Tag: Online portfolios

Exploring Holistic Approaches for Early Childhood Educators

With a growing body of world research emphasizing the importance of holistic approaches to education, early childhood educators are being challenged to incorporate a teaching practice that focuses less on the traditional milestones of academic development, and more on the complete physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of a child (UNESCO, 2002).  The research is compelling and studies show that over time,  even persons with average IQ (Intellectual Intelligence) but with high EI (Emotional Intelligence) are significantly more successful than those with much higher IQs but low EI (Goleman, 1995).

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).


Teaching Philosophies that Embrace Holistic Approaches

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).


Methods for Implementing Holistic Approaches

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).

What Do Holistic Approaches Look Like in Practice?

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.   

Summary

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.


 




Find out more about LIFT and other early childhood management tools

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

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

Back to basics - A brief summary of early childhood observation methods and techniques


Anecdotal Observations

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)


Developmental Progress Assessments/Check-lists

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.


Cultural Maps

The impact of family and culture on children and ultimately their learning is immeasurable.  Understanding and supporting children and families, their culture and their learning will greatly improve educator ability to identify positive learning opportunities for children.  Cultural maps are written and/or visual records of culture.  Some examples elements of culture that could be included on a cultural map include: religion, belief, ethnic, knowledge, family immediate and extended, social demographics, food preferences, dress preferences etc. Cultural maps provide not only an amazing resource of knowledge and understanding for educators but also an amazing opportunity for children and families to participate in the process and exploration of their own culture.  

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.


Social Maps/Sociograms

Socio grams are a great way to illustrate communication and interactions of a child or children within a group and their friendship preferences.  Generally speaking they are normally presented visually with key references to describe the different elements on the 'map'.  Sometimes it might be helpful to overlay with other factors such as the physical layout of an environment, the presence of adults and other relevant influences to see if interactions are affected by these factors.   

An example



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

Learning stories are illustrative narratives about children's learning which involves all the stakeholder who are involved and/or support children's learning, including children, educators & families. "Learning stories shows a child’s progress over time and tend to be a more engaging form of reporting. The stories also provide valuable information which can be used to establish strong links between home and the care environment, and provide parents with an insight into what happens when the child is in care" (Ryan, K. nd)

Learning stories evolved from New Zealand's Te Whariki curriculum and over time have been simplified into three key questions:

1. Describe the learning
2. Review the learning
3. What's next (what will the stakeholders do to further support or enhance the learning)

Another technique typically used in learning stories is the recording of 'voices' of each stakeholder including:

- the child's voice
- the educator's voice
- the families voice

Some great online samples I have found include: 

http://www.giftedconference2009.org/presenter_files/margrain_p17_narrativesforlearning.pdf  - examples applied in primary school children, but a fantastic overview of the process and the possibilities

http://earlylearningstories.info/ - some of the best early childhood examples I have seen in this format. 

http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/figures/v9n2-perry/lukes-plan.pdf - some more great early childhood examples

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


Running Records/Narrative Observations

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

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, Photographs & Folios

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





PROS: Simple, quick, make fantastic and engaging displays or reports to take home

CONS: Need to go back later and reflect on learning, need camera and/or way to easily store work samples, unless adequate information is captured at the time too, can be misleading about learning that has or has not occurred. 


References

"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

Early Childhood Learning Assessment

So what does learning assessment mean in early childhood?

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?"

Getting back to basics

To answer this important question, we felt it important to get back to basics and understand the signficance assessment has in early childhood programming.  We found a great quote which answers this: 

"The overall purpose of assessment, regardless of age, is to help teachers make appropriate instructional decisions about how to best teach children" (Early Childhood..., 2005).

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

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

For most early childhood teachers, this primarily means check-lists, but can occasionally (when working with medical practitioner) mean more detailed and extensive diagnostic tools and testing.  

So when it comes to finding the right check-list it can be very daunting. There are just so many check-lists out there -  Whose forms do you use?  The universities and educational institutions often have different check-lists, but their focus changes and there are inconsistencies.  If you go online, you can find various check-lists from all sorts of providers including government, toy providers etc.,  but again they are all different and most have copyright issues requiring early childhood services to purchase their forms to use them practically in their services. 

The other issue is, assuming you find the right check-list for your service, what is the purpose of using a check-list at all and how do you use a diagnostic tool correctly? 

Advocates of strength based programming might argue that negative assessments of children is pointless , but I always find this argument weak as there is overwhelming research to support the benefits of early identification and intervention in learning delay/problems . 

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. 

Summative assessment

Summative assessment is essentially summarised reporting of a child's progress and achievements. There are endless ways this is completed and it is a personal style (from letters to families, school reports to folios),  however, some reporting formats are mandatory such as production of 'Transition Statements' which are forwarded onto primary teachers by Kindergartens immediately prior to starting school.  

