When it comes to early childhood education, it is never about teaching alone. It is more related to learning and exploration for the younger kids. The experts state that observations play a pivotal role in meeting all the developmental needs of children. Observation is considered to be one the simplest yet effective methods for evaluating and assessing children as they grow and develop.
For an educator or a child care provider, observing a kid commences with noting how he learns, behaves, interacts with others and reacts to new situations. Later this information is used for determining best techniques that can help in improving the overall classroom environment so that the kids get maximum benefit from it.
Understanding the children
A good daycare center is the one where the child care provider observes the children keenly and understands their strengths and weaknesses. This should be done at an individual level. These observations play a vital role in setting the right programs for the kids and making required adjustments in the care environment not only to improve the behavior of children but also to facilitate a healthy learning environment. Regular observation, a deep analysis on the personality traits and child behavior can help in building a stronger relationship with each child and develops a bond in a meaningful manner.
Tracking progress
Once you start paying attention to your early childhood setting, you will be in a better position to monitor the overall progress of each child over time. You can categorize your observations into the following groups for better understanding:
• Language skills
• Emotional
• Physical
• Social
• Cognitive
More areas can be added if you wish to monitor each child’s strength and weaknesses in great depth over time.
Identification of issues
As one starts observing the individual progress in a systematic manner, you might notice that a certain child is having a hard time in one or a few areas of development. Since you would be recording all your observations, these reflections will really assist you in identifying the problems more quickly and therefore can address it an efficient manner. By taking the necessary steps, you will see a considerable improvement in the child’s behavior. The other advantage of having a detailed data on hand is that you will be in a position to discuss the matters with parents as well. You can address about the struggles their child is going through and get their feedback on it. This will also help in setting future goals of the child.
How to assess
The traditional and conventional testing methods are helpful in child’s development but they only give a snapshot of how a child performed at a certain stage. The concept of observation in early childhood education is different in a sense that, you get more chances to read and analyze the child’s behavior and come up with an accurate reading on his true developmental progress over time.
Many experts find testing not to be most reliable and accurate method of measuring skills of a child. This is because there are many factors that create an impact on a child’s performance at a particular moment. Boredom, hunger, tiredness and many other such feelings can have a direct effect on how a child performs during an assessment. These factors can certainly hinder the child in demonstrating his skills he has learnt at the time of assessment. However, if you have recorded observations, you can come up with a clearer and of course more accurate picture of a child’s performance in the most integral developmental areas.
There are many daycare and early schooling centers that employ observation techniques for measuring a child’s performance and development over time. Talk to us today and understand how we can help your child receive the best early childhood education.