1. Planning with children
First session

2. First session Balance and layers – the guidance
2. Observations and assessment – the foundations
See CEC guidance on planning for more details.

3. Child’s View Adult’s View It’s all connected…
Children’s interests and needs
Spontaneous
Child has control and leads learning
Child involved in planning what’s next along with adult
Provides context for observation and assessment
Provides context for developing skills
OBSERVATION IS KEY
Responsive/consultative/
short-term planning
Child brings:
Their own history and knowledge
Their own emotional wellbeing
Their own impulses and needs
Their own ideas and plans
Their own barriers
Child’s view of continuous provision
Adult brings:
Knowledge of the curriculum and skills to promote
Opportunities for the intentional promotion of learning
Adult view of record-keeping
Adult’s own strengths and areas to develop
Adults view of continuous provision
Relevant contexts
Possible lines of learning planned by adult
Possible assessments planned by adult through play and learning opportunities
Flexible enough for children to lead learning within this
long term/medium term planning
Co-construction of environment
High quality interactions and learning conversations
Promotion of learning in contexts meaningful for child
Adult/child negotiations re expectations and what is important
Sustained shared thinking
Effective promotion of skills
Child’s View
Adult’s View
Rich learning
High quality

4. Activity 1: Adult role and child role in planning –
What is your current balance?
What do you want to change?

5. Layers Curriculum Rationale Responsive/consultative planning
Continuous provision
Planned experiences
Long/medium term

6. Continuous Provision What does it feel like to come to your setting?
This resource can be used with a whole team, or by individuals to support discussion and reflection. The purpose is to take a good look at the learning experiences you are offering your children from their point of view. Step1. Get down to the child’s level. Step 2. Imagine you are 3 or 4 years old. Step 3. Look at the self-evaluation questions, then look at your setting. Step 4. Plan and implement improvements.
My favourite bit!

7. Are there natural resources I can use to represent everyday items?
Can I access the resources easily? Are there spaces I can use to put away the resources?
Do I have opportunities to invent and create situations using open ended resources?  
Do I have opportunities to take on different roles by dressing up using a variety of materials?
Am I encouraged to play here and use all the resources, no matter my gender? [eg. Is it pink?]
Can I transport resources in and out of the house corner?
Can I count, measure and weigh as I play?
Can I find myself and my family represented in the home corner, whatever my cultural background? [Dishes, fabric, print, pictures, photos, dolls etc]
Are there natural resources I can use to represent everyday items?
Do I have opportunities to write in the house corner? Are there comics and favourite stories for me to read as I play?
Are there watchful adults who observe, discuss and help me to extend my learning and my play when I need them?
Just a prompt for discussion for activity 1. Easier to read in the document.
Point is to focus on the learning rather than too much emphasis on the resources. Always bearing in mind why we do what we do – curriculum rationale, gender, diversity, inclusion etc.

8. Activity 2:
Discuss your home corner with a partner, looking at the questions to help you self-evaluate.

9. Loose long term planning:
Questions to discuss:
What makes your setting unique and how does this influence your long-term plan?
How does your community impact on your year ahead?
Knowing your children and their families, have you thought about a particular focus for learning?
Each area of planning has a series of questions to discuss as a team. The underlying principles inform the questions.

10. Medium term planning – relevant contexts
Questions to discuss:
Are children’s ideas and interests contributing to medium-term planning [child’s voice]?
What is happening this month/block?
Are the learning opportunities and experiences that you are planning appropriate for the developmental age of the children in your setting?
Have you discussed as a staff team where the links are across the Curriculum for Excellence?
Is this a meaningful context for any particular knowledge or skills?
Are the planned experiences opportunities for children to engage deeply with play and learning, rather than an end in themselves?
Say, Make Write, Do - Have you thought about what you might observe/assess/evidence as your children play?
Are the whole team prepared to be flexible and follow the interests of the children within this context?
These are the key questions

11. Responsive planning Questions to discuss:
Are practitioners observing children’s learning as part of everyday practice?
Are these observations shared with the staff team?
Do the observations underpin responsive/consultative planning?
Are children aware of the significance of their ideas and interests?
Are children involved in discussing what’s next for their learning?
Are practitioners demonstrating individual children’s progression through observations?
Are links made with longer term planning where appropriate?

