How can I create documentation that matches the quality of education and care that we offer our children every day in every room?
I have said this before, and I will say it again: arguably, the most challenging aspect of the early childhood educator’s role is managing time. And good quality observations, journals and planning of experiences take time to produce, so it can be incredibly frustrating when you know what you want to document, but you just don’t have the time to do it as well as you would like. Sound familiar?
In their book ‘Programming and Planning in Early Childhood Settings’, Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett and Farmer acknowledge time management as an issue with producing quality documentation. A strategy suggested by them “is the inclusion of a number of children in the one observation.”
They go on to say that group observations highlight the social nature of the early childhood setting. We know that children learn from and with each other, so it makes sense to include group observations in individual children’s portfolios. So not only do group observations save time, they are good practice😊.
How does a group observation in EarlyWorks save time while also enhancing the quality of the observation?
EarlyWorks makes it very easy to not only include multiple children in a single observation, but it allows you to individualise the observation of each child, by commenting on different outcomes, and including different photos for each child.
- So you might be observing children planting out seedlings in a new veggie patch.
- You can create just one description of what happened and create one reflection of the learning of the whole group, and then individualise the observation by ticking and commenting on different outcomes for each child.
- So for one child the focus may have been counting out the seedlings, while for another it might have been taking turns, and for another interacting verbally with others. This is made clear in the outcomes that are ticked and commented on.
When families view the observation in their child’s portfolio, they will see the group narrative and reflection of learning, but only see the ticked outcomes and outcome comments for their child. So to the family, the observation is individualised.
EarlyWorks also allows you to share different photos with each child’s family; this makes it easy for families who do not want their child’s photo shared. It also makes it easy to include photos that illustrate the learning focus (counting, sharing or verbal interaction). So the photos provide evidence of each child’s learning.
At EarlyWorks we are committed to supporting educators in creating documentation that matches the standard of education and care that is happening in the room. The ability to individualise group observations is one way of doing this.
