Before showing you how to link your observations to planned learning experiences in LIFT, we first need to explain how LIFT sorts and records learning experiences into 'cycles'. In LIFT, we use the term 'cycles' as the majority of teachers plan cyclically: daily, weekly or monthly. However, it is important to note that we also understand that flexibility is paramount, therefore in LIFT you do not need to stick to any particular programming cycle and can vary the start and finish date of any 'cycle' to suit your individual teaching needs and curriculum. If you do not plan cyclically, it is probably more helpful for you to think of a cycle in LIFT as a grouping date against which you will record a number of experiences. It is probably also helpful to note at this point that LIFT also allows further flexibility for you to only run certain experiences on certain days within a planning cycle. These can be recorded against the day provided and/or in the instructions and notes of the experience.
Understanding the meaning of being 'responsive'Too often teachers confuse the requirement of providing a 'responsive curriculum' with 'emergent on the day' planning. There is nothing wrong with 'planning in the now' provided it is implemented well, however equally there is nothing wrong (or less responsive) with planning follow up experiences next week or even next month. We believe that teachers should focus more strongly on being timely. That is, teachers need to respond to children's learning cues/needs and follow them up in such a way that is:
- still effective (the original objective is still valid and the follow up learning is still meaningful); and
- is practical and allows teachers sufficient time to plan and prepare resources and activities that support that learning.
More often that not a timely 'follow up' will be to 'follow up' the learning immediately or in the next program. However, there are times when a timely response might be linking a current observation to a future cycle weeks if not months in advance. Here are some great examples of reasons why a teacher may wish to program weeks or even months in advance:
- it's winter (football season) and a father tells you that his son loves watching the one day cricket matches with him. A great immediate response to this might be to put cricket on the current program but what about linking this up to the cycle in summer that corresponds with the first one day cricket match. How amazing would it be to prompt sharing of this activity at this time.
- it's currently March and a child who recently immigrated from India has just joined your centre. You discuss with the child's family cultural issues. The child's mother tells you that the child loves to make friendship bracelets from the 'Friendship Festival' celebrated in India in August each year. Yes you could put friendship bracelets on the next program but creating a whole follow up experience in August would also be very special to both the child and their family.
Retrospective documentationWhile LIFT supports 'forward planning', there will be many times where you will observe and respond to children's learning with experiences on the spot. In such circumstances you will be entering your planned experiences after you have already ran them. While this always is challenging for teachers to keep their documentation as current as is practicable, this practice is not discouraged and we advise that teachers use complementary methods, such as brief hand written notes on their plans, to communicate modifications to their daily learning offerings. Later you can use LIFT to describe in more detail reasons and reflections for changes and additions to your programs.
Auditing & ReviewLIFT allows educators to audit and review their work using a number of tools. One tool is our observation auditing tool which counts the number of observations and how many were linked/followed up by a 'follow up' planned experience. There are no hard and fast rules for how often this should be done, but as a general rule there should be evidence that it occurs regularly for all children. An example of this might be to see at least half of the observations over the last 3 months have been followed up with planned experiences.
Step one: When entering your observation....
In the "Future Opportunities and Possibilities" make a quick note about an experience and if required and objective that you want to achieve. Select the cycle you wish to follow up in. You don't need to note this elsewhere to remind you to follow up this, these are automatically listed/ 'ready to use' when you open the cycle you have link to.
Step two: Use prompts from step one ("Linked Observations") to guide your planned experiences.
After opening your program cycle. Click on the "Linked Observations' tab. This will show all the observations and any prompts/objectives you noted that you wanted to follow up in your program. We recommend that you review all the observations carefully first as it may be helpful for you to combine the needs of more than one child with the one experience.
For example:
You wanted to do more "counting" activities for Mark, another dramatic role play activity for Sarah and do some more writing experiences with Tabitha. A great follow up experience for all these children might be a shop play area where you could offer:
- writing of signs, orders and receipts
- labeling of pretend sales items
- pretend money
- dress ups and props such as aprons, baskets etc.
LIFT is designed to be flexible. We believe strongly that documentation should support the demonstration of linkage however also not to be too onerous on the teacher. Sometimes teachers may wish to explicitly link a child/child's observation to an experience, other times you may wish to provide a general note. Here are two ways you can show linkage in LIFT.
1. Add an activity that directly correlates to a prompt/objective.
For example in your 'future opportunities and possibilities' your write: Provide a sand experience for Paul to extend on Paul's current enjoyment of this activity. If you were then to provide a Sand experience, no detailed explanation is required. Another teacher or a validator can readily see the correlation.
It is important to note that the connection should be obvious, hence had the teacher written "provide a sensory/construction experience for Paul" then it might be a stretch for another person to be able to readily make the connection/link to a 'sand play experience' and we would recommend using the methods described below.
2. Add an activity and link to a observation/child or multiple observation/children
LIFT prompts you to describe why you linked to an activity ("Reasons for this experience"). When creating activities you can choose to manual describe your links or to use the drop down menus to link to one or more observations/children.
Before doing this it is important to note that linking to observations/children in LIFT takes time. Normal LIFT forms take 4-5 seconds to load, however when linking to observations it takes approximately 20 seconds for each linked observation. It is for this reason we recommend that you take a moment to think about how you wish to write up your 'reasons' to save any unnecessary wait time.
1. Add activity with 'No linked observation' - use this as the fastest and quickest way to add an activity without linking an ob (4-5 second load time). Write up links in the notes under "Reasons for this experience".
2. Linking to one observation: Add activity with with a linked observation (20 second load time)
3. Linking to more than one observation: Add activity as per point 1 and then "View and Edit" the observation to add multiple
Sometimes we are prompted to provide a learning experience without individual learning objectives and hence in such circumstances a follow up to an individual observation is probably not required. In this way, our general reflections provide sufficient opportunity to reflect on how an experience went.
Simply upload your document, categorise it against the NQS.
LIFT also allows you to upload electronic web links to online document management services like Dropbox and Google Drive. The advantage of using these services is that they give users the additional flexibility to control sharing and editing of the documents. For example, you can give permission to anyone to download and view a document as well as given certain persons additional privileges to edit a document.
Here's an example of how you can use Google Documents to manage sharing of a Policy in LIFT.
If you don't already have one, you'll need to create a google account. Click here to learn more.
Once you have set up your account, open google drive and upload a document. Select the arrow to upload an existing document or create to make a new one from scratch!
Once you have uploaded the document, you can edit the sharing restrictions you have on your document by clicking the share button on the top right hand side of your screen.
You can then allow the document to anyone who can access the link (it will not be published in any shared forums).
Once you have done this, then all you need to do is add other persons you wish to have editing rights to your document.
When you are done, copy your link into LIFT by pasting into the weblink box instead of uploading a document.
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National Quality Standard Professional Learning Program describes the educational leader as someone who not only posses great knowledge of early childhood theory, practice and research, but also who is observant of individual children and team member needs, backgrounds, strengths and weakness and is able to deliver a collaborative and mentored approach to managing issues.
