Foundations of early years assessment and formulation
| Module title | Foundations of early years assessment and formulation |
|---|---|
| Module code | PYC3036 |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Ann Hockaday (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 5 | 11 | 3 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 2 |
|---|
Module description
Applying evidence-based psychological therapies to children, young people and their families requires fundamental academic knowledge and clinical skills together with a reflective approach to practice. This module focuses on assessment, formulation, and safeguarding, with common content for all trainees, and selected specialist elements for trainees on the parent–infant pathway and the early childhood pathway.
The aim of this module is to provide trainee practitioners with a broad understanding of the purpose, principles, and practice of conducting comprehensive and holistic assessments, developing a formulation for the purposes of understanding a child and family’s needs, and collaboratively planning ongoing support and intervention.
This module will build on learning acquired in the key theories and frameworks module and will introduce you to applying this to enable effective assessments and formulations to happen.
This module delivers the Department of Health’s Children and Young People’s Psychological Training
(CYP PT) national curriculum of specific knowledge and skills you will need in order to practice effectively as an Infant and Early Years Practitioner.
You will explore how session-by-session measurement and routine outcome monitoring are fundamental components of effective practice.
Lectures in the module will focus on the content of effective assessment and collaborative formulation.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The module aims for you to gain knowledge and skills in:
- Collaborative working: establishing and sustaining respectful and trusting relationships, understanding the importance of professional boundaries and ability to maintain these, understanding possible barriers to and reasons for non-engagement with professional support.
- Assessment: the principles of appropriate information-gathering, the importance of both confidentiality and information-sharing with other practitioners, how personal/professional viewpoints can affect assessment and may be a cause of bias, conducting formal assessments of caregiving, focus on the factors that promote optimal mental health, use appropriate tools for assessment and routine outcome monitoring.
- Formulation: identify problems, concerns and areas likely to benefit from support; create a verbal and diagrammatic formulation based on the information gathered in assessment, including outcome measures, in collaboration with the parents/carers and also considering the voice of the infant/child, risk and protective factors, child development, strengths, presenting difficulties, experiences, culture and beliefs; express to the caregiver(s) a multifactorial understanding of the child’s strengths and difficulties; discuss concerns and goals with parents/caregivers.
- Child protection/safeguarding: recognising possible signs of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse and neglect of the infant, including failure to meet developmental and healthcare needs; the importance of recognising caregiver behaviours that may be associated with abuse or neglect; the impact of abuse during infancy and childhood on short-, medium- and long-term development; the importance of prioritising the infant/child’s welfare to promote their safety at all times
- Meeting the needs of families with children aged 0–5: how different levels of support can be provided to families during the pre- and post-natal and early childhood periods, that different types of intervention can be provided in terms of the focus of the intervention (for example, infant/child, parent, dyad, triad), offering support/intervention to be socially/culturally acceptable to families, how the benefit or otherwise of all support/intervention should be assessed to undertake appropriate further intervention, how support/intervention may involve a ‘team around the child’ approach with other practitioners, and application of this to undertake appropriate liaison
- Transition to parenthood: understanding the parents’/caregivers’ life experiences and feelings about conception, pregnancy and birth, the emotional, psychological, and social changes that can occur in the transition to parenthood, the range of factors that can affect parenting and the importance of working preventatively, the development of the parental relationship in the transition to parenthood and its role in early development and wellbeing, the diverse range of experiences of people as they become parents and the similarities, differences, and barriers (including discrimination) sometimes faced by LGBTQ+ families.
- Pre- and post-natal factors that can affect caregiving: the impact of substance misuse (including alcohol), domestic abuse and mental health problems on the development of the foetus/infant, and their impact on parent–infant interaction and relationships; understanding changes in the family constellation and dynamics following pregnancy and the birth of a infant can affect the quality of the couple relationship and impact co-parenting, exploring dispositional factors, regulatory disorders and infant characteristics that may increase vulnerability in the infant, and their impact on the caregiving relationship, the mental health problems that can be experienced by caregivers during the pre- and post-natal period, understanding perinatal red flags and risk indicators.
- Sensitive caregiving (for example, attuned or contingent) and appropriate responsiveness to infant development to inform work with families.
- The importance of keeping in mind and responding to the needs of both parents/caregivers and the infant, and the quality and content of the relationship between them in terms of all forms of assessment and support being provided.
- The importance of recognising infant behaviour as communication.
- The importance of communicating an awareness and appreciation of the infant’s feelings, thoughts, and experiences.
- Developmental pathways in infancy: age-appropriate developmental milestones during infancy and normal variation compared with more significant divergence from the norm, the rapid and environmentally dependent neurobiological development that occurs in pregnancy and infancy.
