There can be no doubt that the ability to describe the progress of babies, toddlers and young children is a vital part of our role as early years practitioners. We need to be able to articulate progress to ourselves, to each other, to parents and carers and perhaps, most importantly of all, to the children with whom we work.
The way in which we describe and celebrate achievement sends strong messages about what we value and what we feel carries worth. We need to consider the tools that we use to report achievement and to map progress. This includes the vocabulary that we use. The language that we employ when conveying information about progress can help build and cement positive relationships, building confidence and self-esteem for all concerned.
Great sensitivity is required when communicating information about young children to their parents and carers. This communication needs to be two-way to be most effective, and it needs to take place in an environment where there is an ethos of mutual understanding and respect.
Many of us working in early years will be parents ourselves and will have experience of the sharing of information from 'the other side'.
As a parent, what I always wanted to know, first and foremost, was whether my daughter was happy and whether she was liked. I also wanted to know that her educators knew and understood her.
Any dialogue that I entered into about her, at whatever stage of her education, began with the belief that her emotional well-being was the most important aspect of her development.
Of course, not all educators I encountered began conversations from the same perspective. I can remember a particularly excruciating encounter with one of her French teachers, late on in her secondary career. 'Ah, Mr and Mrs Bromley,' she began, in a voice that did nothing to reassure us. 'Rebecca has been averaging 81. I think she should aim for 85.'
She then suggested that we might like to know the grades of the other pupils, in order that we would understand 'where Rebecca was' in the scheme of things. At this point, it was quite difficult to remain calm, and I explained what I really wanted to know about my daughter.
The following year the same teacher greeted us with 'Ah, Mr and Mrs Bromley. Rebecca's happy, and I like her. Is that good enough?'
On the first occasion, at least the teacher was giving me information that she thought I wanted. The problem arose because my view of progress, success, achievement, call it what you will, was not the same as hers. The second encounter was no more successful, for a whole raft of reasons, not least being that it was abrasive and confrontational.
There is also an issue of power relationships. Clearly, I am on the teacher's territory, in a hall packed full of other parents and teachers. Despite the fact that it is my child who is being discussed, I actually have very little power in the dialogue. No doubt this teacher saw me as a blot on her educational landscape, someone to be dealt with as briefly as possible. She certainly made no attempt to glean any information from me that might have supported my daughter in any way.
POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
One would hope that scenes such as these would not happen in the EYFS. We have more time to build quality relationships with parents, and to share information regularly on an informal basis - at the beginning and ends of sessions, for example.
We have a key person system that allows parents and children to build strong relationships with a trustworthy, caring adult. In contrast to a secondary school, our places of work are shared spaces where we can work as part of a collaborative enterprise - families and educators alike - to ensure the best possible outcomes for children.
Making time for parents and carers to come into the setting and see where their children spend the day is incredibly supportive for all involved. If parents can see the environment, both indoors and out, it is possible for them to have more meaningful conversations with the children about their time spent in our care.
Conversation between practitioners and family members on an informal basis can do much to reassure parents, as well as to clarify uncertainties, celebrate significant events and explain and justify our practice.
For me, it is also a time to share stories. What happened yesterday when the child got home, or even before the educational day has begun, can have an enormous impact on how the day with us will be negotiated.
For our part, we should take great delight in sharing the stories about the children's significant achievements - offering a window into a world that many parents would wish they could be part of. This sharing of stories helps us to understand families, and helps them to understand us.
Building open relationships enables us to have dialogues about the children that are meaningful, and that are two-way. Listening to the parents' perspectives on their children's achievements is invaluable, offering a window into the child's world that is different to our setting and in which children achieve and behave differently.
Without acknowledging young children's achievements in the home environment, we cannot form a complete picture of them as confident, capable learners.
It is undoubtedly true that our interactions with parents, like those with the children, are deeply entwined with our core beliefs and values. We need to have appropriately high expectations of the parents, in the same way that we need to have appropriately high expectations of the children.
We also need to understand that describing and understanding children's progress is a collaborative enterprise, and not to be affronted or offended when parents question our practice or offer feedback that we may not always like.
Let me offer another example here, this time from my experience as a reception class teacher. I was conducting parent interviews, midway through the children's first term in school.
Gemma's parents entered the room. Inside my heart sank a little, as they were not the easiest of parents to deal with. I began by asking them how they felt Gemma had settled in to school. Their reply did nothing to lift my spirits. 'Well, Mrs Bromley, we think Gemma's bored.'
My response to this comment was to explain all the activities that were available to the children in the classroom that day. One of these activities was sand play. Robin Hood figures had been added to the damp sand and the children were using the environment to create stories. On hearing this, Gemma's Dad remarked, 'Well, you see, that's the problem then. She did sand when she was three ...'
