Stargrower Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I'm thinking of trying to use the Leuven scale but have never done this before. If you use them, how do you do this? What do you do with your findings? Do you use them for individuals or groups or both? Do you find it helpful? If you're a Tapestry user, do you use the scale on Tapestry and explain this to parents? Sorry, lots of questions! Thanks in advance. :1b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oksana1975 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 We are using them almost each time when adding an observation to Tapestry. We needed to explain to parents how we are using them, particular Well-being as sometimes (for example, when a child is going through settling-in time) the level can be low and it can cause some concerns. If the observation is narrative (includs several small observations), then we are not using Involvement scale but might still use Well-being. Involvement scale is very useful when observing kids during adult-led activities. To be honest I found Leuven Scale useful only to some extent. As I said it is good to monitor how well adult-led activity went and whether child is settling in nicely. Most of the observations are usually Wow moments, so most of the time it will be high level of Involvement and WB. You will not write an observation on a child building a train track and saying that his level of involvement was low as he was more fascinated by a fly on a window. We have recently had our end of year meeting with parents and they all said that they are not interested in reading EYFS, CoEL and Leuven scale but they like our narrative weekly observations. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I am a huge fan of Leuven scales, and think they can be used in various ways, different from Oksana. I would definitely include well being and involvement in longer narrative style observations, as this tells you what really sparks the children's interest and what you might do next to maintain this interest level. If a longer obs shows children who are not really involved (but just busy), this is a clear indicator that they are not meeting their learning potential and we need to respond to that. I think once you are sold on the notion that higher levels of involvement lead to deeper level learning, you want to check in that children are showing high levels, and which area they are/are not doing so? One of the things I find, supporting Leuven observations in settings, is that practitioners sometimes misunderstand 'busy' as highly involved. Using a scale helps you to see the difference, and to support less skilled/experienced staff to do the same. I think Leuven can be used as a quality improvement tool, whereby you would note times and areas where children are less involved, yes this may seem to flow against the idea of 'wow' moments, but nevertheless, you do need (in my humble) to know when children are not really getting anything out of an activity or an area. To me its a another tool in the toolkit for reflecting on whats happening in your setting. You can use Leuven in a particular area eg role play. where you would observe generally how children are in that area... if involvement is low or fleeting it may prompt you to re think what resources are available in that area, or how that area is being used. You can do the same for certain activities eg snack time, story time, group times. Its amazing when you sit back and observe well being and involvement levels in group times, and then realise that sometimes they are just too long and the children levels wain after eg 5 minutes, and using Leuven scales can really reveal this. They can be used for specific individual chidlren eg where you have concerns. Its part of the picture you may be developing for them is you need to refer a child onto another agency for support. They can be used to show impact of change you have made or things you have eg you notice chidlren are not involved in the role play area (maybe finding they 'trash' the place!) You then revamp the resources, layout, ideas based in their interests and you then use Leuven again to see what has changed..you have instant feedback as to the impact of your actions. In terms of practical start if you have never used them before, I don't think you can beat videoing some chidlren in actaiviti4es in your setting (maybe something adult led and then something free choice, maybe indoors and outside). You can then get together with your team and discuss what you have seen, scoring them together, using the scales. You can then discuss difference in what you have seen, and this enables you to really get to know the scales and what they mean... which in turn deepens your knowledge of using them and so on. If you have training in your area, I would definitely consider attending as this would help you to get going. Sorry, I have gone on a bit, because Im really passionate about them I suppose... Ill leave the way for others to have their say now... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stargrower Posted August 11, 2015 Author Share Posted August 11, 2015 Thanks both of you for your replies. Wow, Mundia, that was exactly what I was looking for! I have toyed with the idea of using them before, but was put off by their somewhat negative tone for the 'lower scales' and was worried about sharing this with parents. What made me think again was reading The Nursery Year in Action by Anna Ephgrave and realising that she was using them very much as you describe - as a reflective and quality improvement tool rather than just another thing to measure when observing. I'm not sure we'd use the scale indicators on Tapestry (or maybe we will further down the line) but I'm really excited now about using them to evaluate our provision and practice. Now, down to getting everyone else on board too.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 mundia - what a great reply! I too am a huge fan - we had some brilliant training across Kent (some years ago now) it was titled 'A Box-full of Feelings' the Leuven Scales were introduced via this training....