PlayToday issue 70 - Play England

Ensuring quality
for staffed provision
Quality in Play is a quality assurance scheme for school-age play and childcare provision.
Delivered by Play England as a national programme, it sets standards that play providers should
meet. The core values are that the play environment, organisational framework and the wider
context are all in support of children’s play.
Assessor training, the
programme and practice
Trained assessors support the Quality in Play
system by working on a consultancy basis
with Play England to evaluate applications for
accreditation. Assessors review portfolios
of evidence, observe play settings and speak
with staff, children and families, before writing
reports on their findings.
All assessors are first trained as mentors
before they are invited to attend the one-day
assessor training. They shadow an active assessor
and write a mock report before going out on their
own. Play England also provides assessors with
regular feedback and training to help continue
their development.
Assessors come from varied backgrounds in
the play and childcare sectors, working for play
associations and local councils or independently.
Many assessors like the flexibility of the work,
which can easily fit around regular employment,
and also allows them to look outside of their
day to day activities. It also allows them the
opportunity to meet fellow colleagues who work
in different circumstances or different types of
settings. Max Mueller, a longstanding assessor
described this perk of the role, saying: ‘It gives
you a better picture of what play is like across
the country; it broadens your horizons in terms of
what’s going on in the sector.’
Annie Hunter-Wade, Quality in Play’s project
coordinator recently spoke with Max and another
established assessor, Jo Barker, about the best
and most challenging parts of their role with
Quality in Play.
Max has been an assessor for several years,
alongside his fulltime work for Islington Play
Association in London. For him, the highs and lows
of assessment go hand-in-hand. What he most
likes about assessing is meeting other ‘quirky
playworkers,’ and seeing their enthusiasm and
commitment for children’s play. The downside
of this fellow-feeling is that it can be hard to
give bad news if sites are not meeting all the
requirements of the programme. However, groups
have usually selfassessed
and are
well prepared for
the assessor’s
visit. The system
also has steps
in place to
allow providers
the chance to
provide further
information before
the final decision.
Most
importantly,
assessors realise
the value of using
a quality assurance
scheme that focuses on play value and self
assessment. In Max’s words: ‘People discover its
usefulness along the way. Time to reflect allows
them time to value [the process] and the value
of the work they do.’ Jo also echoed this feeling,
adding: ‘Groups realise that a lot of what they are
already doing is brilliant work – which sometimes
gets lost. It also helps groups to identify areas
they need to work on, which in turn makes for
better provision for children and young people.’
❰ New training sessions are planned for
September 2010. If you are interested in
becoming a Quality in Play assessor or mentor,
or would like more information about the
programme, please contact the staff team using
the details below. ❱
The Quality in Play Team is based
at Play England’s main office
Quality in Play
8 Wakley Street,
London EC1V 7QE
Tel 020 7833 6838
Email qip@ncb.org.uk
www.playengland.org.uk/quality
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