Capturing Learning Experiences and Planning Future Development

An observation and documentation task was conducted at a long-day care center, focusing on a child who stays there for 8-9 hours daily. The ACECQA guidelines were followed, capturing the child's ideas during planning and evaluation. The documentation aimed to establish realistic benchmarks for the child's learning and development. The educator observed the child during meal times, play sessions, and interactions with other adults. Key findings include the child's interests in meeting new people, drawing, and natural objects; strengths in motor skills, social interaction, and curiosity; and needs to develop balancing skills and share belongings with others. Cultural practices were also noted, including the Australian culture's emphasis on openness and sharing. Suggestions were made for pursuing the child's interests, meeting her needs, building on her strengths, and performing cultural practices. Overall, this documentation will help in planning future learning processes, maintaining lesson plan quality, and enhancing professional development.

CHCECE013 - USE INFORMATION ABOUT CHILDREN TO INFORM PRACTICE
Formative assessment
Activity 1
Question 1
Importance of observing children—
 Observing the children is necessary to know whether they are meeting the development goals
on time or not.
 Observation also helps the educators and families to identify the behavioral patterns of a child
and identify the issues, if there are any.
 The observation is also effective for identifying the risk factors that trigger problematic
behaviour in child.
 The observation is necessary to know the interests, strengths, weaknesses and the specific
needs of a child. Therefore, on basis of the observations, the educators can plan the lessons in
future.
Question 2
Apart from NQF, the educators should also focus on seven quality areas mentioned in NQS (National
Quality Standard) and the EYLF (Early Years Learning Framework) while observing children.
Activity 2
Question 1
The particular activity of JM, a 10-month old infant can be recorded using video camera. The children
during their developmental phase make different progress and attain the goals. The video recording
helps the educators and families to identify how the child is progressing to meet the developmental
goals. The children can develop several skills at once (Bono et al., 2016). The educators can miss the
important progress of the child during anecdotes or checklist based documentations. On the contrary,
the video recording helps the educators and families to track every movement in detail. The detailed
information on the child’s progress is effective for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the child.
Reference:
Bono, E. D., Francesconi, M., Kelly, Y., & Sacker, A. (2016). Early maternal time investment and early
child outcomes. The Economic Journal, 126(596), F96-F135.
Question 2
Acquiring the motor skills is one of the most important parts of the children’s development, as the
motor skills help the children to grow and enhance the independence. The good motor control helps the

child to explore the world and it contributes to their cognitive development (Tandon et al., 2015).
Therefore, recording the motor skill development process helps the educators to understand the extent
to which the children are gaining independence. Observing the motor skill development process is also
effective for identifying the physical strengths of the child and the areas of improvement.
Reference:
Tandon, P. S., Saelens, B. E., & Christakis, D. A. (2015). Active play opportunities at child care. Pediatrics,
peds-2014.
Question 3
The description of a play session with JM reveals different strengths of the child. Firstly, the child is
developing different gross motor skills rapidly and able to use those when needed. The child is unable to
crawl. So, she used different types of arm and leg movements to reach the ball. The child has developed
fine motor skills as well. Grabbing the ball with fingertips can be considered as an example of the fine
motor skill. Finally, the child is gaining confidence through her experiences. It can help the child to
remain confident in future as well.
Activity 3
The following information should be included when a child enters the care center—
 The details of the parents along with contact details
 Contact details of any other guardian in case the parents are not available
 Name and age of the child
 Full description of the health status of the child
 Details of the vaccination and medication
 Any special need of the child
 Information on the allergies and the risk factors that can trigger allergy
 Any major illness the child is suffering from
 Any behavioral issues that the child faces
 Developmental stage and any developmental difficulties if the child faces any
Activity 4
Question 1
The information on the interest, strengths and weaknesses of the child can be collected using the
following methods—
1. Anecdotal records – these records contain information on the past events (Howrigan, 2017).
2. Running Records-- The running records include information in a storytelling manner regarding
the behavioral patterns of a child during a period.
3. Jottings-- The jottings contain information regarding the particular events and experiences of the
children

