Standard 5 - Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning

Every child's portfolio is created and updated monthly to track their learning progress. The portfolio is a collection of artefacts demonstrating the child's skills, accomplishments, and development throughout the year. It is made annually for each child and distributed to their family members. The portfolio includes the child's work, images, observations, developmental summaries, media reports, planning cycles, and evaluation reports. This complete portfolio keeps track of the child's progress while allowing educators to identify areas for support. It also helps educators understand the child's interests and needs, allowing them to plan activities that boost learning. 

The development of portfolios is one way for educators to monitor children's progress over time, thus influencing Piaget's theory (Nolan & Raban, 2015).

Defining learning goals allows educators to assess children's learning by setting specific targets to be achieved within a certain period. It guides the assessment process and establishes key points for progress. Learning goals explicitly outline the skills, knowledge, and behaviours children need to develop. This clarity helps educators and families understand their children's developmental objectives, enabling educators to create curriculum programs that cater to children's learning needs. 

The learning goal wall exemplifies Vygotsky's theory by challenging children beyond their potential to improve their development through social interaction and scaffolding (Nolan & Raban, 2015). 

As part of my professional practice, I shared the learning analysis of my observations and reflected on my practices and children's learning. In this way, they can identify the learning progress of their children. This was adapted from Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) where the educator scaffolded the children's learning by mixing primary colours (red, blue, yellow) to create secondary colours (Beloglovsky & Daly, 2015).

In my professional practice, I proactively observed and evaluated children's learning experiences. My assessment of their observations led me to implement the concept of colour wheels to extend their learning of primary and secondary colours. This process was connected to the theory of Piaget's development of cognitive abilities (Nolan & Raban, 2015). 

In my professional practice, I ensure that all my educators have time off the floor to reflect critically every month. These critical reflections are posted on the Xplor app monthly, which helps educators reflect on their practices and improve their pedagogical approaches to enhance children's learning. Educators can use the provided critical reflection questions to contemplate how they incorporate inclusive practices into their classrooms. The approach is based on Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory, in which children learn collaboratively by initiating interactions and educators scaffolding their learning (Nolan & Raban, 2015).

In my Inclusive perspective subject, I learned about empowering children with additional needs to address their needs and create an inclusive learning environment (Cologon, 2014). 

Every month, each educator goes through each child's portfolio and updates the observations, artefacts, and developmental learning that they have accomplished. Educators assess a complete picture of children's education to see their progress, strengths, and learning needs. As an educational leader, I examine and evaluate children's portfolios, emphasising strengths and areas for improvement. It is derived from Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (Beloglovsky & Daly, 2015). The portfolio gives a complete overview of children's work, progress, strengths, and learning needs as they interact with various environmental systems over time.

In my educational leadership course, I learned that being an educational leader involves looking at each child's portfolio to identify strengths and areas for growth for holistic development in each child. I encourage educators to analyse their evaluation processes to promote equity and fairness critically (Rodd, 2012).

Each month, I ensure that all educators at my centre complete children's observations and learning analysis. This helps educators keep track of the children's progress towards developmental milestones as they work towards achieving their developmental goals. It also enables educators to identify areas for improvement and adjust the learning environment based on the children's interests. Providing children with cognitively appropriate experiences and considering their stage of development influences Piaget's theory (Beloglovsky & Daly, 2015).

• In my professional practice, I ensured every educator conducted mid-year assessments of children based on the EYLF learning outcomes. This is done to monitor the children's development. Children's learning goals are reviewed during this time of year to assess their progress. We update the goals to align with the children's interests and developmental needs which is influenced by Piaget's theory (Nolan & Raban, 2015). 

During my professional practice, I communicated with families during drop-off and pick-up. We discussed their day and activities, and all experiences were documented and shared with families. There is a detailed explanation of the resources used, the reactions of the children, and a discussion about the follow-up as a result of the experiences. If there is anything specific, I inform my fellow educators and write in a communication diary to forward the information to the families.

In my leadership and management subject, I learned that as an early childhood teacher, it's crucial to ensure children's information is accurate and genuine. I also ensure that all educators share children's achievements on the Xplor app and provide accurate data (Rouse & Cook, 2017). This approach is innovative in reporting on children's accomplishments and supporting their learning. 

• During my professional practice, I reminded my educator to post about children's daily experiences throughout the day and evaluate children's learning. Families can access the Xplor app to track their children's daily activities, successes, and progress. It encourages collaboration between families and educators to support children's learning (ADGE, 2022). By checking daily updates, educators and families can provide feedback on children's learning progress by adding comments or discussions with educators during pick-up times, influencing Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (Beloglovsky & Daly, 2015).