Meaningful Observations in Early Childhood Education and Care

Observation is a fundamental tool for teaching in early childhood education because it supports awareness of a child’s development, skills, interests, strengths and play. Observation in childcare is crucial for both early childhood teachers and educators, parents and children.

As part of an ongoing cycle of assessment and planning, observations can be made for individual children or small groups of children allowing educators to interpret children’s play, behaviour and learning styles and adjust teaching practices where necessary.

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What are observations in Early Childhood Education?

“Observation alone is not enough. We have to understand the significance of what we see, hear and touch”. John Dewey

The words of John Dewey, a philosopher, academic and educator from the late 18^th early 20^th century can provide a foundation of what observation looks like and means in the early education and care setting. This quote provides a good beginning point as it tells us that there is no ‘right’ way but many ways to approach observation and as John Dewey (1938) says: “we have to understand the significance of what we see, hear and touch…”.

In Dewey’s opinion, education was not just a place to acquire a pre-determined set of skills but a place to realise one’s full potential. Dewey re-imagined the learning process of shifting from the traditional ‘transactional’ method of the time to a model that encouraged a passion for knowledge and ‘intellectual curiosity. This idea suggests that for observation to be meaningful teachers and educators must be curious and open to the meanings that arise – to therefore gain a deeper picture of the child and their learning.

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Observation in childcare involves being attuned to the child through listening and watching as they play, learn and explore. During the observation process, teachers and educators will be aware of the actions, expressions, behaviours, and gestures of children.

Sometimes, observation involves joining in with children’s conversations or interactions to form an understanding of how they are developing, interacting with others and playing. An important consideration for observing children’s play is to slow down and bring quietness to the process of observing and listening. Being present with children when observing means that adults are sensitive to not interrupt the child’s play process. This means that the meaning and richness of each child’s experience can be observed.

Vivian Gussin Paley describes this sense of presence through this reflection of her role as observer of play:

I rarely paused to listen to the narratives blooming everywhere in the garden of children in which I spent my days. I saw myself as the bestower of place and belonging, of custom and curriculum, too often ignoring the delicate web being constructed by the children in their constant exchange of ideas the moment I stopped talking and they resumed playing.

The Importance of Observation in Early Years

Childcare observations can occur throughout the day in an early education and care setting. Through daily care routines, like mealtimes, rest, and nappy change and also as the child plays, interacts with other children and explores materials and the surrounding environment. Integrating observation into practice can hold many benefits including:

• Planning for and designing a responsive child-centred curriculum
• Ensuring teaching strategies support the child to achieve personal goals
• Providing ways to describe the child's skills and abilities
• Providing feedback to parents about their child's learning experience

When undertaken in a sensitive and responsive way, observations nurture close attachment relationships between adults and children. Quality relationships support children to be emotionally supported and this results in a stronger sense of security, belonging and wellbeing. When children feel secure, their learning with others in the early childhood environment is optimised.

When early childhood teachers and educators recognise the importance of close, responsive and reciprocal interactions, children feel safe, secure and cared for, this supports positive engagement in the play and learning process.

Consequently, this also supports teachers and educators because observing how children interact, and what their abilities and interests are provides a meaningful platform to better plan and develop an authentic program based on each child’s experience.

Types of Observation in Childcare

There are many different methods of observing children’s play, development and learning. Some well-known methods include anecdotal observations, running records, time-sampling, sociograms and checklists. Photos, audio or video records as well as learning stories are also valuable ways to build understandings and interpret the learning, interests, abilities, and skills of children. t is important that teachers and educators explore the different methods on offer and utilise the one that best reflects the teaching and learning context including service philosophy. This ensures that the planning process facilitates each child’s development and learning in a positive way and provides the educative team with a thorough understanding of each child.

Here are some of the different types of observation techniques to use when observing children.

Anecdotal Record

Anecdotal records are usually performed after an event and are written in the past tense. They are sometimes described as diary records and focus on what is important, recorded in chronological order, with a beginning and an end. This may include focusing on a single area of child development, or going through a number of developmental areas, or aspects of a child’s play at once. When creating an anecdotal record, you must record what the child has said and done, including their body language, pronunciation, direct quotes and facial expressions.

Anecdotal observations are a practical method for recording any important events or actions that may tell us about the child's interests, needs, development, abilities and skills. For example, this might include observing a child playing with playground equipment, which will provide details about their gross motor skills. Anecdotal records are a valuable way to share with a parent their child’s evolving learning and development and for families to see the progress their child is making in different areas of their learning experience.

