Nursery World - Look and learn (2)

Use your observations and written records to tell you what you need to know about each child in your settting Observation is an essential part of early years daily practice in all kinds of settings, from the baby room to the end of reception. To be effective, observation requires staff to have or develop skills in observing and writing up observations quickly and efficiently. These skills are not difficult to learn, and once acquired, they go towards making the job of working with young children even more exciting.

Use your observations and written records to tell you what you need to know about each child in your settting

Observation is an essential part of early years daily practice in all kinds of settings, from the baby room to the end of reception. To be effective, observation requires staff to have or develop skills in observing and writing up observations quickly and efficiently. These skills are not difficult to learn, and once acquired, they go towards making the job of working with young children even more exciting.

The following pages take practitioners through the observation process, explaining what and how to observe and record and how to feed the observations into their planning.

What to look for

The starting point for observing has to be linked to a practitioner's knowledge of child development. What kinds of skills and processes would you expect to see in a child of this age? For example, for children aged under two, the following areas of development are likely to be of greatest importance:

* Emotional and social development

* Physical skills related to movement and fine motor control

* Development of understanding and use of language

* Exploration and discovery: how is the child exploring? What sort of things is she/he showing most interest in?

These areas continue to be significant as children grow older, but they change in nature. Useful quick reference guides for under-threes are few and far between, but the new framework Birth to three matters, published by the Department for Education and Skills, will help fill this gap. The London borough of Islington also includes under-threes throughout its Curriculum guidelines from birth to five-year-olds (see box, page 22).

For children over three, the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage is, of course, extremely useful in giving an overview of expectations for development, but may need to be supplemented with other more detailed guidance. For example, the document Planning for progress: an early years curriculum framework by the London borough of Tower Hamlets (see box, p22), like the Islington curriculum guidelines, is also very useful.

Many LEAs have developed guidelines for assessment. The London borough of Merton, for example, uses a format for observations with a prompt for what to look for (see example, p19).

How to observe

Observing means watching closely, with a view to doing something about what you have seen. Practitioners need to begin an observation with an idea of what they might be looking for, but it is also important that they keep an open mind about the other evidence that they may witness. For example, practitioners might intend to observe how a child:

* relates to others within a small group (PS&ED), and

* uses language for communication and thinking (CL&L).

However, during the observation, they may also observe how the child:

* sequenced an event such as cooking (MD and K&UW)

* dressed and undressed with dressing-up clothes (PD)

* wrote a message on the telephone pad (CL&L)

* explained how something worked to another child (K&UW)

* developed a storyline for the play (CD).

In the space of a three-minute observation, a practitioner may, therefore, gather a great deal of information about a child's development. The observation can be written as short, precise notes. There is no need to write everything in detail, but what is written needs to be useful in child development terms.

Observation to assessment

An observation in itself is not enough - it needs to be analysed to be of use as an assessment, and to inform future planning. In my book Right from the Start, I recommend using the following headings for all observations and other evidence of learning:

* Evidence (example or observation)

* Area of learning

* What does it tell us about this child's learning and development?

* Implications for planning.

(See observation example, p20.)

Purposes

Children need to be observed in different situations and contexts to arrive at a holistic picture of their development. Children's responses to some planned activities inside and outside, as well as play and self-chosen activities, all need to be recorded. Some observations need to be planned and others - often the most important - are just collected in the course of a normal day. But different types of situations require different types of observations. For example, there are:

* Participant observations, when you record an activity you were involved in

* 'Catch as you can' notes/observations, when you record an action or activity that you noticed but were not involved in

* Conversations with children, from accounts of different events to informal chats that stem from simply passing the time of day with a child

* Samples such as children's drawings, models, writing and photographs, showing the child in the process of doing something.

Practitioners should collect all of the above in the course of their normal daily routines at their setting and record the observations at the time, rather than later.

Writing up an observation afterwards only produces unnecessary work.

Observations are working notes, and as such, do not need to be written perfectly (though they do need to make sense!). This will become the bulk of the record keeping.

A longer look

Many early years settings choose to do a longer observation on every child once a term or every few months, to give a fuller picture of their interests, social development, general dispositions and range of choices.

It would seem sensible for every reception class to carry out one of these every term, as evidence for the Foundation Stage Profile.

Practitioners can carry out these longer observations in many different ways, depending on the purpose and the nature of the information they want to gather. The observer watches from a short distance away. Watching does not have to be very long - sometimes, three minutes can be quite enough, especially if it is group play. Or practitioners may prefer to do a tracking type observation.

Those who are familiar with the Effective Early Learning Programme (see box, p22) will recall the 'child tracking observations' which entail three five-minute observations during a session. These can give a full picture of children during the session, showing how they approach activities, what most interests them, how involved they become, and their interaction with others, as well as evidence of learning in various areas.

Whatever type of observation is used, it is important that it seeks to answer the question: 'What does this tell us about learning?' From this evidence of learning, a record of a child's progress over time will emerge, which is unique to that particular child.

Recording

Often I encounter detailed observations that, unfortunately, show very little of any significance. For example: 'Jemma picked up blue pencil in left hand, transferred it to right hand, flicked it backwards and forwards in hand, then moved backwards and forwards across the paper, put it down again and picked up pink pencil in right hand, made a few similar marks, put it down again. Picked up green pencil in left hand, transferred it to right hand, and made a few marks.'

