Recently, the early years sector has benefited greatly from increased levels of interest from a variety of sources. A few years ago it was never on any political agenda, but now hardly a week goes by without some high profile person commenting on how things should be improved, changed or developed. Early years settings need to keep abreast of these changes so they can benefit from this raised awareness and capitalise on any opportunities that are proposed and offered.
However, the downside to this new position is that sometimes you can feel as though there are too many demands to 'change'. The management challenge is in knowing which change to implement as a priority, and how to facilitate any change without causing disruption to the setting.
There are some changes that we have no choice about implementing, such as the Early Years Foundation Stage. The fact that this framework is both a legally binding document and that it covers everything that a nursery does from the curriculum it delivers, to the welfare requirements it has to meet, can seem rather daunting.
For me, the way to deal with such changes is to prepare and research. I want a good understanding of where we need to be and what we need to be achieving once the change has been implemented. Once armed with this knowledge, I feel that I can draw up a strategy for that implementation.
There is usually a wealth of information about these changes to be tapped into - from the local authority's early years team, to publications such as Nursery World or the Government's own DCSF website and associated links.
The next step is to use this knowledge to get the staff trained up and ready to play their part in the implementation.
Communicating my expectations to the staff is key, as is providing channels of communication for them to voice concerns or ideas to aid the implementation. Also, parents need to be kept informed throughout the process and not just told after the event. Change can be a stressful time and keeping people informed can help them deal with the stresses.
Settings have to change - indeed, need to change, to ensure that the care they are delivering is the very best it can be.