The Three I's
When planning for the development of young children it is important to know what you want children to develop and how this development will be supported. It is also important to evaluate your work to ensure that your actions have been effective.
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The Three I's refer to the above cycle. You must ask yourself:
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What is my INTENT?
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What do I want children to learn?​
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What development am I supporting?
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How will I IMPLEMENT my intent?
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What activities will I provide?
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What teaching strategies will I use? ​
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What has been the IMPACT of my intent?
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What development can I observe?​
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Has my input been successful?
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What more should I do?
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A simple example of The Three I's in action might be:
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My INTENT is to support babies in my care to become walkers.
I will IMPLEMENT a range of activities in order to support physical development, muscle tone and balance. I will hand hold, provide time in the ball pond to strengthen muscles, encourage and praise efforts! I will share my ideas with parents and colleagues.
As time progresses I see the IMPACT of my efforts as the babies develop confidence in cruising and eventually in walking independently.
Ofsted and paperwork
Ofsted most certainly does not require reams of paperwork as evidence of your planning for the individual needs of children. What they do require is strong evidence that you know your children; that you know their stages of development; that you know what your next steps are and that these have been raised in partnership, or shared, with parents; and that you have clear intents in place which are sensitively implemented. Your learning intents and how you implement your intents should achieve a positive impact on children's learning and development.
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You may find the templates below useful in developing the skills you require to ensure that you have clear intents, that you consider a range of implementation ideas and that you reflect on the impact of your work.
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Checklist for the Three I's
This handy checklist will enable you to record learning episodes in order to check the presence of the Three I's.
Learning Episode Planner
This handy planner will support you to plan a learning episode. It will also ensure that the Three I's have been considered.
Every activity you provide should have a considered INTENT.
Consider the activities which are being IMPLEMENTED below; what might the planned INTENT have been and what possible IMPACT might the IMPLEMENTATION have had on a child's development?
Communication and Language
This activity has been implemented to support a learning intent. What might the intent have been and what might the impact have been?
Your learning intent might be to support children to learn about different cultures, or about nature and Spring. You may wish to support fine motor development, or to encourage mindfulness and concentration. The impact should reflect your intent - was your implementation (the activity) successful in supporting learning and development? Did your implementation impact positively on development?
My learning intent is...
I will implement this learning by providing the following...
The impact was...
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
This activity has been implemented to support a learning intent. What might the intent have been and what might the impact have been?
Your learning intent may be for children explore similarities and differences, however, you will also be supporting emerging literacy, expressive arts and design, physical development, language skills, including emotional literacy, and opportunities to learn back and forth communications. By also drawing your own picture you can model how media can be used to effect change, e.g., layering colours etc.
My learning intent is...
I will implement this learning by providing the following...
The impact was...
Physical Development
This activity has been implemented to support a learning intent. What might the intent have been and what might the impact have been?
Your learning intent may have been to support physical development but it could have been: To develop confidence and resilience; to encourage waiting in turn and exercise self-control; to support literacy (e.g., act out The Three Billy Goats Gruff); to discuss risk (should you take a buggy up the slide?); to introduce boundaries; to use positional language (over, under, inside). Intents can be endless!
My learning intent is...
I will implement this learning by providing the following...
The impact was...
Literacy
This activity has been implemented to support a learning intent. What might the intent have been and what might the impact have been?
Your learning intent might be to support emergent literacy, however, you will also be supporting children to interact with the natural world, to wallow in their own thoughts and interests, to enjoy some 'me-time' and to encourage reflection. You may be supporting a child to learn how to de-stress and to being to understand the wonderful effect books can have on quietening the mind.
My learning intent is...
I will implement this learning by providing the following...
The impact was...
Mathematics
This activity has been implemented to support a learning intent. What might the intent have been and what might the impact have been?
Your learning intent may have been to support emergent mathematics, however, you will also be supporting physical development, the use of positional language (behind, in-front, next to, through, overt), a basic understanding of three-dimensional shapes (solids), such as cubes, spheres etc, and communication skills as you discuss the activity.
My learning intent is...
I will implement this learning by providing the following...
The impact was...
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Understanding the World
This activity has been implemented to support a learning intent. What might the intent have been and what might the impact have been?
Your learning intent may have been to support children to understand the world, e.g., growth and decay over time, however, children are also learning to be responsible for their environment, they can count, sort, weigh and measure their crops and harvests, they can learn to work as a team in order to transport soil, compost, garden waste etc. In fact, the garden and the outdoor learning environment can underpin the whole curriculum including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)!
My learning intent is...
I will implement this learning by providing the following...
The impact was...
Expressive Arts and Design
This activity has been implemented to support a learning intent. What might the intent have been and what might the impact have been?
Your learning intent might be to support children to learn about different cultures, or about nature and Spring. You may wish to support fine motor development, or to encourage mindfulness and concentration. The impact should reflect your intent - was your implementation (the activity) successful in supporting learning and development? Did your implementation impact positively on development?
My learning intent is...
I will implement this learning by providing the following...
The impact was...