With the introduction of the free childcare scheme in 2014, whereby the government offered free childcare services to parents or guardians who were seeking employment or were already employed or pursuing studies, a large number of Child Care Centres opened their doors and embraced this advantageous scheme.
Since we are dealing with a vulnerable group – babies and young children – the Child Care Centre needs to be run in a smooth, efficient and effective way.
The effective childcare centre manager must follow and adhere to the National Standards for Child Day Care Facilities (2006). “These standards have been developed to ensure that maximum benefit is derived by children, parents and the community. They are intended to safeguard the best interests of the child, facilitate work and family balance and contribute to the promotion of social cohesion” (pg. 1).
The person running the Centre needs to have both leadership and management skills. Leadership entails having a vision whereby the centre you are running offers the best service on the island and is equipped with the latest resources. Furthermore, this vision needs to be embraced by all staff employed – Child Carers and Auxiliary Staff – to yield the best results. Leadership functions entail developing strategies to achieve goals, aligning people by passing on to them your vision and strategies, motivating and inspiring staff to overcome stumbling blocks and implementing dramatic changes if need be.
There are three leadership styles – Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez-faire. When there is little or no discussion or collaboration, then one is leading in an autocratic way where decisions are taken by the leader and the staff have to carry out whatever the leader dictates. On the other hand, a democratic leader delegates authority to staff, allowing them the chance and time to take certain decisions based on their competence. Since this style is a participative and co-operative one, this will result in having higher employee satisfaction thus resulting in a greater staff commitment which will yield high achievements. The less effective style is the laissez-faire, where the staff is offered little or no direction and is free to take decisions without the collaboration of the leader.
On the other hand, management entails planning and budgeting especially the recurring expenses which are the salaries and change of damaged resources; deciding on hours of opening and timetables; developing and monitoring policies and procedures and making sure they are being adhered to; problem solving on arising matters and taking the right decisions while monitoring the results on the action taken and making sure that the running of the centre is a smooth and consistent one.
Running a Child Care Centre requires several skills such as communication, problem solving, taking decisions, being congruent, empathising, and assertive; being a good negotiator, budgeting and marketing, health and safety management of the Centre and team development.
Effective communication is required to offer the best care for the children and the childcare manager is aware of the importance of building a bond and a relationship with the children in their care as well as establishing a professional relationship with the parents or guardians, keeping always in mind the well-being of the child.
It is important for practitioners to remember and respect the fact that the children come from a variety of backgrounds with different cultures, religions and languages and this can be seen in several childcare centres.
Effective communication between practitioners and parents helps to build a trust where parents feel comfortable leaving their child. Moreover, parents will become involved with their child’s learning process and will be aware of what their child has been up too throughout the day, sharing both their experiences and achievements.
Problem solving and decision-making work hand in hand to safeguard the best interest of all the children at the centre, while making sure that the manager respects all people involved, showing empathy and compassion and being congruent by relating to everyone in an honest and open way.
Recruitment, making the right selection and keeping all workers is of extreme importance because the childcare manager needs to ensure of finding the right person along with qualifications and experience to provide good quality care. Keeping all workers is another management skill as a high turnover of staff provides lack of good quality care to the service users.
Another management challenge is the budgeting and marketing process to have a stable financial process and to market the Centre from time to time to attract new service users. Technology today comes in very handy when looking for the right centre for your child.
A childcare manager has to make sure that all Health and Safety procedures are in place because one has a legal obligation to keep all children safe and that they come to no harm while in his/her care. From time to time, one must identify risks at the centre, fill out a Risk Assessment, and follow all procedures needed to eliminate all unnecessary risks and danger. This should be carried out in all areas of the childcare centre including the outdoor area, kitchenette, toilet area along with all the play areas.
This is one of the components taught in the Higher Diploma in Advanced Studies in the Early Years at the Institute of Community Service, MCAST – Paola.
Christine Schembri is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Community Service, MCAST – Paola