So at the coal face what does that mean to you as an early childhood leader? Below we have outlined some key tasks LIFT can help you to develop yourself as an early childhood leader while also helping you collaborate and mentor.
Goal setting
Always on a path of continuous improvement, you need to work with your team to set the vision for your service and breakdown that vision into simple target and goals. Typically your vision statement will be your philosophy statement and you will want to continuously review and revise this. In LIFT upload your philosophy statement into your service set up page. Click Setup, Service & insert your philosophy statement.
Now take out the key aspects of vision/philosophy statement and break them down into goals. You will use these to link to your observations & programs. In LIFT click setup, Add goals (or Goals if you want to edit and existing goals). Make sure you goals are simple and easily measurable against. Later you can review your progress against certain goals by doing an audit/search of observations that link to that goal.
Take stock of current practice? What are you actually doing? What are you achieving? This requires the educational leader to step back and take careful observations of practice. We recommend you document these observations in the Quality area of LIFT. They can later be used to reflect or create actions from. Goto Quality, Add document. You can link your audit, review, observation ‘Document’ to a particular quality element which you can later search for when reflecting overall about a particular quality standard or element.
We have also created an ‘Auditing’ page in LIFT where educational leaders can take stock of key ‘overview’ aspects of planning including:
Counts/Types of observation methods used;
References:
National Quality Standard Professional Learning Program - Newsletter 33: The educational leader
Learning stories evolved from New Zealand's Te Whariki curriculum and over time have been simplified into three key questions:
“A routine can be thought of as any procedure, process, or pattern of action that is used repeatedly to manage and facilitate the accomplishment of specific goals or tasks” - (Visible Thinking, n.d)
Uncertainty and change is innately stressful for all human beings (Cooperative Extension Service, 1989). Routines are important to everybody, but they are especially for young children as it allows children to navigate the continuous challenge of learning new things from the safe and comforting boundaries that are created by routines. Gan Discovery (2002) outlines the importance of routines/patterns as emotional regulators to decrease stress, anxiety and conflict. Gil (2010) extends on this further and outlines how routines help integrate learning with an ‘organized connection’.
Routines are also effective in managing negative behaviour particularly when it comes to dealing with transitions into new tasks. Routines allow children to emotionally prepare for changes that are to come. For example, a child will know that certain things happen as he gets ready for bed and as he progresses through the routine, he will also know what is expected of him when the task is completed.
Some of the important skills children learn through routines include: self control, positive behaviour and social skills. Routines can even help strengthen the relationship between you and your child as power struggles are significantly reduced (Zero to Three, n.d.).
Learning Through Routines
Routines provide a two pronged approach to fostering learning:
1. they provide learning within the routine itself and the specific tasks associated with the routine;
2. through the process of generalization (i.e., establishing a frame of reference that can be used to learn other skills and concepts (Gil, 2010).
Routines provide a context for learning to take place. Routines help children learn how their world is organized and what they need to do in order to interact successfully in that world (Sussmen, 2011). For example, after they wake up they need to get dressed and have breakfast before getting ready to go to daycare. At daycare, they need to hang up their jacket, say good morning to the teacher and then they will have time for some free play for a while before they may later sit down together as a group. Routines will give each child a sense of continuity throughout the day as well as letting them know what to expect next. Within routines children also learn methods associated with math and sequencing: used to follow an ordered sequence of activities, determine relationships between elements, count, and make simple calculations
Routines not only help children learn about their day, they can also help develop motor skills as they begin to practice the tasks involved with the routine. A child’s confidence level will also begin to increase as they become more and more successful at performing those tasks. Children may initially not be able to get dressed by themselves but they will slowly develop the skills necessary and will soon be able to accomplish the task on their own.
Getting parents involved not only in passing on key routines from home, but also sharing in key routines for your early childhood service, will strengthen the security and comfort children take from routines.
Routines can also provide opportunities for little children to slowly increase their responsibility and care of self and it is important that families and educators work patiently together to strengthen children’s confidence to do this.
Social skills can also be taught through routines such as welcoming, saying goodbye, turn taking and group times. Gill (2010) refer to this as ‘tactile and/ or visual modeling’: used when learning a new action in the routine or repeating an action that has not yet been mastered. By teaching children what behaviours are appropriate and at what times, it can teach them how to start conversations and interact with other people (Sussmen, 2011). Routines can give educators and parents a chance to practice conversations with their child as well as providing an opportunity for the child to initiate conversation. Children can inform educators and parents when it’s time for a routine to take place as well as what comes next in the routine.
Routines also teach children specific skills involved in the routine as well as skills that can be used in other circumstances (Rodriguez-Gil, 2010). For example, a routine that is learned in a pre-school will be brought home and practiced there. If the expectation at the pre-school is that children arrive and immediately put their school bag away, this routine can be imported into the family home so that children will put their school bag away when they get home as well.
Routines can also have a powerful effect on language learning because of all the opportunities they provide excellent prompts for discussion. As educators and parents progress through the various daily routines, they can name the items that are being used in the routine, they can discuss each action as it is being done and they can discuss what comes next. Their child will begin to understand the vocabulary that is associated with the routine. Gill (2010) refers to this as ‘adapted communication’: used by the child and the communication partner as needed in the routine to anticipate, to name, to make choices and to have a conversation about actions, people, objects, places, physical sensations and emotions.
Making Routines effective
In order for routines to be a practical source for learning you need to make sure that you have enough time to take each task within the routine slowly and you need to be sure that you discuss each individual task with your child (Linden, 2000). You need to try and do the same thing the same way each time you do a routine and you should also try to use the same language to help reinforce language learning. Take time out to write your routines down and discuss them which your colleagues, children and their families (Linden 2000).
You shouldn’t think of routines as tasks that need to be performed but instead as opportunities to interact in a meaningful way with your child. By talking, touching and interacting in other ways with your child, you can actually use daily routines to help develop and strengthen the bond with your child as well as providing the opportunity to learn a number of different skills.
Think of ways you can continue or leverage learning from a routine. Here are some examples:
- implement written literacy elements into a routine, by including words to label/describe routines, children can use the predictive understanding of their routines to learn new words;
- use routine and maintenance times as opportunities to explore conversation and interaction with children such as during nappy change and meal times.
- discuss routines with children and ask them how their routines could be changed, extended or improved;
- look for opportunities to extend or challenge children in the routine, such as ways to take on more responsibility or complete more difficult tasks.
- Look for new routine opportunities which children and educators can use on a daily basis to explore, discuss question and investigate (Here is a link to some amazing classroom ideas for doing this).
Authors: Natalie Higgins and David Gregory
This article has been written by Raise Learning, providers of LIFT (Learning Involving Families & Teachers - an online programming and documentation tool) and other early childhood management tools. If you would like to know more about Raise Learning or LIFT please visit our home page.
