Guest Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Just skimmed through the More Affordable Childcare report and have been left thinking that lots of settings are doing far too much unnecessary paperwork. Check out page 20 (2.48) and the table on page 42 of the document. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/more-affordable-childcare Apparently learning journeys are not requirements of the EYFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melcatfish Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 The law might not require us to complete learning journals \ journeys however when Ofsted comes a knocking and want evidence of progress then without my learning journeys I am left with my teacher assessments and no evidence to back them up. I guess there are various things we do in our role, some are statutory, some are not but I personally find it hard to work out how a successful inspection would look if I had no evidence to show for all the work we put in with the children. There are plenty of beaurocratic waste of time jobs I feel I have to do as a teacher in a school Nursery class (for one thing jumping through hoops to meet new inititives set governments or advisors who want a whole school approach to x,y,z regardless of whether it is EYFS appropriate) but actually I very rarely resent time spent on the Learning Journeys as I find them invaluable as an aid to assessment and a record of progress. You are right though that there is a lot of ambiguity surrounding statutory requirements vs guidance vs myth and a little clarity would no doubt make everyone a lot happier! Mel x 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlettangel Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Mel I agree. I find them a wonderful aid to writing the learning summaries termly, I think they show progression and the parents and CHILDREN love them!!! They are also evidence of all the things we do on the other days when the O people aren't inspecting!!!!!!!!! When we are really busy, yes they take lots of time but I wouldnt want to get rid of them!!!!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildflowers Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 (edited) The law might not require us to complete learning journals \ journeys however when Ofsted comes a knocking and want evidence of progress then without my learning journeys I am left with my teacher assessments and no evidence to back them up. Are you sure that they will look for evidence of your judgements of a child's abilities and learning characteristics? Is it not so that they are looking for evidence of you making those judgements - that you are making thorough assessments based on observations? Do you need to "back up" your assessments with evidence? Edited September 6, 2013 by Wildflowers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melcatfish Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Are you sure that they will look for evidence of your judgements of a child's abilities and learning characteristics? Is it not so that they are looking for evidence of you making those judgements - that you are making thorough assessments based on observations? Do you need to "back up" your assessments with evidence? In all honesty the ONLY thing I am sure of is that in my school inspection there is quite a high chance that none of the inspectors will have any specialist knowledge of the EYFS and when faced with a former secondary science teacher who wants to know how and why I am making my judgements and assessments then being able to show them evidence of progress that matches my assessments is another tool I want at my disposal. Mel x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Are you sure that they will look for evidence of your judgements of a child's abilities and learning characteristics? Is it not so that they are looking for evidence of you making those judgements - that you are making thorough assessments based on observations? Do you need to "back up" your assessments with evidence? Inspectors do look for evidence of you making judgements about children's levels of attainment- and your evidence comes from the observations you make of the children playing and learning. Aren't the observations the evidence? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 You have to show that children are making progress. We love our LJ'S and they show progression, how we built interest and scaffold learning, they are excellent for sharing with reception teachers. They are worked on by staff and children, my children cut and stick in photos , decorate with stickers, drawings and marks. The parents are able to contribute to them I can't think of a better way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildflowers Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 (edited) We observe children attentively and discuss our observations with each other. Each child has two key workers and no judgement is made by one person alone. We then make a note of what a child can do and their learning characteristics, but we don't write descriptions as evidence. For example we may write that Johnny can take turns and share and Sarah count to ten, but Johnny gave Lisa the spade when she asked him if she could use it after him, or that Sarah counted the cups before snack time to see if we had enough for all children. Our practice which is described in our procedures and can be described by us and observed by an inspector and our records stating what a child can do, their progress and next steps is our evidence of thorough assessments taking place. But we don't "evidence" to "back-up" our judgements. (Don't like the word 'judgement' in the context of children though...) Edited September 7, 2013 by Wildflowers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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