This is the kind of comment that many early years practitioners can find difficult to deal with, to say the least. However, it is important to understand that there is absolutely no reason why a parent, particularly one who's not from the world of education, should understand not only the enormous value of sand play, but also how children might make progress in such an area of provision.
When reflecting on how we share information with parents, we also need to think about which aspects of children's progress we share and the evidence that we show. If we never show evidence of success in, for example, sand play, then how can we expect parents to value such experiences?
OBSERVATION
Of course, we can only share such successes if we have observed them ourselves. We will only observe such achievements if the environment that we provide enables such success and if we have made time to collect evidence from playful contexts, outdoors as well as indoors.
It is worthwhile taking time to examine the balance of our observations and evidence collection. If there are some areas of provision that are valued less by practitioners, it may be that some children's achievements are going unnoticed.
Reflecting on this issue as a team can help develop good practice and open up new avenues of achievement for children. Thinking about where and how evidence is collected will offer an insight into the kinds of activities that are highly valued by adults.
If there are areas where little evidence is collected - outdoors for example - then this needs to be reflected upon and changes in practice made.
CHILD'S PERSPECTIVE
All learners, whatever their age or experience, deserve to have their perspective on their own learning taken into account.
Celebrating children's achievements with them is an extremely rewarding process and can do much to redress some of the imbalance in power relationships that exists between adults and children in educational environments.
This kind of practice needs to be developed, so that children can acquire a language with which to describe their own learning. This takes time, and requires practitioners to have an understanding of what progress might look like in all areas of provision, not just in those that seem more readily measurable.
WELL DONE!
Adults must think carefully about the language they use with children when responding to their achievements, as they are acting as role models for children's own behaviour.
Some of you may know this story, but it is worth repeating in the context of this article: Nicola, aged four, had been asked to look after a little girl who was new to nursery class. Nicola helped the new child put on an apron and the two little girls painted side by side. Then the new child unclipped her painting from the easel and set off across the room. Nicola stopped her to ask, 'What are you doing?' The new child said, 'I am going to show the teacher.' Nicola's response to this was to say, 'Oh, don't bother. She will just tell you it's beautiful.' (Smidt, 2009)
It's not that telling a child that their painting is beautiful is inherently 'wrong', or even inappropriate, but clearly it was a response that had, in this setting at least, become over-used.
If we are to help children make the best progress possible, they need to be able to repeat successful behaviours. This means that they need to understand not only that they did well, but also exactly what it was that was good. In turn, they can pass on their achievements to their families, using language given freely to them by practitioners. This is far more empowering than a 'sticker' will ever be.
Take time to discuss children's learning with them, not just individually, but also in groups so that language can be shared effectively.
For example, when I was a reception class teacher, I spent a small period of time each week talking to the children about their writing. They were invited to bring a piece of writing of which they were proud to a whole class discussion. The school policy encouraged an emergent approach to writing, and all contributions were equally valued.
During discussions such as this I would talk to the children about what they could do, and what they knew about writing. For example: 'Look, you can see that Josh knows the difference between writing and drawing.'
'I can see all the letters of Emily's name in her work.'
'If you look carefully you will see that Sanjit knows that writing goes from left to right across the page.'
When children acquire such strategies for describing their own achievements, they will be able to make powerful contributions to the record of their learning journey.
Clearly, this kind of information needs to be communicated to parents as well, so that they can understand what it is they are seeing.
Displays of young children's work - be it pieces of writing, drawings or photographs of outdoor activities - need to be annotated in ways that not only celebrate but also explain our practice to others.
Make sure that you take time to talk about the displays with children, and involve them in the selection of pieces to display. Their perspective on what needs celebrating may not be exactly the same as yours!
CONCLUSION
It has been my aim in this series to offer a view on Observation, Planning and Assessment that makes these processes seem not only achievable and enjoyable, but also exciting and empowering.
If we take control of the assessment procedures, then we are able to take control of the curriculum, justifying our practice through our knowledge of how children can achieve best, not only in terms of curriculum content but also in developing positive attitudes and dispositions towards learning.
We need to have a deep understanding of how and why children learn best. This must then be reflected in the emotional and physical environments that we create, and the opportunities for learning that we provide. The evidence that we collect needs to reflect these opportunities, valuing the process of learning as well as the product.
I remain convinced that planning for children to succeed should lie at the heart of all we do. We have the power to create an environment in which all children can experience success, and we need to exercise such power with unlimited generosity.
Reference
Planning for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Sandra Smidt (Routledge)