References:
Cooperative Extension Service (1989) Michigan State University ”Stress and Change” Extension bulletin E-2201, Home Economics Program retrieved 19/03/2012 from Stress and Change
Gan Discovery (2002) “Child Care Routines - The Value and Importance” retrived 19/03/2012 from Child Care Routines
Linden, J., 200, Good Habits – Learning Through Routines, viewed March 14, 2012, from Good Habits Learning Through Routines
Rodriguez-Gil, G., 2010. Routine-Based Learning, reSources, vol. 15 no. 2, viewed March 14, 2012, Routine Based Learning
Sussmen, F., 2011, The Power of Using Everyday Routines to Promote Young Children's Language and Social Skills. The Hanen Centre, viewed March 14, 2012, The Power of Using Everyday Routines to Promote Young Children's Language and Social Skills
Visible Thinking (no date) "Thinking Routines" retrieved 19 March 2012 from Thinking Routines
Zero to Three, n.d., Love, Learning and Routines, viewed March 14, 2012, Love Learning and Routines
One of the contemporary issues facing educators and families today is raising children to become culturally competent and sensitive from a young age. When interacting with people whose culture and background are different from their own, children need to learn how to respect and accept these differences, else they risk growing up into adults who contribute to problems brought about by discrimination. Only by teaching children cultural competence can we hope to have a society based on mutual respect and acceptance.
As an early childhood educator, how would you respond to confronting statements such as these: “Maria can’t really speak English well, can she? Is she stupid?” or even: “Michael says Keisha’s skin is so dark because it’s very dirty”.
Children are naturally curious about the people around them. They attempt to formulate a sense of their own identity by defining what makes them different from everyone else. Thus, a child will typically ask questions about observable characteristics like skin color, accent, or manner of dress. “Children are around two or three when they begin to notice physical differences among people” (Kupetz, 2012). For the most part, these questions are innocent and not motivated by any intention to offend or hurt. It is therefore, up to the parents and educators to use these opportunities to send a fair and accurate message about each culture, so that children learn that these differences only makes a person unique, not inferior.
Take the case of Inigo, a kindergartener who recently migrated to Adelaide with his family. On his first day in his new school, his classmates noticed that he spoke English with an accent, and that his hair and skin was darker than most of his classmates. His teacher, instead of ignoring these observations or forbidding the students to verbalize them, explained that his hair and skin were darker because his parents had dark hair and skin too. She also explained that he spoke English with an accent because he spoke Spanish and was still getting used to English. She pointed out that there are different sounds of accents which mostly depend on where you come from, such as American accents, British accents, and even Australian accents. The educator may also find opportunities to extend an appreciation for Spain, including facts about Spain and Spanish people. A quick check on Google could also lead to some fun fact discussions like the fact that there are no tooth fairies in Spain - instead, there is a tooth mouse named Ratoncito Pérez!
Addressing such observations and questions about differences is a proactive way to foster cultural competence. The teacher can maximize the potential for learning by helping students see each cultural encounter as an enriching experience. “The process of intercultural interaction, of contact between people from different cultural backgrounds and a readiness to learn from one another, is the real foundation for equality” (Balcock 2010, p.33).
Understanding the impact of the environment children are raised in, including the child’s own culture, family, social and educational settings, is vital for both parents and educators who will need to work collaboratively to actively prevent development of bias in young children. Foremost to this is for the key adults in a child’s life to be sensitive to the fact that young children are always observing their behaviours, both good and bad. Children base their concept of right or wrong according to what adults around them are saying and doing; they take adult behavior as cues for social expectations and norms (Wilson, n.d). It is for this reason that educators need to find numerous opportunities to display desirable behaviours. In practice this means that educators need to find ways for children to become familiar with, understand and if possible even experience joy from difference. Families NSW (2011) recommends simple examples ways to embrace diversity within an early childhood setting:
· Make a point of acknowledging where all the children in the group come from by simply hanging a map and tagging locations with the child’s name and country of origin.
· Showcase a country each week or month and take the opportunity to invite parents to share words or phrases from their language, songs, music, food, traditional dance and costumes.
· Celebrate culturally diverse calendar events throughout the year.
· Display and make accessible multicultural and multilingual resources.
Child Australia (n.d) argues that it is not enough to have cultural awareness, cultural knowledge and cultural sensitivity. Instead educators need to implement a multi-dimensional approach which includes not just strategies to enrich through difference but also strategies to actively manage bias when it occurs. Here are some strategies to counteract bias:
When a child points out that a certain person is different, he or she is merely making an observation, and not a malicious statement. It is therefore up to the educator to come up with a response that includes three important elements. First, the response should acknowledge that the observation is indeed valid. Second, the response should also explain the reason behind the observation and finally, the response should foster awareness towards a more respectful and accepting attitude. In the beginning of this article, one of the statements that we cited was:
“Maria can’t really speak English well, can she? Is she stupid?”
Incorporating the three key elements of acknowledge, explain and awareness, a good response to this statement would be:
“Yes, Maria can’t speak English as well as you but that is just because it is not the language which she uses at home. In fact, because she can speak Spanish really well and is also getting really good in English. Learning another language is difficult and she is actually very clever learning to speak two languages. You see, there are a lot of languages in the world, and each country has its own language. Maria just happened to be from a country where their language was Spanish. Did you know that Spanish and English both originated from Latin so there are some words that are very similar?”
If a student comes up to you and blurts out: “Michael says Keisha’s skin is so dark because it’s very dirty”, simply responding “No, that’s not true” is not going to make children truly understand the fallacy of such statement. Instead, you need to come up with an explanation which their young logic can process. For instance: “Your hair is dark brown instead of blonde like Sade’s. Does that mean that your hair is dirtier than hers?” This response will help them understand that the being dark is not an issue of hygiene, and help remove the stigma attached to being dark-colored.
An adult who chooses to do nothing when a bias-related incident such as teasing or name-calling occurs is effectively endorsing such behavior. When you learn that such behavior has been committed, take the time to deal with it in a calm, non-punitive manner. In a matter-of-fact tone, simply formulate a response incorporating the key elements of acknowledge, explain and awareness. Make it clear that discriminatory behavior is extremely undesirable and will not be tolerated.
By exemplifying model behavior about cultural acceptance, you are helping children in your care understand how to deal with discriminatory behavior. While this is good, take note that children may be unable to verbalize or formulate appropriate responses without guidance. If needed, you can sit them down (individually or as a group) and teach them how to politely respond to biased and discriminatory statements.
Understanding cultural influence in our environment requires educators to actively seek and investigate not just the influences of the child’s family, but also the influences within the service, the community and from themselves (NCCC, 2001). This could be done through a range of ways including:
- Team meetings and brainstorming;
- Surveys and questionnaires;
- Self assessment and review of systems, policies, procedures and practice;
- Other questioning and self assessments like: Are the basic needs for inclusion of all persons using the service being met? Does the service need to provide more help, fact sheets, information or other forms of support?
- Discussions with families and collections of family information and if possible cultural artifacts.
- Collating observations of children
Educators can ask themselves how highly services value diversity. Where are their differences? Are these differences physical? Do these differences confront any persons within the service’s values, principle or ideals? What can I actively do to preemptively eliminate or reduce bias?
