How the service users are valued and supported by the care workers.
The care setting I visited was Ringwood Infant School. Here they used many different communication skills in order to promote the care values such as equality and diversity, maintaining confidentiality and promoting individuals rights and beliefs.
Promoting equality and diversity
In any care setting it is important that the service provides meet the needs of the service users. Each service user will be different and has different needs and therefore the service provider must offer a service which provides equal care to the service users, but at the same time realising that every service user is different. People that use health and social care services are all different ages, race, culture, ability, status, sexual orientation etc. Because of this, service providers should not base their thoughts and opinions on stereotypes, as this is discriminating and not promoting equality and diversity.
At Ringwood Infant School they promote equality and diversity throughout the whole school. They do not separate out boys and girls into groups, as this is sexist and at a young age girls and boys need to mix and should be allowed to develop their own identity and not be stereotyped. At Ringwood infant school I noticed whilst observing the class that there is a fair mix of all abilities, genders, cultures etc. There are children from different cultures and religions, but this does not mean that they are treated differently or separated from the rest of the group. If a child was separated because of their ability, it may make them feel worthless. So it is important that the teacher treats all the children equally and lets them do the same activities in class, whilst recognising that they are all different individuals and some need more support than others.
The teachers have to be very careful to treat all children equally. This includes the way they use their communication skills when talking to them. For example, the tone of the teacher is important to promote equality and diversity. If the teacher spoke to one child in an aggressive tone when they had done something wrong, this would make them feel upset and worthless. If the teacher then spoke to another child who had acted in the same way in a calm tone of voice the child this would be discriminating. This would be treating the children unequally and could have a negative impact on the child who felt they had been treated unfairly. Using a consistent tone of voice for all the children will help promote equality and diversity.
The teachers need to use the same pace of voice whilst talking to the children as a group. However, when the children were working on a task they were split into groups with other children of the same ability. This meant that they were being treated equally, whilst understanding that they do not all have equal ability. When talking to a child with learning difficulties in the class I was observing, the teacher would talk at a slower pace so it is easier for the child to understand. She did not single out the child because he had learning difficulties but made sure that he was sat at a table with a teaching assistant so she could support him doing the same activities as the other children.
At Ringwood Infant School the teachers promote equality and diversity by using eye contact equally with all the children. For example, there was a child in the class I was observing that was from a different culture. In order to promote equality and diversity the teacher would not look at the child in a different way because of her culture. She would give everyone in the class an equal amount of eye contact. However, she needed to be aware that the child might feel more uncomfortable about making eye contact because of her culture. An effective way of communicating through eye contact is to be at the same level. If the teacher did not give one particular child eye contact whilst talking to them, that child