Frequent Injuries at Daycare: Losing the Capacity to Notice
In the previous article, I discussed how banning playground equipment where injuries or accidents have occurred does not solve the root problem.
Even if you increase the number of staff,
injuries still occur in similar places and under similar circumstances.
So, what is causing these repetitions?
In this article, I will delve into that aspect.
Moving while thinking about the following
Behind repeated injuries and accidents, several factors overlap.
Childcare workers are unable to see the whole picture.
They are unable to fully grasp dangerous places or situations.The day ends without these being recognized as near-miss incidents.
These three things often overlap and occur in the field.
When managing a class, I move while thinking about the following.
Inside the nursery room, many children are moving at the same time.
There is a child crying.
A fight is starting.In the meantime, I must also decide when to switch to the next activity.
In order to eat lunch at the scheduled time,
when should I start cleaning up?
At what timing should I finish using the restroom and washing hands?
At what time should I wrap up playtime?
Such judgments are required many times throughout the day.
These judgments require a lot of mental effort.
Especially for less experienced childcare workers,it becomes easier to feel, 'Maybe I am not cut out for childcare.'
When you lose your composure,
the judgment of 'what to look at next'
itself becomes difficult.
However, in the actual workplace,
you must finish multiple contact books by pickup time.
There are monthly plans, individual curricula, and daily/weekly plans to create.
Event preparation, meetings, nap checks,disinfecting playground equipment, newsletters, and dealing with parents.
These must be completed within working hours.
The pressure of these tasks makes it harder to maintain the focus needed to prevent accidents.
The state of being chased by something
continues throughout the day.
While maintaining high tension, I move from one thing to the next.
For an inexperienced childcare worker,
continuing to move stably
in this state is not easy.
When you are doing administrative work during breaks,
working overtime, and taking work home,
continuing to keep an eye on all the children
becomes difficult in reality.
Small things pile up amidst high tension.
In a state where you are moving while being chased by time and paperwork,
relationships with other teachers in the class don't go well,
and you worry about interpersonal relationships.
These become
more painful than usual.
The less capacity you have,
the more strongly small words remain.
Also, in this kind of situation,
it is almost certain that
communication errors will occur.
There is no capacity to keep
the content conveyed in memos or verbally in one's head.
Situations where
“I told you”
and “I didn't hear it” arise,
and these pile up as mistakes on one's own part.
I feel depressed. I reflect on it. However, the next day comes without the situation changing.
“It might be impossible now” piles up.
When a state of high tension continues,
you feel the limits of continuing to work.
As a result,
the staff retention rate drops,
and there are resignations every year.
There is a shortage of personnel,
and even when we post job openings, no one applies.
We pay high referral fees to hire.
That cycle continues.
The reason for resignation
is not just a major event.
High tension continues,
and you cannot rest properly during breaks.
Even when you go home, there is work.
In the accumulation of such days,
a casual remark from a senior,
or a single mistake
can lead directly to resignation.
The less experienced a childcare worker is,
the more susceptible they are to that influence because they lack capacity.
When communication lapses continue,
exchanges like
"I said that"
and "I didn't hear that" become more frequent.
It is also a fact that this leads to communication lapses with parents,
gradually eroding trust.
If negative word-of-mouth spreads,
it will also affect the recruitment of new children.
As the number of prohibited playground equipment increases,
it narrows the opportunities for children who wanted to play with that equipment,
as well as opportunities to promote physical and mental development
through play.
If prohibitions increase, the range of activities narrows,
creating a situation where nursery teachers
find it difficult to structure activities
in their weekly plans.
First, there must be a state where one can make judgments.
While nursery teachers are interacting with children,
it becomes difficult if they remain in a state of being constantly chased.
As long as the burden of monthly plans, individual curricula, and contact books remains the same,
break times will continue to be used for paperwork.
As long as information remains concentrated in one nursery teacher,
communication lapses and mistakes will be repeated.
The burden of paperwork and how information is managed.
In a state of being constantly chased,
distraction and a decline in concentration occur.
By continuing to work in that state,
awareness of dangerous places and situations is delayed.
Even if you try to prevent only injuries and accidents,
as long as nursery teachers remain in a state of being constantly chased,
the same things are likely to be repeated.
How can we change the burden of paperwork
and the state where only a few people hold all the information
within the workplace?
How can we organize a workplace that is no longer functioning
just by saying "be careful"?
I will write about that part in the next article.