Supervising and supporting experiences
Did you know?
Children need active supervision by adults at all times to ensure their safety. As a children's services worker, you are in loco parentis, a piece of legal jargon that means 'in place of the parent'.
Parents trust you with their most precious possession, their children, and you are expected to exercise the same standard of care that a parent would exercise in their own home.
Children may require special assistance or support, to complete an activity that involves learning a new skill or idea.
Safety and supervision
The children's safety is your main concern. Children are never to be left without adult supervision. Any piece of equipment, material or surface, or even other children, can be dangerous to a child if not properly supervised by adults.
Here is a list of practices you should be incorporating into your supervision routine:
- position yourself, whether standing or sitting, so you can view all children inside or outside
- regularly count the number of children
- listen to changes in the sound - louder/softer - of the play in various parts of the play spaces inside (eg, the block corner) or outside (eg, the cubby house or the children's bathroom)
- know where all children are at all times
- ensure all children are signed in and out by their parents or guardians
- communicate with other staff if you need to go inside or outside
- assist, support and/or guide children's behaviour during conflict
- ensure that children are never left unsupervised.
The Safety checklist talks more about safety considerations and is essential reading.
Choose one of the points from the Safety checklist. Expand it by stating what procedures you could put in place to eliminate the risk for that equipment or location. Write your response in your notebook.
Providing support
All experiences need to be supervised by an adult. Some experiences, particularly with younger children, will also require adult support for the children to be successfully involved in the experience.
A child participating in a finger-painting experience may require adult assistance to put on a smock, clean up the paint, wash hands, etc after the experience.
With climbing experiences, an adult needs to be in close proximity, in case the child needs assistance, becomes stuck or falls.
For older children, experiences such as sporting games may require adult assistance, support and guidance.
It is important to restrict the number of adult-supported experiences being offered both inside and outside each day. Otherwise, too much pressure will be placed on staff.
Below are some tips on building support into adult supervision processes.
- all experiences both inside and outside need to be supervised by adults
- supervision needs to be active, with adult presence and involvement
- listen and watch, ask questions, make comments and suggestions
- offer assistance whilst children are playing, but don't ‘take over’.
