Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
Alice:... so long as I get somewhere.
The Cat: Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Although the above conversation is between two fictional characters in a children's story, it is one that will resonate with many early years practitioners. Like Alice, they too are seeking direction amid the tensions, frustrations and problems that currently surround the observation, assessment and planning cycle within the EYFS.
The less experienced, less well trained and less confident within the early years profession have long found effective planning a challenge, and welcomed direction on how to improve their practice.
What is becoming clear, however, is that far from clarifying the direction in which they should take their practice, the introduction of the EYFS is causing confusion about the planning cycle.
Much of this confusion stems from the terminology within the EYFS documents, principally 'adult-led' and 'child-initiated'. Settings that plan around topics chosen by adults, with little regard for children's current interests, passions and desires, recognise that they have to move away from that approach. However, making the transition is creating two main problems.
The first is the 'letting go' of a topic approach and having a clear understanding of what should replace it. Without a 'theme', some practitioners are finding it difficult to plan activities for the children. Second, there seems to be confusion about the adult role; if we don't choose the topics and plan activities from them, what do we do?
Some of these difficulties were highlighted when I recently heard a group of practitioners commenting on a course on planning from children's interests. One commented 'My manager came back and said that we don't plan any more', while another remarked 'They said we don't do adult-initiated activities any more, that's all gone out of the window.' Similar remarks followed - all revealing typical misunderstandings about what constitutes good practice in the EYFS.
In fact, a key message from the EYFS is, 'All planning starts with observing children in order to understand and consider their current interests, development and learning' (Enabling Environments 3.1). And planning to reflect learners' interests should not exclude opportunity for adults to engage meaningfully with children.
An 'unplanned' environment would be disastrous for children, who would lack the interest, support and guidance of informed and knowledgeable adults. Without a range of high-quality, adult-led activities that are planned with a clear understanding of child development, children would lack the opportunity to have certain behaviours modelled, skills taught or thinking developed. It is perfectly possible for an adult-led activity to reflect the interests of the children in the setting, and we shall consider this in detail later in the series.
GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENTS
Confusion over the planning cycle is understandable, however. It is easy to be bewildered when curriculum documentation changes, when wording that we have become accustomed to is altered and when we have to consider the curriculum anew.
That confusion becomes all the greater when some Government requirements are added to the equation. For just as good EYFS training seeks to lead practitioners in the 'right' direction, aspects of Government policy are leading some practitioners away from the principles of the new framework.
This problem of being pushed in the 'wrong' direction is of major concern to many across the early years sector, but is perhaps most acutely felt in schools. Much of the problem here lies with misunderstandings about assessment - both its definition and purpose.
Local authorities now have to meet Government targets to raise outcomes for young children. These new outcome duties have prompted some of the more anxious - and less-informed - authorities to demand from settings more evidence of children's learning, and in a form that is more easily measurable.
Practitioners need to feel confident that their record-keeping systems are valid, are informative and, above all, reflect the play-based pedagogy that underpins the EYFS. Record-keeping and summative assessment alone will not help children make progress. Remember the saying: Pigs do not get fatter simply by being weighed!
Seeking to clarify some of the misconceptions surrounding this, children's minister Beverley Hughes, writing in Nursery World (4 September 2008), said, '(The EYFS) will not require endless bureaucracy. The only written record that is required is the EYFS Profile ... and that is no change on what happens already.'
This quest for evidence also prompted then early years national director at National Strategies, Ruth Pimentel, to write to local authorities about the 'quantity of paperwork' that some expected of their settings.
While acknowledging the importance of gathering 'accurate measures of the progress being made by settings in improving children's outcomes', she added, 'however, there is a need to balance this with ensuring that the time and effort required to secure an accurate picture of children's outcomes does not detract from the capacity of setting leaders and staff to do their day-to-day work with children and parents in order to secure those outcomes.'
Similar problems with assessment have emerged when it comes to the EYFS Profile. Here, many schools persist in the mistaken belief that early years staff have to amass evidence for each of the learning points within the nine scales (more than 110 pieces of evidence for each child!).
Some practitioners also assume that formative assessment and learning opportunities are discrete processes. Rather than observing and analysing children's behaviour while they are engaged in a purposeful activity, separate assessment opportunities are created which often result in children achieving less than might normally be expected.
RIGHT PATH
Given this context, it is important that we understand what is required of us, and how to interpret those requirements for the benefit of the children in our care. This series aims to clarify meanings and misunderstandings, to set practitioners who are unsure on the right path to good practice, and to encourage the committed early years professional to continue planning and delivering what they believe is best practice.
Only when we know 'where we want to get to' will we be able to take control of the important and often misunderstood aspects of EYFS practice. Only with a clear, comprehensible vision for the children in our care will observation, assessment and planning procedures become a means of empowerment that will help us deliver a meaningful, play-based curriculum that allows children to achieve highly and raise standards for all.
GLOSSARY
Here is a glossary of terms and definitions that relate to the planning cycle and will be discussed in detail later in the series.