Tip for teachers working with children under four
We thought it worthwhile to share with you an important observation we discovered.  Transition Statements are based on the EYLF (Early Years Learning Framework) and encourage educators to summarise children's learning dispositions and achievements into the five EYLF outcomes, whilst also explaining important contextual information about the child's learning including attendance and the service's/teacher's educational philosophy.  Surprisingly we found is that the 'Transition Statement' could effectively be used to summarise children's learning achievements and disposition of all ages and it is particularly helpful when sharing information and transitioning between groups. 

Evaluative assessment

Evaluative assessment extends not just to a child's individual work performance or achievement, it also equally includes a teacher's own self-reflection of the teaching methods, environment & outcomes. Ultimately it requires teachers to ask:

1. what did I do (understanding impact & influence)? 

2, how did it go (are goals, objectives or outcomes being achieved)?

3. what could I do better?

It builds upon formative assessment...

OBSERVE - PLAN - OBSERVE -  EVALUATE 

or PLAN - OBSERVE - EVALUATE-..etc. etc.

There are numerous tools to support evaluative assessment.  These include information, guides, standards, checks etc. A goal for the Raise Learning team will be to resource and develop evaluative tools to assist this process and support the evaluative steps already provided for in the LIFT tool. Part of this is includes translating & providing guidance on the new requirements as further regulation and guidance emerges under the new National Quality Standards.  We will keep you posted with updates as they arise. 

 

A note about LIFT (Learning Involving Families & Teachers)

This blog was produced by the Raise Learning team. 

LIFT is an online service for early childhood professionals to safely & securely document & share with families children's learning.  If you would like to find out more about LIFT you can visit http://www.raiselearning.com.au/pages/lift.  Raise Learning is currently offering an amazing free 30 day trial where you can try LIFT for free.  You can also register and sign up for our LIVE DEMO version of LIFT where you can see demonstration records of what LIFT can do.  



Reference
"Early Childhood Assessment from Birth to Age 8"  (2005), Early Learning Standards Task Force and Kindergarten Assessment Work Group,  Pennsylvania BUILD Initiative, Pennsylvania’s Departments of Education and Public Welfare, Harrisburg, PA retrieved 11 October 2010 from http://www.pakeys.org/docs/EarlyChildhoodAssessment.pdf

 

3 Points to note when writing an effective 'Transition Statement' under the new EYLF or VEYLF

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.  

2010 DEKTA Conference

Yesterday I went to the DECKTA (Diamond Valley and Eltham Kindergarten Teachers Association) conference in Mill Park where 150+ teachers and educators meet annually to discuss key industry issues, enjoy a formal social lunch and participate in a choice of practical workshops. 

The day opened with an award presented, based on 25 years of service, which I think was absolute gold!  Unfortunately our industry does very little recognise the achievements of its teachers, and this is one way this association is addressing this.  It also clearly shows that experience, measured by length of service, really has great value and should be recognized. 

The keynote speaker at the conference was Kathy Walker.  While I didn't agree with everything she said (she was extremely controversial) I loved listening to her and was inspired to really think about the issues she raised.  The reoccurring theme in her presentation (and subsequent workshop of hers that I attended) was that the recent changes to the framework should not make teachers completely rethink their teaching practice and potentially change everything they do, but rather use the framework as another tool to help you critically assess, reflect and improve what you already do.  Kathy gave example after example of why what Kindergartens already have been doing for so long is the right way and how some of the new language, terms and issues are so confusing and creating unnecessary angst in the teaching community.  

Kathy made some key points:

- relationships are what matters in preschool.  Kathy made reference to key research on brain development and other numerous early childhood research and explained how consistently the evidence supports how the development of relationships was key over all other learning domains: I particularly liked one example she gave, where she noted that a smile between a child and an adult,  fires up all parts the brain over 50% more than doing an activity, reading a book providing flash cards etc. 

- educators should really display their diplomas/degrees and be proud of their early childhood profession;

- Play based curriculum is the only key curriculum that we all must follow, other emerging influences from Regio Emilia to Te Whariki have no real basis on their own that supports their style or view of the world exclusively. I would like to note here particularly that 5 years on and the New Zealand government have been reviewing the effectiveness of the Te Wharaki approach and there are many issues and criticisms  emerging, so it is very important to take care when jumping too quickly on the band wagon of popular approaches (also reinforced numerous times over by Kathy throughout the day. Kathy also expressed extreme dismay at how some educators are wrongly using the term 'emergent' learning. She said teachers must always be intentional and thus have fully formed plans for each lesson, but that they must then only be sensitive or informed by children and flex their teaching to this as they intentionally deem best.  Kathy argued that children "don't know what they don't know" and hence it is ridiculous to have all learning be emergent on the day. I agree emphatically with Kathy and point further that such an approach conjures the timeless problem of the chicken and the egg, which comes first?

