Eight features of effective planning
Planning is a big issue for practitioners preparing to implement Curriculum for Excellence – and there is a thirst for guidance and examples of best practice. So what lead can local authorities take to help? Fraser Allen spoke to three participants from this summer's National Early Years Local Authority Forum (NEYLAF) in Stirling.
The panel
Kirsteen McCartney, Quality Improvement Officer, East Ayrshire Council
Frances Rodman, Quality Improvement Officer, North Ayrshire Council
Myra Struthers, Quality Improvement Officer, Glasgow City Council
1 - Support for practitioners
Myra: In Glasgow we used to have a very prescriptive approach to planning and paperwork but the Curriculum for Excellence ethos promotes autonomy – and with autonomy comes responsibility. However, we're certainly not abandoning practitioners, or saying 'do whatever you want'. People need guidance to point them in the right direction and we're offering a flexible approach to providing support when and where it is needed.
Frances: I agree. We're trying to ensure that practitioners are fully supported. The process should be focused on opportunities for the child's development through Curriculum for Excellence rather than trying to fit the child into the outcomes. Planning should not be about ticking boxes, it should be a process to support children's learning and development.
Myra: We have commissioned a working party this year, made up of the Early Years Quality Improvement Officers, of which there are four at present in Glasgow, and the heads of various different centres across the whole city. We've discussed our thinking with them and other practitioners and will gain more feedback in the months to come.
Glasgow's vision so far is based around a general set of guidelines and a graphic device, a bit like a pie chart, that emphasises principles of effective planning – from observation and consultation, through to sharing outcomes for learning, and then reviewing your work. It's still in draft form at the moment, but it does give exemplars of good practice and we feel it is quite innovative. It provides a starting point.
2 - Sharing best practice
Myra: We have looked at some useful exemplars from England and have also urged our own practitioners to share their best practice ideas with us. People can be apprehensive about this, especially when it involves other local authorities. Putting your thoughts 'out there' can seem a bit frightening. The meeting in June this year of the National Early Years Local Authority Forum (NEYLAF) was a really good approach to sharing approaches and ideas. It gave people the opportunity to talk to each other and share ideas about good practice, without having to publish anything for the whole world to see.
Kirsteen: Working together and sharing best practice is helpful in understanding what Curriculum for Excellence is all about. The NEYLAF forum was a great idea. Meeting people in the same field is so valuable and it's very important to receive information from a strategic point of view.
3 - Less paperwork, more action
Kirsteen: We are trying to move away from driving practitioners into filling out countless sheets of paper and instead ensure that it's more about working with the children and tapping into their interests. Although we have issued general guidelines, we are very much encouraging people to develop what suits their situation best. We have developed an A3 planning sheet but if practitioners are using their own format that they are happy with, they can continue to use it, providing they are consistent with Curriculum for Excellence.
Frances: Any format that we pursue has to be manageable for practitioners – it's important to minimise the paperwork and maximise the time that they can spend working with children.
Myra: We don't want to swamp people with paperwork. Also, the planning process must have the flexibility to reflect the needs of each establishment, rather than restricting practitioners.
4 - Know the child
Frances: It is important to ensure that planning always starts from a sound knowledge of the child. There should be a focus on individual children, with individual planning for each child – and regular evaluation built in around it. That means speaking to the parents about their child's development and interests, and enabling the child to have a say in what they do too. We also believe there should be involvement from the whole staff team and any relevant agencies.
5 - Encourage reflection
Myra: In both the guidelines that we have produced and the planning proforma that practitioners can use, we have stressed the value of 'reflection'. That means practitioners are reflecting on learning as it happens, and also encouraging the children to reflect. We have also stressed the importance of play in learning.
6 - Incorporate transition
Kirsteen: Reflecting on the transition process is also important. We have changed what we called the 'skills profile', which was created during the nursery stage and passed on to be validated in October by the P1 teachers. We thought it was impractical to say a child had developed specific skills within that time frame.
Instead we are placing an emphasis on involving the child and their parents in identifying what the child's interests are and what he or she needs to learn. We call this a 'transition profile', which is completed in stages from home to nursery and nursery to primary. It puts a greater focus on continuity and progression in their learning.
7 - Opportunities for training
Kirsteen: More and more practitioners are asking for training in planning. We have been holding twilight sessions, with homework assignments and quiz elements, that make planning issues more relevant to participants' own settings. We also started providing one-to-one surgeries last year. Initially it was offered to support partner providers in the voluntary and private sector, but it is now being offered to anyone who requests it.
8 - Make it relevant and enjoyable
Kirsteen: Kate Cherry from HMIE made a simple but illuminating observation at the NEYLAF event when she pointed out that some evaluations contain comments relating to how the children have enjoyed an activity. As she quite rightly said, 'Who would plan an activity that they wouldn't expect children to enjoy?' Our message is very much that we shouldn't just hope children enjoy activities, we should be actively planning to ensure that experiences are also relevant, challenging, developmentally appropriate and have an impact on learning.
To find out more about planning email Kirsteen McCartney at Kirsteen.McCartney@eastayrshire.gov.uk, Frances Rodman at frodman@north-ayrshire.gov.uk or Myra Struthers at Myra.Struthers@glasgow.gov.uk
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