Observation
Observation is an opportunity to look closely at the processes of learning, as well as its products. Observing children should help us get to know them better, and it is this 'knowing' that should inform both our planning and our understanding of how children learn best. An observation may be formal (planned in advance to look at a certain child or group of children) or informal. Practitioners may note something of significance, even though they did not 'plan' to observe it.
The EYFS requires that assessment begins with observation of the children. It is important to remember that an observation alone will not be a piece of assessment in itself. The notes written need to be brief and precise and above all else, valuable to those who will use them to inform planning. Observations need to be analysed in order to plan future learning opportunities and create an understanding of how children learn best.
Outcomes
Simply put, an outcome is the result of an activity, either adult-led or child-led. It is important that practitioners have the broadest view of what an 'outcome' might be and are flexible in the way that evidence is collected. This will impact significantly on the quality of learning experiences that can be planned for children. The broader the range of outcomes that are valued, the broader the range of learning opportunities that will be available. An over-emphasis on 'paper and pencil' outcomes can lead to a serious reduction in opportunities for children to creative in their learning.
Recording
Record-keeping is not an end in itself. The only formal requirement to capture information in writing within the EYFS is the requirement to complete the EYFS Profile in the year in which a child turns five. Clearly, though, practitioners need to keep a record of children's learning.
Photographs, video and sound recordings are particularly useful in allowing practitioners to record both the product and, equally importantly, the processes of learning. Having conversations in the role-play area, building with junk modelling materials outdoors, showing a fascination for raindrops trickling down a window and acts of thoughtfulness towards others are all examples of outcomes that cannot be readily recorded and celebrated by the means of pencil and paper alone.
Formative assessment
In formative assessment, the emphasis is on supporting children in their learning. It may also be described as assessment for learning. It is used to plan future learning opportunities for groups of children or individuals and so ensure that the environment and activities offered reflect their needs and stimulate appropriately high achievement.
Formative assessment should also be used as an opportunity for practitioners to reflect on the quality of activities offered and of their interactions with the children. It can be a powerful tool for ensuring that children have access to a rich curriculum.
Summative assessment
Summative assessment measures what pupils know or can do, often at the end of a fixed period of time. The EYFS Profile is a summary of a child's attainment that informs teachers as children move into Key Stage 1.
Schools may require periodical 'summative assessment tasks' in order to confirm that pupils are making progress. Such tasks need to be planned with care, ensuring that children's achievements reflect their true ability. Summative assessments are often described as being 'high stakes', as they are used to judge the performance of settings and as a means of setting targets and raising standards, thus becoming measures of 'quality'.
Long-term plans
A long-term plan needs to demonstrate the learning that is likely to occur during the time a child is in a particular setting. It should include:
- broad learning intentions across and within the six areas of learning
- the key experiences that are likely to be offered to children and how learning can be developed within them.
Long-term planning will link closely to the continuous provision that will be accessed by the children - role play, small world, sand and water, outdoors, etc. It may also include regular and seasonal events, outings and the celebration of festivals, etc.
Medium-term plans
Medium-term plans are intended to show the focus of children's learning in the next few weeks, for periods usually lasting around four to six weeks. The focus in the EYFS is on planning from children's interests, so medium-term plans ideally should begin from a discussion of observations made of the children, focusing on their interests, obsessions and passions.
A setting's continuous provision can then be enhanced to reflect these interests and appropriate learning experiences planned. In the EYFS, settings do not have to follow a theme or topic.
Short-term plans
A short-term plan is at its best when it is flexible, and practitioners are able to respond to learning opportunities that may occur, for example, in the environment (such as a sudden fall of snow) or in children's lives (perhaps a sibling is born).
Short-terms plans are most effective when they contain a clear, but limited, set of learning intentions. Practitioners must recognise that these learning intentions can be achieved in a range of ways, not merely through an adult-chosen theme or topic.
It is important to reflect on the impact of the short-term planning and consider 'what next' for the children. This should include opportunities for children to revisit aspects of their learning and to develop and extend successful activities.
Part 2: Enabling Environments will be published in Nursery World on 26 February
MORE INFORMATION
Right from the Start: Effective Planning and Assessment in the Early Years by Vicky Hutchin (Hodder & Stoughton)
'"I'm putting crosses for the letters I don't know": Assessment in the Early Years' by Rachel Sparks Linfield, Paul Warwick and Christine Parker in Teaching and Learning in the Early Years (3rd Edition) by David Whitbread and Penny Coltman (Routledge)
The EYFS Profile, the Handbook and other EYFSP information are available at: www.standards.dfes.gov.uk
Invaluable information on assessment in the EYFS can be found at www.naa.org.uk, the website of the National Assessment Agency.
'What we believe EYFS can achieve for chidren' by Beverley Hughes (Nursery World, 4 September 2008)
'EYFS assessment isn't about paperwork' by Jennie Lindon (Nursery World, 22 October 2008)
