1. Tuning in to children’s thinking and learning

2. Objectives Assessing children Observing children Quality interactions
Quality questioning

3. To sit beside and get to know
Assessment
Comes from Latin:
To sit beside and get to know

4. Why do we assess children?
To identify and plan for children’s progress
Highlight strengths and interests
Identify additional/specific needs
Inform families of achievements
Inform transitions
Monitor and evaluate provision

5. EYFS Statutory Guidance
Assessment should not entail prolonged breaks from interaction with children, nor require excessive paperwork. Paperwork should be limited to that which is absolutely necessary to promote children’s successful learning and development

6. Make assessments from your observations
Starting with the child
Start by collecting evidence of learning through observing in different ways
Make assessments from your observations
Start your planning from evaluating what happened – your observations, your analysis of these (assessments) and children’s interests

8. Eight principles for early childhood observational assessment
1. Assessment must have a purpose
2. Ongoing observation of children participating in everyday activities is the most reliable way of building up an accurate picture of what children know, understand, feel, are interested in and can do.
3. Practitioners should both plan observations and be ready to capture the spontaneous but important moments.
4. Judgements of children’s development and learning must be based on skills, knowledge, understanding and behaviour that are demonstrated consistently and independently.

9. Eight principles for early childhood observational assessment
5. Effective assessment takes equal account of all aspects of the child’s development and learning.
6. Accurate assessments are reliant upon taking account of contributions from a range of perspectives.
7. Assessments must actively engage parents in developing an accurate picture of the child’s development.
8. Children must be fully involved in their own assessment.

10. Observation
Gather evidence over time and in different contexts to provide a picture of:
Skills
Understanding
Involvement
Choices
Enjoyment
Relationships
Progress
Behaviour

11. So what next?
Can you identify the learning and make suggestions for future opportunities and possibilities for next steps?

12. A Trap For Baddies

13. The travel agents

14. Quality interactions Tuning in Showing genuine interest
Respecting children’s own decisions and choices
Recapping
Offering your own experiences
Clarifying ideas
Using encouragement to further thinking
Offering an alternative viewpoint
Speculating
Modelling thinking
Tuning in – listening carefully to what is being said, observing body language and what the child is doing
Showing genuine interest – giving your full attention to the child, maintaining eye contact, smiling, nodding etc.
Respecting children’s own decisions and choices to elaborate – I really want to know more about this
Re-capping – so you think that…
Offering your own experiences – I love to…
Clarifying ideas – so you think that…
Using encouragement to further thinking – you have really thought hard about… what will you do next?
Offering an alternative viewpoint – maybe…
Speculating – do you think…?
Modelling thinking – I have to do… and this… and this… what

15. Making observation manageable: a mix of methods
Adult fully involved in activity
Adult fully involved in play
Incidental – ‘catch as you can’
Conversations
Recordings and samples
Planned focused observations

17. Enabling Environments
Does the learning environment suit each child? Do they feel a sense of belonging?
Children learn from everything even things not planned for.
Plan to observe as part of the daily routine.
Analyse your observations to help you plan ‘what next?’
Develop records of learning and development.
Ensure that parents have regular opportunities to add to records.

18. Challenges and dilemmas:
Ensuring flexibility in planning for the group while keeping a focus on individual’s present learning needs, interests and achievements.
Planning time for regular observations of children who attend on an irregular basis.
Involving parents in the observation, assessment and planning cycle.
Creating records that are clear and accessible to everybody who needs to refer to them.

19. Judgements of children’s learning and development must be based on skills, knowledge, understanding and behaviour that are demonstrated consistently and independently.
Practitioners make judgements about children’s learning and plan for their next steps after considering a range of evidence across different contexts and areas of learning.
Children are observed in adult-directed and child-initiated activities.

20. Effective assessment takes equal account of all aspects of the child’s development and learning.
Practitioners tune into the different skills children are developing - linguistic, interpersonal, physical, creative etc.
Assessment opportunities are exploited where these skills overlap eg. Physical, linguistic, interpersonal, creative in role-play.
Practitioners do not set up assessments that dissect individual skills but instead reflect on all the dimensions revealed by the normal activities in the setting.

21. Accurate assessments are reliant upon taking account of contributions from a range of perspectives.
Demonstrated when adults adopt these strategies:
Understand that all interactions influence development and learning.Respect the range of perspectives that adults in different roles will gain about children.
Allocate time to discuss what they know about individual children and consider the implications for the child’s development and learning.

22. Assessments must actively engage parents.
Demonstrated when these strategies are adopted:
Acknowledge parents as prime and first educators
Engage in a two-way flow of information in order to meet children’s needs and agree next steps
Support parents in describing their children’s attainment
Involve parents in reviews of children’s achievements, including those demonstrated at home.

23. Children must be fully involved in their own assessment.
Demonstrated when these criteria are observed:
Practitioners and children conversing about learning whilst engaged in an activity, as well as reviewing outcomes together.
Adults model ways of working and discuss what they are trying to do
Children ask their own questions, talk about their thoughts and how they want to tackle a problem.
Practitioners ask questions that encourage children to consider quality and processes of work and what to do next.

24. Question Time! Closed questions Specific focus
Usually only one correct answer
Establish what children understand
Encourage less confident children to respond
Often questioner already knows the answer or unrelated to the learning

25. Encourage children to describe their thinking
Open questions
Encourage children to describe their thinking
How can you tell…?
What do you think…?
How did you…?
What do you think would happen if…?

26. I wonder… I wonder what would happen if… Maybe next time you might…
Have you thought about…
Let me show you…
I wonder… ponder… speculate… allows children opportunities to solve their own problems or extend own learning