Investigating quality interactions in the nursery
Focus and context
Assessment for Learning
- Our assessment involves high quality interactions, based on thoughtful questions, careful listening and reflective responses.
- Our children, staff and parents are clear about what is to be learned and what success would be like.
- Our children and staff are given timely feedback about the quality of their work and how to make it better.
Curriculum area(s): cross-curricular, early years.
Project summary
This Early Years case study from South Lanarkshire provides insights into how the quality of interaction between adults and children improves through formative assessment and reveals that descriptive feedback can have a very positive impact on children’s learning.
The group was made up of two nurseries and four nursery classes within South Lanarkshire Council. They considered ways of improving interactions in such a way that it would challenge the thinking of both children and adults. In light of this they chose to focus on assessment for learning: investigating how quality interactions with children affected the understanding of learning intentions and success criteria, and provision of timely feedback.
The approach to research-based learning within the group was rigorous, using video footage of teacher-pupil interactions for teacher self-reflection, followed by discussion in groups of three teachers. This allowed staff to see significant patterns emerging across establishments and reach confident conclusions about what had worked and what needed to be changed.
Case study extract
The first major decision was taken as a result of reading undertaken by the group. It was found that decontextualising the learning intention enabled planning to be more responsive to the needs and interests of the children. [This proved] invaluable as the question of success criteria was brought to the discussion table. How could practitioners share success criteria with young children? Staff mapped out ideas and came up with a range of suggestions on which to base the action research. To prepare for this staff began learning how to write proactive success criteria, sharing criteria by saying ‘remember to…’
Many ideas and suggestions were tried [for sharing proactive success criteria] including 3-D, photographs, modelling, drawings. We found that every practitioner was turning to modelling as a means of sharing criteria and it was observed that when the practitioner shared the learning intention and modelled how to get success, the adult child interaction was focused and of high quality.
Staff discussions about how the children could get success when learning something new linked naturally to how staff gave feedback during the learning. A member of the group reported:
‘I have been trying to ask questions to make the children really think, but when they give me a good answer, I praise them, the discussion ends and I ask the next child another good question.’
Staff consulted a range of reading materials and decided oral feedback must be more descriptive rather than evaluative. Some of the group worried that adults should give children approval, but after carrying out the action research it was concluded that children respond positively to descriptive feedback.
For example one practitioner observed two girls trying to complete quite a tricky jigsaw. When the first girl finished she said ‘you completed that really quickly because you looked carefully at the picture’. That girl smiled and [took a trickier jigsaw]. The other girl looked round, pulled the picture over, and began to increase her speed and smile.
Points to consider
- This group chose to work on using success criteria as a result of their professional reading. How has reading impacted on your professional practice?
- Through observation and reflection the group identified modelling as an effective way of sharing success criteria with young children. Have you considered different ways of sharing criteria for success? What is most effective in your context?
- This group found that descriptive feedback was most effective even with very young children. Does the oral feedback you give to pupils tend to evaluate their responses, closing down opportunities for dialogue? How could you include more descriptive feedback to stimulate further discussion?
Posted February 2008
Contact details
If you would like further information on this case study, please contact the local authority assessment co-ordinator. You can find contact details for each authority area on our local authority co-ordinators' contacts page.