Promoting inclusion and cultural competence can often be very challenging and take a long time to implement into practice. Hence it is recommend that educators create simple strategic plans that map out short and long term strategies for change and improvement. This way all stakeholders can ‘move together’ towards fostering a culturally competent learning environment.
Authors: Natalie Higgins and Chyrstal Ventura
This article has been written by Raise Learning, providers of LIFT (Learning Involving Families & Teachers - an online programming and documentation tool) and other early childhood management tools. If you would like to know more about Raise Learning or LIFT please visit our home page.
For more resources on promoting diversity and equity during the early years, you can the websites listed below or get in touch with various organisations dedicated to this cause. For instance, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) (link to www.adl.org) regularly holds workshops for teachers and families so that they can be better equipped with skills and tools for coping with multi-cultural issues.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk
http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu
http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com
References:
Peter Baldock. 2010. Google Books. [ONLINE] Available at: Accessed 06 March 12.
Banks, J. A , 2010. Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives. 5th ed. Washington: AK Press.
Child Australia Accessed 06 March 12
Families NSW (2011) Celebrating Cultural Diversity in Early Childhood Services retrieved 7/03/2012
Barbara Kupetz, Early childhood NEWS - Article Reading Center. 2012. Early childhood NEWS - Article Reading Center. [ONLINE] [Accessed 05 March 2012].
The Miller Early Childhood Initiative of A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute. 2012. The Miller Early Childhood Initiative of A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute. [ONLINE] [Accessed 05 March 2012].
National Center for Cultural Competence (2011) The Role of Self-Assessment in Achieving Cultural Competence. The Cultural Competence Exchange, Issue 4. Retrieved 7/3/2012
Sue Wilson (no date) Fostering Goodness & Caring: Promoting Moral Development of Young Children retrieved 7/3/2012
Diversity in Practice tip sheet, retrieved 7 March 2013
So what does this mean for an early childhood educator? The Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) as part of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) describes:
Holistic approaches to teaching and learning recognize the connectedness of mind, body and spirit. When early childhood educators take a holistic approach they pay attention to children’s physical, personal, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing as well as cognitive aspects of learning. While educators may plan or assess with a focus on a particular outcome or component of learning, they see children’s learning as integrated and interconnected. They recognize the connections between children, families and communities and the importance of reciprocal relationships and partnerships for learning. They see learning as a social activity and value collaborative learning and community participation. An integrated, holistic approach to teaching and learning also focuses on connections to the natural world. Educators foster children’s capacity to understand and respect the natural environment and the interdependence between people, plants, animals and the land (DEEWR, 2009).
Over the last few decades many varied holistic education philosophies have emerged. Montessori prescribed a “prepared environment” containing specific materials that children use, independently for the most part, to learn at their own pace, responding to particular readiness for specific sensory and intellectual stimuli. Rudolf Steiner‘s ‘Waldorf’ approach is based on intuitive (his followers claim clairvoyant) understanding of the needs of the evolving soul at each level of development: children in Waldorf schools are divided into grades according to age and spend most of their time learning through group activities carefully planned and led by the teacher (who is also supposed to have intuitive insight into children’s personalities and immediate needs) (Miller, n.d). Some holistic approaches (for example, Quaker schools, or “neo-humanist” education based on the teachings of Tantric guru P.R. Sarkar) have adopted meditation, periods of silent reflection or journaling, yoga and other centering practices (Kesson, 2002). Other holistic approaches (the Reggio Emilia system of early childhood education comes to mind) place great emphasis on artistic self-expression and engaged creativity. Krishnamurti, on the other hand, advised against methods as such and suggested that a caring, open, non-authoritarian relationship between people leads to genuine learning (Forbes, 2002)(Miller,n.d).
While there is clearly no one method, Miller (2006) after review of a number of different holistic teaching methodologies, describes four key aspects of holistic approach based teaching:
1. Learning is organic, emergent, experimental and based on cooperation. Pre-planned teaching is facilitated only so far as to initiate open ended questioning and inquiry;
2. There is a strong sense of community and engagement between children, parents and educators where those members feel strongly to care for one another
3. There is a great respect for children’s interior life, with methods ranging from environmental spaces that facilitate time out of competitive nosier environments, to time to ask deeper questions about the meaning of life and spirituality.
4. There are strong connections to nature, with the care and connection to the environment incorporated throughout the curriculum.
In another interesting article by Ron Miller he describes the aspirations of the holistic educator:
Holistic education aims to call forth from people an intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning. This is done, not through an academic "curriculum" that condenses the world into instructional packages, but through direct engagement with the environment. Holistic education nurtures a sense of wonder. Montessori, for example, spoke of "cosmic" education: Help the person feel part of the wholeness of the universe, and learning will naturally be enchanted and inviting. There is no one best way to accomplish this goal, there are many paths of learning and the holistic educator values them all; what is appropriate for some children and adults, in some situations, in some historical and social contexts, may not be best for others. The art of holistic education lies in its responsiveness to the diverse learning styles and needs of evolving human beings (Miller, n.d).
Taking responsibility for development of a “whole child” however is a significant endeavor for any early childhood educator: guiding students to finds identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to spiritual values such as compassion and peace. Rather than be overwhelmed by the many varied ideals of holistic education, it is recommended teachers find opportunities (approaches) to implement the various elements of holistic education into their practice.
An helpful example of this could be further exploration and extension of child’s interests, taking a small idea and unpacking it into many opportunities for learning: an interest in cars could be expanded into: where cars came from; the first wheel; what types of cars are used around the world; what type of people use cars; understanding if and why their family uses a car; why other people use cars; how over use of cars can affect our health; what cars are doing to our environment; alternatives to cars; new designs to overcome environmental impact etc. This example shows us how an early childhood teacher can expand learning into all aspects of a child’s life including family, the environment, history, empathy and understanding.
Another example could be offering art with pastels, exploring different artists in history, colours, how light makes colour, rainbows, how pastels are made, the earliest pastels made by indigenous people, their drawings and what they tell us about them, what other materials to draw on, people who use pastels from architects to street art, using pastels to explore our feelings and express our moods etc.
Finally another very important example is working with families. Engaging families by inviting them to visit, speak, bring in cultural or work artefacts to share and participate in children’s programs fosters enormous sense of pride and connectiveness for children.
Holistic approaches encompass, as the names suggests, a broad range of teaching goals and aspirations for children’s learning that extends well beyond academic learning into fields of social and emotional wellbeing. While this can at first seem overwhelming, teachers can find the small opportunities in their day to day practice to incorporate and extend ideas that promote connection, community and wellbeing.
This article has been written by Raise Learning, providers of LIFT (Learning Involving Families & Teachers - an online programming and documentation tool) and other early childhood management tools. If you would like to know more about Raise Learning or LIFT please visit our home page.
Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the Council of Australian Governments (2009) retrieved 5/3/2012
Department of education, Michgan (2001) “WHAT RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATION In Relation to Academic Achievement” retrieved 5/3/2012
Miller, Ron (n.d) “A brief introduction to holistic education” retrieved 4/3/2012
Miller, Ron (2006) “ Path of Learning - Educating the Child’s “Inner Power”” retrieved 5/3/2012
UNESCO (2002), “An Integrated Approach to Early Childhood Education and Care - Early Childhood and Family Policy Series n°3”, retrieved 4/3/2002
]]>Today with rising professional education standards, increasing regulation and expectations from parents, early childhood education has significantly changed. For the most part educators have carried the burden of producing more work with very often less time and are adapting to the increasing pressure by implementing methods that streamline repetitive, duplicating or arduous tasks. More recently, many early childhood educators are taking streamlining processes to the digital arena, developing systems and adapting new methods in communication, like LIFT, Facebook and Google tools to further simplify the growing demand on their diminishing time.
So what is required of early childhood educators and why would a teacher want to use digital tools to simply this process.
Just the tracking tools alone in paper based systems can make you groan!
Educators have to observe all children, (and document these observations), identify and evaluate learning both developmentally and against approved curriculum criteria (EYLF outcomes), extend upon that learning, link that learning to future programs (and be able to show that link). Educators have to document what experiences they have offered, have documentation readily available for families and regulators, and reflect on their practice both qualitatively and quantitatively against approved curriculum (EYLF teaching principles and practices). How does an educator do this with a paper based system? Arguably they don't really ever document all of these requirements or even if they do make a noble attempt to try, they spend significantly more time than is available to do administrative tasks. Take a look at some links to some recent paper based examples of documentation systems. Many are painfully repetitive or don't meet all of the requirements.
It is clear that none of these provide a solution that meets all requirements and all require unnecessary duplication and are very difficult to cross reference ‘tracking’ of tools used and work done.
Databases can organise the complex documentation required for early childhood educators into searchable, reportable systems with easily created and track-able links between key tasks such as the link between observations - to "followed up" activities - parent involvement - to new observation. LIFT provides a comprehensive documentation solution for educators to share, easily link and show links to plans and curriculum criteria and principles. Other helpful tools we recommend to further extend and connect teachers and families are:
Paper based systems tie down managers
Even if individual teachers can navigate paper-based systems, how do managers of educators easily supervise and audit without overly administrative double handling and checking? In my opinion you just can't. Too often I have heard horror stories of fantastic services failing validation because of one individual falling behind on their documentation. Early childhood managers are also time poor, particularly at present when the early childhood industry is going through radical reform and re-regulation, and need to find easier ways to connect, sample, supervise and review. Electronic tools can make reporting, sampling and general supervision of the program far more streamlined and free up managers time to spend more time building, training and supporting their teams.
Job flexibility is hard outside of secure online tools - It's heavy and full of risk to take your paperwork home!
Communicate at a time that suits you!
The opportunities to share and collaborate amongst the wider community of educators are greatly improved by online tools. For example, LIFT has a growing database of thousands of ideas which educators are collaboratively building on a day by day basis. Online tools like LIFT make sharing easy and break down barriers between educators such as distance and field of teaching (preschool, family day care, long day care etc.).
Summary
After doing training with a number of services one of the questions that is most often asked is "How many observations should we be doing?"..."How do I know I am doing enough?". I believe the fear of not having enough documentation is not a new one. Ever since the National Accreditation System came into place and emphasis on documentation of learning and auditing of this process began educators have questioned themselves as to whether they are doing enough.
Currently there still is no specific guides on what the 'minimum requirement' for documentation and assessment, rather assessment guidance is qualitative and left to individual judgement assessing a wide range of variables such as:
- the type of care;
- use (when and how often each child used care);
- demographic and language factors;
- service philosophy and education methods etc.
As educators there is a fear of failing due to lack of documentation. We are all looking for a book that will tell us if we do this many per child, per week, month, year we will meet the standard. However, minimum requirements for 'early childhood programming', outlining what is passable and not passable is very difficult to articulate with 'one simple catch all rule'. Furthermore in addition to individual service factors , and it cannot be understated, is that not all observations are made equally. Detailed observations often contain significantly more information about a child, whereas quick jottings and anecdotes provide only one or two elements from which a teacher can use to assess and/or extend learning upon.
So my answer of course to the question of 'how much is enough' is normally answered by reframing the question into: 1. 'Are your observations providing you with enough quality/valuable opportunities to follow through or follow up on learning for all aspects of your program?' and 'have you observed enough to communicate to all stakeholders confidence that each child is enjoying and progressing well using your program?'. Answering these questions while also challenging, are more meaningful and I will explore the ideas and issues surrounding these two questions below.
Quality early childhood education is based on rich (detailed) and meaningful observations that encompass many things. Let's just take a moment to explore what makes up a meaningful and rich observation observation.
Meaningful? I believe the first thought in your mind when you are taking an observation should be "What is the child learning in this moment?" I am not saying that this always means that it has to be measurable such as; writing their name, taking a first step or using a pincer grip. These are all aspects of learning but as we evolve as educators we realise that many of the learning steps children take are not always able to be seen by the naked eye. We as educators should be looking for and recognising these moments; which is what differentiates us as quality teaching professionals. It requires time, thought and continuous reflection to master and often involves picking up "the little things" often overlooked by the unqualified observer. The observation below will show an example of this.
Sarah you were playing in the home corner today with Jenny and Marie. You all took turns in pouring each other cups of tea and using your manners to say please and thank you to one another. When Barbara called you all to come to the mat you put the tea set down and called out to Jenny and Marie that it was time to come to the mat. This was lovely to see that you are gaining confidence within your friendship group to communicate with them and also your sense of belonging in the larger group that you were happy to shout out this instruction to your friends in front of others.
This observation does not explicitly demonstrate an obvious significant traditional learning milestone, however we as qualified early childhood educators understand its importance and that if a child feels confident and part of the group, they will learn and grow. The observation clearly shows that Sarah is confident and comfortable in the group which is one of the first steps to engaging in the learning environment that is being provided. It also shows that she is an active participant in this program.
Furthermore, the observation can be defined as rich as it also subtlety illustrates many other important pieces of information about Sarah that we can use to create future learning opportunities with. Her enjoyment in role play and small group social interaction, her ability to follow simple instructions, her ability to take on a leadership role when she finds it necessary and her ability to communicate clearly with others. Any of these learning attributes are able to be readily built upon and/or extended. I will explore this further below.
An example of an observation, while still valid but far less rich, which misses many opportunities to observe and/or follow up on learning:
Milly picked up the paint brush with a palmer grip and did three big brush strokes
This observation does not show whether Milly enjoyed painting, how long she was at the activity, whether anyone else interacted with Milly at the time etc. This leaves the reader of the observation wondering why the observation was taken in the first place. Possibly at a stretch you could state the learning taking place was that Milly is able to manipulate a paint brush. When you could have watched Milly for another 2 minutes and documented in a way that was meaningful a plethora of learning may have been discovered.
