Observing and assessing children

This chapter focuses on a highly valuable tool used by early childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioners: observation and assessment for supporting and enhancing young children’s development and learning (D&L). The chapter, which focuses predominantly on ECEC practice in England, is written from the perspective that ECEC practitioners can advocate for young children by ensuring that processes of observation and assessment prioritise the needs of each young child with whom they work. Attention is given to who might observe young children, why observation is used, its historical roots, and how observations of young children’s behaviours can be conducted in ECEC settings. The chapter also considers how child observation data might be recorded, reported, and stored safely and securely, and addresses practical and ethical considerations that ECEC practitioners may need to consider concerning their observations and assessments of young children’s behaviours, D&L in settings.