The most important occupation ofany teacher of young children isto observe the children in theircare at play. You can really get toknow your children by making

careful observations and using these to tuneinto the child’s interests.

There are a number of observationaltechniques that you can use to do thiseffectively. Before starting any observation,however, it is sensible to consider yourreasons for the observation, so you cancapture the most pertinent information. Forexample, investigating a child’s social circlewill need a different technique than if you areinvestigating their proficiency with number.

The following examples of observationaltechniques will help you to tune into yourchildren’s interests and developmental needs.A word of warning – you must always ensurethat you have permission to makeobservations of the children from someonewho has legal parental responsibility andanyone recording observations must berespectful of the children’s wishes.

1Magic momentsThese are the briefest observations thatyou can make. They are usually captured

on ‘post-it’ notes or sticky labels, which can beeasily put into a learning journey or child’sdevelopmental folder. This is the quickestway to record an observation and usually themost convenient for practitioners, who canoften be seen carrying notepads around thenursery. Practitioners should note anythingthat is a ‘first’, for example, the first timeclimbing steps unaided, and also anythingparticular to that child, for example, afascination with linking the trains together.Practitioners who know their children well willbe able to note anything unusual orexceptional about the child’s play at thatmoment. The aim of this type of observationis to build a picture about the children’sinterests and development from many piecesof information.

2NarrativeThe narrative observation, sometimescalled a ‘long’ observation, is an

extended written account of an activity. Itmay include a verbatim record of thelanguage used by the child, level ofinvolvement and other children that they playwith, and may also include a photo. Ideallythe child’s key person should record anarrative observation, as he or she is mostlikely to understand the context of the play.The practitioner usually observes the child for20 minutes to half an hour, so as much

information as possible can be recorded. Asthis method takes much longer, and is muchmore detailed than the magic moment, it isused less frequently. The narrativeobservation may be planned in advance toensure that every child in the nursery isobserved in this way once every half-term, forexample.

3Learning storiesLearning stories are longerobservations, made over a much

longer period of time. They are based on thechild’s interests, their level of involvement,persistence, communication and takingresponsibility. They are written as a story inthe first person, as if the practitioner weretalking to the child and explaining what theyhad observed. Examples of these may be anextended record of how a child got out thepaints, chose a particular paintbrush andcarefully composed a self-portrait. Therelevance of each step is explained andreflected on at the end of the ‘story’. Theseare illustrated with photographs. Care mustbe taken not to simply annotate the

There are a host of ways to conduct andrecord observations of young children,

and each one can tell us somethingdifferent, says Kathy Brodie...

photographs but to produce a reflective,thoughtful story to accompany them. Theparents or carers are encouraged to addtheir own comments at the end of thelearning story.

This observational method takes a bit longer than the magic moments andnarrative, but gives a really personal dialogue between child, practitioner andparents. It is particularly valuable for childrenwho are just starting at nursery or forboosting self-esteem.

4Time sampleIn a time sample observation, anobservation of a child is made every

five minutes over a set period of time, usuallyan hour. The observations are only brief, butwill include the activity the child is engagedin, which area of the nursery they are in andthe level of involvement at that particulartime. The practitioner will need to be able tomake the observations regularly, which canbe a challenge in a free flow environment,but each observation will take less than aminute to record.

“Our most important role isto sit back and observe...”

32 Teach Nursery

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This type of observation is very useful forrecording a child’s level of interest in types ofactivities, and their disposition. For example, itmay become obvious from this sort ofobservation that the child spent an hour indifferent parts of the nursery, but alwaysdoing construction activities; or that a childnever engaged in writing activities, eventhough he or she played in several areas thathad writing opportunities.

5Tracking To record a tracking observation youmust first have a floor plan of the

setting, including outdoors. The practitionerobserves and notes on the floor plan the areain the nursery that their child visits, and howlong they were at each activity or area. Thechild may be tracked for a long or short time,depending on the type of informationrequired. For example, if the observation is to

help understand why a child seems to flitfrom activity to activity, the practitioner couldobserve for the morning session. Theobservations may show from this that thechild is, in fact, transporting items from onearea of the nursery to another, because he orshe has a transporting schema.

The tracking observations of all thechildren can be collated, to analyse the areasof the nursery that are being used by certaingroups of children. For example, is it alwaysthe girls that access the book corner? Do theyounger children tend to use the sand morethan the older ones?

6SociogramA less well-used observationaltechnique is the sociogram. These are

observations of the social groups thatchildren play in. The practitioner observes thechildren that their focus child is playing with,what they are playing and for how long.When the child plays with different children,or changes activities with the same children,this is noted.

This observational technique can be usedthroughout the nursery, so the growingsocial development of the child can beobserved and tracked.

Some children will play with a close socialgroup all day, whereas others will move easilybetween groups. Occasionally some childrenseem not to play with anyone, but on closerobservation you may find they actually have alarge social circle, but only spend time brieflywith each of their friends. This information cangive a very powerful image of the child’ssocial groups and social competence.

Kathy Brodie is an EYP and trainer based inEast Cheshire. Visit kathybrodie.com

The choice of observationaltechnique will depend on the timethat practitioners have available andthe reason for making theobservation. Each method requiresthe practitioner to have anobservational skill set. Ironically, themost skill is required to complete theshortest observation, the magicmoment. This is because thepractitioner must recognise themoment to begin with, and thenrecord it quickly, succinctly andaccurately. It may be worthconsidering starting less experiencedpractitioners on a tracking orsociogram method until they areconfident in recording observations.

It is essential to use a range ofmethods, so practitioners can get abreadth and depth of knowledgeabout the children in their care.Similarly, different practitioners willobserve through the lens of theirown experiences, recording differentaspects of children’s development.For example, a practitioner who hastraining in children’s physicaldevelopment is more likely to recordobservations of motor skills whilstsomeone who is trained in musicaldevelopment may record musical pitch.

By using close observation ofchildren, practitioners can reveal awealth of information, from intereststo social group to dispositions.

CHOOSING ATECHNIQUE

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