Jottings

Jottings are short notes of any significant events, discussions or behaviours. These can be noted in a few short sentences, but are often no longer than a paragraph. The observer will usually write an interpretation to go with the jottings.

Jottings are a fast and simple method to record important behaviours and incidents. Here is an example of a jotting with an interpretation:

21.07.2021 - Sally enters the building with her father. She hides behind her father's legs. L walks over to her father and engages in a brief conversation. L says "it's time to say goodbye to daddy", and welcomes Sally with open arms. Sally comes out from behind her father's legs, reaches for L and smiles.

A scenario such as this one can highlight to educators what Sally’s experience of transition is like. Through interpretation and analysis, the educators may determine that Sally is experiencing separation anxiety and explore strategies to support her with this. Through a jotting such as this, educators can see that Sally is forming an awareness of other people and has the ability to distinguish between familiar people and strangers while also showing strong attachment behaviours towards her father and her caregiver..

Running Records

Running records involve describing everything a child says in a specified period of time. A running record is written in the present tense as it is being recorded as it happens. It provides a detailed description of the child's actions and behaviours during a specific time frame. They are practical for deciding why a child may be behaving in a particular way and can provide significant information on other developmental areas.

It is recommended to observe in time increments, such as 2 to 5 minutes. An example of a running record:

9:30am to 9:33 am - Ben puts his bag away and begins running towards the play area. Ben greets Michelle with a hug. Michelle asks for a high five, Ben high fives Michelle. Michelle says "Good job!" and Ben laughs.

Photo Observations

Photo observations can capture how a child learns through an experience, and provide an understanding of the child's development, skills and interests

When accompanied with a brief interpretation, a collection of photographs can portray the development of the child, or any changes in their skills and play overtime.

Time Samples

Time samples record a child's behaviour and how often that behaviour occurs during the day. A tally system is used to record the specific time the behaviour occurs. Time samples are an effective way of finding out how children are engaging in various play areas as well as providing insight into children’s behaviour at different points in the day. A time sample is often described as taking a series of ‘snap-shots’ similar to time-lapse photography and can assist in seeing the particular patterns in how children experience the program.

Time samples can be undertaken every 30 minutes in a day, or in shorter increments of 5 to 10 minutes one important consideration is to have a clear pre-determined purpose for undertaking the time-sample

Socio-grams

Socio-grams are an observation method that detail a child's interactions and friendships. It can be conducted on a variety of age groups, reflecting the social interaction patterns of a child such as how often a child interacts with others and who a child interacts with. A socio-gram can also highlight the way a child moves between experiences within the program and whether any assistance is required to support social interactions or engagement in the program. .

Event Samples

Event samples involve a collection of short observations of a specific behaviour or event within a pre-determined time frame. This form of observation is commonly used to document behaviour patterns and can be used equally for children as well as adults (to assist an educator or teacher to be aware of strategies he or she uses during the day)and the indicators for why a particular behaviour is occurring. In this way, event samples can act as a teaching and reflection tool for the adult to examine their responses to children in specific scenarios.

For this type of observation to be effective, it is important that every event that occurs within the time frame is recorded. What is essential is ‘what’ is observed rather than ‘when it is observed’.

Learning Story Observations

Learning stories tell a narrative to whoever is reading them and were originally developed as a tool to assess children’s learning in the context of the early childhood curriculum. children's voices and questions were integral to this approach.

Learning Stories encourage educators and teachers to consider a bigger picture and to think about how each child is experiencing their world. A learning story may focus on the experience of an individual child or a group of children. What is important to understand about this form of observation is that it presents a story of a child’s learning over a period of time and can highlight specific skills, interests and dispositions for learning – making the learning visible to the reader. Learning stories not only describe actions they also make feelings, thoughts and the interpretations of those writing or telling the story visible.

There are six aspects to consider in writing a learning story:

1. It takes place over time
2. It provides a link in the chain of a child’s learning.
3. It must contain meaningful details of the child or groups play or learning experience.
4. There must be attention on context and background
5. It will read like a good holistic story rather than a fragmented report.
6. How will the child’s voice be acknowledged and or included?

There are many diverse ways of writing a learning story and the following example has been written in response to a play experience shared in a story written by Tom Drummond: 

A Story for Jolene

Today in our room I found a quiet space ~ a place that was filled with creative explorations old and new.