EDF2038 Assignment One-Assessment and Curriculum

Assessment is a tool that can be used in many different educational settings for many
different purposes. Informal, formal, diagnostic and formative are the types of
assessment that educators can use to make sense of childrens learning. The curriculum
document for early childhood education, Belonging, Being and Becoming- The Early
Years Learning Framework for Australia, discusses assessment for learning. It defines
assessment for learning as the process of gathering and analysing information as
evidence of what children know, do and can understand (Department of Education,
Employment and Workplace Relations, 2009, p. 17). It is important to note the role that
parents and families as well as the role that children have in the assessment process in
an early learning centre.

Assessment provides educators with valuable information that they can then use to
make sense of children's learning. Educators can use both formal and informal
assessments to gather this information. Formal assessments are pre-planned and thus
tend to be more structured, such as a checklists or rating scales which tend to have a
narrow focus which measures development and areas of skill (Arthur, L., Beecher, B.,
Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, 2012). Informal assessments often happen
spontaneously or in the moment (Rivalland, 2011). They involve observing a situation,
actively listening and questioning the children. This method provides educators with an
insight into how learning is progressing and helps educators to plan according to
childrens abilities and interests. Diagnostic assessments show what children already
know, providing a baseline for educators to build off when planning learning experiences
for children (Rivalland, 2011). Formative assessments provide ongoing feedback about
the learning experience and also provide an opportunity for children to reflect on their
own learning (Department of Education, 2013). An educator could conduct a formative
assessment, in the form of a learning story, for example, of a experience that was
planned after gathering information from a diagnostic assessment, such as a checklist.
These assessment tools are an effective way to gather information about children's
learning and to aid educators in their planning process.

Parents and families of children have an important role in assessing childrens learning.
The Early Years Learning Framework discusses the importance of input from parents
and families within the assessment process and in the within the service as a whole.
Principle 2 of the Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009, pg. 12) states that
families are children's first and most influential teachers. Parents and families observe
their child in different situations and environments than educators. They may observe
different strengths, interests and abilities than those seen by educators in an early
childhood setting. By encouraging ongoing collaboration between educators and
families, we are able to create an environment where we can all work together to ensure
that childrens learning experiences are meaningful and enriched.

To gain information about the role of families in assessment in practice I interviewed the
Centre Director at my workplace. We discussed the process currently in place at our
centre and discovered a gap in our practice. We had implemented family input
questionnaires (see appendix), which were handed or emailed out to families and then
completed in their own time. The gap we discovered was that educators were not
following up on these questionnaires or actively seeking out responses from parents to
inform their planning. When utilised effectively, these questionnaires can provide a
starting point for open communication with families, getting them involved in the
assessment process. We also have an online blog in place that we update daily for each
room in the centre. Educators can upload photos from experiences throughout the day
and write a brief description about what was happening in the photos. We have received
feedback from a few parents that regularly check the blog, saying they enjoying looking
at the photos and reading about what their children did that day. But it is used as more of
a communication tool than an assessment tool. Educators write brief descriptions about
what the children are doing but do not go into depth about the childrens learning and
interests and this tool is not used to inform the educators planning. This platform could
be utilised in a much more effective way if educators focus on the children's learning
rather than using it to just keep parents happy. For example, instead of just saying that
a child Ben is playing with a truck, educators can discuss the learning behind Ben
playing with the truck. They could discuss if Ben chose the truck over the car, if any
other children were involved, what Ben said during his play or what the educator said
during his play. By incorporating all this other information into the assessment, educators

provide a better picture to parents of what their child does throughout the day. It also
aides educators in recognising more aspects of play that they can extend on in their
planning.

There are many additional ways that educators can involve families in the assessment
process. Arthur et al. (2012) discuss many ways to exchange information with families
including family meetings, newsletters, noticeboards and emails. One strategy that I
though would be very engaging was to have a centre or school mascot. Educators can
take suggestions from the children has to what kind of mascot they would like. They can
draw from current interests or if they are exploring a particular theme at the time, for
example the ocean. The mascot can then be taken home by a different child each week
and the families can take photos and write about what they did together. This
documentation that has come straight from families provides educators with an insight
into the childs life outside of the early childhood setting which can then be used in
planning.

It is also important to recognise the role children have in the assessment process. By
providing an opportunity for children to be heard, educators can learn about their
interests directly from them. McLachlan, Fleer and Edwards (2013) also propose that
relevance of assessment results depends on how active the child is in the assessment
process and that the further removed the child from the process the less relevant the
results are to the individual child. This means that educators need include the childs
voice in documentation. James, Jenks and Prout state, children are active constructers
of their own learning and are citizens with rights and therefore should be active
participants in their own learning (1998, as cited in Arthur et al. 2012, p. 290). For
example in my workplace we encouraged the children to take their own photos using the
centres digital camera. The children then chose which photos they wanted to display and
where they wanted to display them. They chose the foyer so that everyone could see
them when they walked in the door. By including the childs voice in this particular
assessment process educators were able to determine their interests via what they took
photos of and the subsequent discussions. For example one child took photos of her
friend in different parts of the outdoor area and one took photos of all the plants that
were growing in the vegetable garden. These ideas and interests were then noted to be

incorporate in the educators future planning.

By actively involving parents, families and children in the assessment process in an early
childhood setting, we, as educators, are able to get a more in depth and holistic
perspective on children's learning and thinking. We are able to gather information about
children from different contexts and environments than just that of the early childhood
setting that they attend, interpreting it to provide rich experiences for children.

Reference list:

Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, (2012). Programming and
Planning in

Early Childhood Settings (5th ed.). South Melbourne, Victoria:

Cengage Learning

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. (2009). Belonging,

Being and

Becoming- The Early Learning Framework for Australia. Retrieved from

http://
belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_austral
ia.pdf

Department of Education, (2013). Assessment Advice. Retrieved from http://

www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/support/pages/advice.aspx

McLachlan, C., Fleer, M., Edwards, S., (2013). Early Childhood Curriculum: Planning,
assessment and implementation (2nd ed.). New York, United States of America:
Cambridge University Press

Rivalland, C. (2011). EDF2038 Assessment in ECE: Week 5: Interpreting Curriculum

and

Assessment [Powerpoint Slides]. Retrieved from

http://moodle.vle.monash.edu