This document discusses assessment in early childhood education. It explains that assessment should involve evaluating children's personal, interpersonal, and community development through observation. Formative feedback is important as it helps children feel valued and motivated in their learning. Involving children in self-assessment supports their self-awareness and development. Assessment data can be used to shape curriculum, interactions, and provision to better meet children's needs. Strong partnerships with families and cooperation between early childhood professionals are essential to support children's holistic development.

1. EV681Pedagogy, Principles and Practice in Early
Childhood
Session 3
Positive Relationships

2. Assessment in the Teaching
and Learning Cycle
2
Planning:
Individual/group/class
Short/mid/long
Action
Learning &
Teaching
Assessment of:
Child (personal)
Interactions ( interpersonal)
Environment (community)
Observation

3. Formative feedback - value for children
Western, D (2014) one of key factors impacting children's development
and progress
 Feel valued and respected as individuals
 Leaders of their own learning
 Supports motivation
 Learning has depth
 Learning has continuity
 Learning environment offers opportunities for
autonomy, choice and enjoyment

4. Importance and value for children
 Ensure child’s needs are being met, the
environment respects and values their
‘uniqueness’
 Hearing children's voice
 Involving child in their own assessment –
supports self awareness of their strengths and
areas to develop
 Learning journal demonstrates to children how
the setting notices and values their
achievements.
 Identifies possible issues/areas of difficulties

5. value for practitioners – evaluative
 Engage in the delights of children’s learning
and development
 Staff training? E.g. Disabilities, equalities,
speech and language
Are our interventions
appropriate/relevant/sensiti
ve?

6. and the setting – (informative)
‘ We can use our assessments to shape
and
enrich our curriculum, our interactions
our provision as a whole.’ (Drummond
1993:p13)
 Organisation of space?
 Appropriate resources, are they accessible ?
 Resources which reflect diversity and ensure
inclusion
 Inside/outside Freeflow
 Routines

7. Presenting an observation for University
assignments
 Always include the context – where, when, whom,
child(rens) age, gender(s) how long the
observation is
 Include a brief analysis/evaluation at the end
(ways forward/next steps)
 Try to put separate speech on separate lines e.g.
Annie: ‘How are you going to make the cat?’
C1 picks up a toilet roll tube and the brown paper.
C1: ‘With this tube and this paper’
Annie: ‘That will make a very big cat.’
 Try to write it all in the same tense (usually the
present tense)
ALWAYS PRESERVE ANONYMITY OF
CHILDREN, ADULTS AND SETTING!

8. Observations...
 Should be for a reason – are purposeful
 Should focus on what a child CAN do
 Should record what actually happens
 Should be objective and unbiased – the
observer should stand back from personal
values and beliefs (avoiding value-laden
emotional language)
 Observers should try to avoid ‘influencing’ the
child

9. What do you see? The power of our
language...
 ‘He was kicking-off as
always because he
wanted his own way.’
 ‘His mum just threw
him in the door
because she’s a
working mum.’
 ‘She was whining.’
 ‘She’s arrived dirty in
the same clothes she
always wears.’

10. EYFS DfE 2012 : Development
matters p5
 Characteristics of effective learning
 Playing and exploring – engagement
 Active learning – motivation
 creating and thinking critically - thinking

11. Summative assessment – EYFS
Profile
 Needs to be completed in the summer term in the
year in which the child is 5
 Must be assessed against ELG’s – 17 : is the child
‘Meeting, exceeding or emerging’?
 EYFSP given to year 1 teacher with short summary
of ‘characteristics of learning’
 Must share with parents and LA
 If child changes setting provider must supply profile
to date with summative assessment of ELGs

12. Baselines to measure progress
 Baseline assessment will be compulsory for all
schools by September 2016, schools can begin to
use in 2015 and this will support their ‘value
added’
 Baseline will likely to be a single score
 TA ass at end of KS1 (SPAG test)
 Tests at KS2 maths and reading
 In between will be school based ‘qualitative’
assessments

13. EYFSP 2014 data
 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-
profile-results-2013-to-2014
 60% The proportion of children achieving a good level of
development. This is up 8 percentage points from 52% last year.
 33.8 The average EYFPS point score for 2014. An increase of 1
point from 32.8 points in 2013.
 58% The proportion of children achieving at least the expected
level in all 17 early learning goals.
 16%pts The gender gap between the percentage of girls
and boys achieving a good level of development - 69% of girls
achieved a good level of development compared to 52% of boys.

14. Theme : Whole child V’s ELGs
Formative assessment Summative assessment
Mainly about
improvement
 Harrison and Howard (2009)
Mainly about
accountability
Looks forward Looks backward
Favours descriptive
feedback
Favours tests and scores
Informs on quality Samples knowledge
Can lead to improvements
in learning
If overused, can have a
negative impact.

15. 1. Working with families

16. Transition into Reception or
Nursery Class
 What will this involve?
 Why is it important to get this right?
 Home visiting
 What are the benefits and logistics?
 What will a home visit look like?

