“There was something more in this”: Assessing children’s learning and focusing on their well-being
This article describes a collaborative action research project performed in a preschool in one of the neighbouring municipalities of Reykjavík. Participants were five staff members in one classroom and a school director, along with the authors of this article; a master’s student; and an associate pr...
| Published in: | Netla |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | Icelandic |
| Published: |
Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.hi.is/netla/article/view/3131 https://doi.org/10.24270/serritnetla.2020.2 |
| Summary: | This article describes a collaborative action research project performed in a preschool in one of the neighbouring municipalities of Reykjavík. Participants were five staff members in one classroom and a school director, along with the authors of this article; a master’s student; and an associate professor at the University of Iceland. The aim of the study was to explore the assessment methods used in one preschool and develop methods to assess children’s well-being and learning in line with the National Curriculum Guide. Three participants were qualified preschool teachers and three were not educated in the field of preschool practice. This was a three-year project, the main data gathering taking place in one school year, from September 2016 to May 2017.The data comprised interviews, research diaries and documentation and was analysed with the purpose of showing the processes of collaborative action research. A further aim was to explore children’s involvement in play and other activities and aspects of the teachers’ working methods by reflecting on their views and actions in the preschool. The objective was to gain answers about what kind of methods would work to assess children’s learning and well-being; whether or how the participants’ views had changed during the research period; what assessment methods were developed in the preschool; and the value for the teachers of taking part in collaborative action research seeking diverse assessment methods.Before the research started, methods used in the preschool to assess the children’s education were mainly influenced by personal folders made for all children. Specimens of children’s artwork and photos from their activities in the preschool are collected in the personal folder which is supposed to show the progress of the child’s thinking and abilities, and also document major events in the child’s life; birthdays, holidays and special events at the preschool. Another formal method used in the preschool was the SMT (School Management Training) which aims to ... |
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