ELC_Self_Evaluation_Template_2024_2025 (1)

What is a Early Learning & Childcare Self-Evaluation Document?

An Early Learning & Childcare (ELC) Self-Evaluation Document is a tool for ELC services to assess their quality and identify areas for improvement by reflecting on practices, collecting feedback, and analyzing evidence. Using a quality improvement framework with specific quality indicators (QIs), settings ask: “How are we doing?”, “How do we know?”, and “What are we going to do now?” to understand strengths and pinpoint necessary actions for enhancing care and learning for children.

Purpose and Function:

• Identify Strengths and Areas for Improvement:

The document helps services recognize what’s working well and where development is needed in their operations, policies, and practices.

• Promote Continuous Improvement:

Self-evaluation is a continuous, ongoing process of monitoring and development, not a one-off event.

• Gather Evidence:

It involves gathering evidence from various sources, including observations, data, and feedback from parents, staff, and the children themselves.

• Inform Quality Improvement Plans:

The findings from the self-evaluation are used to develop action plans for making concrete changes and improving quality over time.

• Support Inspection and Review:

These documents often align with national quality frameworks used by regulatory bodies, such as Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate, which use them to support their own inspections.

Key Components and Process:

1. Reflection:

Staff reflect on their current practices, policies, and the overall effectiveness of the service.

1. Evidence Collection:

Feedback is collected from a range of stakeholders, including parents, families, staff, and importantly, the children.

1. Analysis:

The collected evidence is analyzed against specific quality indicators and themes.

1. Three Key Questions:

The core of the process is answering:

1. • How are we doing? (Assessing current performance)

1. • How do we know? (Using evidence to justify the assessment)

1. • What are we going to do now? (Planning for future improvements)

1. Action Planning:

Based on the evaluation, specific goals and actionable steps are identified to improve services and outcomes for children.