17. Why home visit?
 Building relationship with family
 Family and child at ease
 Family as first and most enduring
educator
 Emotional security
 Shared understanding
 Initiate communication

18. What is a family?
 More than a half of British families feel
under-represented by media, politicians
and advertising
 57% say marriage is not necessary a
factor
 77% feel single parents can be ‘a proper
family’
 59% agree that same sex couples make a
family
Centre for the Modern Family, December 2011

19. Partnerships with families
What are the
gains from
partnerships
with families?
 For whom?
What can be
the barriers and
challenges?
 Who are the
losers?
Allen report ‘Early Intervention’ (Jan 2011): http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/early-intervention-
next-steps.pdf
Field report ‘The Foundation Years’ (Dec 2011):
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110120090128/http:/povertyreview.
independent.gov.uk/media/20254/poverty-report.pdf

20. Really, really important bit….
There is only one perfect child in the
world,
and every mother has it.
Chinese Proverb

21.  Parents are (usually) experts on their own
children
 Their skills complement professional skills
 Parents can impart vital information and
make informed observations
 Parents have the right to be involved
 Parents can be highly effective teachers
of their own children
 Parents should contribute to decision
making
http://www.teachersmedia.co.uk/videos/leadership-parent-
voice

22. EPPE Report from the Primary Phase: Pre-school
and Family Influences on Children’s Development
during KS2 (DCSF Report 061)
The HLE has a greater influence on a child’s
intellectual and social development than
parental occupation, education or income.
What parents do is more important than who
they are, and a home learning environment
that is supportive of learning can counteract
the effects of disadvantage in the early
years

23. Factors used to measure
the HLE:
 Reading to children
What will you
 Playing with letters and numbers
do to
 Teaching number rhymes and songs
 Painting and drawing
 Joining the library
 Taking children on visits
encourage
these?
 Arranging for children to play with peers at
home

24. ‘Establishing good home-school
relations is not easy. The challenges
include lack of time and the need for
clarity . . . More fundamentally, mutual
respect between home and school,
though desirable, is not always present
. . .’
(Alexander, 2010, p79)

25. NUT - http://www.teachers.org.uk
 Prepare for the parents' evening by making sure that
your notes on your pupils are in order and easy for you
to refer to. Take a pen and paper to jot down any
important points that parents may make.
 Wear clothes that will make you feel confident about
the image you project.
 Make parents feel welcome, smile and shake hands.
Remember that parents may be feeling nervous and
intimidated.
 Try and be as positive as possible about each pupil.
Even when you have to say something negative, try to
begin and end the discussion with a positive comment.

26.  Make sure you know to which parent of which
child you are speaking.
 Be concise in your comments and avoid
using jargon.
 You may wish to suggest one or two targets
for the pupil and encourage the parents to
discuss these with the child.
 Offer the opportunity for parents to make
comments and to ask questions.
 Be polite, but firm, in saying goodbye to any
parents who talk a great deal. Standing up
and shaking hands is a good technique.

27. 2. Working with staff within
school/nursery

28. Reflections
Identify a particular interaction with a
Teaching Assistant/Nursery Nurse
 What happened?
 Why was it challenging/interesting/
empowering?
 What did you learn from it?
 Did it or will it affect what you did or do
subsequently?

29. Desirable skills and personal attributes
identified in each other by TAs and
teachers
Teaching Assistants
Relationships
Communication skills
Ability to take initiative and be
proactive
Punctuality
Open-mindedness
Conscientiousness
Good standard of writing and
subject knowledge
Ability to plan, manage time and
manage behaviour
Being alert and sensitive to the
needs of the teacher
Teachers
Relationships
Communication skills
Effective delegation
and enabling
autonomy
Reward and celebrate
success
Effective organisation
and management
Wilson and Bedford (2008)

30. 3. Working with staff beyond
school/nursery

31.  “. . . it is essential that we work together
effectively, understanding the different roles and
responsibilities and how we can facilitate each
other as well as support the child. It is when the
professionals do not work together effectively that
there is a gap in provision and support that
children suffer, sometimes disastrously . . .“
(Johnston & Nahmad-Williams (2009) Early Childhood Studies,
p394)
http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/statutory/g00213160/working
-together-to-safeguard-children

32. Multi-agency or inter-agency?
Child
and
family
Speech
/lang
therapis
t
Education
al
psychologi
st
School
nurse
Social
worker
Teache
r

33. Interagency (transagency)
Teache
r
Child
and
family
School
nurse
Social
worker
Speech
/lang
therapi
st
Education
al
psychologi
st

34. “Primary schools need stronger support in ensuring
that the range of professionals working in schools
. . . are working in a cohesive team . . . in order to
improve outcomes for all and to narrow the
achievement gap for more vulnerable children.”
Alexander, 2010, p504

35. Common Assessment
Framework
Aim:
To identify at the earliest opportunity, a child’s
additional needs which are not being met by the
universal services they are receiving; to provide
timely and co-ordinated support to meet those
needs
The CAF is a standardised tool used to conduct an
assessment of a child’s additional needs [in the
broadest sense] and help practitioners decide
how those needs should be met (CWDC, 2008)
http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/
strategy/integratedworking/caf/a0068957/the-caf-process

36. Three main focus areas for CAF
Development of the child
Parents and carers
Family and Environment

37. Working together?
Sarah Cowley Nov
2011

38. Supporting tasks
 Read Ch3 in Edmond and Price (Aspire).
This explores leadership and interagency
working
 You may like to look up Whalley, M. (2001/7)
Involving Parents in their Children’s Learning
 Field and Allen reports
 SBT1: how does the school/nursery work
with families and colleagues in support of
children’s learning and wellbeing to promote
Positive Relationships?
 Watch more of the clips
 www.brighton.ac.uk/education/national_priorit