Are Learning Stories Still A Useful Tool In Assessment?

Sep 29 / Angela Bush
*Warning: This article is likely to push some buttons.
I hope it does.
It is long overdue that we examine the current status quo in documentation practices in early childhood education.
Learning stories have been the assessment tool of choice in early childhood education for more than thirty years. Prior to this, running records were questionably a blunt instrument for documenting a child’s development. The introduction of a narrative form of assessment provided both educators and parents with a more palatable and accessible way to share children’s learning.

In 2024, learning stories are arguably the dominant method for documenting children’s learning. When written well, they can be a valuable form of assessment and communication of children’s learning. Having worked in the ECE sector for more than thirty years in various leadership roles, I have read my fair share of learning stories. Anecdotally, these vary in quality enormously which in my observation, is often impacted by the educator’s knowledge and experience in ECE, as well as the author’s ability to create and write an engaging narrative. For educators with English as a second language this is also frequently a significant factor.
Over the years I have observed a shift in the intent of learning stories as the sector has become more commercially sensitive and driven by the need for full roll numbers to remain financially viable. Expectations to keep parents happy and content with the service provided has contributed to a culture of mass production of learning stories and portfolios. The introduction of digital portfolios for children has introduced the ability to include references to curriculum frameworks at the click of a mouse so that our accountability to external agencies can also be measured and reproduced in a digital report generated by the system. For larger organisations, these are useful reports to measure and check that teachers are meeting organisational expectations for documenting learning.

In an effort to measure fairness and accountability for how non-contact time is used, managers have, with the best intentions, put in place expectations for how many learning stories each educator should produce in their allocated time slot. Not only are educators required to mass produce learning stories during their precious non-contact time, but also contribute to internal evaluation, personal PGC inquiries, and a myriad of other “essential” documentation expectations. These expectations have created some resentment and a feeling of overload amongst many teachers.

If you read any social media forum you will frequently see commentary from educators citing that they are required to create one learning story per child per month. Educators are allocated a list of children for which they are required to ensure something is included in their portfolio at least monthly lest they be questioned by a parent who hasn’t seen anything for their child in recent times. I would argue that these practices have contributed to a churn of documentation that is not necessarily authentic or meaningful, nor making a particularly useful contribution to planning for effective teaching and learning.
The increasing expectations from external agencies to evidence and justify our practices, and the urge for early childhood educators to constantly “prove” that we are more than babysitters, have contributed to the current treadmill of mass production of learning stories we find ourselves on. In my humble opinion, all of these factors, alongside a lack of funding specifically for professional learning for early childhood educators, have contributed to a low understanding of effective assessment and planning in ECE.

The original intent of learning stories as a narrative tool for assessment has been lost. With the mass production of learning stories, and a common question of “what next?” included in digital templates, we find ourselves in a place where learning stories are frequently nothing more than an anecdotal snapshot of something a child was seen doing recently. “Planning” is nothing more than a cursory, meaningless “what next” included at the bottom of a story.

  • We have lost our understanding of why we assess and plan for learning.
  • We have lost our understanding of what planning is meant to be for.
  • We have overloaded our educators with a burden of production rather than effective assessment, reflection and evaluation of teaching and learning.
  • We have created the expectation that parents believe we are required to produce a detailed scrapbook of photographs and stories about their child. Many teachers also believe this.
  • We have created the belief that children love to engage with their printed portfolio and that this therefore means they are reflecting on their learning with their teacher who has a sound understanding of their learning progression.
  • We have created the belief that every child must have a printed portfolio that they can freely access, or they will miss out.
  • We have created systems where teachers plan and document for children predominantly on their own without any collaboration with colleagues.
  • We have created the expectation that teachers will “choose” a few learning outcomes from Te Whāriki to insert into their learning stories so that we can provide “evidence” of how we pay homage to the curriculum in our planning.
  • We have created a belief that if we insert te reo Māori phrases and words into our stories Athat we have ticked the bi-cultural box.
  • We have created a system where mass production of learning stories has watered down authentic assessment and communication of children’s progressions of learning.
  • We have created a pervading culture of overload where teachers feel pressured to write learning stories in their own time because they have not achieved their quota for the month and children are missing out.
  • We now believe that if we are producing enough learning stories, we are effective teachers.
In a time where we are burdened more than ever with compliance, documentation, and being “seen” as professionals, it is time to stop the hamster wheel. We need to stop, think and reflect.
It is time that we ask ourselves;

  • Is the way we are using our non-contact time a valid, effective use of teacher’s time?
  • Are our assessment and planning practices making an authentic contribution to children’s learning outcomes?
  • Is planning and documenting in isolation an effective approach to designing curriculum?
  • Does the production of learning stories make a valid contribution to effective teaching and learning?
  • Do we know what we are doing as teachers in assessing and documenting learning?
  • After more than thirty years, are learning stories still an effective tool for assessing and documenting children’s learning?

Not only have we lost sight of the intention of learning stories, but we have also lost sight of what we are actually required to do in meeting our regulatory obligations. If we refer back to the licensing criteria we are reminded that these very clearly state:

“The service curriculum is informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation (documented and undocumented) that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau, and life contexts” (Ministry of Education,

Nowhere in the licensing criteria or in Te Whāriki does it state that we are required to write learning stories. Nowhere!

Writing learning stories has become the norm. They are the status quo in the absence of robust, reflective discussion.

It is time for us to ask ourselves:

  • Is there a more effective way we can assess and document children’s learning that meets regulatory and best practice guidelines, but which is also less time consuming?
  • Is writing learning stories the best use of non contact time?
  • What alternatives are there that are worth considering?

I encourage you to explore these questions personally and as a teaching team. If you are overburdened with documentation and feeling unsure about whether your practices are effective, it is important now more than ever to take the time to stop, think and reflect on what could be done differently to reach better outcomes in teaching and learning.

Stay tuned for our next ECEntial edition where I will explore a range of options we can consider for streamlining our assessment and documentation practices.
written by

Angela Bush

My work is all about design, coding, and education. For over 13 years I've been a professional designer. I created the YOUix website with video tutorials on code, design and more. I'm curious, passionate and I love sharing knowledge.

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