observations

[blondie]

How many obs do you do / expect for each child over a six week term? We have been having lots of discussions over the last few weeks and want to sort before new preschool year.  And how do you decide what they will be etc., ? Any support on this would be appreciated as new setting seem to be going mad on obs. 

[finleysmaid]

I think this is something that will become less of an issue next year. Observations are about what you can see and hear from the child....one or two really good ones are much more informative than 20 rubbish ones. The danger with putting numbers out there is that the quality will disappear . Our obs are about anything the child has done that you haven't seen before!

[Cait]

Yes I agree FM.  Plus they don’t need to be long stories either.  A simple ‘Jessica opened her own bag of crisps today.  She told me that her Dad had shown her yesterday’.  Maybe a quick picture of a delighted Jessica stuffing her face with crisps adds humour.  
Sometimes I would deliberately set up an observation when I particularly wanted to see something - how well Jessica was sharing with her peers, or a specific communication skill I felt I needed to see, but again, there was no need for this to particularly take a lot of time.

Obviously when a new child starts, there’ll be more observations, possibly timed ones as you see how they engage around the room with things. Those are really the only observations that I feel should take any time within the running of the session.  Anything else can be jotted on a pocket pad, a photo taken to jog a memory, or quick verbal mention to another member of staff, then written up later.  
Do you give your staff time to write up observations as non-contact time? Are you using Tapestry?  Do you encourage parents to record observations too? 

[blondie]

Thank you Cait - I have just started at this setting as a deputy and am finding that staff seem to be constantly snapping photos and writing notes on children. I think they are doing too much but don't want to rock the boat as they say but at the same time they are also complaining about how much time it is taking them to do obs (get time to do these at home which obviously isn't enough) They are putting lots of next steps (one for each area eg PSE - one for MR, SC and MFB ) so are putting the pressure on themselves, the manager isn't very hands on so I would like to relieve the pressure and the constant snapping of photos etc., so they spend quality time with the children rather than always thinking about getting a next step done - hope that makes sense? 

[Mouseketeer]

I hear you Blondie…it’s driving me nuts, I keep asking mine to cut down on what they’re doing , I even split key children up so they could focus on less a week to try and cut the work load but they just now do excessive amounts on those few a week, I really hope I can get them to adjust their mind set for September 🤨

[finleysmaid]

IS it worth going down the in the moment planning route and having focus children for the week....then setting a next step at the end of that week?

We are having the opposite at the moment...we are so busy that none of us have any time to do obs! i need an extra 6 arms/legs!

[Cait]

Have they lost the reasoning for obs?    I used to have a sticker on the front of their notebooks to say something along the lines of ‘I need to record this because….   It’s an exciting development for this child,  it’s a recorded ‘next step’ , it’s something I need to work on with this child’ 

Maybe having that, or something similar as a reasoning will help them to focus.   Don’t be afraid to challenge observations - if you’re getting several that aren’t showing any progression, and are just recording the same statements each time, then they’re a waste of time.   If you see obs being done, ask who and why, and what they’re hoping to see.   

Definitely reduce this number of obs.   I’d be tempted to challenge them to just do a maximum of three GOOD Obs a week.  One good observation is worth more than ten mediocre ones that show no progression.  
 

For Next Steps, they should really only be looking at one area at a time, it’s just not possible to hold six areas in your head for each key child!  They’re making waaaaay too much work for themselves.  
 

Do you have progress meetings with staff to go through their children’s development records?  They are really helpful for helping staff to focus their minds on particular things.   If you do those, it also helps when you see observations being done, as you know what they’re meant to be looking for.   I’d definitely start those if you don’t already do them.  This term is a great time to start, so you can look at what has been addressed so far, and praise what’s really good, and look at what you want at the start of the new year.  Get the staff used to you wanting some input.  They might initially be a bit defensive, but if they see that they’re getting praise for what they’ve done, and some help in areas that they can reduce their workload, then hopefully they’ll not see it as an examination of their work in a negative way.    Remember the praise sandwich - start out with some positives, then any improvements you’d like to see, and end with some good positives again.   End on a high.   

[blondie]

Only just started here so not done any of this - at the moment they do one obs per week per child (each keyperson has 6-8 key children) but there is sooooo much in it. To me there is too much, I think if you are looking at a next step of something like turn taking / sharing then that should be the focus of the obs but they then add other things like recognising numbers, shapes, saying number names etc., as they say that is next step for that area so obs gets longer and longer. I really think they are making the work for themselves the way they work. 

They have one step for each area as I said eg PSE - MR, SC, MFB and CL - LA, U, S and PH - MH, HSC so you can imagine what it's like and they try to cover all these over the half term !!

How would you change this? x

[Cait]

I’d start with a staff meeting and throw open the question about what they’re finding the most challenging at the moment, and hopefully they’ll say time for observations.  That will open up the opportunity for you to ask if they think they’re doing more than you need.  
 

Then you can have a proper discussion about what they could change to simplify things.   It would help if you’d got some of your own to show them what you mean.  Some simple ‘snapshot’ obs where there’s just a picture with a sentence underneath tying to an area of learning that shows progression.  

[Cait]

6-8 children is easily manageable.  My staff had about 14-18 each as children came for random sessions.  That was the most complicated actually - trying to get an observation in for little Charlie who only came two afternoons a week etc.   My key children were easier as they were the pre-reception year and came every day, either full days or every morning. I had 12 usually.  

[Cait]

I don’t know if these help at all.  They’re mine from about 6 years ago.  Hopefully they show how a small observational note can show many steps.   It doesn’t need to be a short novel.   It’s good if you can incorporate the child’s voice in the observation as it gives it more meaning. 

[finleysmaid]

I would definitely be trying to cut down on quantity and focus on quantity in light of the new reforms,