Monitor Children and Young People’s Development Essay

1. Observation. The observation could be formal and informal and both types have the advantages and disadvantages. 1.1.Informal observations – these are carried out daily when working with a pupil and overtime a picture can be built of the pupil’s progress and if there are any issues such as unable to draw circles with a compass, not recording homework correctly in the planner. These may be small but over time a picture of each pupil will be built up. It is likely that Teacher Assistants will discuss their observations with teachers. A disadvantage of informal observations is that they may not be recorded and might be forgotten to be passed on. 2. Formal observations – this may be carried out to support the teacher on assessing a pupil’s level of development such as a controlled assessment or a speaking and listening test. Standard Measurements – this is usually carried out by medical practitioners to ensure that a child is growing at the expected rate for their age. School tests/cognitive aptitude tests that demonstrate a snapshot of children’s academic ability or skill at retaining taught information and that might then be used to compare outcomes between a larger population of same-age children. Health programmes that might measure head circumference, weight, height, visual and auditory functioning. Educational psychologists may use reasoning tests to assess an intellectual age in contrast to a chronological age. 3. Information from carers and colleagues – information from carers can be vital if there is a factor that may be influencing the development of a young person an example may be that the pupil is being bullied or they don’t understand the learning objective but are too scared to ask for help. As a colleague if you see a change in the child you must communicate this to the class teacher to help them to assess what assistance may be required. 4. Assessment framework – it is the way in which child is assessed to decide whether they have any particular needs and  what these needs may be. It is useful in deciding whether the child is reaching expected milestones of development in different areas. Assessment frameworks involve methods such as England’s EYFS profile, possibly baseline assessments for children entering a new setting, the way a setting assesses development for a possible 2 year progress check, P-scales are another method that may be used to assess the development of children with learning difficulties.