A teacher in every nursery?

Well said*Margaret*. I think everyone who works in a school or nursery, dinner ladies, cleaners, caretakers should be given at least some training as to how to speak to children. At the school I taught in in the 90s and 80s, many of the then' welfare assistants', before TAs were uneducated mothers. Some were good , but most not

Its just not COOL to be intellectual in the UK. Like everything else foreign. Yet that is what's needed in schools people who have been well educated and have more in their heads than the next football game or their I phone.

Of course nursery teachers should have proper qualifications like in most EU countries. Then they can add on a year if they want more qualifications. They are not going to attract the right people if they don't offer them a chance to become qualified. I live near a nursery where the students run it as practice, and it is very popular with parents.

Several things I want to comment about
I am not sure about every nursery needing a 'qualified language acquisition specialist'. I think highly qualified staff in every area are invaluable in nurseries but qualifications vary tremendously, what we should be pursuing is making sure nursery staff continually update their skills.
Speech Therapy is really lacking in this country and a lot of children do not get the care and help they need preferably before they are 5.
My GCs nursery teaches sign language to very young children as a first means of communication and both Gcs have used it as their speech began to develop. It is a fantastic way of communicating and I would like to see more of it. GS at 18months uses a mixture of signs and words. So he signs and says 'bird' but only signs 'thank you' which is harder to say.

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As the nursery and HV have already written letters requesting speech therapy, they presumably think there is some reason for concern which they can't deal with themselves.

Cherrytree, I speak from experience here. My son was a bright, lively child, who didn't talk until much later than other children. I was told not to worry and part of me wanted not to worry, but I just knew that there was something wrong. I regret waiting so long before I took action.

My GP arranged a hearing test at the local hospital. They do specialist tests on children, which confirmed that he had almost complete hearing loss in certain frequency ranges in one ear as a result of ear infections when he was younger. Armed with this information, I pushed for him to have an appointment with a speech therapist, but (as stated above) I ended up paying for private therapy, which helped a lot.

As he began to speak, he was almost unintelligible and spoke too quickly, so he needed to be slowed down. It was explained to me that he had lost time with thoughts going round his head, but not being able to express them. When he discovered that he could actually speak, he just blurted everything out. His hearing was still poor, so he couldn't give himself feedback as to whether what he was saying made sense. He had also lost the time toddlers usually have 'experimenting' with making sounds which sound like everybody else. His speech sounded like that of many deaf people and his behaviour was beginning to be affected, because he was frustrated that people couldn't understand him. It also affected his reading and writing initially, because he just wasn't hearing the same sounds as most other people.

The speech therapist helped him with sound formation and slowing down. Nursery staff and teachers (when he started school) were able to make sure that he always sat with his 'good' ear facing the speaker and they double checked that he had understood what was being said. It wasn't rocket science, but it made a big difference. He had hearing checks until he was about nine and now has no problems.

Cherrytree, it hasn't been my intention to worry you and I sincerely hope that your grandson's lack of speech is a temporary developmental delay. However, it could be something more serious and, if I were your daughter, I would want it checked out by professionals. I agree with you that group therapy sounds like a cop out.

If he understands everything and is in every other way meeting his "milestones" & it is only the late speech development causing concern I would worry less. If he does not engage with others or play or cannot follow instructions I would go to see GP/HV and ask for an appt. with paediatrician.

Cherrytree, If your DD can possibly afford it, she could go and see a speech therapist privately. There's hopefully nothing to worry about, so at least her mind will be put at rest. However, if there is a problem, time is of the essence. If it hasn't been done already, it would be a good idea to get his GP to arrange a hearing test. NHS speech therapists have always been thin on the ground and, as you say, priority is given to children with disabilities. They also help with children who can't eat properly. My DS was on the waiting list for speech therapy when he was a toddler and never did make it to the top of the list, because after about nine months, I reluctantly paid for him to see a private therapist and was very glad I did.

Cherrytree My DS did not speak, other than odd words like 'ham' when he wanted a ham sandwich, or 'moon' when the moon came out, until he was 3. We lived in Hongkong at the time and there was no monitoring of children's progress.
He got 4 grade A's at A level and a 2.1 in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College and is a lovely dad and husband.

I'm sure your DD has done all the right things. Please don't worry

If they do not have QTS they are not teachers! They are Nursry managers/assistants/practitioners but if you have not trained to teach you are not a teacher. If you do a paramedic training course you are not a doctor, if you have a law degree but do not do bar exams you are not a barrister. You may be competent and have a good range of skills but you have not completed the last set of qualifications. Simples!

My GS has been waiting since before Christmas for speech therapy. He will be 3yrs in july
MY DD is not lazy or ignorant.
She spoke to her bump and sang songs to her unborn child.
The minute she cradled him in her arms she sang lullabys.
She talks to both her little boys non stop as does the rest of the family.
When he stays over with me I give complete one to one attention.
It breaks my DD heart that the other children at his nursery (that she pays for her self even though its a struggle financially, but realises its important for him to go) are all chattering about their day.
The nursery did send a letter as did the health visitor to ask for a speech therapy appointment.
Next week DD and Sil will be attending a speech therapy meeting at their local children centre.
The nursery does have a lady working with them that helps with children's speech but she her help is very thinly spread as there are several autistic children taking up her time. ( Quite rightly).
Children with speech problems need one to one help.
I'm not sure one teacher at a Nursery would be able to give this.

