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Event sample - Advantages and Disadvantages

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Event sample - Advantages and Disadvantages

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Time sample - Advantages and Disadvantages

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Time sample - Advantages and Disadvantages

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Ways of helping children forget that they are being observed

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Ways of helping children forget that they are being observed

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Constantly engaging in what they are doing
consistent communication and possibly trying different activities
Distract them by asking questions
Being friendly and approachable and not being daunting or intimidating
remaining at the child’s level and leading conversations
Engaging in communication and paying attention to everything the child says (show you are paying attention to them and not drawing their attention to something you are distracted by).
Provide things/objects the child is heavily interested in

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Ways of recording information quickly and effectively 

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Ways of recording information quickly and effectively 

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Note taking
bullet points
Short Hand
Using Voice Notes
Post-it notes
Take images (nursery phone or tablet only)
Focus on one area of development

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Tracking movement - Advantages and Disadvantages

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Tracking movement - Advantages and Disadvantages

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Sociogram - Advantages and Disadvantages

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Sociogram - Advantages and Disadvantages

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Narrative / written observations - Advantages/Disadvantages 

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Narrative / written observations - Advantages/Disadvantages 

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Articles/clips about good practice when observing children

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Articles/clips about good practice when observing children

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https://www.sirenfilms.co.uk/library/julian-grenier-talks-about-effective-observation/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://my.optimus-education.com/good-practice-early-years-observation-and-assessment&ved=2ahUKEwj14rme0ej2AhVHTsAKHcRYDl4QFnoECAsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0ng14FI3bW_7yZubUxCfVJ

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/observing-children&ved=2ahUKEwj14rme0ej2AhVHTsAKHcRYDl4QFnoECAoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1dU9qaA_SM-r3vvW2pU3Hs

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It can sort of feel like observations

are this thing you have to do.

Like if you get your level three,

you have to do your observations.

And then people start calling it the paperwork.

Whereas for me it's like,

what are you noticing about the children?

What's interesting or surprising?

What are those moments where you see children really,

at the edge of what they can do,

so you know they're struggling

because they're trying and trying again.

Or you see them biting their lip

or needing to bring a friend in to help them.

Where is it that they're really, really struggling

and pushing forward their development?

Where is it that you see them really stuck

and they really can't overcome a barrier to their learning.

I guess the first thing is

that you've gotta be good at noticing things,

and you're only writing down the things you notice

that feel really, really important for that child.

You're not thinking, Tuesday mornings,

I've gotta do some more observations

'cause my folders are looking a bit empty.

And I like the New Zealand term from Carmen Dali

where she talks about keen observation.

So we talk a lot here about keen observation.

I think the second thing we've found

from a lot of the reflection

and the work we've done with other settings and schools

is that the danger is sometimes

that just as a child has started something interesting,

the practitioner looks down and writes it on a Post-it note.

Whereas actually what that child needs at that moment

is for the practitioner to be,

either in dialogue with them,

or really noticing and tuning in to what they're doing,

not looking down at a Post-it or an iPad.

And I think that we can often interrupt really good things

by lifting up an iPad, lifting up a camera,

putting our heads down and writing a note.

So we try and use the model that it's better

to get involved, help the child really think

about what they're doing, support what they're doing,

let them have the complete experience,

and then jot it down at the end.

Don't be too quick to start writing things down

and kind of interrupt the ordinary flow

of being good early years practitioner.

Probably some, right?

We thought quite hard about how to make sure

that things that we write down give a sense

of what sort of progress a child is making,

or equally as important, not making,

where children seem to be stuck.

So we've put a lot of emphasis on the precision of things

like how long, what exactly were they doing?

And what that means for the child's learning.

So it's getting away from the kind of,

you know Fatima loves to play in the water,

and there's a picture of Fatima in the water tray,

and much more into Fatima's now beginning

to spend long periods of time in the water.

Today she spent 15 minutes pouring

from bigger into smaller containers

and back into the bigger ones.

So you're really trying to be precise

about what you're noticing.

And by doing things like talking about the precision

of her movements, and how long she's doing it,

and what she says to you.

It would be quite easy, say to flick a few pages back

and look at Fatima when she was just settling in

and think, oh yeah then it was just a minute or two

and she was just exploring everything.

Whereas now she's got a plan for what she wants to do,

it's taking longer.

So making sure that observations are written

in such a way that they give us a feel

for the child's progress, or give us a feel

for where the child is stuck.

That's really important to us as well.

A parent reading an observation like that

should be able to get a sense

of why that was important for that child

and possibly make links

to what their child is doing at home.

Possibly tell us what they're noticing

that we're not seeing.

So all of those things I think around precision,

being a good observer, only capturing what's important,

putting your main priority on playing

and helping the children

rather than writing things down about them.

No child's learning was ever helped

because somebody wrote something down about them.

It's only if you turn that

into some sort of action for the child like,

you talk to the parent about how significant that was.

Or you use it at a planning meeting,

or you use it to make a change to the provision.

Otherwise there's absolutely no point

writing things down about children

unless you actually do something about them.

And in the conversations we've had as a teaching school

about that, sometimes people said things like,

"But I've got hundreds of observations.

"I couldn't possibly do something about all of them."

It's sort of like the penny's dropping then,

you've got too many, you've gotta have fewer

and do something with that information.

You're almost interpreting and seeing the problem

in the act of saying, I couldn't possibly do that.

Have less, but use it more.

I think we're sometimes slightly reluctant

to capture the things that kids find difficult

or when they get upset.

But actually we need to see that full spectrum of the child.

We don't just want the lovely sustained play

and conversation when it's all going well.

Sometimes it's really insightful to get a picture

of where a child's having a difficulty

where they're getting upset.

Because those are the things, again,

that we can talk about with parents,

we can talk about as a team.

We can reflect that maybe we're not getting it right.

So we do encourage people

not just to note down what's positive,

but also pick up where things are difficult for children.

Or when a child is showing a particular interest

or expertise in something, then unless

you can make that richer or more challenging for the child,

they're gonna run out of things to do.

So in both ways it's important to act on what you notice.

And I think again, all too often,

we have situations where, for example,

say a child is really struggling,

just with the very basics, say counting, one to five.

And the danger is that we just repeat endless counting

one to five type of activities with that child.

But actually, that's not working for them.

So what we need to do is look really really carefully

and think OK, where is this child having the difficulty?

Is it after a certain number?

Is it getting things muddled up?

Would it be easier for them to do it outside?

Are they better doing it with fingers?

What we mustn't do is just keep head banging away at issues

repeating, repeating, repeating.

What we've gotta do is try and get to know this child.

Find out what it is that's causing them

to have a barrier to their learning and then help them

find a different way through that problem.

I think observation is really important

for that reason as well.

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Julian Grenier talks about effective observation - Siren Films

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It can sort of feel like observations are this thing you have to do. Like if you get your level three, you have to do your observations. And then people start calling it the paperwork. Whereas for me it's like, what are you noticing about the children? What's interesting or surprising?

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Accurate and coherent notes
Focus on what the child is doing more than your notes
Write notes after the activity
Correct spellings if hand written
Hand writing must be readable
Make sure the notes are clear about what’s happening during the observation

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The child could be distracted during the observation
The child may not be feeling themselves
The child may be unwell or upset
The child may be experiencing issues at home which can cause withdrawal and lack of social skills in setting
Other children could distract the child or practitioner
Depending on what is being observed the child could get injured
The child may not be interested in planned, adult-led play