Readers of Sarah's observation (above) will get many different things, for example:
- Sarah's parents will see that she is happy when she is attending the service and that she is making friends;
- Colleagues, carers and other educators may be provided with insight or learning about Sarah, they may not yet have observed;
- The child Sarah (with help) will see that her play and progress is being celebrated and acknowledged even when she didn't realise it was occurring, giving her the confidence to continue playing this way;
- Regulators will be able to see that the program is engaging children with and that the educator knows the child and is following up on opportunities observed.
When taking an observation you should be aware of what you are communicating to the people that are reading it and that the message that you are sending is the one you a meaning to send.
In saying all of this the above observation means significantly less if you as the educator don't follow through. Yes parents may feel comforted seeing evidence of the child involvement, but if it is not followed through with assessment of learning and/or a programmed activity, the observation does not meet the needs of other stakeholders yourself, your service and the regulatory authorities.
This is where the true beauty of effective programming comes into play. A well written observation should lead to either confirmation that your existing teaching program is meeting the child's need and/or an assessment that leads to a new a programmed activity. The observation process should then cycle again: to review whether or not this programmed activity worked as you expected it to you need to observe the child engaging with the activity, you then take an observation of this engagement which leads to another programmed activity and so on and so forth so that before you know it the programming cycle is practically doing itself. All from your original observation you have now created a rich tapestry of a child's learning.
In summary the question of quantity should not be the focus, rather educators should take time to step back and really reflect on whether they can answer the following questions for each child in their care:
- Do my observations communicate the important things I have learnt about that child, providing opportunities to collaborate with families and colleagues;
- Do my observations show the child's engagement/enjoyment of my program?; and
- Have I followed up on what I have observed to further engage and/or extend learning for that child.
If quantity really still concerns you, step back again and look at your programs. Can you say that the majority of your practice and experiences offered are always guided or initiated by the children you are observing?
Traditionally assessment is often associated with the "end of learning" or a final measure of what we achieved/did not achieve. 'Assessment for Learning' shifts the focus away from the concept of assessment as final, to a continuous improvement model where assessment is iterative, ongoing and each assessment informs the next stage of learning. It is for this reason that a key principle of 'Assessment for Learning' requires teachers to reflect on the purpose of assessment and their assessment strategies to ensure assessment:
- is measured against learning outcomes/objectives;
- is comprehensive, using a variety of methods, and demonstrates what children can already do; and
- is embedded within the learning activities & informs future learning activities.
- schema's repeat;
- children seem fascinated, engaged and passionate about learning;
- children appear in their 'zone' or 'flow' when using their schema.
There are an array of schema notes provided on the internet, but we found one particularly good reference in New Zealand at http://www.dorsetforyou.com/357248. This document provides a summary of easily identified schema in early childhood and some activities/experiences that can be planned to include a child's indidvidual disposition for that schema including:
- Transporting (moving things) through shopping, trolleys, carts etc.
- Enveloping (covering, surrounding) - dens, things in boxes, dressing up etc.
- Rotation (circles) - circle games, roundabouts, spinning tops and kaleidoscopes etc.
- Trajectory (straight lines) - throwing, woodwork, playing with running water etc.
- Connection (joining) - train track, construction, sticking etc.
Harper suggests that educators use children's schema to consolidate learning and promote friendships (bonding with other children with shared interests).
An anecdote is a "short account of a particular incident or event of an interesting or amusing nature", often biographical ("Anecdote",nd). Anecdotes are useful for taking quick, simple notes that have been observed throughout the day. They are generally written in past tense and can be written up after the event when a teacher has more time. When taking an anecdotal observation it is good to note the time, date, place & relevant context of the event (eg. location, background information, children involved etc.). Essentially an anecdote tells story of what the observer has seen. As in all story telling, there are no strict rules for how this is done, however, it is worthwhile pointing out that observers should avoid using too much interpretation within their observation as this could inhibit subsequent reflection, particularly when reviewing a number of observations together at a later time.
PROS: Quick & can be remembered and written in past tense
CONS: Less objective
Example:
Date: 1/11/2010 Time: 9:15am Observer: Natalie Location: Main Playground Child/Children: Jai (4.1 yrs) Liam (4 yrs)
Anecdotal Observation:
Jai and Liam were playing "cooking" in the sandpit. Jai filled up his pots with sand whilst Liam stirred up a batch of rocks and sand at the toy stove. Jai said "Liam can you bake my cake". Liam said "in a minute...my cake's not done yet". Jai said "Can I see?" and he went over to the stove to see Liam's pot. "My cake has chocolate in it...see" Liam points to the mix. Jai giggles..."Yum" and grabbed a handful of the mix and pretended to eat it whilst dropping the sand to the ground. Liam laughed "You can't do that...you have to wait till it is cooked!"
Interpretation (What learning is occurring):
Liam and Jai have developed a good friendship and are interacting together well. This activity showed that they enjoy dramatic pretend play of an activity they probably have both observed at home.
Opportunities:
To leverage Jai & Liam's interesting in cooking into a mathematical cooking experience for counting and weighing ingredients.
Diary/Journal/Reflective Observations & Portfolios
These are fantastic way of building up a picture of the whole child, the activities they participated in and their interests. Typically consisting of a compilation of photographs, work samples and summaries of the day. I particularly find them useful in group observations or integrating group observations with the individual. In many cases children (and families) can become involved in the portfolios production and in such cases it is important that the observations focus on the child's strengths.
They can be time consuming and normally require regular compilation (although not compulsory).
PROS: Simple & visually attractive - great for presentation and collaboration with families. Very good, especially when preparing group observations on a computer, for preparing and easily reproducing across a large group of children.
CONS: Can be time consuming (as presenting aesthetically can be a challenge)
Many educators, myself included, have now accepted that normally developing early learning is helped little by undertaking developmental check list observations, where the focus is less on encouraging the educator to observe and build upon differing emerging strengths of individual children; which can appear at widely varying times, even amongst children of similar ages. However, whilst not beneficial in supporting and fostering normal 'individual' learning, it does have a place in early identification and confirmation of concerns in developmental delay and ultimately is highly beneficial in ensuring early intervention strategies are applied in a case where developmental delay is confirmed and long term outcomes are then improved. It can also be a helpful tool to prompt/remind/guide educator on potentially developmentally/age appropriate activities.
PROS: Very good for identifying/confirming developmental delay and improving long term outcomes for a child where early intervention strategies are subsequently implemented. Can also be good for prompting educators to challenge children to move to try new activities because it is developmentally appropriate.
CONS: Poorly supports 'strength based' learning and if it is a key or only technique applied, can limit opportunities to build upon children's differing emerging abilities.
PROS: Very good for identifying/confirming developmental delay and improving long term outcomes for a child where early intervention strategies are subsequently implemented. Can also be good for prompting educators to challenge children to move to try new activities because it is developmentally appropriate.
CONS: Poorly supports 'strength based' learning and if a key or only technique applied can limit opportunities to build upon children's differing emerging abilities.
Event Samples
Event sampling is a useful technique for observing behaviours, in particular for identifying the causes and possible consequences of certain behaviours, triggers and interactions.