4. Sociogram-- The sociogram contains information on the friendships and the social circle of the
children.
5. Time samples-- The time sampling helps the educators to track the number of times a particular
activity is done by the child.
6. Event sample-- The event samples use short observations that the educators record to identify
the response of a child during a particular situation.
7. Check lists-- The checklists help the educators to identify the developmental goals achieved by
the child.
8. Photographs-- The photographs help the educators to capture the learning process of children
visually.
Reference:
Howrigan, G. A. (2017). Evaluating parent–child interaction outcomes of family support and education
programs. In Evaluating family programs (pp. 95-130). Routledge.
Question 2
Collecting information on the interests, strengths and cultural needs of the child is necessary due to the
following reasons—
 The information on the interests helps educators to plan the future learning sessions in such
way so that the children can pursue their interests.
 The information on the strengths helps educators to get the children involved into those
activities which build on their strengths.
 The information on cultural needs assist the educators to make the children aware of own
culture.
Activity 5
Question 1
The children are entitled to the human rights in a similar manner with the adults. Privacy is a right of
every human being in Australia and so, the children are entitled to the right (Brennan, 2016). Therefore,
it is the legal responsibility of the childcare centers to protect privacy of the children and maintain the
confidentiality of their sensitive information. However, maintaining confidentiality of the information of
the children enables the childcare centers to foster a trusted relationship with the families and provide
them with better services.
Reference:
Brennan, D. (2016). Federalism, childcare and multilevel governance in Australia. In Federalism,
Feminism and Multilevel Governance (pp. 37-50). Routledge.

Question 2
The Privacy Act 1988 is a law that deals with the privacy of the personal information of an individual in
Australia. The Privacy Act 1988 is applicable for handing the personal information of the children at
childcare center as well (Watts & Casanovas, 2018). As per the Act, the personal information is defined
as the data which includes an opinion of an individual or the data using which an individual can be
identified. As evident from the act, the childcare centers need to protect the data that reveals identity of
a child. The childcare centers also need to collect information on the Privacy Principles in Australia for
setting the standards for holding, handling, accessing, using and correcting the personal information.
Reference:
Watts, D., & Casanovas, P. (2018). Privacy and Data Protection in Australia: a Critical overview.
Question 3
The observations are used for several purposes --such as enabling the children to pursue the interests,
developing the strengths and meeting the cultural needs. The observations also help the educators to
assess the development process of a child and identify the progress. The observations are also effective
to identify the difficulties faced by a child during the developmental phase. Therefore, the observations
are effective to meet the development standards in the early years. So, maintaining accurate data is
necessary for the future development of the children. The educators can use video records and the
photographs to maintain evidence of the data.
Activity 7
If a child loses interest in the activities very frequently, it indicates that the child has attention problem.
The attention issues in a child can be improved in several ways. For instance— the educators can ask the
child to share the emotions when she is losing interest in an activity. Knowing the feelings of the child
can be effective to identify the actual reasons behind the loss of interest in a particular activity. The
educator can also provide the child with short and clear instructions and break the entire task with
achievable goals for keeping her attentive.
Activity 8
The description of Mary indicates that she is facing difficulty to develop social relationships
with other children because of her lack of interest to share things. Mary can be communicated
in the following ways—
 Discussion-- The discussion with Mary on her emotions at the time of sharing things
can help the educator to understand the reasons. The discussion can also help the
educator to identify the issues faced by the child at the time of interacting with other
children. Therefore , the discussion helps the educators to take necessary actions for
mitigating the difficulties faced by the child.
 Storytelling-- The storytelling is effective for making the children understand the
importance of sharing and interacting with other children. The storytelling attracts the
children easily and helps them to understand the different concepts. The storytelling
can be effective for making the child understand about the importance of sharing.

