Observing Children in German Daycare Centres: Practitioners’ attitudes and practice

Systematic child observation has a long tradition in early childhood education, and it has been used for diverse educational goals. Cross‐cultural comparisons show that its importance varies across different countries and educational settings. These differences may be relevant for international cooperation. In the context of a project implementing Belgian observation and assessment scales in German kindergartens, we studied German practitioners' attitudes towards systematic observation (prior to the project). The most significant overall finding is the low priority that is attributed to systematic observation both in training and practice. These findings are related to some traditions and ideologies of German ‘kindergarten culture’. A concluding section discusses the role of structured child observation methods in professional development.