Butterflies Under Glass? Early Years Assessment in Focus

Butterflies Under Glass? Early Years Assessment in Focus

PAM MUNDY
PMA is a UK based, internationally operating organisation providing worldwide consultancy to stand alone and start up schools, nurseries, school groups and Ministries Of Education. The organisation is sought after for its highly professional, ethical and expert support, guidance, applied expertise and innovative ideas. PMA prides itself on working with each client as unique and individual, tailoring support according to need and responding flexibly to changing circumstances. The consultancy offer is wide ranging and includes; direct, in school or nursery review and support, professional development courses, conference keynotes and specific expertise in all aspects of early childhood education and care.

Pam Mundy is currently Director of Pam Mundy Associates and a renowned international speaker, author and consultant. Pam is also a qualified CIS Team Leader, an Early Years Inspector skilled in supporting schools and settings toward and through inspections and is an Early Years/Primary Specialist. She is a passionate advocate for teaching, learning and leadership – and the significant impact that the earliest years have on children’s life, learning and their future world. She holds a variety of international Board Roles and is a Director of Ready Generations focused on the cultural and holistic life of the child, an Education Advisory Board member for NEOM, a new city in KSA and Chairs the Advisory Board for the Chatmore British International Schools in Bermuda.

Pam provides professional development, challenge, support and strategic guidance for a wide range of K-12 schools, Early Childhood settings, government agencies and Ministries of Education nationally and internationally (currently in the United States, Kazakhstan, Brunei, South America, Chile, South Korea, South East Asia, China, Africa, India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Singapore, Indonesia, Europe and the United Kingdom). Her focus is on early childhood leadership, learning, teaching, curriculum and assessment. Pam ensures that she spends time learning directly from children and the adults who support their learning – the most inspirational aspect of her work!

As an international Early Years consultant, working across the globe, Pam has the privilege of supporting Early Years Leaders as each country responds to the Covid 19 pandemic and the unique position of being directly involved as Nurseries and schools locked down, transitioned to online learning (a complex challenge with very young children) and now begin to return … to different interpretations of what ‘the future’ may mean! Based, as always, in practical, research-based and guidance and first-hand experience, this programme is designed to provide direct and relevant support and challenge for Early Years leader as they navigate, strive (and thrive!) in this new territory. It includes an opportunity to access individual support and ‘bolt-on’ opportunities to design in-school ‘live’ follow up sessions for Early Years Teams if requested. own lives and positively influence our students and our colleagues.

Programme Overview

Topic	Early Years
Delivery Model	A four-week programme, with a 60-minute live session each week, plus relevant follow up activities for action learning in participants’ own time will be set at the end of each session. Additional option to book an individual one to one session and/or team meeting with Pam during or post course
Cost	AED 630 per delegate including VAT Booking Deadline: Wednesday 24th March 2021 Discount for group bookings of five or more staff from the same school

Topic

Early Years

Delivery Model

A four-week programme, with a 60-minute live session each week, plus relevant follow up activities for action learning in participants’ own time will be set at the end of each session.

Additional option to book an individual one to one session and/or team meeting with Pam during or post course

Cost

AED 630 per delegate including VAT
Booking Deadline: Wednesday 24th March 2021
Discount for group bookings of five or more staff from the same school

Dates & Times*

Face to Face Online sessions	4 hours programme (plus professional activity time) breakdown
Session 1: Tuesday 13th April at 3pm Session 2: Tuesday 20th April at 3pm Session 3: Tuesday 27th April at 3pm Session 4: Monday 10th May at 3pm	4 hours online facilitation Participant self-directed activity time (based on identified aspect) during Session 2 and 3.

* Times are Dubai Time and calls last 1 hour

Programme Details:

A dedicated Early Years ‘best practice’ course, tailored to both group and individual needs and rooted in best practice and supporting EY leaders and practitioners in responding to assessment in the new reality

Live Sessions using ZOOM

Session 1: All Change!

Making sense of the changes to assessment in the EYFS and exploring the impact on international best practice for Early Years assessment

Session 2: Butterflies Under Glass?

Looking through the lens at real life learning

Session 3: Master or Servant?

Making effective use of EY assessment in practise

Session 4: What’s the (Data) Story?

Impact focused analysis – using outcomes for authentic improvement

Programme Context:

Nothing stands still for long in the Early Years, (particularly the children!) in the world of Early Years assessment, where it is ‘all change’ once again! A proposed new EYFS Framework, Profile and Developmental Guidance are all under way, with implications for all Early Years settings. Internationally, other systems are also changing and there are alternative options to explore, too!

When we REALLY listen to and observe the children, we cannot fail to find many stories to tell about their learning and written documentation is a way to tell those stories and to anchor what we do to help continue our own and the children’s journey. Pedagogical documentation is a way to capture the children’s dialogue; using their real words and include sketches, photographs and children’s own ‘productions’. It drives adult research and inspires new ideas to expand our own and the children’s thinking and makes the learning truly ‘visible’!

We know that children’s learning in the Early Years is ‘messy and unpredictable’ (in all aspects!). We are not observing ‘Butterflies Under Glass’ but free-range children! The complexity of being a teacher and having the ability to keep the balance between ensuring engaging learning experiences for children, offering intuitive and individual support appropriate to their stage of learning and maintaining the highest standards is a fascinating and challenging issue! How to manage respectful Early Years assessment and use outcomes effectively to inform a responsive learning offer, a stage appropriate curriculum and an inspirational learning environment for our children is a big ‘ask’! What does high quality assessment look like in a fast-moving international Early Years environment?

This course explores the potential impact of the new 2021 Early Years Foundation Stage assessment practice and Developmental Guidelines (in the light of learning focused practice and the role of adult interaction in supporting and extending learning based on the outcomes). The
focus is on supporting teachers to become even more dynamic, creative professionals, able to balance assessment informed ‘deliberate practice’ with spontaneous interactions and access assessment opportunities efficiently, leaving time to design informed provision that provokes children’s natural curiosity.

‘Evidence of learning should be on a child, not on a worksheet!’ Lee Aaroz

Who Should Attend?

Early Years, Nursery and ECE Centre Leaders and considering learning focused approaches to EY assessment including EYFS on-entry and ongoing assessment and the EYFS profile and other generic

Intended Outcomes

To explore the latest updates (2021/22) UK and international guidance for Early Years assessment including baseline/on entry assessment, observation, recording evidence and tracking progress
To consider a range of respectful and creative approaches for managing on-going assessment systems, relevant to children’s learning, implementing clear reporting processes and working effectively with learning assistants to support learning and assessment
To begin to be able to analyse data to inform progress, moderate accurate judgements in all areas of learning, implement strategies toward ensuring a consistent assessment approach and use outcomes to inform responsive planning for learning in the Early Years

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د.إ 600.00Add to cart

Testimonials

Feedback from some of Pam’s F2F sessions.

“Pam was very inspirational, and it was clear she is knowledgeable in this area. She made sure she catered for everybody there and constantly referenced different ideas which would benefit individual needs of schools. I would highly recommend both Pam and the course to my colleagues and hope to join another course soon.”

“The course from Pam was inspirational. She provided excellent ideas and concepts and she communicated in a way which I feel are achievable in the classroom. Weaknesses: N/A. I have rated this programme as Excellent. Thank you for this fantastic day, I feel inspired to take these ideas to the classroom and to my team.”