Guest Wolfie Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 I went on an extemely interesting course at Early Excellence on Friday, run by Professors Chris Pascal and Tony Bertram. It was all about a new assessment scale for young children that they are currently developing called The AcE Scale. They have identified that there ar four "critical domains" in early learning - skills and attitudes which are proven to be vitally important if children are to become successful and motivated learners in later life. These are: Linguistic and communication skills Attitudes and dispositions Social competence and self esteem Emotional well-being Their overall message was that these are the most important areas that we need to work on with babies and young children - their AcE scale provides a tool for assessing these skills and planning from that initial assessment to develop the skills and attitudes effectively. They are still at the pilot stage with the scale at the moment, I think they are hoping to launch the final package in autumn of this year. You can find a bit more information about it here: http://crec.co.uk/index.php?option=com_con...7&Itemid=34 I found their arguments and philosophies behind the development of the scale compelling and have been mulling everything over all weekend! It seems to be a very sound method of assessment which also provides the evidence of outcomes of children's learning and development that Children's Centres are now being asked to provide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 That sounds really interesting Wolfie and not dissimilar from my own feelings. For years now I have felt strongly that if a child at our nursery was happy, settled and secure; felt good about themselves'; was able to communicate their feelings and thoughts whilst able to listen to those of others then we could consider that we had done a good job in preparing them for the more formal learning that school will offer. Its about being child centred really isn't it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wolfie Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 That's exactly what their message was, it was SO refreshing! They also mentioned some hot and cold indicators at the age of 5 for future success in SATs etc...... Hot items? Emotional well-being, persistence, being able to work alongside others and being able to communciate effectively through speaking and listening. Cold items? Being able to count to 10 and having a good phonetic knowledge........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 How brilliant to hear my passions being championed! Would have loved to have been there with you! Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wolfie Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 I have been thinking about everything they said ALL WEEKEND...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 (edited) There is a chapter in "Contemporary Perspectives on Early Childhood Curriculum" all about the project which I found fascinating which hopefully will influence Early Years policy in schools. http://books.google.com/books?id=RzMDV5VMD...eZw6w#PPA241,M1 Hopefully they will return in the summer term (when cash is available for more training ) Edited January 20, 2008 by Marion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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