- Attachments: the importance of promoting secure infant attachment, and the different types of caregiving behaviours associated with different attachment classifications, the importance of parental reflective functioning, the infant’s ability to form a number of significant relationships, the impact of parents’/caregivers’ relationship histories, and the way in which these can unconsciously impact on their interactions with the infant.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Synthesise theory and practice in planning, delivering and reflecting on assessment and formulation work for 0-5s children, young people and families
- 2. Apply the core competencies in assessment and formulation work for 0-5s, for children, young people and families
- 3. Identify how you meet the relevant specific competency standards in assessment and formulation for children, young people and families
- 4. Evaluate the use of routine outcome monitoring in infant and early years practice
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. Address systematically complex therapy practice problems that may be framed within unpredictable contexts, thinking critically, creatively, and independently
- 6. Critique the wider ethical and professional issues encountered within psychological therapy practice
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Appraise your personal strengths and weaknesses in training and experience, and reflect upon the implications for your further training needs
- 8. Function independently and reflectively as a learner and practitioner
Syllabus plan
This module is taught through weekly whole day workshops and half-day small group tutorials in terms one, two and three. Topics derived from Attachment Theory, Social Learning Theory, and Behavioural Theory will form the core content of the workshops, alongside contextual factors and wider frameworks. There will be plenty of opportunities for skills practice and discussion of clinical issues through simulation and problem-based learning.
Learning and teaching will be through lectures, role-plays, and small group discussions. In addition, they will be supplemented by e-learning material and experience of assessment and treatment of patients within the workplace.
Teaching will be provided by module tutors, with some experts where appropriate. The reflective personal and professional portfolio encourages you to use reflective practice. Reflected practice will be integrated as part of training throughout the module.
In addition, video supervision will enable you to learn to fine tune new techniques and develop a reflective style to your therapy. Feedback and outcome measures from the therapy session will guide discussion in therapy.
Research for case reports, essays and reading will provide you with further academic knowledge and critical appraisal skills.
Furthermore, you will receive written feedback from supervisors each term regarding your strengths and areas for further development.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 70 | 30 | 50 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 55 | Lectures and workshops |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 6 | Clinical supervision at UoE |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 9 | Clinical skills tutorials |
| Guided Independent 草榴社区地址 | 30 | Guided independent study and clinical preparation |
| Placement | 50 | Clinical practice |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-rating of baseline specific therapy competencies | 20 minute discussion in supervision | 1-3, 5-6 | Oral |
| Therapy practice competency | Video clips presented in supervision minute session recording | 1-3, 5-6 | Written |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case presentation with video clips embedded of assessment and formulation (this assessment must be passed; failure in this assessment will lead to failure in the module and the programme) | 100 | 30 minutes | 1-8 | Oral (with written submission) |
| Practice portfolio ? this is an assessment of competency and is pass/fail only (this assessment must be passed; failure in this assessment will lead to failure in the module and the programme) | 0 | 6000 words | 1-3, 5, 7-8 | Written |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case presentation with video clips embedded (of video interaction case) | Case presentation with video clips embedded (of video interaction case) | 1-8 | Four weeks after written feedback |
| Practice portfolio | Practice portfolio | 1-3, 5-7 | Nine weeks after written feedback |
Re-assessment notes
Two assessments are required for this module. In all cases re-assessment will be the same as the original assessment. Where you have been referred/deferred for any form of assessment detailed above you will have the opportunity to resubmit within the period specified above from the date that feedback was provided.
If you pass re-assessments taken as a result of deferral, your re-assessment will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment and the overall module mark will not be capped.
If you pass re-assessments taken as a result of referral (i.e. following initial failure in the assessment), the overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
If you fail re-assessments taken as a result of referral (i.e. following initial failure in the assessment), you will be failed in the module and as a consequence you will be failed in the programme and your registration as a student of the University will be terminated.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (2012). ‘Social and emotional wellbeing: early years’, PH40 https://www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/PH40
- NICE (2015). ‘Children’s attachment: attachment in children and young people who are adopted from care, in care or at high risk of going into care’, NG26 https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng26
- Early Intervention Foundation (2015). ‘The best start at home: What works to improve the quality of parent–child interactions from conception to age 5?years? A rapid review of interventions’?
- Scott, S., & Dadds, M. R. (2009). Practitioner review: when parent training doesn’t work: theory?driven clinical strategies.?Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,?50(12), 1441-1450.
- Webster-Stratton, C. (2008). Collaborating with Parents to Reduce Children's Behavior Problems: A book for Therapists Using the Incredible Years Programs. IY Press.
- Brazelton, T. B., & Cramer, B. G. (2018).?The earliest relationship: Parents, infants and the drama of early attachment. Routledge.
- Crittenden, P. (2013).?Raising parents: Attachment, parenting and child safety. Routledge.
- Gerhardt, S. (2014).?Why love matters: How affection shapes a baby's brain. Routledge.
- Lieberman, A. F. (2017).?The emotional life of the toddler. Simon and Schuster.
- Murray, L. (2014).?The psychology of babies: How relationships support development from birth to two. Hachette UK.
- Music, G. (2024).?Nurturing natures: Attachment and children's emotional, sociocultural and brain development. Routledge.
- Stern, D. N. (1990).?Diary of a baby: What your child sees, feels, and experiences. Basic Books.
- Zeedyk, S., Robertson, J., & British Psychological Society. (2011).?The Connected baby?: a film conversation. British Psychological Society.
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
All resources will be made available on ELE. This includes additional material covered in the tutorials, the required readings, information about assessment and additional material (e.g., videos).
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
DVD/audio competency clips from PT and University of Exeter teaching team.
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 09/12/2025 |