Early Years Observation and Planning in Practice

68 pages

English

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Andrews UK - Jenny Barber

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68 pages

English

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Description

This title is designed to help early years practitioners in any setting understand clearly and precisely how to best plan for and observe learning in the early years.This title covers all the key aspects of planning and observing that affect those in practice, including how to: Assess and observe children, Put children at the heart of your planning, Link observation to planning, Plan for the Early Years Foundation Stage. This title also includes printable/photocopiable forms for you to use to structure your own planning and observations with, and help you to put the best practice examples in this book directly into practice.

Informations

Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	05 juillet 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781907241659
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0750€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Books

Early Years Observation and Planning by Jenny Barber and in practice Sharon PaulSmith

A practical guide for observation and planning in the EYFS

Books

Early Years Observation and Planning in practice

A practical guide for observation and planning in the EYFS

By Jenny Barber and Sharon Paul-Smith

Introduction

All About Observations

Observation Methods

All About Planning

The Planning Cycle

All About Assessment

Reviewing your Planning and Observation Procedures

Further Resources

Acknowledgements: Jenny Welham, NCMA, Network Co-ordinator, North Buckinghamshire. Kim Goldhagen, Leader, Cheddington Pre School, Buckinghamshire. Corinne Finlay, EYP, Town Hill Early Years Centre, Southampton. Mary Jefferson Cobb, Childminder, Buckinghamshire. We’d also like to thank all the wonderful early years practitioners that we meet in the course of our jobs who have helped in all sorts of different ways with the writing of this book.

Published by Practical Pre-School Books, A Division of MA Education Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, Herne Hill, London, SE24 0PB Tel: 020 7501 6753 www.practicalpreschoolbooks.com © 2010 MA Education Ltd Front cover and CD-ROM photo by Ben Suri, © 2011 MA Education Ltd Illustrated by Cathy Hughes All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Early Years Observation and Planning in practice ISBN 978-1-907241-13-0

Introduction

We decided to write this book having identiﬁed a need for a point of reference in relation to planning and observation. We felt that what was needed was a clearer and greater understanding of why you need to observe children in the early years and how observations then link to

Observations are the starting point of a key person's relationship with their key children

planning. There is no set planning and observation sheets in this book that you have to use, our advice is to use what works best for you in your setting. The most important task is to ensure that on your planning and observation sheets you record the necessary information.

Observation should not be seen as a chore, but an opportunity to explore the wonder of each child. If you can understand clearly the purpose and reasoning behind your observations, then the ability to observe and interpret observations will fall into place.

That understanding of what to look for in an observation will help to develop an awareness of what to watch out for and what that might mean for each child’s learning and development. This should aid you in deciding what experiences, activities and resources to plan for a particular child or a group of children.

Observations are the starting point of a key person’s relationship with their key children; they help practitioners to get to know and understand the children, and cement the adult-child relationship. Ultimately the relationship practitioners have with their key children helps children to feel secure and happy in the setting and supports their learning and development potential.

Planning can be seen as an onerous task, but if you allow yourself to be ﬂexible and spontaneous and let the children guide you in terms of what you plan, the whole process becomes much simpler.

How to use this book

This book is divided into six key sections, each of which deals with one key aspect of the process of observation and planning. Each can be seen as separate but all aspects need to be put in place in order to ensure that each child’s learning and development is supported through challenging activities.

The accompanying CD-Rom contains proforma observation, planning and observation forms to help you in creating your own. Each form is designed as a basic guide rather than a prescriptive outline, and each is designed to be adapted to the needs of your particular setting. Remember, paperwork should only be used if it beneﬁts children: it is not there as ‘proof’ for your manager or inspectors, but rather as an aid to your own planning and observation, to ensure that the needs of each child are recognised and met.

All About Observations

The reasons for observation

Observations have always been considered an essential part of good childcare practice. It is through observations that you get to know the child and use that knowledge to guide you in the provision of experiences. In the Department for Education and Skills publicationStarting With Quality(1989) it states that:

‘A good educational programme for under ﬁves will offer ample opportunities to observe closely and to assess children’s learning.’

