ABSTRACT
Most assessments, and the evidence, about children are in the practitioner’s head. When practitioners input their summative assessments to a tracker, they will begin to see if there are any “gaps”. Some instruments and a CD player were introduced to the outdoor area, this “gap” immediately disappeared and the staff became completely confident in their assessments of this aspect of learning. In many settings, practitioners spend hours each week writing up notes, printing and annotating photographs, cross-referencing observations to statements in Development Matters, gathering pictures that a child has drawn, and so on. The Early Years Foundation Stage Handbook has a useful quote regarding evidence that practitioners should collect: Evidence doesn’t need to be formally recorded or documented. Whatever changes are introduced by the government, practitioners must remain confident that their own complex and detailed knowledge of children cannot be represented or replaced by any amount of paper evidence, electronic records or a test.
