The following information contains extracts from a document titled “Who loves ya baby?”: Primary caregiving in Early Childhood Centres. Written by Viv Shearsby and Gae Thawley.

Key Caring Systems in Early Childhood Centres create positive, high quality outcomes for babies and toddlers and their families. 

What is a Key Carer?

The Key Carer is the child’s special person. This does not mean that the child and key carer maintain an exclusive relationship. Rather the Key Career becomes the in-centre expert of the child and holds responsibility for the following factors. (Greenman & Stonehouse,1997)

Communication

A Key Carers’ first and in many ways paramount responsibility is for enduring that open, two way communication with the family is established and maintained, and that information is shared within the teaching team.

Advocacy

In many ways advocacy is an extension of the communication role. This involves taking action in response to the needs of the child and /or family and sharing their aspirations for the child within the team. The aim of this role is to ensure that the teaching team works well for each child and their family.

nurturing

While the Key carer may not always be available to personally carry out nurturing and care responsibilities, it is part of their role to ensure that routine caregiving happenings are undertaken in an empowering way that builds trust and security.

Observation and assessment

Most centres have now established some form of assessment (profiles or portfolios) for individual children in attendance. The Key Carer holds responsibility for recognising care and education is received rather than a presumed experience. Clearly this involves observing the child, and recording discussions with families.

Teaching /planning

Finally the Key caregiver holds responsibility for providing care in a way that maximizes the potential for learning in all experiences and recognizes and prepares for each individual with the group thus ensuring positive experiences for the child in the programme.

The crucial relationship

As stated earlier, one of the most important roles of the key Carer is the establishment and maintenance of a number of what can be termed crucial relationships. These relationships are characterised by authentic, genuine interactions and affection. Having an understanding of these crucial relationships may enhance a teachers ability to create them. It s vital that teachers approach interactions with openness, warmth and a respectful and supportive manner.

Child-parent

The child-parent relationship is more intimate and more intense than the child-caregiver relationship. Parents observe their child across a range of very different settings. Even  when a parent lacks confidence they inevitably possess insights and information about the child that the staff do not. Key  caregivers must respect the inherent depth and intimacy of this relationship and do all in tire power to support and nurture it.

Parent-caregiver

The parent- caregiver relationship is as important as the relationship between the child and the caregiver (Greenman & Stonehouse, 1997). Partnership with parents is forged when parent-caregiver interactions are based on:

• equal distribution of power
• mutual respect and trust
• continuous, open, two-way discussions
• shared mutual appreciation, understanding and liking of the child
• common goals
• shared decision making
• sensitivity
• teamwork without rivalry

Caregiver-caregiver

The highest quality care in early childhood centres is produced by teamwork, and effective eamwork is the result of effort. Once again, ongoing open, respectful communication is a necessity and it takes time to build a culture of professionalism and honesty. Good teamwork can best be established with clear, empowering leadership, supportive relationships and a sense of humour.

Caregiver-child

The relationship between caregiver and child can best be realised with all other crucial relationships are open and functional. This relationship takes wees and sometimes months to be truly established and will need constant monitoring and negotiation ans the child gross ans develops.

As Anne Morrow-Lindbergh states: “A good relationship has a pattern like a dance and is built on some of the same rules. The partners do not need to hold on tightly, because they move confidently in the same pattern, intricate but gay and swift and free, like a country dance of Mozart’s (1995, cited in Gonzalez-Mena & Widmeyer Eyer, 1997, p47).