As a result of the CASS consultation process, a number of nursery schools and units had requested support in the area of Observation, Record-Keeping and Assessment.
An initial meeting with interested teachers and assistants enabled participants to share thinking and current practice on this issue and also helped to shape the nature of future support in this area.
Over a sustained six month period, a number of afternoon professional development sessions were agreed in order to explore the following:
1. Making observations meaningful (what do you actually write!).
2. Monitoring children’s progress through the learning areas (understanding children’s needs).
3. Linking each element of planning with assessment.
4. Giving children a voice in the planning, observation, assessment cycle.
5. Involving parents in observation and assessment practice.
6. EEL Project/Laevers concept of involvement training.
The cluster series format provided practitioners with the opportunity to work with other settings and designed in a way which provided a specific focused session followed by a period of reflection/ trial.
Participant Nursery Teachers/ Assistants were invited to attend those sessions which they felt would be most useful to them in their current Nursery settings.
The attached documents may be useful for those practitioners who are revisiting this element of their practice and thinking.