Summative assessment 1
Question 1
Monitoring the development of child can be considered as a task that ensures that the physical,
emotional and cognitive development is on the right track. The developmental monitoring ensures that
the child is meeting all the developmental goals on time. The developmental monitoring also helps the
educators to identify any developmental obstacles faced by the child and take actions accordingly.
The following things need to be monitored at the time of developmental monitoring—
 Information on the achievement of developmental milestones related to communication, the
fine and gross motor skills, cognitive processing and the behavioral characteristics.
 Detailed information on the holistic growth of the children.
 The risk factors for the child
 The specific needs of the child
Question 2
The information on NQF can be obtained from the following link—
 https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/about
The information on NQS can be obtained from the following link—
 https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/national-quality-standard
The information on EYLF can be obtained from the following link—
 https://www.acecqa.gov.au/.../belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_lear.
The EYLF focuses on meeting the following outcomes for the children—
 The children should develop a strong sense of identity
 The children should be a connected with their world and they should also be able to contribute
to the world
 The children should have the strong sense of wellbeing
 The children should grow as confident and involved learners
 The children should develop the effective communication skill
Question 3
While observing a child, the guidelines provided by the ACECQA can be incorporated. The following
guidelines should be followed at the time of observing a child—
 The documentation of children’s behaviour should be considered as an important part of the
educator’s work

 The educator should focus on incorporating the voices and ideas of the children at the time of
documenting their behaviour . The educator should also give importance on incorporating ideas
of the children at the time of developing the lesson plan and evaluating the progress of children.
 The educator should try different documentation methods which are realistic and relevant for
the families and other educators. The educator should also develop the goals which are realistic
for the children and can be reviewed on regular basis.
 The educator should choose which behaviour of the children need to be documented.
 The educator should learn from the documentation and develop themselves
 The educators should consider the settings, learning frameworks and changes in the group
dynamics of the children during documentation
Question 4
The United Conventions Rights of Child state that the child should have the rights of an adult. The
United Conventions aims at protecting the human rights of a child irrespective of their colour, race,
language, sex, religion, social or national origin, the birth and other status. The United Nations
Convention considers the family as the fundamental unit of the society. The convention states that the
children are entitled to care from the family and protection. The children also need to grow up in an
environment of love, happiness and understanding. The children should also grow in such a way so that
they can assume the responsibilities to the community fully.
Question 5
The code of ethics can be considered as a set of standards which depict the appropriate behaviour for
the childhood professionals (Jovanovic et al., 2016). The code of ethics incorporates the pedagogical
practices in the activities of childcare professionals.
The code of ethics is important in childcare for the following reasons—
 To incorporate the quality frameworks into activities of the childcare professionals
 To enable the childcare professionals to influence their relationship with the families and the
children and other educators
Reference:
Jovanovic, J., Brebner, C., Lawless, A., & Young, J. (2016). Childcare educators' understandings of early
communication and attachment. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 41(4), 95.
Question 6
The childcare and education is based on the following principles –
 The education should be based on development of respectful , secured and reciprocal
relationships
 The childcare professionals should give importance on making partnership with the families and
community
 The childcare professionals should focus on setting high expectations and equity