This information tells us only that Jemma was able to pick up pencils and appears to be right-handed. We learn nothing more about her. Although there appears to be a great deal of detail about the child's fine motor skills, it is hard to see what was significant. The information about colours is meaningless, as it contains no information about the child's awareness of or interest in colour.

A better recording of the same observation would put the event in context.

For example:

'Jemma, busy playing with others outside, was asked by staff member to come and do a drawing. Came inside as required, said she didn't know what to draw, so staff member suggested a rainbow. She then made a few arc-shaped marks, using right hand, with different coloured pencils. Said, "I've finished". Then asked if she could go outside again.'

This second observation tells us a great deal more, partly as it provides background information. We now learn that the child is willing to comply with staff expectations but preferred, at that moment, to do an activity of her choice. We learn that she is able to represent a rainbow by using a range of colours, that she is right-handed and that she is able to express her needs and wishes in words. The implications for planning are clear: do not withdraw her from a chosen activity to come and draw for no meaningful reason!

Writing positively

Sometimes I see comments in children's records such as 'language skills not well developed', 'poor social skills' or 'can't relate to other children'.

Such comments are not observations but negative, judgemental statements, which tell us nothing useful about the child concerned and only that the author has dismissed that child as incapable in some way.

An observation describes an action, event or moment in time. If you are concerned about an aspect of a child's development, then it is crucial to describe in detail what you saw. The judgement comes when analysing the observation, and needs to focus on what the child can do and needs help with. The onus must be placed fairly and squarely on the adults involved to provide support, rather than condemn the child. It is important to remember that it is the adults who are in control, not the child.

It is important to record, for example, a conflict, but in the analysis to view it as a need for further support.

Evidence (example or observation)

Ben making Duplo models on carpet with six others. Conflict ensued when he grabbed a piece of Duplo from another child. Conflict resolved when staff member intervened.

What does it tell us about this child's learning and development?

In a situation where several children are working with a limited amount of resources, Ben needs support to ask for what he wants and wait his turn.

Implications for planning

* Organise construction provision so that children are encouraged to choose from the range of sets (and possibly limit numbers of children in the area?).

* Have a member of staff deployed here daily for a week, to introduce new system of free choice and to support Ben in asking for what he wants and seeing the possibilities of using alternative resources.

Assessment to planning

If a format such as the one described is used for collecting and analysing observations, it is likely that, over a short period of time, there will be dozens of points for planning in the records for the whole group or class.

The next step is to organise how these are fed into planning.

The most manageable approach is to review a limited number of children's records each week (for example, five) and to go through the children in rotation. Practitioners should use this review to assess their priorities for planning, relate these priorities at the next planning meeting and add them in to the weekly plans. This process should be seen an important element of the weekly plans. It is made easier if settings devise a format to review records (see example, p20).

What you plan will only rarely be exclusive to the one child. Often, this kind of planning is about fine-tuning the overall provision and the adult's role in supporting the child's learning and development. You are planning a learning opportunity that you will be offering to the child concerned. This kind of planning enables settings to:

* build on a child's interests as a way of enabling the child to access new experiences or develop new skills

* plan for a staff member to be involved in the child's play and explorations

* plan to change the way an area of provision is used, or the timetable, to ensure better support for the child

* plan a 'focused activity' for the child (and several others) to address a specific need or teach a skill

* plan opportunities for the child to continue, repeat and practise a skill with the necessary adult support

* develop an area of strength in a child by setting up new challenges, problems to solve or investigations.

Sometimes the planning points that I have seen in children's records are too general. A comment such as 'Provide more opportunities like this' or 'Encourage her to talk' is all very well, but a comment that states the role of staff is much more helpful. For example:

Observation

Sam was being shown some photos. He pointed to photos excitedly and repeated name of person in photo.

What does it tell us about this child's learning?

Showed a lot of interest in photos and gave single-word responses, naming all the people in the photos.

Implications for planning

When he gives single-word responses (such as naming), staff need to reply to his words with additional words, eg 'Sam is in the garden', 'Jerome is on the bike.'

Weekly plans

During the week practitioners will be working from their plans, implementing what has been decided. Putting into action the plans for the specific group of children will no doubt prove an ideal opportunity to add to their records. You may well be noticing things that you had not seen before, because you are spending more time with these children.

Summative assessments

Whether you are in a nursery setting or reception class, the ongoing observations and samples that you collate will be used to build up an individual record, profile or portfolio for every child in the group.

At key times it is useful to review the record to make a summative judgement. Of course, this is necessary at the end of the reception year for the Foundation Stage Profile. But this may need to be done at other times, such as when the child leaves a setting or nursery class.

To complete the summative assessment, a child's records can be summarised and checked against the Profile, a list of stepping stones and early learning goals or similar developmental statements. However, don't forget that the most important assessment is the formative kind, feeding what has been observed into planning.

For the FSP, practitioners will need to make several observations to pass a final judgement in any area of the Profile, and the video 'Building the Foundation Stage Profile' and The Foundation Stage Profile Handbook have helpful examples. (See also example, p20.) In conclusion

Effective assessment means that

* observations and records show what the child can do - their significant achievements

* staff observe children in play and self-chosen activities, as well as activities they have set up for children to do

* observations are analysed to highlight achievements and need for further support - it is these which become the assessments

* the assessments made are used for planning 'what next' for the child.

Observing children is one of the most rewarding parts of the early years practitioner's work. My advice is: listen to children, take play seriously, observe all aspects of learning and development, and put this information to good use. Accept and enjoy their interests with them and delight in their achievements!