There are a few methods to monitor the development of children and young people:
1. Observation. The observation could be formal and informal and both types have the advantages and disadvantages.
1.1. Informal observations - these are carried out daily when working with a pupil and overtime a picture can be built of the pupil’s progress and if there are any issues such as unable to draw circles with a compass, not recording homework correctly in the planner. These may be small but over time a picture of each pupil will be built up. It is likely that Teacher Assistants will discuss their observations with teachers. A disadvantage of informal observations is that they may not be recorded and might be forgotten to be passed on.
1.2. Formal observations - this may be carried out to support the teacher on assessing a pupil’s level of development such as a controlled assessment or a speaking and listening test.
2. Standard Measurements - this is usually carried out by medical practitioners to ensure that a child is growing at the expected rate for their age. School tests/cognitive aptitude tests that demonstrate a snapshot of children's academic ability or skill at retaining taught information and that might then be used to compare outcomes between a larger population of same-age children. Health programmes that might measure head circumference, weight, height, visual and auditory functioning. Educational psychologists may use reasoning tests to assess an intellectual age in contrast to a chronological age.
3. Information from carers and colleagues - information from carers can be vital if there is a factor that may be influencing the development of a young person an example may be that the pupil is being bullied or they don’t understand the learning objective but are too scared to ask