Pre-School Pratice Essay

4420 Words18 Pages
Core Unit 1 – Understanding and promoting the development of pre-school children E2 – Identify factors which may have influenced the validity and reliability of the observations. When choosing a child to observe, I chose one that I was not familiar with and who was not one of my key children. This ensured that I could observe the child with an open mind, as I did not know the child’s developmental stages. When doing my observations I ensured that they were honest and accurate, and didn’t allow my own opinion alter the outcome of the observation. The parents of the child provided written consent for me to carry out my observations. They were reassured that only the child’s initials would be used to record my observations and that confidentiality would be maintained at all times. The four observations I chose to cover all areas of learning development were; two narratives, target child and the spider’s web. Narrative observation is a method we use regularly within our setting to gather a broad range of information, this method is effective and can be used spontaneously. I was able to use narrative observation to gather lots of information on J.W, which helped me to gain a full and holistic picture of her development. Using this method was very useful but it also had its flaws; J.W would move around areas quickly and would often speak quietly, which meant at times I could not fully understand some of her language. She would also get distracted when the noise levels in the room increased. Target Child observation identified what activity J.W did over a period of time, any language that she used and her social interaction with others. It identified that J.W spends a lot of time interacting with adults, as well as children and that she displayed a happy mood throughout the observation. The spider’s web is a good tool to use for observations, as it
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