 The childcare professionals should show respect for diversity
 The childcare professionals should experience ongoing learning and experience
Question 7
The observations are useful for making contribution to the parent’s reports—
 To understand whether the children are able to attain developmental goals or not
 To understand the developmental difficulties faced by the children
 To identify the behavioral patterns of the child
 To identify the risk factors and the special needs of children
Summative assessment 2
Child profile:
Age: 3 years
Developmental Level: Enhanced Language and Cognitive Skill
Background: Urban Australian, girl child with no disabilities, single child of parents
The child, whom I observed is three years old. She belongs to the urban Australian community and has
no sibling so far. The child is currently developing the enhanced language and the cognitive skills. Still
now, no sign of physical or cognitive disability is observed in the child.
Observation and recording techniques used:
The child is observed using anecdotal nodes and the check lists.
The anecdotal nodes are used for recording particular observations regarding the behaviour of
individual child. The anecdotal nodes are also used for recording the skills and attitudes of the child, the
ability to comprehend the instructions, and identifying the learning directions. The anecdotal notes are
taken on basis of the continuous observations. However, the anecdotal notes can also be taken on basis
of the performances done by a student. The notes are written in brief and objective manner. In addition,
the notes focus on recording specific outcomes. The anecdotal nodes are taken immediately after an
activity is executed. As an effect, the notes are generally highly accurate.
The anecdotal notes aim at fulfilling the following goals—
 Collecting information regarding development of the child over a period
 Collect information regarding the instructional needs of a child
 Observing the significant behaviours of the child
 Documenting the learning process of a child
The checklist is a tool that records particular traits and behaviours of a child in logical order. Checklists
are effective for recording the specific type of behaviour in a child. The information in the checklists can

be interpreted easily because of their objective nature. The checklists are advantageous because they
enable the observer to record the data in time-efficient and easy manner. Recording the data over
checklist does not require any skill set. The observer can collect the data in presence of the child.
However, in case of checklists, the observer can record the observed data later also. The checklists
enable the observer to give importance on several behaviours at once. The checklists help the observers
to compare the behaviours of a child with the expected development milestones. Therefore, using the
checklists, the observers can identify the behaviours which a particular child has not shown yet.
Therefore, the curriculums can be planned accordingly so that the particular behaviour in the child can
be encouraged.
The checklist does not facilitate the observer to collect information in very detailed manner. The
checklist also does not provide any information regarding the context or sequence of the events. Finally,
the checklists do not facilitate the observers to include all information. Therefore, the important
information can be missed while recording information on the checklist. Finally, the checklists do not
facilitate the observer to record the duration of a particular behaviour.
Original observations:
Anecdotes
Anecdote 1: 1st Week Observation
On the first week, the child has shown remarkable progress in different areas. The child can eat from the
cups without any help. She can wear dresses without any assistance. The child is able to hold pencil and
crayon properly and tries drawing sketches. She has gain efficiency in catching balls. She enjoys playing
with adults and her peers. She also shows interest to get involved into the play activities which require
highly intense physical activities. The child shows interest to interact with others during play. The
observation indicates that the child faces difficulty to balance herself on a single leg. However, still now
she has not shown any preference over the same-sex playmates. She enjoys playing equally with any
playmate in her peer group irrespective of the gender. The child is strongly attached to her parents and
tries to copy them sometimes. However, she likes being at the center of attention for the adults. The
child also developed several cognitive abilities. For instance she can differentiate between the images of
male and female. She can count objects. She is able to identify the similarities and differences between
two and more objects by pointing them out. The child shows interest to play with natural objects such as
the sand and water and enjoys learning about those objects more by asking questions. The child can
accept two or more instructions at a time and can act accordingly. She can imitate rhymes and copy
animal activities. The language skill of the child is developing rapidly. The child is able to develop small
sentences. The child is developing knowledge on right grammatical structure as well and she is able to
develop correct sentences. The child can take part in the singing and dancing activities.
Anecdote 2: 2nd Week observation
In the second week of observation also, the child showed different signs of development. In the second
week, she was equally enthusiastic regarding the play sessions with high –intensity physical activities.