- Preschool is not about a year in preparation for school, it is about providing a year for children to do preschool and be preschoolers.  Kathy's belief is that too often children are pushed too quickly into formal learning approaches and she was very happy now that the government are now moving the first two years of school to be play based. 

 - Kathy expressed concern at the emerging trend of using the 'Voice of the child'.  Kathy argued that some approaches are emphasising the child make choices in life changing events such as when and where to go to school.  Kathy emphatically rejected this  approach and argued that the voice of the child is just one part of informing the teacher, but that the teacher and then ultimately the parent under the advice of the teacher, are the ones with the brain capacity and life experience to make important decisions on behalf of the child. 

- Kathy expressed her concerns with the use of terminology in the framework like outcomes and suggested educators view these as goals.  Kathy noted that she had observed some educators using the framework like a check list and since their are actually thousands of way each outcome could ultimately be expressed, she said applying a checklist approach was dangerous.   

- Kathy noted that the new terminology was very confusing and while educators should move to learn the new terms, they should continue, particularly in communication with families, use simple and easily understood language.  Kathy also noted that primary teachers have had a formal state governed curriculum for many years now and as a rule it completely changes every few years, such that not too much emphasis or effort to change using the current curriculum should be implemented.  I must say I found this part of Kathy's presentation hard to accept, as it effectively argued that we will walk the same rocky road the primary schools have over the last 100 years.  I am hopeful that this is not the case.  While I agree that some of the terms are a little academic and should be used sparingly till they are absolutely well understood by all stakeholders, this does not mean the that it will be acceptable to undertake a half effort wait and see what's next approach.  I personally love the viewpoint that we should uptake the curriculum at a rate where we can safely and with quality, intergrate the new idealology into our practice, no more and no less with a positive view to refining the current approach, rather than waiting for it to be completely reinvented.  

- Finally Kathy expressed significant disappointment with the government's management of the transition statements.  Kathy argued that transition statements should be much simpler, three or four points at most which would actually help primary school teachers, not create an administrative nightmare for all.  Kathy advised the group to take great care at keeping the statements as brief and to the point as possible and to never ever cut and paste indicators into the plan. 

I have to congratulate the DEKTA team! The workshops of the day were fantastic and it really was a great pratical and very professionally ran conference which needs to be noted since it is run by such a small group of volunteers.

Last notes: 
Raise Learning participated in the trade fair, exhibiting our new service LIFT (Learning Involving Families and Teachers) which is an online program planning and child documentation software service which allows parents and educators to easily login and access information about their children and programs.  It was wonderful to get such great feedback about our product and we look forward to working with you all in the coming weeks. 

Cost Implications to Families & Operators from the Introduction of the new Australian National Quality Agenda

On the weekend I attended the 2010 National Conference ‘Combining Education & Care’ on the Gold Coast which ended up being the largest ever gathering of early childhood operators ever held in Australia. 

One thing that impressed me so much about the conference was the organisers Childcare Queensland and their passion and commitment to pressure our government to seriously review who is going to fund the massive costs involved in the implementation of the National Quality Reform. 

Participants and organisers alike made strong allegations that the current government's regulatory impact analysis is severely flawed and that families will need to prepare themselves for cost increases in child care of between $13-$22 per day!

Obviously this is causing considerable panic and alarm across the industry and the state peak enterprise representative bodies have combined (National Child Care Alliance) to put considerable pressure on BOTH sides of government to get serious and address the funding shortfall.  Rhetoric on the weekend was that many services would likely close and/or the whole quality system could collapse.

Being an owner operator myself who is passionate about quality improvement, but also equally concerned that my service remains viable, I found the whole issue very unsettling.  It is obviously is an issue that must be addressed. I will be watching both sides of government closely this election to see who commits to a plan that will actually support a financially sound and healthy early childhood education system for all families...

One thing that I just cannot NOT mention was the absence of the government at the conference.  For reasons not known, the government withdrew from presenting at the conference, with an embargo on government representatives from attending...their absence was received with fierce criticism.  Their absence was felt even harder when advised that Minister for early childhood education was attending at a local surf carnival in NSW...You couldn't help but feel that the government was sending a strong message that their care factor, for the opinions of the largest gathering of early childhood operators ever in one venue, is very low...

It will be interesting to see how this situation unfolds and I am sure if the public puts enough pressure on both political parties, both will have to respond to this issue or they will deal a huge number of very unhappy parents and operators (an estimated 3+million voters).

If you would like to have your say in influencing the either party's agenda in this issue during the election campaign, I encourage you (if you are a parent or if not to encourage families who use your service) to visit http://www.childcareqld.org.au/ and complete the 'Parent Survey'. 
 

Using Technology to Improve Early Learning

Today’s generation are now faced with a myriad of technology and communication tools and early childhood research now supports fostering early adaption of these technologies, will lead to better outcomes for children. 

