Introduction

Child observation is a fundamental aspect of EY practice. Observations are typically used to track children’s progress in alignment with national curriculum standards and Scottish legislation. Whilst this is a useful tool, I believe inspiration could be taken from Froebelian principles and, through taking a reflective approach, practitioners’ may be able to harvest additional benefits from the practice of observation. Through a series of staggered conversations and semi-structured interviews, practitioners engaged in a research process where they discussed the effects of using reflective practice to contemplate their previously published observations and the potential implications of this for future practice. 

Context

At my institution, child observations are regularly completed using the electronic platform ‘famly’. Due to the nature of our setting, practitioners typically record these observations using a smartphone. Practitioners work towards targets to ensure every child receives a certain quota of observations per month There are several benefits to this approach, including the fact that the camera on the phone allows practitioners to capture learning and experiences in pictures and videos in real time. This in turn facilitates parents and carers having a very present insight into their child’s development. 

Whilst I have outlined the positives of observations being so instantaneous, I was curious to consider whether this current approach may have inadvertently caused some additional potential benefits of observation to become lost. Practitioners were focused on ensuring observations were consistently published to ensure carers remained informed and targets were met. However, there was less emphasis on how practitioners engaged with observations after they were published. I asked practitioners to employ the Froebelian principle of reflective practice to consider past observations and discussed the potential implications of this for their practice. 

As I am also employed as a practitioner at this setting, it is essential I considered my positionality, I therefore engaged in reflective practice in the context of observations and made sure to have a reciprocal discussions with my participants during interviews. 

My primary methodology was semi-structured interviews. I was conscious of my participants feeling they were able to speak freely and were not under pressure to answer in a certain way. I was aware my own researcher positionality may  make the project susceptible to bias and was therefore keen to minimise any further bias that may arise from closed, leading or structured questions. Moreover, it is acknowledged that semi-structured interviews are a useful methodology when researchers wish to uncover themes they have not previously considered. As I was committed to gleaning as much information as possible (and did not wish to premeditate participant answers), this seemed like the most appropriate methodology to employ. 

I recruited 6 participants by issuing an open invitation at a monthly staff meeting where I explained my intentions and the nature of the research process. I then had a series of informal discussions with participants where I explained the concept of reflective practice and asked practitioners to apply it to their observations. The effects of this where then discussed at interview. 

Ethics

 My research had the intention of developing practitioners’ practice by encouraging them to utilize the way they use and implement observations in order to increase their effectiveness and enhance their relationships with individual children, thus building on their professional practice. Therefore, I believed the propensity for the project to have negative repercussions for participants was minimal  

Having said this, I made it clear within the written consent form that a participant was within their rights to disengage from the research project at any point. I will also have on hand details of the counselling facilities that are offered to all practitioners by our managing directors. 

Anonymity was ensured to all practitioners, unless an issue of safeguarding arose which could lead to this being compromised, this was explained to all participants. If during the course of the project, a practitioner disclosed something that could be perceived as a safeguarding concern, I vowed to ensure that this would be dealt with in line with our institutions safeguarding and child protection policy, where it could be escalated to authorities if appropriate. Fortunately, no such issues arose.