Event sampling is normally recorded using the "ABC" technique:
- A for Antecedent (possible triggers, behaviours, actions) immediately prior to the event;
- B for the Behaviour (a summary of the observed behaviour)
- C for the Consequences (what happened immediately after the behaviour/event.
An example of an event sample which may be recorded using this method includes observing each time a child exhibits signs of aggressive behaviour and any causal factors. The knowledge gained from this observation would then likely be helpful in terms of identifying possible triggers.
PROS: Facilitates effective collection of information to help inform teachers of possible triggers for an event/behaviour
CONS: Time (Requires planning & preparation). Sometimes difficult to capture all that has occurred, particularly prior to an event.
Example:
Date: 1/11/2010 Time: 9:15am Observer: Natalie Location: Main Playground Child/Children: Jai (4.1 yrs) Liam (4 yrs)
Observation:
A
B
C
Jai & Declan are playing blocks. Jai is building a tower. Declan gets up and asks Jai to come with him to play on the lego table. Jai does not respond. Declan come up behind Jai and wraps his arm around Jai. Jai cries "don't...you hurt me"..Declan says sorry but still pulls at Jai..."come on". Declan pulls Jai over.
Jai looks up and pushes Declan away. Declan falls over and cries. Delcan gets up and runs to a teacher..."Jai pushed me"
Jai turns away..."Declan hurt me"...Jai walks to the book corner on the other side of the room. Declan follows sits down beside Jai. Two minutes later both boys are smiling again.
Interpretation:
Jai and Declan are learning how to make decisions and direct theirs and others play. In this circumstance Declan was unable to physically force Jai to another activity.
Opportunities:
To encourage discussion and/or read a story about listening and sharing (of your time/toys etc.)
Learning Stories
PROS: Detailed, fun, engaging to children, educators and families alike
CONS: Very time consuming, requires coordination and can focus too much on the images captured and the story told than on the learning
These are very detailed descriptions of an event or behaviour which is recorded as it happens. They are recorded in present tense and provide step by step commentary of what is observed. They can be very helpful for closely analysing interactions or a child's progress at acquiring particular skill/learning. Typically a running record records time in increments, although this is not always the case. The key objective is to be very detail and factual about what you see, recording things that at the time may seem meaningless, but could later help an observer breakdown or better understand the learning that is occurring.
PROS: Detailed, objective and can really assist a teacher to understand a child's behaviour or progress
CONS: Time consuming, observation must be taken as it is being observed
Example:
Date: 1/11/2010 Time: 9:15am Observer: Natalie Location: Main Playground Child/Children: Jai (4.1 yrs) Liam (4 yrs)
Observation
(9:15am) Jai is sitting in the sandpit. He is using a shovel in his right hand to dig sand and pour loose sand into a old cooking pot. He groans and digs again, lifts the spade (losing half of the sand) and pours into the pot. He digs again and lifts a scoop of damp sand and lifts it to the pot (his arm wobbles but he does not drop the sand). He swaps hands and digs with his left hand, but lifts the spade with his right hand (dropping sand again). Jai groans. Jai shovels the sand again with his right arm. Jai drops the shovel and pats the sand with his left hand and then his right. He picks up the shovel with his left hand, scoops a large scoop (wobbles and drops some sand) as he puts into his pot. He pats the sand again with this right hand and reshovels with his left hand.
(9:19am) Jai looks up to see his friend Liam at the toy stove. He is watching Liam stir his pot.
(9:21am )Jai says "Liam can you bake my cake". He gets up then squats and picks up his pot. Jai carries it to Liam. Jai drops the pot on the table with a heaving sigh. Liam looks at Jai and smiles and says "in a minute...my cake's not done yet". Jai walks over to the stove and looks in Liam's pot. He is on his tippy toes Jai says "Can I see?". "My cake has chocolate in it...see" Liam points to the mix. Jai giggles..."Yum" and grabs a handful of the mix, stepping away from the pot (about 3 paces) and pretends to eat it. The sand mix falls to the ground, Jai steps back as it falls. Jai walks forward with his hand reaching for the mix again (Jai is smiling). Liam steps in front of his pot (Liam is smiling) "You can't do that...you have to wait till it is cooked!"
Interpretation:
Liam and Jai have developed a good friendship and are interacting together well. This activity showed that they enjoy dramatic pretend play of an activity they probably have both observed at home.
Jai shows a preference for using his right arm/hand but is experimenting with his left.
Opportunities:
To leverage Jai & Liam's interest in cooking into a mathematical cooking experience for counting and weighing ingredients.
To provide other gross motor activities to build strength in Jai's left arm.
Time Samples
Time sampling is effectively the recording of a child's activities/behaviour at pre-determined regular intervals during the day. Typically time samples are conducted half hourly but the frequency can be as often or infrequent as is appropriate to the child and situation. Time samples can be very helpful in monitoring child's interactions, particularly if that child is quiet and overlooked or always shows a preference for only a few particular activities.
PROS: Quick snap shots of a child's day, great for identifying possible triggers of certain behaviours
CONS: Time consuming, observation must be taken as it is being observed
Example:
Date: 1/11/2010 Time: 9:15am-12:15 Observer: Natalie Location: Various Child/Children: Jai (4.1 yrs)
Observation
Time
Location
Activities
Interactions
9:15am
Main Playground
Sandpit/Cooking Pretend Play
Liam
9:45am
Main Playground
Dinosaur pit (rocks and plastic dinosaurs)
Liam & Lachlan
10:15am
Main Playground
Climbing Equipment
Liam
10:45am
Kindergarten Room
Mobilio
Liam
11:15am
Kindergarten Room
Blocks
Declan
11:45am
Kindergarten Room
Dress ups
Liam & Lachlan
12:15am
Kindergarten Room
Computer
Liam
Interpretation:
Liam and Jai have developed a good friendship and are interacting together well, choosing to spend a large part of their day together.
Jai shows a preference for active, dramatic and construction play.
Opportunities:
To leverage Jai enjoyment of pretend play (with LIam) into other activities he has not been observed yet to take an interest in such as art (eg. creation of spaceman/robot outfits using boxes, paint etc.)
Tallies can be great ways to quickly capture information such as:
- individual or group engagement in a particular activity;
- how many times/how often a situation, question or issue arises;
- differing opinions of children or groups of children
A clipboard, with your tallied item on noted, can easily and quickly capture your tally and then be drawn up into a simple bar graph or pie chart.
Some examples:
PROS: Can provide an insight into preferences not immediately evident at the time
CONS: Time consuming, need to be consistent in recording or results will be misleading
Work samples of children's work can provide concrete evidence of children development overtime. In the same way as learning stories, diary notes etc., they also provide an opportunity for children, families and educators to share and appreciate the learning as it is occurring. Pictures can tell a thousand words and are one of the simplest ways a educator can quickly capture and review learning at a later date. Educators can make notes at the time of taking either on the work sample or picture about what the children said or did at the time, which also further enhance opportunities for later reflection and insight.
Example:
February 2011
Jai's "Monster with big claws...Grrrrahh!"