The child also started taking part in the activities such as the squat, jumping, moving over hurdles, get
dressed without assistance, and eat from cups. This week also, the child showed difficulty to keep
balance on a single leg. The drawing skill of the child with pencil and crayon improved. The vocabulary of
the child improved significantly. The child learnt new words and so, the social interaction of the kid also
improved. Along with interacting with the peers, the child is also showing interest to interact with adults
as well. In this week as well, the child has not shown any specific interest over the same-sex playmates.
The child does not prefer sharing toys with others. However, the child shares toys when she is instructed
to do. In the second week, the child showed sign of feeling guilty for not obeying her caregiver and
disturbing other kids during mealtime. The child also showed progress in making structures with
different shapes. In this week, the child has showed strong attachment with parents but she does not
show any sign of distress when the parents leave her at the care center every day. The child shows
knowledge on space with help of physical activity. The child also has showed interest in listening stories
from the adults.
Checklists
The checklists are prepared as per the EYLF and NQS guidelines.
The goals that the child has attained are highlighted.
Development Area Development Goals EYLF/NQS area achieved
Physical goals Able to walking running climbing
and jumping
Able to use steps
Able to do squat and does not
need support for rising
Play with balls ( catching and
kicking)
Can balance on one foot
Able to move over obstacles
Able to open doors
Moves with music
Turn pages perfectly
Able to sketch or scribble with
help of pencil or crayon
Can get dressed with assistance
Can eat from cups and other
utensils without assistance
The child faces little problem
while balancing on one foot.
The EYLF outcome 3 focuses on
enabling the children in ensuring
physical well being. In this case
also, the child becomes able to
dress and feed themselves.
Social goals Interact with other children
through play
Prefer same-sex playmates and
toys
The child does not have any
special preference over the
same-sex playmates or toys.
While sharing toys, most of the
times the child protests.
EYLF goal 2 attained which says

Shares toys with others that the child should be able to
develop respectful relationship
with others.
Emotional Goals Expresses strong attachment to
the parents
Expresses distress when parents
leave
Shows guilt for misdeeds
Prefers adult attention
The child shows strong
attachment with parents but
does not show any distress when
they leave.
As per the EYLF area 3, the child
becomes able to ensure social
and emotional well-being.
Cognitive goals Create tower of 5 to 7 objects
and arranges them in lined-up
manner
Identifies the common objects
by pointing
Plays with sand, water
Identifies picture of a boy and
girl
Counts number
Identifies similarities and
dissimilarities
Imitate rhythm and animal
activities
Knows about space with help of
physical activity
Take two and more instructions
The child has met the EYLF goal 5
by communicating effectively.
Language goals Uses short sentences with two
three words learns new
vocabulary, be grammatically
correct
Knows own gender
Copies actions
Perform dance and music
Prefers listening to stories
Along with EYLF area 5, the child
also attained EYLF area 1 which
focuses on making the child able
to know own identity.
Guidelines used for observing child
The child should be observed appropriately and the activities of the child need to be documented in an
unbiased manner. Observing activities of the child and documentation is necessary to identify the skills
and abilities. The documentation also helps the educators to get an idea on the weakness of the child. In
other words, the observation and documentation of the children activities are useful for identifying the
extent to which the child has met the development goals. The documentation also helps the educator to

