The Loop Spring 2015 web.pdf

Imagine for a moment that we are ten, twenty
or even thirty years on from today, and that
young child that you are currently documenting
observations about is reading your words about
themselves. The photos you have taken and the
messages you have relayed on that page create a
picture about them as a person, and indeed about
you as a teacher, that extends well beyond this
moment in time.
I am sure that when you record your observations you are
probably seldom thinking about the documentation in this
way, but the reality is that we may be the only people who are
documenting this individual’s life with such a focused lens. The
choices we make about what we write may last a life time,
with the possibility of being read again and again. It may
sound dramatic, however when we record the lives of children
in our care and openly share these recordings, we can be
influencing how a family sees their child and then, over
time, how an individual may see themselves. In this way the
teaching and learning potential of what we author each week
can be more powerful than the here and now, and perhaps
more powerful than we as educators have ever really stopped
to consider.
In a period when early childhood educators are commonly
dissatisfied and time stretched with the burden of such paper
work, it may seem to be additional strain to laden you with
the weight of being so influential. Is it not already enough
to be adhering to all the requirements of workplace policy,
national quality standards and regulations? The swirl of trying
to understand all these requirements, the planning cycles
and the true meaning of critical reflection can sometimes
have us in a spin. Many educators I have met are bogged
down by spending copious amounts of time creating lengthy
documentation that will somehow be enough to meet all these
requirements. In fact I question if it is often the fear of being
assessed and rated against these requirements that actually
drives a proportion of educators to write about children. It
can be, for some, an arduous and meaningless process that
becomes so time consuming that it affects the way we see our
work.
Contrary to that professional fog that can occur, there actually
is a simple and great joy about being with children, honouring
their existence and joining with them and their family to find
wonder, growth and learning in this world.
If we bypass the complexities of our work for a
moment and take the time to truly reflect on what
really matters for us and for children, we may be
transported back to a more fundamental picture of
celebrating seeing children playing, developing
and growing, and to acknowledge the difference
we are making in a child’s life.
What do we notice about how special a child is?
What do we collectively want for them?
How can we make that happen?
At what point do we notice that child is beginning to wonder,
to shine or to benefit from our purpose together?
What do we now see?
Perhaps these types of simple questions should be more what
drives us to pen documentation about children than the fears
of being assessed or indeed of providing a certain number of
observations per day, week or month.
As an educational leader I am delighted to see the recording
that happens in our early learning space when our educators
can really capture the essence of celebrating a child for who
they truly are and equally for celebrating the difference we
can all make in each other’s lives. This is the real work of early
learning communities and this is the heart of what we should
be recording. For some reason when you view documenting
children’s learning in this way, it becomes a joy to be the
author and sharer of these important stories about a person’s
life. The planning cycle seems to naturally form as you share
the significant moments, celebrate the learning, and consider
the possibilities for the future.
For some years now the educators in our centre have been
exploring recording children’s learning with the primary
purpose of writing to families. It is as though we are writing
them a special note; an often celebratory note about the
significance of their child and of the learning space that we
share together. We know when it is time to write to families
because it will be that something is so compelling about what
their child is doing that we have the desire to share it with
them. Perhaps their child is becoming a beautiful friend to
someone, perhaps they have displayed strength of character,
resilience or mastered a new skill; perhaps they are working
towards something and we are supporting them; perhaps they
are developing exciting ideas, learning new things or sharing
a part of themselves. Continued next page.
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