Do we agree? Yes - We absolutely do! 
The benefits go deeper than just a cursory attempt at facilitate children a head start at developing key future employability skills…Digital media opens children’s learning up to a whole world of information and people, breaking down barriers of distance or culture and allows children to creatively and more easily explore their own learning threads. Children can engage in the learning through a wide range of tools (camera’s, internet, music, recorded sounds, video etc). They can (either by themselves or with guided assistance from their teachers) record and summarize their own learning in ways that reinforce the construction of their own theories, allow them to share their learning with others and take pride in a visually engaging production. The social aspect of digital exploration also cannot be understated…teachers, parents, children can open themselves up to local, regional or even international communities in amazing new ways… everyone can get involved in the learning that is occurring! 


Here’s some ways we suggest you can use digital media in your classroom. 


Invest in a computer – It won’t cost you as much as you think! Here are a few ideas to get you started! 
- Buy a refurbished computer – they cost nothing and practically do everything you’ll ever need for your classroom! 
- Ask people to donate their old computers – parents, local businesses may give you whole computers or parts for free, so it’s well worth asking. 
- Check out the auction houses…there are so many around the world. In Australia, we’ve often used with great success www.graysonline.com.au – you can practically buy anything you can think of from them at a quarter of the retail prices and they also sell new which is well worth a look in. 
Get connected
It is impossible to write a blog to adequately cover the breadth and depth of activities and information available on the internet!  The fact that you've found our blog, we think you 'get' that.  We'd thought however that we'd provide you with a couple of links we really enjoy and hope they inspire you to start leveraging all the amazing and free activities out their in the ethos of the internet. 

Some great free activity websites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/ 
http://funschool.kaboose.com/
http://www.funbrain.com/

Some amazing information websites:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

Free TV/Movie Shows
http://fixplay.ninemsn.com.au/ - we found walking with the dinosaurs and Thunderbirds here!



Buy a camera and a colour printer
Take photos and allow children to take photos of what interests them, what they see and what they are learning. It is always so surprising when you sit back and see what has occurred and it inspires both the children, teachers, families and others seeing the learning to think of new ideas, discussions and ways to further extend on the child’s understanding.  Have a go at writing a learning story (we’ll write a blog on how to do this soon!). Print up your photos and display them with your artwork!  Capture amazing moments of creativity and expression that create story with your displays. Email your parents or add photos to a shared web album like Google’s Picasa. 
Go Social 
- Start a social group on facebook and update information to a closed community. 
- Start a blog and document your learning and photos. You can create blogs using Wordpress and Google’s blogger with closed communities. 
- Sign up to Twitter and tweet funny comments and observations
    Word of Caution on Privacy Laws: Children and families have legal rights to protection of their privacy. Please ensure you have the necessary permissions and documentation to take photos and share, even within a closed social community. It is always best to err on the side of caution – If in doubt, leave them out! 

    Revive the old TV and video.
    TV and video are amazing tools not used enough in early learning environments.  There is a stigma in the early learning community that TV is a mind numbing tool used by parents to ‘baby sit’ children! As a parent myself, I can attest there is some truth to this BUT this is not the way an early childhood teacher can use TV and video! The goal for the teacher is to leverage the fantastic ‘entertainment value’ provided by TV and video to stimulate learning and discussion in new ways. There are so many engaging early childhood learning shows from Sesame Street to Playschool; children love these and they can provide fabulous opportunities to explore ideas, themes art work and other ideas. But it really doesn’t just stop kids’ shows: I personally can attest that children as early as two absolutely love documentaries on all sorts of topics! You’d be surprised! If children ask questions about a topic you know you have a documentary on, this can be a fabulous way to answer them…You can also use documentaries to stimulate interest or further discussion on a topic. The trick is to keep the showings (as you’ll unlikely be able to show a whole show, at least not in one sitting to a preschooler) short a sweet. Stop the shows regularly and ask questions. 

    Other Digital Media ideas you may not have thought of!
    - For those of you a little more computer savvy, make a video of your class! You would be amazed how much everyone (children, parents, teachers) love seeing themselves learn, play teach and interact! 
    - Use an old (or new if you can!) Overhead projector – show children’s drawing, pictures and artwork. I love creating silhouettes of children. 
    - Use Stop watches to extend or change an activity – children can quickly adapt new ideas such as time and consequences. Count down time, run races, challenge children in simple activities etc. 
    - IPods – Buy e books or download stories online. I recommend teachers go to ITUNESU or Podcasts as there are so many free preschool stories available for download. 
    - Use your phones – record voice, audio, take photos or video easily on most smart phones.

      We'd love to hear your ideas?  Feel free to respond here or email us your ideas to info@raiselearning.com.au 
      Some amazing information websites: