Understanding Assessment in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), both formative and summative assessments are used to track and understand children’s learning and development. Formative assessment is an ongoing process where teachers observe and interact with children as they learn.

This helps teachers see what children know and can do in real-time, allowing them to adjust their teaching and support children’s learning day by day.

Summative assessment, on the other hand, is done at key points, such as the end of a term or year, to give an overall picture of a child’s progress. It looks at what a child has achieved over a longer period.

Both types of assessments work together: formative assessments help teachers make immediate changes in their teaching, while summative assessments provide a complete picture of a child’s development, helping with things like transitions to school.

By using both, teachers can ensure that children are supported in the short term and also reach important milestones in their learning.

Formative Assessment in EYFS

Formative assessment is an ongoing part of teaching in EYFS, which helps educators understand how children are learning and developing.

This type of assessment focuses on observing children in their daily activities and interactions.

It’s about recognising what children know, understand, and can do, and using that information to inform planning and teaching to meet their individual needs.

Teachers look at how children learn, not just what they learn.

This continuous process builds a strong understanding of each child’s development, helping staff adjust their approach to support every child’s learning journey.

Key aspects of formative assessment include:

• Putting the child at the centre: It focuses on the child’s strengths and celebrates what they can do.
• Building relationships: Teachers develop strong, trusting relationships with children and families, which helps guide the assessment process.
• Good knowledge of child development: It requires educators to have a solid understanding of how children grow and learn.
• Informs day-to-day practice: Formative assessments happen naturally through observations during play and interactions.

Key Parts of Formative Assessment

• Observations: Staff watch children and record key moments in their learning, either through notes, photos, or videos.
• Learning Journals: These are records of children’s achievements, which include their artwork, observations, and updates from home.
• Interaction and Engagement: Teachers engage children in conversation about their learning, using open-ended questions and encouraging self-reflection.

How Formative Assessment Works

• Daily Practice: Staff record important learning moments regularly and use quick methods, like sticky notes or digital tools, to capture observations.
• Planning and Assessment Cycle: Teachers use observations to plan future activities and decide on the next steps for each child.
• Parent Partnership: Teachers regularly share observations with parents, encouraging them to share insights from home, and collaborate on planning future learning steps.

Benefits of Formative Assessment

• It helps teachers respond quickly to children’s needs.
• Provides personalised learning opportunities.
• Identifies challenges early on and involves parents in the process.

Disadvantages of Formative Assessment

Formative assessment in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) has some potential downsides:

1. Takes time: It requires ongoing observation and data collection, which can be very time-consuming for teachers.
2. Needs training: Teachers must have the right training to carry out formative assessments well, which means they need regular professional development.
3. Over-assessment risk: There’s a danger of turning formative assessments into too many small tests, which can interrupt the natural flow of learning.
4. Misuse of data: Sometimes, formative assessment data may be used incorrectly for accountability, taking away its main purpose of supporting learning.
5. Hard to interpret: Teachers might find it difficult to interpret the observational data consistently, which can lead to unreliable results.
6. Not always reliable: Observational assessments in EYFS can be unreliable, making it hard to draw meaningful conclusions.
7. Increased workload: If schools ask for frequent data collection, it can put a lot of extra work on teachers.
8. Focus on visible behaviours: Formative assessment might focus too much on what can be seen easily and ignore other important aspects of learning.
9. Personal bias: Teachers’ own views or expectations might affect how they observe and interpret students’ behaviours.
10. Hard to standardise: Since formative assessments are personalised, it can be difficult to make them consistent across different teachers or settings.

These issues show the importance of using formative assessments carefully and balancing them with other methods to get a full picture of children’s learning in EYFS.

Summative Assessment in EYFS

Summative assessment is used to give an overall view of a child’s development at certain times, such as at the end of the school year.

It gives a holistic picture of a child’s progress and development, summarising what the child has learned up until that point.

Unlike formative assessment, which is ongoing, summative assessments happen at key moments in the child’s education.

Key Parts of Summative Assessment

• Progress Check at Age Two: This is a required assessment in England that looks at how children are developing in key areas between the ages of 2 and 3, shared with parents and health visitors.
• EYFS Profile (End of Reception): At age 5, teachers assess children against 17 early learning goals, giving a snapshot of how they have developed across all areas of learning.

How Summative Assessment Works

• Data Collection: Teachers collect evidence from ongoing formative assessments and gather feedback from parents and staff to get a full view of a child’s development.
• Making Judgements: Based on the evidence collected, teachers make decisions about the child’s learning and development, ensuring these are backed by clear, reliable data.
• Reporting and Sharing: Teachers provide reports for parents and share the results with other professionals to support transitions and further learning opportunities.

Benefits of Summative Assessment

• Helps teachers improve teaching methods and learning opportunities.
• Provides clear information for parents and other professionals.
• Supports transitions to the next educational setting or school.

It’s important to note that summative assessments should not be time-consuming and should be based on the ongoing formative assessments.

They should provide a clear, holistic picture of the child’s development and learning journey, using insights from continuous assessment.

Disadvantage fo using Summative Assessment

Summative assessments in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) have some problems:

1. Limited view: They only show a brief picture of a child’s progress at one point in time, which might miss important details of their learning journey.
2. Pressure on children: These assessments can create stress, which may not be suitable for young children.
3. Unreliable: EYFS assessments may not always be accurate or meet the basic standards of good assessments.
4. Observational issues: Observations used for assessments may not always give reliable results, making it hard to draw meaningful conclusions.
5. Narrow focus: Summative assessments often focus on certain subjects, which could ignore other important areas of a child’s development.
6. Delayed feedback: Since summative assessments happen at the end of a learning period, there’s little chance for quick fixes or improvements.
7. Demotivation: Poor performance can make children feel bad about themselves and affect their future learning.
8. Not personal: These assessments might not consider how each child learns at their own pace or in their unique environment.

These issues show why it’s important to use both formative and summative assessments in EYFS to get a more complete picture of a child’s growth and learning.

How can teachers use summative test results to identify knowledge gaps

Teachers can use summative test results to find out what students are struggling with in different ways:

1. Look at individual questions: Check how each student answered specific questions to see which skills or ideas they had trouble with.
2. Find patterns: See if many students had trouble with the same topic. This can show if something in the teaching needs to be improved.
3. Compare with learning goals: Check how students did on questions related to specific goals or topics to see what needs more attention.
4. Use overall scores: Look at scores like the Standard Age Score (SAS) to see how each student compares to national standards.
5. Check different types of questions: See which types of questions (like multiple choice or essays) were hardest for students, which might show areas to improve.
6. Compare with past results: Look at how students’ scores have changed over time to find out where they still need help.
7. Look at class-level results: Check the class or grade as a whole to see if there are bigger gaps in teaching or the curriculum.
8. Use special tools: Some tests give detailed breakdowns to show specific areas where students need more help.

By using these methods, teachers can understand what students need help with and make changes to their teaching to support them better.

Using Both Approaches Together

Combining formative and summative assessments gives a complete picture of a child’s development.

Formative assessments provide real-time insights into a child’s learning process, while summative assessments offer a broader view of their progress at key moments.

Regular communication with parents and staff ensures everyone is involved in supporting the child’s learning and development.

Best Practice Recommendations

• Assessment Systems: Keep the assessment process clear and simple, using technology to make data collection easier.
• Staff Development: Regular training for staff to ensure consistency and quality in assessment practices.
• Child-Centred Approach: Focus on individual progress, considering each child’s unique learning style and development.

Challenges and Solutions

• Time Management: Use efficient tools to record observations and prioritise important learning moments.
• Consistency: Ensure that all staff members have the same understanding of assessment standards and practice regular moderation.
• Parent Engagement: Keep parents informed and encourage their involvement by sharing easy-to-understand reports and offering opportunities for home contributions.

How can practitioners effectively use formative assessments to inform summative assessments

Practitioners can use formative assessments (ongoing checks of a child’s progress) to help with summative assessments (final checks at certain times).

Here’s how:

1. Collecting ongoing information: Formative assessments give teachers regular updates about a child’s progress, which help build a clear picture for summative assessments.
2. Spotting patterns: By looking at the information from formative assessments, teachers can see patterns in a child’s learning. This helps make summative assessments more accurate.
3. Changing teaching methods: If teachers notice something in formative assessments, they can change how they teach to help the child, which will show in summative assessments.
4. Providing evidence: Formative assessments show clear examples of a child’s progress, which support the final summative assessments.
5. Complete view: Formative assessments check progress in all areas, giving a full picture of a child’s growth, so summative assessments are more trustworthy.

In short, formative assessments help teachers understand a child’s progress better, leading to better summative assessments.

Formative and Summative Assessment Training

Formative and summative assessment training courses help teachers learn the best ways to check how students are learning and growing.

These courses focus on:

Formative Assessment Training

• Ongoing feedback: Teachers learn how to give feedback to students during lessons to help them improve.
• Finding learning gaps: Teachers learn how to identify where students might be confused or need more help.
• Peer and self-assessment: Teachers are taught how to let students reflect on their own work and assess each other’s work.
• Changing teaching based on assessment: Teachers learn how to adjust their lessons based on what students are struggling with.
• Teacher groups: Some courses have teachers meet regularly to share tips and ideas for better teaching.

Summative Assessment Training

• Making good questions: Teachers learn how to write clear questions for final tests.
• Creating rubrics: Teachers are shown how to use guides (rubrics) to grade students’ work fairly.
• Matching assessments to goals: Teachers learn how to make sure the final test matches what students are supposed to learn.
• Understanding results: Teachers learn how to use test results to improve future lessons.

Combining Formative and Summative Assessments

Some courses teach teachers how to use both types of assessments together:

• Balancing both types: Teachers learn to use both ongoing and final assessments throughout the year.
• Using final results to help ongoing learning: Teachers are taught how to use results from final tests to help with future teaching.
• Including assessment in lessons: Teachers learn how to add both types of assessments into their lesson plans.

By learning both formative and summative assessments, these courses help teachers track how well students are doing, improve their lessons, and help students succeed.

Conclusion

Effective assessment in EYFS involves a balance between formative and summative methods.

By using both approaches, teachers can gain a full understanding of each child’s development, support their learning needs, and provide valuable information to parents and other professionals.

Regular review of assessment practices ensures that the system remains effective in tracking and supporting children’s progress throughout their early education journey.