Emerging, developing etc little help please

[Blondie28143]

Hello!

 

Many years ago we were advised to not use these kind of statements to track children's progress.

And then the EYFS Development Matters writes (one of my favourite statements)

 

'Children develop at their own rates, and in their own ways. The development statements and their order should not be taken as necessary steps for individual children. 6 They should not be used as checklists. The age/stage bands overlap because these are not fixed age boundaries but suggest a typical range of development'

 

I use the Earlys Years Outcomes (which also states.....guide to making best-fit judgements about whether a child is showing typical development for their age) and characteristics of effective learning to assess my children and the Development Matters to support my next steps. I see to what the 'best fit' is for my children and have no emerging, developing etc.

 

I belong to an early years facebook group and it seems everyone is doing the emerging etc. I'm not after controversy, just all that extra work and the fact we were told it was unecessary. Does everyone on here do it?

If you have confidence in knowing the stage where your children are at, do you need to write the emerging stuff?

 

I also do not link my observations to statements every time. I may link them to a next step, characteristic or childhood development.

 

I received outstanding 2 consecutive years, the last in October 2014 so I'm really interested to hear others thoughts.

 

Many thanks!

[Jenimouse]

Hello, I think as part of a summative assessment then it is useful to distinguish between whether a child is emerging, developing or secure in an age band, but this does not necessarily mean when compared to the EY outcome statements. We take these as examples only and when linking an observation (in a learning journey etc.) we may link only to the aspect of the area of learning and development (e.g. Physical Development, Moving and Handling rather than to a statement) and perhaps COEL. I find it helps to consider whether a child is more like a 2 year old or a 3 year old (or whatever your age range is) when assessing an area.

 

I am in a pre-school, so having a range of children it can help us to get an overall feel for our cohort and their progress (and our provision) if we make a decision each term as to whether they are only just beginning to enter an age range or are steaming ahead. It may be different for your provision. There is no right or wrong answer. As long as you are happy with your system and know where your children are and their progress (and are confident to prove this to the powers that be) then don't make extra work for yourself just because someone else does it differently.

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[Blondie28143]

Thank you Jenimouse.

 

That's a super answer. I said something similar to my staff today. (In regards to all setting so assessing, collecting data etc. as long as the staff can confidently identify where their children are and can explain this when necessary. )

 

Thank you. Your comments are appreciated.

 

 

[BroadOaks]

Yep, as long as you can identify each child's progress, in accordance to each Area of Learning and Development, you can use whatever terms or techniques you like. The Dev Matters is only a guide but it is also a very good guide and it has been put together over many years of research, so it is recommended that we use it.

 

Although maybe we should not use the Areas of Learning and Development, has a checklist, i feel it is a great "scale" to use and to easily identify a child's progress, over the period of time they attend. I feel parent's like to see visually how their children are progressing and again this is a way to show this information easily.

 

it could be argued that reports could be written just as easily without using a visual scale, if carer's know that child enough. i still feel to have a visual scale to show, or even better, a chart - ie from using Tapestry, it is a clear way for parents to see how their child is progressing. This however does require a checklist approach to gain the assessment data required. If this can be done well, it can be very effective at showing exactly how a child is progressing in a lot of detail, and very useful at identifying areas that might need looking at more closely both at home and in a child care setting, or that even further support is required.

 

i think at the end of the day, if we have these tools available , why not utilise them?

[MarshaD]

Late response to this thread, but where I find the refinements useful is when you have a child who is making progress in very small steps so that you can show there is some movement otherwise it can appear is if the child is getting nowhere.