Guest Posted December 12, 2015 Posted December 12, 2015 Hi everyone, our NQT went to a meeting yesterday and one school outlined how the "new thing" is to assign specific statements in the scale points to each of the above 3 categories, so for example if the child had evidence of achieving the first 3 statements in an area, then they would be emerging, if they had those plus the next four, for example, they would be expected and then if they had them all, they would be exceeding etc.etc.This makes it less of a subjective process is what they said and therefore more standardised, so that when we are talking about 40-60 emerging in speaking, we all know what that child can do.as we would know roughly how many of the statements they had achieved. I have never seen it done this way before and have always gone on my overall knowledge of the child, the evidence I have seen mainly in CI and my overall knowledge of their development and used this to make my judgement of their attainment, but I am now wondering is this something this school has come up with or if I have missed a new directive that has come out via email and I have not been aware of it? Thanks to anyone who can help.
Froglet Posted December 12, 2015 Posted December 12, 2015 It sounds to me like something the school has come up with.
catma Posted December 12, 2015 Posted December 12, 2015 It is completely something the school has decided to do for themselves. They may be trying to do soething akin to the assessment without levels approach in Primary but this is not EYFS pratice. You are guided by 3 documents for what you must do - the statutory framework section 2, The EYFSp handbook and the EYFSP reporting and assessment arrangements. All are available on www.gov.uk. Whichever document you use to support your assessments (development matters OR Early Years Outcomes) both are non statutory for starters. Secondly they are just a list in no particular order of some of the things a child is likely to be doing at those stages of development. They are not listed hierarchically at all. The approach is one of "best fit", based on the holistic sense of that range of skills and what you know about the child typically. Even the construct of emerging, developig and securing in a stage is merely to aid school leaders who like a neat three step progress path before they can understand anything. The use of exceeding is a misdirected use of the EYFSP assessment requirements. Exceeding in the right context means beyond the expected level. The child could be just beyond or aquiring a degree. They would be Exceeding in both cases. I think defining the age/stage descriptors "scale points" is also a little confused as they aren't scaled or ordered in any way! Hope that helps. PM me if you want to ask any questions. Cx ps - I think I sound a little tetchy! But schools doing daft things with a perfectly straightforward thing do make me cross!! 5
Guest Posted December 12, 2015 Posted December 12, 2015 Hi , thanks for taking the time to reply at length. My gut reaction to it was that it was something possibly brought in the KS1/S managers at this school in order to, as you say, get some consistency across the school. However, I didn't want to think that I had missed some new circular as there seem to be so many changes that you are expected to find out about and then action! Think this is possibly why I feel like I am losing a bit of confidence atm. Interesting point about "scale points". I completely understand your comment about these. I have always called them these as for years, our LA used to do lots of training on the "tricky scale points" and what they actually looked like in terms of children in the classroom. Interesting how schools can be so different and yet the school which is doing the "definitions" is rated "Outstanding" by OFSTED, so they are seen as a bit of a trial blazer locally. I shall keep going with my knowledge of the children, their overall developmental progress and my commitment to using these and my gut feelings to inform my judgements about whether they are em,ex or exc. . Thank you again for your time and for the offer to pm you- I may take you up on that at some point.
catma Posted December 12, 2015 Posted December 12, 2015 Thank you again for your time and for the offer to pm you- I may take you up on that at some point. You are very welcome! Re the tricky scale points that was when we had an EYFS Profile which had the separate scale points unlike the ELGs which we have now as a fixed expected outcome. THe key difference is one of formative assessments and final statutory summative assessments really. Cx 2
Froglet Posted December 12, 2015 Posted December 12, 2015 ps - I think I sound a little tetchy! But schools doing daft things with a perfectly straightforward thing do make me cross!! I didn't think you sounded tetchy or if you did it was justified! I was at a meeting this week with two other schools and one was doing something very similar across all the DM age bands so that they could ensure consistency in tracking children as they moved through the EY phase of their school. Both school's 'tracked' their children by highlighting whether they had achieved each and every DM statement or not. Both were also so sure of themselves it was very hard to get a word in edgewise. The next day my HT asked if I thought it would be useful for my replacement to go and look round these schools. Yes, it always is to get ideas for provision and organisation but I told him that I felt that as an 'almost NQT' and new to EY person she would need support. All the local schools that are in our cluster are far bigger than us mostly with nurseries as well as reception classes and at least 6 EY staff. Mine has one teacher and it takes a fair bit of gumption to stand by what you are doing and not feel inadequate next to the other schools. Realistically due to staffing and size I couldn't do things their way anyway but also as I pointed out to him they aren't necessarily doing things 'right'. DM - not statutory and it says across every page not to be used as a checklist. I was a little tetchy myself! 4
Guest Posted December 13, 2015 Posted December 13, 2015 Thanks to everyone for taking time to reply. Gumption is the right word! We all need it sometimes in this fast changing world we work in. Really value the support that is always given on here so thanks again. x
catma Posted December 13, 2015 Posted December 13, 2015 You don't fatten a pig by weighing it! The system of tracking a child's progress is acccording to the Statutory Framework for each and every provider to determine! That includes not doing paperwork for paperwork's sake. The question is "do enough of your children achieve as a result of your teaching and practice?". You could have the most intricate (time consuming) assessment system yet still have poor outcomes! A system is just a system. Highly effective teaching and therfore learning are something else. Cx 3
Helen Posted December 14, 2015 Posted December 14, 2015 Catma, Thank you so much for your explanations- I totally agree. I wish I could find the first ever person who thought turning the Dev Matters statements into a ticklist was a good idea 2
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