How do teachers and adults influence the child in the early learning period?

Answer 1

Characteristics of early learning

During the early childhood period children's learning across the various dimensions of development (for

example, physical, motor, linguistic, emotional) is greater than at any other period, but is also highly

variable across the dimensions. It also occurs very rapidly, is episodic in nature and is very susceptible to

environmental conditions (Shepard et al., 1998). These factors contribute to making the assessment of early

learning and development very challenging.

The nature of early learning

This section of the paper discusses the characteristics of early learning and identifies some key theoretical

constructs that guide the teaching, learning and assessment processes during early childhood. Theoretical

considerations have been influential in shaping new and emerging approaches to assessment and the most salient

of these are discussed in relation to their implications for the assessment of earlylearning and development.

How to assess early learning

This section of the paper explains the significance of a narrative approach to assessment in early childhood.

A number of methods of assessing children's early learning and development are discussed. The process of

documentation of information derived about children's learning is described with specific reference to the

work of practitioners in Reggio Emilia, in Northern Italy.

A narrative approach to assessment of learning in early childhood

Narrative or story approaches have been used by a number of educationalists both to understand practice

and to communicate with others their thoughts about that practice. Bruner (1999b, p. 175) describes narrative

as a mode of thought and a vehicle for meaning making. However, he also cautions that if narrative is to be

made an instrument of mind on behalf of meaning making, it requires work on our part -reading it, making it,

analyzing it, understanding its craft, sensing its uses, discussing it (p. 176). The implications then for narrative

assessments are that they are not ends in themselves, but must be used as tools for reflection and for sharing

with others in order to seek out possible other meanings. From Bruner's perspective then, narrative has both

a meaning-making function and a communicative one.

Paley's work (1979; 1981) provides us with an example of a practitioner who has made extensive use of

narrative in order to share her ethnographic observations of children. Her case-study narratives have been

published in a series of books beginning in 1979 and have continued for over two decades. They illustrate

her careful listening and deep reflection on what children had to say. Paley's work is of interest in relation

to assessment since it clearly illustrates how this particular practitioner continually modified her teaching

in response to her observations of children. Her use of the tape-recorder illustrates how reflection can be

achieved even in a busy early education setting and especially how it can be done in discussion with children.

Genishi (1992) too emphasises the importance of storying for conveying aspects of everyday experiences in

early childhood settings. The potential of stories as powerful tools was expressed by Witherell and Noddings

(1991, p. 280) when they stated;

They provide us with a picture of real people in real situations, struggling with real problems… They

invite us to speculate on what might be changed and with what effect.

Learning stories involve a narrative approach to assessment and we look at this credit-focused approach next.

Learning stories: A credit-focused approach

Carr (2001) and her colleagues in the early childhood community in New Zeal