Choosing the right childcare and early education is a critical decision in your child’s life and your family’s future. You need to find a nursery or centre that offers quality care and meets your family’s needs building up your little ones for the life ahead.
The best way to do this is to visit childcare centres and talk to their teachers. Download our Tour Checklist to make sure you ask all the right questions.
Do Your Homework
There are many things to consider when looking for the right childcare and early education for your child. The process can seem overwhelming, but taking your time and doing the homework is insurmountably substantial for the building up a solid future for your child.
Start by asking yourself what is most important to you and your family. This will help you narrow down the general location and setting you to want to research, making the process easier to manage.
The next step is to call and visit a few different centres in your area to get a feel for what each one has to offer. Ask about staff-to-child ratios, costs and the learning opportunities offered. Also, see the ERO report for each centre to give you an idea of quality based on Ministry of Education audits. The most important thing is to find a childcare centre that best suits your needs and your child’s unique set of abilities. It’s the only way you’ll be able to ensure your child receives the best care possible!
Visit the Centres and Nurseries
Getting to know a nursery in Glasgow, or a childcare or early education centre is a prudent method to determine whether it’s the right environment for your child. A tour of a nursery in Glasgow or a childcare or education centre gives you a chance to see the classroom and outdoor space, ask about teacher-child interactions, and find out if they have an age-appropriate curriculum.
When you visit the centres, look for a licensed facility, which meets or exceeds state health and safety standards. Also, ask about staff-to-child ratios, which are regulated in most states.
For example, in Arizona, a centre should have one trained adult per eight 2-year-olds and one adult per 15 4-year-olds. Another tip: Observe your baby’s caregiver during drop-off and pick-up times to get a feel for how the provider interacts with the child. It’s also a good idea to pop in unannounced a few times after you’ve enrolled your child. This will help you see how he/she functions in the centre and confirm that it’s a good fit for both of you.
Talk to the Teachers
Whether you are at a childcare centre, preschool or school, talking to the teachers is an essential part of choosing the right childcare and early education for your children. It can help you build a good relationship with your child’s early childhood educators and make it easier to raise problems if they come up.
The average classroom teacher talks for 70 per cent to 80 per cent of class time, according to researcher John Hattie, who analyzed studies on the topic in his book Visible Learning for Teachers. He suggests teachers use a new app, TeachFX, to analyze talk patterns.
In a recent project, California’s 2019 teacher of the year, Jessica Reid, used TeachFX to spot a pattern holding her from teaching well.
Similarly, the app Visible Classroom, designed by Hattie, offers teachers tools to analyze how much they talk. It can help them decide when they should shift their talk patterns and how they might get students to discuss what they are learning.
Ask Questions
Asking questions is an excellent way to get a feel for the childcare and early education you’re considering. These questions will help you determine how the facility functions and whether it is a good fit for your family’s needs.
For example, you might want to ask the centre if it offers toilet training assistance, a good deal of free screen time, or a refund policy in case of illness or a pandemic.
You’ll also want to find out how many children are in each classroom and how the centre handles bullying or other bad behaviour from students.
The quality of your child’s childcare and early education can make a difference in his school success, employment and earnings as an adult. Research shows that children in high-quality programs have better math, language and social skills as they enter school, fewer interactions with the justice system and higher earnings as adults (Barnett, 1995).