Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool

Introducing the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool

Victorian early childhood teachers and co-educators delivering funded kindergarten programs can now access a new online observation-based tool that supports assessment of children’s strengths, interests and abilities.

The Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool is being rolled-out in phases, with the first tranche of approximately 700 services gaining access from Term 1 2023.

The video below provides a quick introduction to the Tool:

The report below provides more information about the exciting next steps for the Tool as roll-out commences, as well as the successful evidence-based development of the Tool, which involved more than 300 early childhood teachers and co-educators and draws on data from more than 5,000 observations of children across over 150 services.

Links to report:

Hear from a service using the Tool

Hear from Dr. Jane Page from the University of Melbourne and a service already using the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool, in the video below:

Supporting best practice in Assessment for Learning and Development

The Victorian Government has invested $22 million to support quality practice, including the development of the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool to enhance best practice in the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development (VEYLDF) Practice Principle, Assessment for Learning and Development. The Tool enables early childhood teachers and co-educators to make consistent observations and assessments of children’s learning, helping with planning and delivering quality kindergarten programs. This sets up every child for success in learning.

The Tool has been developed to support teachers and co-educators to be more targeted in their observations and intentional in their teaching practice. This provides a more consistent and systematic approach to assessment for learning and understanding of children’s abilities.

The Tool is not an interview or test. It is used by teaching teams to improve understanding of individual children's strengths, interests and abilities and it empowers kindergarten teaching teams to identify suitable next steps in children’s learning. The Tool draws on observations of children and encourage reflection on understanding the learning taking place.

How the Tool works

The Tool contains 8 modules which gather information on children’s learning and development aligned to the 5 learning and development outcomes in the VEYLDF and the Victorian Curriculum.

The 8 modules are:

• Identity and community - social
• Wellbeing - emotion
• Learning dispositions
• Communication - interactions
• Communication - symbols and text
• Learning and communication - numeracy
• Wellbeing - movement
• Learning and identity - thinking skills.

For each module, teachers and co-educators respond to a series of questions which draw on the existing knowledge of the child. When completed, the Tool gives educators a Learning Report which provides them with a picture of a child’s strengths and interests in that module.

Professional learning resources

Assessment and the planning cycle practice videos

Eight videos are available to support early childhood teachers and co-educators to undertake quality assessment and observation practice. The videos complement the 8 learning and development modules in the Tool. Each video highlights assessment as an everyday practice. It also shows how you can use the Tool to inform your pedagogy through the Early Years Planning Cycle. Each practice video also has a dedicated fact sheet that shows you how you can use the Tool to inform your pedagogy through the Early Years Planning Cycle. The series is narrated by early learning expert Kirsty Liljegren. It can be used to support reflective practice in both individual and team settings.

Introduction

Identity and community – social

Fact sheet for download (accessible PDF)

Wellbeing – emotion

Fact sheet for download (accessible PDF)

Learning dispositions

Fact sheet for download (accessible PDF)

Communication – interactions

Fact sheet for download (accessible PDF)

Communication – symbols and text

Fact sheet for download (accessible PDF)

Learning and communication – numeracy

Fact sheet for download (accessible PDF)

Wellbeing – movement

Fact sheet for download (accessible PDF)

Learning and identity – thinking skills

Fact sheet for download (accessible PDF)

How to access the Tool

The roll-out of the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool across Victorian funded kindergarten services has commenced. Services interested in accessing the Tool apply through an expression of interest process. Services who were successful in the first expression of interest have access to the Tool from Term 1 2023. Future expressions of interest will occur late in 2023 for access in 2024.

To access login to the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool.

Implementation support package

Services receive an implementation support package to embed the Tool within their service, as part of the Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool funding guidelines (PDF). The package contains the following components:

• Blended professional learning which includes a self-paced eLearn resource and virtual training workshops
• Up to $2,000 (exc. GST) backfill equivalent funding for teaching teams to engage in the professional learning
• A $1,150 (exc. GST) one-off change management grant to support change management activities to embed use of the Tool that can be used flexibly within the range of kindergarten delivery models
• Dedicated practice support through Kindergarten Improvement Advisors in your department area
• Written guidance and technical support, including instructional videos in the Tool itself.

Using assessment tools in early childhood

One of the early childhood teachers involved in developing the Early Years Learning and Assessment Tool in 2020 joined a department-led panel at the Early Childhood Australia National Conference 2021 as part of a discussion on Assessment for learning: Why do it? What does it look like?

The panel explored the purpose of assessment and the role of the Tool in building educator capacity. They also share their practice expertise on what quality assessment looks like in everyday practice. This includes involving families in assessment and the importance of quality documentation, as well as touching on the role of checklists in early childhood.