My DGD chatters like a real gossip, non stop she sings alouetta, d'avignon and several other songs in French, we continually chatter, I have sung to her since being handed her just after birth. We chatter and have little plays, I show her things such as food labels and she can now read many of them, she calls me babushka or Grandmere when we play games about children of another land (following stories we read). The list is endless and the main reason we do this is because its fun, I relive my childhood, I act parts of monsters, wolves and bears, then she does the same thing. Having a librarian father helps as we take her to see daddy at work sometimes and DD is a literature graduate, the house is full of books. But how can parents not see that it is fun, I too see mums chatting on their phones ignoring their children and I see that they are missing out so much.
DGD nursery is so good, I stayed the other day and I have nothing but praise for the hardworking staff, the formula is play, they choose their own activities and the staff support this.

Early Years teachers do not usually have QTS. Although the course is in some ways similar, they are not covered by schoolteachers' pay and conditions and cannot work in maintained schools with children older than five.

www.devon.gov.uk/early-years-statutory-guidance.pdf

I totally agree with you Penstemmon. The one thing that has struck me about my DGS's years at school so far, is that, surely, every class in every school, has children who are ahead of the curve and children who are struggling? Why do those at the bottom have to go through such torturous procedures to get help?

I don't know if a teacher at the nursery would have helped my GS when he was happy to play by himself and didn't want to do thing with the other children, but as it didn't stop him having friends he loved to play with on a 1-1 basis, nobody worried too much then. In retrospect a firmer approach may have helped or it may just have put him off nursery all together.

I think that teacher training now is now in a parlous state.

There are far fewer courses that include proper study of how children develop and learn or the various approaches and thinking behind educational theories because in recent years the approach , of different governments, has been to de-professionalise teaching. An education/ teaching degree really does not exist anymore. The one year training post first degree does not have time to look at SEND properly..or much else tbh. Or else graduates can spend a year in a teaching school (& its partner schools) and train on the job. That is a mixed bag too with some great tutoring and some, so I hear, non existant!

Governments have centralised the curriculum and how to teach so that now it is simply the delivery of core facts and basic skills defined as appropriate by 'suits' in Whitehall to chase their " targets" which really have nothing to do with our grandchildren's particular needs but to do with political point scoring.

I have a B.Ed as well, and taught special needs, but it did not prepare me for autism, because nothing much was known about it then.
I knew someone who had a daughter with autism in the 70s, but that was on the end of the spectrum where she needed a special school. She wouldn't have been able to cope with mainstream schooling, and they wouldn't have been able to cope with her.
Many children with autism these days are like Joe, or the boy in the www.autism.org.uk film.

Because of the greater incidence of autism and integration in schools, all NQTs should have specialist autism training in my opinion. And not just a day. They could also all be used as one to one help as an extra teaching practice.

Sorry must have misunderstood what you meant when you said "QTS was after my time"

So I imagine. I was talking about the actual piece of paper!!

My Cert Ed did me OK. But all teachers with"recognised" original teaching qualification are deemed to have QTS.

I have a B.Ed (Hons) as that was the qualifying requirement of the day, tacked on to your first degree. Or there was just the Teachers' Certificate. Though I don't know why I said 'just' as it was a perfectly good qualification - at least it was after they upgraded it to a three year course.

QTS was after my time - I'm thinking they were the same qualification just different names, as the powers that be just like to change things for the sake of change. As ever.

Thanks Anya I did not say that the people were dire, I said the courses were sometimes dire!

I have QTS.

Yes Pennstemmon it stands for Qualified Teacher Status most schools with a nursery attached insist on these in their nursery class(es)

NVQ's can taken at different levels as I'm sure you know (?) usually 1-4.

Those with higher level NVQ's are certainly not dire.

An early years teacher with QTS has the same qualifications as any other teacher: primary or secondary.

www.childcare-courses.co.uk/how-to-get-a-nvq-in-childcare/

Is an example of the courses available. However in my experience the quality of the training and assessment is variable across the many different training providers ranging from excellent to dire!

My understanding is that ALL nursery staff are qualified. There are different levels as with TA's which reflect the standard they have reached and should carry higher pay.

This applies to ALL nurseries. A nursery attached to a school usually has an early years teacher.

Just catching up after a day away. Dj ,yes, SEN need to be picked up earlier too, but sometimes very difficult when children develop at different rates and a non-talker / non socialiser at 2 and a half may be an integrated little chatterbox at five.
sometimes as parents and grandparents there is an instinct that something is wrong and it doesn't get addressed until well into primary years.

I think the general consensus on this thread is that early years deserve a professional level of care. I don't think this should be limited to 1 or 2 staff experts, but should be consistent across nurseries . My understanding of nurseries where children may be left all day is that they often have different rooms for different ages and stages and that it is the older children who may be more likely to encounter someone with specific childcare qualifications. Happy to be corrected on this point

As Elegran pointed out, there are children who arrive at nurseries without specific learning difficulties but who have, or can develop, special needs because of lack of stimulation. These can, with the help of qualified and. experienced nursery staff, overcome some of the problems they experience with language in particular.