identify the areas where the child needs further development. So, with help of the documentation, the
future learning process can be planned. Therefore, accuracy of the documents is important for
maintaining the quality of the lesson plans. In the current case, the observation and the documentation
tasks are done as per the observation guidelines provided by ACECQA.
The ACECQA guidelines state that the documentation needs to be considered as a crucial part of the
work of educators . The documentation is important for both the children and the families. The ACECQA
guidelines also mention that the educators should focus on capturing the ideas of children at the time of
documentation, planning and evaluation. The documentation needs to be used for establishing realistic
benchmarks for the children. The document should focus on capturing all the important experiences and
learning of the children. However, it is important for the educators to select the experiences of the
children wisely as recording all the activities throughout a day is not possible. The educators should also
share the efforts and experiences during the documentation with others. The learning obtained by the
educators can help them for professional development. The behaviour of children can change with any
change in the dynamics of children’s group. The educator should be observant to the changes in group
and impacts of those changes on the activities of children. The documentation can vary on basis of the
nature of the care-center. So, the educator has to consider the type of setting while conducting the
observation and documentation related acts. Finally, the educator should incorporate the learning
standards and the frameworks while documenting the activities.
In the current case also, I have incorporated the guidelines mentioned by ACECQA. The center where I
observed the child, was a long-day care and the child used to stay at the center for 8-9 hours in a day.
Conducting the observation in a long day care center helped me to keep an eye on the child during three
meal times and also during the play sessions. The child gets involved in different activities throughout
the day. So, I focused on keeping an eye on the child during selective times such as while taking meals,
at the time of playing with other children and also during the interaction with other adults. While
recording the data, I considered the National Quality Standards, The Early Years Learning Framework.
Considering the quality standards and the learning framework helped me to compare the development
of the child against realistic benchmarks.
The ACECQA also provides the educators with some guidelines that help them to observe the children’s
activities accurately. I incorporated the following principles at the time of observing the children and
documenting their activities—
 Thinking about—When I observed the child is accomplishing any learning goal, I focused on
evaluating the progress against the benchmarks set as per the EYLF and the NQS.
 Talk and reflect about-- while the child was involved in an activity, I used to ask her questions
about the feelings. Asking questions to the child helped me to understand her thoughts deeply.
 Trying out-- I also focused on interacting the child in different times such as while she is listening
to a story or drawing something.
 Hearing about—I collect information about the child and the observation practices from the
other educators in the care center. The knowledge obtained from other educators assisted me
to observe the child more accurately.

 Finding more resources-- I used books and journals to get information about the children at
their pre-school age. Use of academic resources helped me to enhance the awareness on the
children and incorporate those while observing the child.
Information on strengths, interest, needs and cultural practices—
The observation has revealed the following information about the child—
Interests:
 The child shows interest in meeting new people and making friends.
 The child shows interest in drawing and she wants to learn more about the use of pencils and
crayons
 The child is interested to know about the natural objects and also shows interest to play with
those objects.
Strengths:
 The child has sound motor skills. She can take part in almost all types of movements as
appropriate for her age.
 The child is learning new words, can make short and grammatically correct sentences, can
interact with adults and other children. The child is able to perform social interaction.
 The child shows curiosity to learn new things such as the she tries learning drawing, writing and
asks questions about the phenomena and the objects surrounding her.
Needs: The child faces difficulty during balancing. So, the balancing can be a motor skill that the
child needs to develop.
 The child does not like sharing her belongings such as toys with others. She needs to realize
that sharing things with the peers is important for creating social relation.
Cultural activities:
 The child belongs to urban Australian community. As per the Australian culture, she is very open to
make new friends irrespective of their background and gender.
Exchanging information with staffs and families –
Conducting meeting with the staffs and families is an excellent way to discuss the issues and progress
regarding the child. In this case also, the documented information regarding the child is shared with the
staffs and families to discuss about the progress.
Suggestions—

Suggestions for pursuing interest: The drawing time for the child can be increased to encourage her for
improving the drawing skills. The child can be provided with feedbacks on her drawings so that she
becomes encouraged to pursue the interest.
Suggestions for meeting needs: The child faces issue in balancing. She can be encouraged to take part in
yoga and ladder-riding activities to develop balancing skills.
Suggestions for building on strengths: The child possesses strong social skills. She can be asked to make
friends with new enrollments to the care center. It will encourage her to build on strengths.
Suggestions for performing cultural practices: The urban Australian community can be distinguished by
its openness to the new people. The child prefers meeting new people but she is not interested to share
her belongings with other children. So, the child can be asked to share him belonging with others to
comply with the Australian culture and strengthening the social skills.
Summary of NQF, NQS and EYLF—
The NQF and NQS can be incorporated by the service provider while offering services to the child.
Incorporation of NQF and NQS can be effective to improve quality of the care services to the child. The
EYLF, on the contrary, helps the care professionals to set realistic learning goals for the child.