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oksana1975 Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I would definitely include well being and involvement in longer narrative style observations, as this tells you what really sparks the children's interest and what you might do next to maintain this interest level. As I mentioned, we use Tapestry and instead of adding many small observations, we often do a narrative one obs covering the whole week, so it includes several small observations. In this case Leuven scale of Involvement, in my opinion, shouldn't be used on Tapestry (yes it can be used in your notes but not on Tapestry) as it cannot be linked to a particular single observation. I am talking about Tapestry. However, we still use Well-being scale. It is indeed very useful during "tracking" or "tracker" observation which is good for assessing resource use, social grouping and time spent at activities. However, it shouldn't cause a big concern if some children are demonstrating Extremely High level of involvement and some are Moderate. Children are different and having different interests which vary from day to day. What should alarm is when all children are showing Low to Moderate level of involvement. I love use of WB and Involvement scales when observing children with EAL. It is a great tool which can be used to boost the quality of a provision, but to be honest, we are not concentrating on it to much, it happens almost automatically now. We are a very small setting and all staff have attended WB&I training. Our evaluation of activities and resources forms are linked to WB&I. :rolleyes: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I'm not really very familiar with Tapestry so I am not sure about Leuven scales are used there. But I do work with settings that use them for all their observations as a matter of course, as did I was I was still in a setting. If the concern is sharing this with parents, Pen green have produced a parent friendly version of the scales which enables you to engage parents is considering the scales at home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildflowers Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 (edited) [...] Pen green have produced a parent friendly version of the scales which enables you to engage parents is considering the scales at home. Is this the book: 'Understanding Children’s Development: A Workbook for Parents' ? http://childrenscentre.pengreen.org/research/materials_for_sale/understanding-childrens-development-a-workbook-for-parents/ Edited August 11, 2015 by Wildflowers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimms o'clock? Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 This handbook is useful www.kindengezin.be/img/sics-ziko-manual.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oksana1975 Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 This handbook is useful www.kindengezin.be/img/sics-ziko-manual.pdf I really like it. Will print one copy for the setting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Is this the book: 'Understanding Children’s Development: A Workbook for Parents' ? http://childrenscentre.pengreen.org/research/materials_for_sale/understanding-childrens-development-a-workbook-for-parents/ Yes that's the one, wildflowers, I couldn't recall the title, thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catma Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 I've heard Ferre Laevers and I always understood the scales to be about improving the setting - not essentially about the individual children - yes you do the screening but to see how that is impacting on overall well being and involvememt through the actions you take as a result in the environment as well as being more aware of how you are providing for individual children, not as something to make a summative judgement on children with... There is also the SSTEW scales now which might work just as well? Cx 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stargrower Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 I've heard Ferre Laevers and I always understood the scales to be about improving the setting - not essentially about the individual children - yes you do the screening but to see how that is impacting on overall well being and involvememt through the actions you take as a result in the environment as well as being more aware of how you are providing for individual children, not as something to make a summative judgement on children with... There is also the SSTEW scales now which might work just as well? Cx Yes, realising that the scales are not for making assessments of children is what has prompted me to use them. Thank you Catma. I have just come across SSTEW as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gezabel Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Having a senior moment! I am new to Leuven scales and thought there were two scales; one for Well-being and one for involvement but have come across a "Leuven scale of active engagement in learning" All 3 scales are numbered 1-5 with the headings of extremely low - extremely high but with different explanatory text alongside each level. How many 'scores' would you give a child you have observed`? Some people are saying just one score from the 'active engagement in learning' and others are saying two scores - one for well being and one for involvement?! Thanks in advance for help with my muddled old brain!!e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Hi Gezabel there are two main scales, well being and involvement. Some people choose to just use involvement scales and that's fine, I used to use both as I felt they were both important for different reasons. The active engagement scale to which you refer, looks like the same as the involvement scales, some of the wording might be slightly different that's all. Does that help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gezabel Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Thank you soooooooooo much Mundia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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