According to the Educators’ Guide to the Early Years Learning Framework, documentation is the practice of recording and creating evidence of learning and the learning progress, helping make it visible. Though documentation is mandated to meet regulatory and pedagogical purposes, there are no prescriptive rules about how it may be done. The following article provides strategies for documenting in an early childhood setting.

The EYLF Main Outcome Posters includes each of the main outcomes of the early years learning framework. These can be used as a display around the room to show how children achieve each outcome.

When writing Summative Assessments it provides you an opportunity to summarise all the documentation you have collected on each child's learning and development and "sum" up to emphasize children's strengths and make learning visible.

The template is used to record the outcomes the child has met throughout the year based on the EYLF outcomes. 

When observing children, it's important that we use a range of different observation methods from running records, learning stories to photographs and work samples.  Using a variety of different observation methods can assist you in observing a child's interest, skills, abilities, and needs. It provides a foundation for a child's individual assessment and planning. Collecting a series of observations before interpreting and planning will provide a well rounded and holistic picture of the child.

Within Australia, Programming and Planning is reflected and supported by the Early Years Learning Framework. Educators within early childhood settings, use the EYLF to guide their decisions to interpret and assess children’s learning and development.

The Early Years Learning Framework describes the curriculum as “all the interactions, experiences, activities, routines and events, planned and unplanned, that occur in an environment designed to foster children’s learning and development”.

Portfolios have become a popular form of documentation used to give families, a keepsake at the end of the year. It is usually a folder containing samples of child’s work and photos of experiences the child was involved in throughout the year. However, it has become much more than a folder for storing artwork and photos so to speak. Portfolios are a journey of a child’s learning....

Reflective practice is learning from everyday situations and issues and concerns that arise which form part of our daily routine while working in an early childhood setting. It’s about reflecting not only about what happened but why. It also guides our decision making. It forces us to analyse different aspects of experiences we offer to make judgements in what should be repeated, extended or changed. This enables us to develop and extend on children’s learning and build upon their knowledge and skills.

This is a guide on How to Write a Learning Story. It provides information on What Is A Learning Story, Writing A Learning Story, Sample Of A Learning Story, Linking To The Outcomes, Group Learning Stories and more.