19th July 2024 Leadership & Management All Posts

C is for Child-Centred Practice

Child-centred practice is at the heart of the early years and more so when considering the safeguarding and child protection responsibilities that early years practitioners must meet in order to help, support and protect children. 

Whilst adopting child-centred approaches, such as those that focus primarily on the needs of children is a widely shared fundamental principle, we must acknowledge that sometimes the pursuit of placing children first in the context of safeguarding can be challenging for lots of reasons. 

I have the privilege of working with some amazing early years settings and with designated safeguarding leads (DSL’s) who constantly advocate for and on behalf of children. When children begin to get lost in a situation or potentially sidelined through circumstances such as when parents make poor choices that impact detrimentally upon their child, early years professionals step in. When social care systems or decision-making processes compromise the potential to keep children safe, the tenacity and determination of DSL’s to shift focus back onto the child is inspirational. 

The three C’s that drive forward child-centred practice in the early years.

I regularly talk about the 3 C’s that are needed especially for DSL’s to apply to be most effective when fulfilling their safeguarding and child protection responsibilities:

1. Compliant

Adhering to legislation, government guidance and statutory frameworks are the foundations of safe child-centred practice. Not only is it a legal requirement to meet expectations set in law but when following legislation, we are working with changes and developments that over time have addressed failures to place children’s welfare and protection at the heart. 

Being compliant therefore automatically follows a child-centred approach and strategy that is both lawful and in children’s best interests. The Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework legislated through the Childcare Act 2006, sets out the expectations for providers working in England to meet the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements. Those who have worked in the sector for some time will recognise how the EYFS has evolved to address weaknesses in practice that have been strengthened through the framework over the years.  

DSL’s must be compliant.

2. Competent

To be a competent DSL, a wide range of skills, and abilities need to be in place. Competency goes beyond knowledge itself and is based upon the ability of leaders to understand childhood risks and harms and to contextualise experiences or likelihood of adverse experiences for children through knowledge of parents, families and communities. Competent leaders will display qualities which underpin their role. The following competencies are just some that I refer to at length in my book.

Leaders therefore;

  • Prioritise children in all that they do and adopt professionally curious approaches to understand what is happening to a child.
  • Show and demonstrate empathy.
  • Are good listeners and communicators. 
  • Work calmly and professionally.
  • Remain focussed on the child and recognise factors that influence or distract from keeping children safe and well and act to combat them.
  • Acknowledge and recognise the need to keep themselves and their own wellbeing intact.
  • Are reflective practitioners and foster a culture of reflection and challenge.

DSL’s must be competent.

3. Confidence

Confidence is something that we learn to embrace when working within safeguarding and child protection contexts. Under confidence when a leader is unsure about what to do, say and / or act can result in a child’s needs not being met and dangerously result in a child who needs protection being exposed to significant harm. Confidence often takes time to grow and develop. Leaders should not allow the fear of getting it wrong or being less experienced prevent them from acting with confidence to intervene in the life of a child if they think it necessary to do so. DSL’s need confidence to fulfil a variety of responsibilities that come with their role. This includes;

  • Having difficult conversations with parents. 
  • Making decisions to refer or report a concern to statutory services such as the Police or social care.
  • Contributing to multi-agency processes such as early help, child in need or child protection plans and making decisions in respect to recognising the ongoing or emerging level of need for a child.
  • Knowing how to engage with professional escalation and dispute resolution processes in keeping with Local Safeguarding Partners policies. 
  • Challenging colleagues or staff for whom they have managerial responsibility if unsafe practices are recognised and need addressing.

DSL’s must be confident.

Strengthening safeguarding and child protection practices through a revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

As the Department for Education (DfE) seeks to strengthen safeguarding policies, procedures and practices through a revised EYFS it is their intention to ensure safeguarding practice is as ‘comprehensive as possible’ and ‘suitably robust to keep children safe’ (DfE 2024). This will be done by providing greater clarity and placing additional focus on relevant areas of practice that inform child-centred approaches and indeed practice. One area of significant focus is the potential addition of recognising and responding to children who ‘may experience emotional or physical abuse because of witnessing domestic abuse:

Visit Rachel Buckler Associates for Designated Safeguarding Lead training, resources and more.

Reference: Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) government consultation: Summary of proposed changes. (2024)

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About the Author

With 30 years in social care, Rachel Buckler trains the early years workforce and consults for nurseries across the nation. A frequent Nursery World contributor, she co-founded the Early Years Hub and created the Safeguarding Hub. Her book on child protection practices was published by Routledge in 2023.

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