ABSTRACT
Recent years have seen the publication of books on management that are speRcific to early years settings, thus acknowledging that not only is this an important topic but that it probably is quite different from other management situations. Managing an early years setting requires effective communication skills with parents, children and staff. It also necessitates communicating with a variety of outside agencies such as social services, psychologists, play therapists, health visitors, doctors, social workers, medical consultants and the police, to name but a few. It is rare that any non-early years manager is likely to have to liaise with so many different professionals in the day-to-day management of a company/ department/section. It is the acknowledgement of this that has instigated people to write textbooks on nursery management and, in turn, that this area has been legitimised by the introduction of the Early Years Care and Education National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Level 4 Management strand. The performance criteria for the NVQ Level 4 clarify what the management role entails and what the requirements are in order to be an effective manager of an early years setting.
