Learning & Development: Record-Keeping - Journey time

Government policy since the revision of the EYFS has been committed to simplifying the curriculum, reducing paperwork and empowering providers to make their own decisions. In More Affordable Childcare, published last month, it was made clear that 'learning journeys' were not required as a method of demonstrating children's progress in the EYFS.

At the same time, the Government has focused its attention on reducing the power of local authorities to impose specific record-keeping systems and to make judgements on quality to those of Ofsted. This is made clear in More Great Childcare, which states, 'We believe that Ofsted should become the sole arbiter of quality in the early years.'

Given these dual aims, the Government has refined the Ofsted inspection process. Providers are now evaluated according to the impact they make on children's learning. The Evaluation Schedule for Inspections of Registered Early Years Provision stresses the importance of providers keeping accurate and useful records of children's development and ensuring these are shared with parents, with specific reporting at the ages of two years (in the Progress Check at Two) and five (in the EYFS Profile).

So, what should the sector make of these changes? Why have 'learning journeys' caused so much controversy among early years practitioners that the Government has felt the need to disown them in such a public way? And how do practitioners devise useful and meaningful systems of assessment and record-keeping that track children's progress from birth to five years and meet the requirements of the Ofsted inspection process?

LEARNING JOURNEYS: A HISTORY

Originally, a 'learning journey' was an educational term developed many years ago by primary teachers to describe the early experiences of young children and the impact of teaching in their first years at school. At the time, primary and secondary schools were using a range of systems to describe children's personal and academic success. One of the most familiar was the 'Record of Achievement'. These systems ensured that every child had an organised file of evidence showing progress in each area of the National Curriculum as well as their personal achievements, and children were encouraged to take pride in their files and contribute to their content.

On the other hand, 'learning journeys' were developed by teachers to represent more closely the earliest experiences of learning at school. This was a term considered less functional and more descriptive of the way younger children grew and flourished in the early years, before they became subject to external competitive assessment systems.

The term became quickly associated with the EYFS when the early years curriculum was made compulsory for all maintained primary schools in 2006. In fact, the DfE produced a short manual, now out of print, called the Learning Journey for teachers to share with parents that explained the new curriculum. The document promoted the good practice of children learning through play and through being offered a wide range of challenging and practical first-hand experiences.

Before long, 'learning journeys' as a record-keeping system gained a stronghold in educational circles. They began to be used more and more widely by early years advisory teachers, employed by local authorities, who worked across the maintained and the private, voluntary and independent sector. The term was also used extensively in literature written and presented by the Government's own advisers National Strategies - which largely directed the early years agenda and monitored the local authority delivery of the early years curriculum. These 'learning journeys' metamorphosed into holistic records of progress.

A SEQUENTIAL AND HOLISTIC APPROACH

By 2008, the EYFS, with its 69 early learning goals across the six areas of learning, had become a very complicated and cumbersome document, particularly with the additional Development Matters guidance, which broke down each area of learning into its potential sequence of levels of child development.

The extensive expectations of this framework made the task of assessing children's development very complicated for practitioners. As a consequence, advisory teachers encouraged them to produce 'learning journeys' to report children's progress through observations in a holistic way.

Rapidly, these 'learning journey' files of evidence became anthologies of descriptions and photographs that covered all areas of learning and paid tribute to the children's experiences as they occurred. However, the greatest weakness of this method of record-keeping was that practitioners did not track children's chronological achievement in an area of learning and, therefore, many providers missed signs that children needed individual support to develop particular skills.

Teachers and practitioners who embraced this form of record-keeping argued that parents related well to looking through their children's 'learning journeys' and found them accessible and reassuring because they recorded sequential events and experiences, just like their family photo albums. However, many practitioners in the private sector also kept additional files that tracked children according to the development and progression of skills. This is because they felt that 'learning journeys' may have been charming, but they only told half the story. The workload for these providers was particularly laborious.

THE EYFS PROFILE

Originally, local authority early years advisory teachers recommended to providers to use the 'learning journeys' for the EYFS Profiles that had to be completed by the end of reception when children were five years old. The difficulty was that with no chronological evidence of progress in each area of learning easily identified, moderators found it difficult to assess whether children were progressing sufficiently well in each area.

Also, these records were not very helpful to teachers in Year One because they did not give useful evidence that corresponded to the expectations for the start of the National Curriculum. Year One teachers would often spend much of the first term assessing what their new intake of children could do.

The revised EYFS was officially introduced in September 2012 and, subsequently, changes were made to the EYFS Profile for 2013. These emphasised that children's skills should be assessed when they were five years old in each of the 17 early learning goals.