‘....collaborative planning which is based upon observation based assessment of children in all areas of development.'

More recently in the DCSF (2009) publicationLearning, Playing and Interacting, it states that:

‘[P]ractitioners observe children’s activities carefully, trying to discover what the child is thinking about and learning and the goals of the play, so they can accurately support and extend the child’s learning focus either at the time, or by later changes to the environment or in planned activities.'

As an early years practitioner you need to reﬂect and identify how you observe effectively within the setting, to aspire to be the best and most effective in your systems and processes of observation, as this will bring about better outcomes for children.

In the documentsA Passion to be Outstanding(Ofsted, September 2009) for childcare groups and childminders, Ofsted noted that outstanding practice in the area of observation, assessment and planning was seen in settings as:

n Responding to the needs and interests of all children

n Talking with the parents, carers and children during the admission to ﬁnd out about children’s abilities, likes, dislikes, routine and cultural and family background

n Establishing starting points from which they track children’s development

n Planning to ensure children have a wide range of opportunities to challenge and to enable them to meet their next steps

n Involving children in planning

n Keeping plans ﬂexible and respond to children’s changing interest and day to day events

n Staff knowing children well because they regularly talk about the observations they make in all areas

n Staff discussing and recording what the observations tell them about a child’s interests and development towards the Early Learning Goals

n Staff using clear systems to monitor children’s progress towards their identiﬁed next steps

For childminders:

n Recognising that children learn best when they are having fun, interested and excited by what they are doing and building on what they already know

n Having excellent understanding of the six areas of learning and development

n Being clear about each child’s starting points

n Frequently observing and assessing the children, so they know what they enjoy doing, their learning journey and their progress towards the early learning goals

n Using their knowledge of each child to make good decisions about the next steps in their learning

n Being ﬂexible to changing circumstances and unexpected events

n Providing a balance of adult and child led activities to meet children’s individual needs and interests covering all six areas of learning

Before we even consider how to observe, we need to think about the reasons why we need to observe and how to set the scene for effective observation. If you are clear about the reasons behind why you observe, you will be more effective in your approach. Knowing the purpose and motivation behind observations gives you a clearer insight and this understanding enables

you to identify how to use observations, what to look for and how then to use the information collated effectively.

The below list identiﬁes the key principles behind the practice of observing children:

n To enable you to identify where a child is developmentally, their skills and interests, likes and dislikes, which in turn, enables you to meet their individual needs.

n To identify positive changes in a child e.g. achievement of a particular skill, reaching a developmental milestone, a positive change in behaviour.

n To see how a child works and interacts both individually and as part of a group, with adults and with other children.

n To help identify any problems and issues e.g. relating to behaviour or special educational needs, observations can be used to help identify patterns in behaviour and triggers for certain types of behaviour.

n To use as a tool to share information with parents, other professionals and practitioners who work in another setting the child may attend.

n To support transitions for children, whether that be between rooms in a day nursery or when moving to a new setting.

n To inform planning so that experiences reﬂect children’s needs and interests and contribute towards an effective learning environment.

n To help you identify how a child uses their environment and how they engage in free ﬂow play. Free ﬂow play being where a child is able to move freely between experiences within the environment.

n To identify how children respond and react in different situations.

n To help ensure that you are providing broad and balanced experiences for the child, by reﬂecting on observations of a child, you can see if they are experiencing all six areas of learning and development.

n To help you ensure the routine is effective and meeting the children’s needs, and the children have a sufﬁcient time for sustained play.

n To identify whether a child may have regressed developmentally owing to an event in their lives e.g. moving house, new sibling, and parental separation.

