing: Portfolio) and add a picture (reference this).
  2. Contents page – page numbers to be included.
  3. Introduction – Link to the assignment title (with reference to supporting well-being and the importance of a child reaching their potential; a definition of these key terms would be useful). Set out your intended approach by explaining that the portfolio will have three sections (LO1, LO2 and LO3).
  4. LO1: Evaluate a range of factors which may lead to children needing additional support to achieve their full potential.
  • Define what need is link to theory and legislation e.g. the Children Act 1989 (Section 17) and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (this is an indication; feel free to use others!).
  • Introduce ‘Threshold of need’ (Visual tool – adheres to the Children Act 1989) – How might this criteria help professionals to support families when children have additional needs? Link to LA’s and LSB’s who have a duty to assess children’s needs under Working together (2018) – see Threshold of Need Guidance, 2017.
  • Common Assessment Framework (CAF was a result of ECM 2003) – replaced with Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) in 2014 – a standardised approach so that all children and families have the same experience of exploring needs, strengths and challenges. How can this be raised and how might it help professionals to support families to reach their full potential?
  • What may lead a child to need additional support (level 2 on the Threshold of Need)?
  • Ensure you include a range of examples in order to achieve the outcome (link to examples discussed in class e.g. ADHD is an additional need; a hearing impairment is an additional need, substance misuse may lead to a child having additional needs). Toxic trio! Brofenbrenner links well here! He talks about complex relationships/environments; his ecological systems theory can be interpreted and portrayed in multifarious ways.
  • Link the above to risk and protective factors that affect the likelihood of children achieving their full potential and give examples.
  • Consider the impact of parenting on child development for example and how this could be supported by working in partnership with parents. Also think about ‘I smack and I’m proud’ – how can parents be supported? Educational Settings? Parenting classes? Children Centres? Sure Start? Actually are these helpful? Pull apart/dissect and interrogate their audience (their raison d’etre).
  • Think about wider issues such as funding cuts and impact of government policies to help you to EVALUATE!
  • How can children and their families be supported by professionals to achieve their potential? Explain what self-determination is and link to intrinsic factors (those that are innate) and extrinsic factors (such as the environment e.g. nursery, school, socio-economic, resources available). Again think Ecological Systems Theory…
  • Proof read to ensure you have met the outcome!
  1. LO2: Critically examine service provision for children with complex needs.
  • Explain what a complex need is and give examples of specific needs e.g. a child diagnosed with cerebral palsy, speech impairment, ADHD or a child who has Down Syndrome (you may choose the ones we looked at in class).
  • Include an explanation of service provision that would be appropriate at level 3 and for a child with complex needs focussing on the examples you have discussed above.
  • Show your awareness of the above and explain that support is important so that a child does not become level 4!
  • How can legislation and subsequent provision support children to reach their potential? NB: This is a key point of ECM (2003).
  • Think about wider issues such as government targets, local authority targets, budgets and think how this may impact e.g. how effective is service provision to support a child’s wellbeing? There is an opportunity here to make reference to data (e.g. you could include charts, diagrams, tables, newspaper articles in the appendix). How might these impact upon the service provided?
  • Throughout critically examine service provision giving examples of how policy, guidance, and legislation might support those with complex needs. Think about the legislation we looked at in class e.g. Aiming High (2007), Equality Act (2010), SEND code of practice (2015) and HYM’s. Think about how you can make reference to the above throughout this section (each of you will do this differently as you will be discussing different conditions).
  • Proof read to ensure you have met the outcome!
  1. LO3: Justify the importance of working in partnership for the early childhood practitioner to ensure positive outcomes for children are reached.
  • Explain what is meant by partnership working and why it is important for children? Give examples for children with additional and complex needs.
  • Explore partnership working and explain how it can improve a child’s outcomes.
  • Consider what might happen if support is not forthcoming? Think about level 4 of the thresholds of need and serious care reviews (SCR’s) – this is an opportunity to refer to case studies such as Victoria Climbié. What went wrong and why? This will help you to justify the importance of partnership working.
  • How can working in partnership improve a child’s outcomes? Think about Educational Settings? Parenting classes? Children Centres? Sure Start?
  • Proof read to ensure you have met the outcome!
  1. Conclusion: A good conclusion will include the following characteristics:
  • Restatement and aim of the work
  • Highlight key arguments presented
  • Acknowledgment of the limitations of the argument.
  • Recommendation(s) based on the argument
  • Predict what, in relation to the topic is likely to happen. Or where does the debate seem to go in the next few years in relation to the topic. Or what is the likely to be the outcome/trend in relation to the topic in the next few years.
  1. Reference page
  2. Appendix