Recording learning, not tracking progress (Part 2)
by Helen Edwards on October 21
With the new EYFS and associated Development Matters guidance, along with clear messages from Ofsted and Dr Grenier, we now have the opportunity to review our methods of observation and assessment, and make them work for us, our colleagues, our children and our families.
So we must make sure that any observations and assessments we make of our children are manageable, useful and do not take excessive amounts of our time away from the children. As Dr Grenier says, ‘Let’s put our efforts where they’re going to make a difference, which is in the direct work with the children. It’s the playing, it’s the conversations, it’s helping children to learn something new, it’s the respectful partnership with parents’.
If you’re working with colleagues to try a new narrative approach to observations, it might be helpful at first to look at each area of learning individually, even though children learn simultaneously across the seven areas. In this article, we’ll be looking at the three Prime Areas.