12. Child’s voice …
Have children had a chance to share what they already know?
Have children had a chance to share what they would like to know? Have they had the opportunity to ask questions? 
Have you captured this as possible lines of development in your format?
Have you captured what the children are actually saying, making, writing and doing ?
Are there opportunities for children to share and talk about what they are saying, making, writing and doing [ie. reflecting on their learning]?
Are you observing/assessing what your children are saying, making, writing and doing?
Are these observations/assessments demonstrating individual children’s learning and progress, as well as prompting further planning conversations with children?
Key questions – lots of ways to do this. Examples of practice in guidance.

13. The key to good learning is for the adult to: ‘…observe, support and expand the learning…’ [Tina Bruce, 2011]
Tina Bruce sums it up nicely – this is the heart of our work. Observe the children, support them however they need support – from developing emotional and social understanding to scaffolding their developing thinking – and expand the learning. The purpose of today’s training is to take a look at why we observe, what we observe and how we prioritise when we record what we see.

14. What do we use observations for?
Assessing, next steps, child’s plans, tracking
Planning, resources, layout, staffing
Speaking to parents, sharing information, wider view
multi-agency work, observing through a different lens

15. What do we see?
What we observe is influenced by what we think is important.
Emotional wellbeing and social interaction
Child development – what would we expect to see in a developing child?
Particular skills or areas we know are universally important for future learning
Specific skills or interests for individual children
Given the significance of observation in our work, we need to be very clear about our own role. Whole books have been written about the myth of ‘objective’ observing of children.
We need to be self aware – all sorts of things can influence our clarity of vision. Eg. Gender and culture bring expectations that we might not realise we are holding.
What are we looking for?
Wellbeing is fundamental – shared view? Research backs this up. Unhappy children don’t learn.
Solid understanding of child development is very important – we need to identify children needing additional support or at risk of failing as early as we can and support them in their learning. We also need to identify children who need wider, deeper experiences.
Literacy and numeracy – national priorities –
Specific skills/interests

16. The cycle Observe - what do we see/hear?
Assess –
do we understand the significant learning?
Plan – what are we going to do next?

17. What is our understanding of what we see
What is our understanding of what we see? How do we spot significant learning?
Our interpretation of what we see is influenced by our knowledge of how children learn.

18. What makes a good observation?
Representational drawing. She is showing increasing detail as she draws, adding fingers today.
‘That’s my mum.’
Wow! healthy eating, emotional understanding – next steps?
She’s enjoying using the chalks outside in the garden.
Speech bubbles are child’s comments. Thought bubbles are practitioner’s reponse.
‘That’s my mum. She’s smiling ‘cos I ate my breakfast. Eh, breakfast is good for you?’

19. Observation format – a tool to help
Name …………………………. Date Observed/heard? Assessment of significant learning Skills used
Possible format to support high quality observations. Skills relate to overview of developmental milestones.

20. High quality observations and assessments:
Demonstrate that staff know children very
well, both as individuals and as learners
Focus on the learning
Can lead to planning further learning
Provide a picture of children’s progress over time
Demonstrate a depth of knowledge about how children learn and that this has improved outcomes for children, through extending their thinking.

21. Things to consider….
‘Observation is a crucial part of understanding and assessing children’s learning, ….’ Cathy Nutbrown argues we need parents point of view to get holistic picture
Cathy Nutbrown
‘Assessment and recording arrangements …. have a direct bearing on how children learn to see themselves. Attention to these sorts of details may have a profound effect on children’s approach to learning.’
Roberts 1995

22. ‘When you see your primary…role as closely observing children and communicating what you see, you will find yourself surrounded by amazing learning encounters.’
Deb Curtis and Margie Carter ‘The Art of Awareness’

23. For next time…
Use the continuous provision guidance to self-evaluate your own setting.
Stand back and observe the impact of any changes on the children – what do you see?
Use the observation format to record what you see.
Bring your observations to the next session.