Feeling Undervalued

[Guest MaryEMac]

On Monday the playgroup had a closure day to allow for staff development. This had come about because two of my staff went on a SEF seminar and it flagged up some things which needed addressing. The chair of the group agreed and we duly worked from 9 am until 3 pm. We were self critical, honest and worked out a lot of new strategies for time management, recording information etc. We left that session feeling fired up and ready to begin again on Tuesday.

This morning the committee met in the group for a short meeting to decide on the date and venue for the summer trip. They completely ignored our requests not to choose a Tuesday afternoon(which is our rising 5's afternoon) and then someone decided to voice a few concerns.

The chairperson of the group spoke to me about these concerns once the rest of committee had left.

1, All the children should be encouraged to do up their own shoes. ( why do they think that we are always late sending them out? we are busy encouraging of course!!)

 

2, All the children not just the rising 5's should be encouraged to write their own names. ( some of the childrenhave to be encouraged to get close to paper and pencil, let alone pick up a pencil!)

 

3,After recent ofsted report from school where it stated that on entry to reception the children were below standard in listening and communication therefore it is our fault. We need to liaise more with school and work on getting the children to listen. (some of you may remember that I came back from a transition course full of ideas which we are now starting to bring into use. The committee knew we were doing this but have obviously forgotten)

 

What really bugs me and the rest of the staff is that I was available to explain and address their concerns, but they chose not to do this. Therefore after I had been 'told' by the chairperson I felt very undervalued and deflated as did the rest of the staff. We talked it through together and decided to carry on as we had planned to do and try not to feel too bad.

 

I did go and speak to the head at school and she told me not to worry and that learning how to do shoes up and developing listening skills starts at home with the parents anyway. She also invited me to attend the meeting where new parents come into school and meet the teacher and school nurse etc. She said that if I was there the parents would see that there were close links between the playgroup and school.

Sorry for the long post but I just had to get that off my chest so tomorrow will be a fresh start.

Thanks for listening, Mary

[Rea]

Hi Mary, after a committee meeting some years ago where issues unrelated to the focus of the meeting were raised I wrote an open letter to the committee addressing all the points raised and adding a bit about how the staff felt. It was received with good grace by most although one member resigned. You could do something similar, write how you encourage the children to write for a variety of reasons, providing pre-writing opportunities such as sand, dough, threading etc and how these help, how you help with their skills in dressing and undressing, not just at home timne but throughout the session with the dressing up and aprons needed for sand and paint, and how you are in contact with the local school to form closer links in the hope of making the transition as easy as possible for the children. I found that good as they were at the organisation of the playgroup in regards to paying the insurance, rent, wages, taking fees, fundraising etc, they didnt really understand what happened during a session, one member even said we should have a mat time at the end of the session with stories or rhymes, (something we had done for the best part of 9 years to my certain knowledge). Please dont feel too down hearted, you and your staff have been honest in recognising what needs to be done and you know that even with the best will in the world the they will need time to develop. Good luck

[Deb]

Have a glass of wine or two, get the frustration off your chest, then show your committee how professional you are. My initial reaction would be something along the lines that Rea has suggested, respond to their points showing how you do or are planning to do these things, and how deflated and undervalued these comments have made you feel.

 

In the meantime, keep up the good work!

 

Deb

[Beau]

Its sooooooo frustrating working with a committee, isn't it Mary. My sympathies to you and your hard working staff. Just remember that they are not trained professionals and are just concerned about doing the best for their children - an admirable quality! We have had similar things in the past and its difficult sometimes not to feel downhearted and undervalued, but try to get past this. As Rea says, addressing their concerns calmly and clearly in a letter is probably the best route.

[Helen]

Having never worked within the confines of a committee, I'm not sure if this makes sense:

Surely they shouldn't be talking/criticising the group without you (and I would suggest perhaps one more member of staff) being present? If you had been present at the meeting, you would have been able to address the concerns immediately, avoiding all this upset.

Is this what usually happens, ie committees talking about the provision behind the backs of the staff?

[Guest MaryEMac]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and comments. This morning one of the committee members came to me and said that she hoped I didn't think that it was all of the committee who had issues with the group. Apparrently it was one mum who was feeling disgruntled with the school and educational establishments in general and we bore the brunt of this. The mum I spoke to today said that she was very happy with how her son was progressing and would be complaining if he was being made to practice writing his name when he didn't want to. She had also tried to diffuse the situation but the other mum can be very stubborn when she wants to be. Staff morale is now back where it should be.

In answer to your question Helen, our committee meetings are normally held out of playgroup hours and myself and another member of staff attend. (I have to go, cos I have the keys!!!) Weds meeting was supposed to be just about the summer trip.

Thanks again everyone, Mary

[Guest]

Mary have you tried explaining to the committee the Stepping Stones and that tying shoe laces is not a priority. also where writing names ccomes in them. that way you can show them that you are doing things the right way and not necessarily the parents way as someitmes they are not the same thing. also show them a stages of development chart. it will show them what follows from one thing to another. I have a chart that shows the stages of development for writing, that children need to do the scribbling stage then the circle stage before they get to the name writing or they won't be able to do the writing bit properly. Remember you are the trained professional. They don't have your experience good luck.

[Helen]

Glad things have improved

[Guest]

Rea and steph said the things I was going to but to add to steph's comments we made a 'beginning to write' book, using samples of the children's writing stages and linked into these the stepping stones.

 

It was amazing how many of the parents hadn't realised that scribbling was in fact one of the early stages of writing and should be encouraged!

 

I'm glad the mum came to speak to you. She obviously felt uneasy.

 

Hope you start to feel better soon.

 

Fluff xx