Where to start

So we know that observations provide early years practitioners with a plethora of tools for supporting practice, and the key to this is ensuring that observations are valid and effective. So where to begin? By getting to know the ‘unique child’, and establishing starting points. A starting point is where a child is at when they ﬁrst begin in the setting in terms of their development and skills or if a child is new to you it is where they are now. These starting points are established by the child’s parents, information from a previous setting or another setting the child attends, as well as the initial observation you will have carried out. This is recorded on an ‘All About Me’ form, which begins the learning journey (see proforma on the accompanying CD). The completion of this form can help establish key relationships with the

Completing the All About Me form together

parents, so it is important to complete the form with the parents. The child may not be involved but it will be an opportunity for the child to see the child’s parents engaging with the practitioner.

It is important to remember that the child may behave differently during that initial settling in period. After the child has initially settled, usually between 3 and 6 weeks, you will need to think about the following when establishing the starting points:

n What play choices does the child make?

n What can parents tell you about the child’s needs?

n What does the child tell you about their own needs?

n How do you know if the child is happy?

n What can the child do now?

n What is the child trying to do next?

n How does the child like to learn?

The basis for this needs to include feedback from parents, perhaps on a settling in form (see proforma on the accompanying CD), as well as your own formal and informal observations.

Once you feel you are getting to know the child and are beginning to feel conﬁdent about the knowledge you are building about the child, you can begin the process of observations.

What to consider when observing

From a practical point of view you need to consider the following when carrying out a longer, focused observation:

n Ensure you are clear about what, why and how you are observing.

n Be as unobtrusive as possible, the more observations you carry out the children will gradually become used to seeing you observe and are less likely to ask what you are doing.

n Avoid eye contact if possible with the child you are observing, so the child does not know they are being observed.

n Be aware of factors in the environment of the setting or in the child’s own life that may affect their behaviour.

n Remember if a child knows that they are being observed, they may change their behaviour.

To be able to use your observations to provide you with relevant information, you need to ensure that your observations are accurate, and of value and qualitative.

You are looking to build up a holistic view of the child, so you need a collection of observations of the child playing, on their own, interacting with others, indoors, outdoors, at meal and snack time, within a group e.g. story time.This needs to be achieved using a variety of observation methods, as different methods can provide you with different information. (These methods will be explained in chapter 2). You need to ensure you remember that you are trying to record EVERYTHING and not just the child at play or engaged in an activity. Think about the value of observing children at the beginning or end of the day, when they might be tired, and the insight it will give you into their emotional security and their key attachments.

Most importantlyyou need to ensure that your observations are objective and not subjective, that you record just what you see and not what you think a child may be thinking or feeling. Consider these two simple examples:

Child A is standing in the corner, he is rubbing his eyes.

Child A is standing in the corner, he is tired and he is rubbing his eyes.

The ﬁrst sentence is an observation, the second sentence is not an observation, as it states subjectively that child A is tired. Although his actions may indicate that he is tired, you don’t know for sure that is the reason he is rubbing his eyes. It can be difﬁcult when you know a child well, and recognise that this is a normal non-verbal communication action that usually signiﬁes tiredness, not to put that assumption in the observation. The danger is that by going into an observation thinking you know everything about a child, you might miss something vital and new.If you interpret a child’s actions whilst you are observing, you stop observing and are focusing on why a child did something instead of watching carefully to see what happens next.

With observations, the information can be in the detail. You need to try to record how a child does something e.g. “She picked up the cup with her right hand”. This detail can provide vital information; in the example above the extra detail provides information about both the child’s hand preference and ﬁne motor skills. It is also important not to describe a child as happy or excited or sad, as again these are all subjective opinions. You need to describe what the child is doing, that may imply or indicate these emotions. For example, whether the child was laughing, smiling, clapping hands, said something to indicate how they felt, was crying or perhaps stamping their feet. This recognition of emotions can give you an indication of the child’s non-verbal communication skills as well as how a child expresses emotions and understands their own feelings.

Observations should be written in the present tense and describe something exactly as it happens. The skill of writing observations in this way helps to prevent you from writing what you think or including subjective assumptions. Below are two examples of recording exactly what you see: