Purpose:
The purpose of this assignment is to learn about health and safety procedures, the roles they play in early care and education, as well as ways to assess and analyze procedures to ensure quality.
Course Learning Objective addressed in this assignment:
Interpret regulations, standards, policies and procedures related to health, safety and nutrition in support of young children, teachers and families.
Guidelines:
1. Complete the weekly reading, along with in class discussions:
Marotz, L. R. (2020). Health, safety, and nutrition for the young child. Boston, MA: Cengage.
California Childcare Health Program. (2005). Health and Safety Policy Checklist. San Francisco, CA: California Childcare Health Program, UCSF School of Nursing. Retrieved on November 5, 2014 from http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org/pdfs/Checklists/UCSF_Policy_Checklist_rev3.pdfLinks to an external site.
Review pp 85-87 (Performance Area 4: Response to Health Requirements) from the CDE & First 5 CA (2012). California Early Childhood Educator Competencies. Retrieved on November 5, 2014 from Links to an external site.
https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/documents/ececompetencies2011.pdfLinks to an external site.
2. Obtain your site’s health and safety policy handbook or plan. If your site does not have one or you do not work at a site, then obtain a handbook, plan or procedure manual from another site. Obtain copies of their plans or parent handbooks if possible.
3. Use the California Childcare Health Program (2005) Health and Safety Policy Checklist to analyze the policy. Read the instructions on page two. Print pages three to eight. You will use these pages to conduct your assessment.
4. With the center’s health and safety policy handbook in front of you, fill out sections one through seven only, marking each item with a yes or no. Add up the yesses and no’s in each section of the seven sections. If you do not see an item addressed in the policy, then mark no. This is just for practice in evaluating policy; do not spend too much time on this and do not share the results, as you are not a vetted and trained evaluator.
5. Evaluation. Write one to two pages about how the policy fared. Answer the following questions.
a. What are the strong sections and why?
b. What sections needed attention and why?
c. What are your concerns, if any about the plan?
d. If you could improve one section what would it be and how would you improve it?
e. What do you think would be the easiest portion to update or improve? Why?
f. What would be the most difficult to improve? Why?
6. Family Involvement. Write one page about family involvement considerations. Consider the following questions:
a. What are ways in which cultural diversity might play into the development of a health and safety plan?
b. What viewpoints should you be aware of and integrate into the development and implementation of a health and safety plan?
c. What are two ideas you have for including families in improving the plan? Include a description of your ideas.
7. Reflection. Write one to two pages about your experience in obtaining and analyzing a health and safety plan
a. Which specific Topics from the Health, Safety and Nutrition Competency did this assignment address for you and how?
b. How did this assignment help you in increasing your competency in Health, Safety and Nutrition?
c. How is this assignment related to our readings in the textbook.
Format:
Listed below are the section headers to be used for the paper. Beneath each section header is a brief description of what should be included in that section. For more precise grading criteria, see the rubric.
I. Background Information.
List name, address, contact person and contact information for center. Provide background and/or contextual information.
II. Evaluation
Include the answers from (#5) in this section. Include both the questions and the answers.
III. Parent Involvement
Include the answers from (#6) in this section. Include both the questions and the answers.
IV. Reflection
Include the answers from (#7) in this section. Include both the questions and the answers.