Jai is just starting to write his own name from memory and is experimenting with writing other letter he is forming into his own picture of words
"Anecdoate" (n.d) retrieved 7 November 2010 from Dictionary.com
Ryan, K. "Learning stories" (nd.) retrieved 26 February 2011 from
http://www.familydaycare.com.au/forms/feature%2041%20-%20Learning%20Stories.pdf
The team have literally spent months agonising over this issue (trying to conceive the best approach for our product LIFT). We have had heaps of input from a number of services trialling and already using LIFT and we were not that surprised by the inconsistency and problems surrounding this issue. For many years now our own service has been utilising an offline version of LIFT in conjunction with a variety of other supporting assessment techniques (mostly check-lists) but our approach, just as we observed when we consulted with many other services, was haphazard and disconnected. It seemed that the advice out there too was just so variable and contradictory. The overwhelming question that keeps being asked is: "Why are we doing this this way?"
The next step was to identify assessment techniques and tools and evaluate their use and importance. We found a myriad of approaches, however we identified four key assessment categories typically used in early childhood learning assessment (see our illustration below).
Formative assessment is what we typically see in most early childhood services today. It is the process by which a teacher observes a child or children learning and develops strategies & new learning opportunities that will further promote new and/or extend learning.
E.g. OBSERVE - PLAN - OBSERVE - PLAN..etc. etc.
What became obvious when reviewing this aspect of early childhood programming was that too often this approach is used without planning for the next steps (eg. observations taken with no outcome). Sometimes this may be valid, particularly when we are building up a portfolio of observations about a particular issue or behaviour, however more often than not many early childhood operators observed but rarely connected their observations to the next steps and even more rarely evaluated whether a desired learning outcome or objective was achieved, although we will discuss evaluation later in this blog.
What we found most interesting was the emerging criticism of the use of 'learning stories'; and we wish to point out that this criticism is more about the way in which some teachers are using 'learning stories', rather than about the technique itself. The concern seems to be that there are many wonderful and pretty stories being created but are teachers answering the question "So What?" (I can quote numerous recent examples of early childhood educators, including Kathy Walker and more recently a representative from the DEECD who argue this). I must say that we also agree. Learning stories can be a trap and an incredible time waster, if not applied effectively. This is the reason why in our product LIFT we ask only three questions which we believe can be translated across a huge variety of observational techniques (from traditional more formal programming to learning stories and emergent curriculums):
1. What learning did you see and/or hear?
2. What learning is occurring?
3. What are the next steps/future learning opportunities?
The take away message is to avoid the trap of observing for the sake of 'observing' with now clear defined 'next steps'.
Diagnostic assessment
Early this year our team attended the KPG conference in Melbourne and there was a strong push from one of the presenters to connect with our local maternal health providers as there is a wealth of resources and support available to providers through these services. This prompted our team to investigate this and we came upon pre-screening checks in PEDs (PEDSTest.com) that can be used prior to conducting a standardised developmental assessment screen, which are used by numerous maternal health nurses and peditricians around Australia. We also came across an amazing website called 'Ages & Stages' http://www.agesandstages.com/ offering a paediatric screening service tool for medical practitioners, but this is likely to be too costly for most early childhood services. It will be interesting to await resources that are released under the EYLF (Early Years Learning Framework), but until then services will need to resource their own tools. We will keep you all posted if we find out any further progress in this area.
Having found the right tool to use, the next question was how to use this tool. The key question we were faced with was "do we integrate this tool into our daily formative assessment & planning process or do we undertake the check-lists independently (eg. tick the box in a list). Overwhelmingly we found you have to do both, leaning and drawing heavily upon families to participate in the process and inform you of their child's progress which for the most part they should be able to readily assist teachers with. The challenge here (albeit not a challenge in LIFT) is to somehow effectively collaborate with families to complete these assessments. Prior to LIFT our service implemented quarterly parent teacher interviews and our team relied heavily on sitting down with families and working through various checklists. Obviously now with LIFT, parents are participating online and can see and participate in reporting and assessment as it occurs. We would recommend that if collaboration with families is challenging for your service, that you use diagnostic tools sparingly and only when it is clear a concern about development may be valid. In our opinion, for the majority of children who are developing normally, diagnostic assessments should not be a focus for their learning assessment.
The mere mention of Transition Statements is enough to make even the calmest early childhood teacher groan at the moment. The pressure is now on to produce these documents and many teachers are madly crash studying the EYLF (or if you’re in Victoria the new VEYLF). More recently I have attended a number of conferences where these documents featured amongst key discussions by leaders within our industry and after listening to some very enlightening new perspectives on these issues and after some further reading and reflection, there are three key points which I believe may be helpful for teachers to consider before preparing these reports:
1. Ask yourself: what is the objective of the report?
If we ask ourselves why we are doing these reports and then logically for whom are these reports completed, I believe we are less likely to get lost or overwhelmed by new EYLF documentation guidance materials and terminology, and actually focus our efforts on ensuring we meet the intent of the process. I believe that transition statements are produced for prep teachers to help them to get to know each new child, what they enjoy, their confidence, their approach to learning and finally to give an overview of the potential things that might make the transition to school go smoother. I most certainly do not believe these reports are not intended to be overly theoretical or check-list based, which sadly is how many teachers have and are continuing to approach this task (unintentionally of course). I understand the angst these reports create. Last year our Kindergarten had to produce these statements and we too, with little guidance, produced what we thought was required by the process. We didn't have the benefit of reflection, time or any professional development and launched into the process in a mad dash at the end of the year, unaware till the last minute that we even were required to do the new process. In my opinion, it was a sad waste of time. The theory behind the process is very new and hence, to over compensate for this, many teachers are effectively over analysing the new framework documentation producing documents which are complicated, lengthy rehashed 'new language' statements used in the framework guidelines.
In summary: take a step back from the detail, apply a less is more approach and use concise effective summaries that actually meet the intended objective of helping our Prep teachers transition our students to school. Put yourself in the new Prep teacher's shoes, what type of information would you find valuable and helpful?
2. Don't be boxed in by the guidelines?
Some early childhood experts like Kathy Walker criticise the VEYLF because it 'boxes in' evidence of outcomes/goals into set age groupings. I concur, looking at the criteria, I can personally attest to numerous examples of where individual children's abilities vary widely outside of their 'age groupings'. Remember the VEYLF documentation was put together very quickly and is still very new and it is worthwhile being cautious and critical of its content. It is not gospel (at least not yet anyhow) and it is better to use your own good judgement, more often based on years of experience, than to follow verbatim a program guideline that itself is in its infancy.
3. Concentrate your efforts towards organising a meeting with the new teacher
We are all so time poor and it is understandable that such a task would be difficult, but a personal discussion is so much more helpful than any written report. Kathy Walker argued that when surveyed about the success of the first round of transition statements, most teachers said they would have preferred a meeting to sit down and discuss each child. As we deal with relationships that are actually quite complex and difficult to articulate in a report, there is no doubt in my mind that a meeting would be much more effective at communicating key issues about each child.
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