Early Childhood Observation

The observation of children, centred round careful viewing and listening, is a crucial characteristic of effective early childhood pedagogy. Nonetheless, research suggests that early years’ practitioners struggle to observe children satisfactorily and find a great difficulty in planning provisions built upon their observations. Thus, it is imperative that as prospective early childhood educators, we should understand the importance and value that such methodology holds.
There should be a continuity between that which is observed in the classroom setting and what is presented to the students to facilitate their learning. Such observation equips educators with the skills necessary for effective teaching, learning and assessment. Teachers need

Firstly through; being very attentive to the children, identifying their needs, while also noticing and understanding variances in their behaviour and responding accordingly. In correlation to this teachers should develop self-awareness to separate their own feelings from those of the children Lillard (2005). Secondly, observation is used to evaluate children‘s interests, for instance, the teacher would note whether or not the child is interested in an object, how he/she displays this interest and how long they are interested in it. As a result, teachers could also use observations to assess children‘s work in progress, though this must be done subtly as even a glance could disrupt the concentration of a child engaged on a

This coincides with Dewey‘s view that teaching towards explicit, externally imposed goals confines educational experience. This is due to the fact that, it results in a parting between the learning activity itself and the result of the activity. In his interpretation, effective education is grounded upon dynamic goals which emerge, in sequence, from an activity. An illustration of the latter can be provided through demonstrating how, within a cautiously documented project approach to early childhood teaching, educators can pinpoint possible aims and then support children in identifying and realising the objectives set for themselves, Glassman and Whaley