The new profile is more in line with the National Curriculum and should inform Year One teachers more effectively. However, surprisingly, DfE guidance for assessing children has been called 'learning journeys'. It makes one wonder whether one hand of the DfE is aware of what the other hand is doing.

THE REVISED EYFS AND RECORD-KEEPING

Thankfully, guidance for the revised EYFS has been simplified and providers should now feel liberated to implement what they feel is right for the children in their care. The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Ofsted evaluation schedule for inspections should be used as their guide. No prescribed assessment or planning methods are proposed. However, Ofsted's criteria for inspections for evaluating the quality of learning and development gives clear direction and focuses on:

• the extent to which educational programmes for the Prime and Specific areas of learning help all children reach expected levels of development

• the extent to which all children are supported to acquire the skills and capacity to develop and learn effectively, and to be ready for the next stages in their learning, especially school

• how well practitioners demonstrate high expectations, enthuse, engage and motivate children

• how well practitioners work with parents to help children settle; engage parents in their children's development and learning in the setting and at home; help parents share what they know about their children; and keep parents informed about their children's achievements and progress.

The Statutory Framework also emphasises the need for parents to receive short written statements of their child's progress at two years old and for the EYFS Profile to be completed in the last term of the reception class at five years old. In light of these expectations, providers will want to keep ongoing records of development for the children in their care, but they will also want to keep them simple.

RECORDING PROGRESS IN DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING

There have been a number of assessment and recording systems published, and providers will select whichever suits them or devise their own. The essential aspects to remember in selecting a system off the shelf or in creating your own are that:

• you and your staff have a very good understanding of child development

• you demonstrate your knowledge and expertise through your practice with children, as well as through your assessment of their progress

• parents and children can contribute to the collection of evidence

• the evidence is collected to show progress towards each of the early learning goals

• the evaluation of children's growth and development is used to inform future planning of experiences and activities

• teachers and practitioners comment on children's characteristics of learning to identify their engagement, motivation and thinking across the areas of learning.

There is child development guidance in the form of the revised Development Matters document, but practitioners can use any child development guidance to inform their practice. Basically, providers must have realistic expectations of children's development and plot their assessment and planning according the needs of each child.

BUYING PUBLISHED RECORD-KEEPING SYSTEMS

Providers may well be worried by their new freedom to implement simpler record-keeping systems, but beware published systems because:

• They can be expensive to buy and maintain. For example, the newest totally electronic systems depend on purchasing hand-held 'palms or pads', and taking endless visual images of children which are stored on computers and on external back-up systems. Consider carefully the implications for hacking and privacy laws.

• Inevitably, published systems may look helpful on first examination, but they cannot be tweaked if staff or parents find them unhelpful.

• Published systems can discourage staff from reviewing how they assess and plan for children. It also obviates the need for them to use their initiative to find solutions to difficulties as they arise.

CREATING YOUR OWN PLANNING AND RECORD-KEEPING SYSTEMS

To keep effective records and to plan for children's next steps in each of the Prime and Specific areas of learning, you should:

• ensure you and your staff understand how children develop and learn through play, and through first-hand experiences in a stimulating and challenging environment

• study the Prime and Specific areas of learning and identify the steps to the acquisition of each element of the skills and knowledge that you want to facilitate children learning

• ensure parents share with you information about their babies and children, telling you what they do and like

• explain the Prime and Specific areas of learning to parents and tell them how you will be supporting their babies and children to develop appropriate skills and knowledge, as well as collecting evidence to show progress in each of the areas of learning

• support parents to consult simple guidance about child development so they can support their children at home

• make it clear to parents that their children's key person will be reporting their children's progress and be responsible for collecting evidence and for planning their next steps

• emphasise that children learn through play and through copying what their closest adults and children do

• explain how you will give regular verbal reports on children's progress with written summative statements when their children are two and five years old, as required by DfE guidance

• use real folders and files that can be accessible to staff, parents and children during the day.

CONCLUSION

Providers need to be prepared to feel empowered through the changes that the Government is recommending. Panicking is not an option when the delivery of your service is in your hands. Ofsted inspections will measure the impact of your service according to your skills in managing the curriculum, as well as managing safeguarding procedures and the well-being of children. You may choose to continue to use the term 'learning journeys' to describe your record-keeping systems. It does not matter what you call them as long as they work for you, your staff and, in particular, the children and parents for whom you care.

MORE INFORMATION

• www.gov.uk/government/publications/ more-great-childcare-raising-quality-and-giving-parents-more-choice

• www.gov.uk/government/publications/more-affordable-childcare.