A learning progression describes a pathway for children’s progress over time as they become more capable in an area of learning and development. It includes descriptions of the ‘signpost’ capabilities that help teachers and educators understand each child’s progress and to support next steps in their learning. These are grounded in a research-based understanding of children’s learning and development.
In the Preschool Outcomes Measure (POM) National Tool, the learning progressions describe a long span of development in oral language and literacy and executive function. These domains are made up of important capabilities for children’s early development and future learning.
Children start the year before full-time school at different points in their learning, make progress at their own pace, and finish the year at different points. Rather than describing what children should be able to do based on age, or time of year, the learning progressions help teachers and educators understand each child’s personal learning journey.
In the POM National Tool, the learning progressions:
- are organised into four ‘layers,’ ranging from a broad description of learning in the whole domain of oral language and literacy or executive function to more detailed descriptions of specific capabilities and how these develop over time
- include examples of what teachers and educators might observe when a child demonstrates a particular skill described in the learning progressions, while acknowledging that children show their strengths in many different ways across situations and environments
- include evidence-informed practice prompts with ideas for planning and teaching aligned with important capabilities in each domain (strands)
- are used to represent and describe a child’s learning at a point in time (based on formative assessment) and over time (when formative assessment is used more than once).
How to access the learning progressions and practice prompts
You can access the learning progressions from the Outcomes page after completing a child’s formative assessment. You can also access and explore the learning progressions independently of the formative assessment.
The learning progressions page displays a navigation bar with ‘quick scroll’ links to About, Explore and Practice Prompts. There is also an option to Switch Domain (oral language and literacy, executive function). This is the most direct way to enter and view the learning progressions and practice prompts.
- Select the Learning progressions button from the top navigation bar. You can select to explore either Oral Language and Literacy or Executive Function.
- The About section allows you to learn more about the Domain, including what it is and why is it important?
Below this you can find The building blocks information that shows the key sections that comprise the domain, such as subdomains and strands.
The Progression summary allows you to explore each level within the selected Domain and read the level descriptors for each.
The Explore section is where you can dive further into what progress looks like within a level.
Under the What this might look like header, you can explore each subdomain and relevant strands. You will also find the learning descriptors and illustrations showing examples of what that the skill might look like when demonstrated by a child. Children show their strengths in many different ways across situations and environments, so these illustrations are examples only.
The Practice Prompts section is where you can explore the practice prompts either using the search function or by using the filters.