Nursery World - Learning & Development: Assessment

The SSTEW scale has been developed to assess the quality of early
childhood education and care. Denise Kingston and Professor Iram Siraj
of the Institute of Education explain.

Many studies show that environment rating scales (ERS) can be reliable and valid and relate to children's social-emotional and intellectual development. Recent research on effective settings - for example, the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) study - indicates that other aspects of development and practice warrant consideration if optimal support for children's dispositional as well as educational outcomes is desired (Siraj-Blatchford, 2009).

These studies promote the concept of 'sustained shared thinking' (SST) (Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2002), the active engagement of practitioners in children's learning and extending thinking through communication, which we believe can only be achieved when children's emotional well-being is also supported.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included