Learning stories: An instrument to document and observe interests, activities and wellbeing of preschool children

Abstract

The article describes an action research project performed in eight preschools in one of the neighbouring municipalites of Reykjavik. Twenty-three preschool teachers, the team leaders of all classroom divisions in all eight schools, took part in the study along with the authors of this article: an assistant professor at the University of Iceland and the preschool representative of Garðabær. The aim of the study was to support the preschool teachers in their first steps of documenting children’s learning stories and to develop methods to assess children’s wellbeing and learning. The data describes how the teachers developed their methods of documenting children’s learning stories in relation to their wellbeing and learning applying such stories as tools of assessment in collaboration with children, parents and other educators, and how they approached children’s views to be able to support their learning and plan preschool activities in relation to this information. Information was gathered on what was useful and on the hindrances the participants met. According to the Icelandic National Curriculum for Preschools, teachers in each preschool shall plan and adopt an appropriate working procedure and develop a variety of methods to gather information on children’s learning and wellbeing. To gain better understanding and insight into children’s learning processes and their areas of interest and strengths, the information should be reflected on in collaboration with children, parents and other educators and used to assess the preschool practice. The learning story approach originating from New Zealand and widely used there is among the methods which have been developed to document children’s learning by focusing on their interest, abilities and competence. When developing children’s learning stories, teachers observe children as they take part in preschool activities, such as play and creative activities, and write narratives that the teachers reflect on together with children, parents and other educators to be able to interpret the learning that is occurring in particular situations. According to the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, the learning story approach sees the children as participating in activities in social practices of their preschools. The teachers taking part in this research were introduced to the learning story approach as a way to gain insight into the social and emotional factors of learning, by focusing on the learning taking place as children construct knowledge when they take part in play and creative activities. In relation to the social context of the preschool, the teachers chose methods to document children’s learning stories using different techniques, such as making observations, taking photos, videos or writing notes. These stories were linked to learning dispositions or references in the National Curriculum for Preschools in Iceland, such as the fundamental pillars, learning areas for preschools or points for assessment in preschools. Some teachers also linked the learning story assessment to the preschools' specific policy issues. The teachers tried out different ways to write learning stories and at monthly meetings they discussed their experiences, including what was difficult and what was working well. The data gathering method in this study seeks support from action research, and builds on notes from the preschool teachers’ meetings where they reported on how they developed their skills in documenting children’s learning stories and on the collaboration and discussion with the other educators in their preschool. Furthermore, the data included reflections on the learning stories the participants shared at meetings and their written notes answering questions about the challenges they met in the project. Some of the preschool teachers also reported on their discussions with parents and children about children’s learning stories as a way to include and to support their participation in the process. The findings show that participation in the action research supported the preschool teacher in gaining skills to document children’s learning stories. Additionally the teachers acquired better understanding of children's learning and insight into the children’s ideas and ways of acting and thinking. Their awareness of the children’s interaction with each other increased and they saw children’s strengths and methods more clearly. The preschool teachers also supported the other educators in their preschools to document learning stories; this experience indicated that considerable time and support is needed in the preschool practice to adopt the method. These results suggest that documenting children’s learning stories can be a good way to assess children’s learning dispositions, their interest, activities and interactions. Thus, the method is not only useful to follow the Icelandic school policy, but also to support individual children and develop daily preschool activities that are related to their interest. Hence the research suggests that assessment methods already used in Icelandic preschools need to be reexamined, considering whether the information gained from these assessment methods is likely to show individual children’s learning, how they learn in a social context and whether this kind of assessment is valuable for all children.