Transcript ES 3219: Early Years Education, Week 6:

ES 3219: Early Years Education, Weeks 5 & 6:
The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum &
Education From Birth to Five: The State’s New Frontier
Introduction
 In the legislative programme for the period
2005-8 we saw an emphasis on measures aimed
at increasing the percentage of British adults in
employment to an all time high of 85%.
 In September of 2008 a new Early Years
Foundation Stage framework came into full
effect, replacing the Foundation Stage Guidance,
Birth to Three Matters and National Standards
for Under-8’s Daycare and Childminding.
 For the first time a single fully fledged
‘curriculum’ regulates childcare and educational
setting for all infants from birth to five.
The Foundation Stage Profile (2003)
“The early learning goals in the curriculum
guidance were not devised as assessment
criteria. The Foundation Stage Profile captures
the early learning goals as a set of 13
assessment scales, each of which has nine
points” (DfES, 2003, p.1).
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Statutory requirement from September 2003
Introduced to replace LEA baseline assessments
Cumulative record of 117 criteria per child
Conceived as partially hierarchical & partially
non-hierarchical
The Foundation Stage Profile (2003)
• FSP scores may be interrogated by teachers,
managers and the LEA in relation to gender,
ethnicity, month of birth and comparison with
similar schools.
• Several LEAs reported that they believed scores
had been ‘inflated’ (Ofsted, 2007, p.26).
• Initial training suggested that teachers work to
the target of children achieving 8 on the profile
scales: this caused problems and
inconsistencies. 2006 Guidance suggests that 6
points is the new ‘good’.
Implementation and moderation of the
Foundation Stage Profile (2006)
• In November 2006 the National Assessment Agency,
who administer the FSP, undercut the working
assumption among teachers that the FSP feeds directly
into NC levels and the SATs regime:
• “Any equation of the FSP scales or scale points to NC
levels or invented sub-levels is a spurious and ultimately
inaccurate exercise. There is currently no reliable
numerical correlation between attainment in FSP and NC
key stage 1 assessments” (NAA, 2006, p.5).
• They also commented on the confusion over tracking
and the calculation of ‘value added’ through FS2 (Year
R) (ibid.).
• They followed this with a new set of guidance in 2007
which again recognised that “inappropriate approaches
to assessment… continue to be an issue” (NAA, 2007, p.
p1) and sought to address this.
The Childcare Act 2006
 The early Years Foundation Stage curriculum,
regulation and inspection arrangements are
already enshrined in law in the 2006 Childcare
Act.
 The 2006 Act places a responsibility on local
authorities to ensure that they secure sufficient
childcare for the needs of all working parents in
the area “enabling parents on the lowest
incomes, and perhaps with the most difficult
circumstances… to lift themselves out of poverty
and give their children the best start in life”
(Hughes, cited in McAuliffe, Linsey & Fowler,
2006, p. 26).
The Childcare Act 2006
Two factors are intended to ensure that the care
children receive will be of sufficiently high quality:
 the requirement to follow the Early Years Foundation
Stage curriculum;
 the inspection of all childcare providers by Ofsted. The
Childcare Act 2006 brings together in statute Ofsted’s
daycare, childcare, and nursery education inspection and
registration functions.
 In order for a childcare setting to be registered it must
implement the EYFS, & comply with learning and
devlopment requirements (DfES, 2007a, p8);
 In general a person or setting cannot provide any early
years childminding service unless registered with Ofsted
– exemptions include babysitters or nannies in the child’s
own home, Sunday schools and after school clubs which
take place as part of extended school provision.
The Childcare Act 2006
 Working parents will be expected to pay for childcare
secured for them by the local authority.
 When the child reaches three years of age they will
continue to be entitled to 12.5 hours per week of free
childcare for 38 weeks of the year, extended to 15 hours
by 2010.
 Two year olds in pilot areas will also be entitled to the
free provision.
 However, the 2006 Act “allows regulations to be made to
enable parents to be charged for the time their children
spend in school in excess of the ‘free entitlement’ if the
children are below statutory school age” (McAuliffe,
Linsey & Fowler, 2006, p. 42).
The Childcare Act 2006
 “The term ‘childcare’ is made inclusive of
education, at least for children under
compulsory school age. This reflects the new
Early Years Foundation Stage… [This] definition
emphasises the integrated nature of early years
provision and corrects the misconception that
education and childcare are two distinct
activities for young children” (McAuliffe, Linsey &
Fowler, 2006, p. 27); see DfES, 2007a, p.7.
 Do you agree with this conflation of the
functions of provision?
The Childcare Act 2006
Sections 39-46 of the Childcare Act lay out
the requirements for the EYFS. Section 39
requires that the EYFS consists of two
parts:
 Learning and development requirements;
 Welfare requirements;
 The third statutory element is the
assessment arrangements (DfES, 2007a,
p.11).
The Childcare Act 2006
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Section 41(3) stipulates the six areas of learning
which form the basis of the learning and
development requirements:
Personal, social and emotional development;
Communication, language and literacy;
Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy;
Knowledge and understanding of the world;
Physical development;
Creative development.
The Childcare Act 2006
 For each area of learning and development, early
learning goals, educational programmes and assessment
arrangements may be specified.
 Under s.41(3) learning and development orders cannot
require the allocation of specified blocks of time to the
teaching of any aspect of the programme or the
timetabling of ‘periods’ for subject areas.
 Early learning goals are defined in s.41(2)(a) as “the
knowledge, skills and understanding which young
children of different abilities and maturities are expected
to have before the 1st September next following the day
on which they attain the age of five.” There are 69 ELGs
in the EYFS Statutory Framework (DfES, 2007a, pp.1216).
The Childcare Act 2006
 Educational programmes are defined in
s.41(2)(b) as “the matters, skills and processes
which are required to be taught to young
children of different abilities and maturities.”
 McAuliffe, Linsey & Fowler (2006) refer to the
debate in parliament on this matter which
focussed on the appropriateness of the word
‘taught’ (Hansard, House of Commons, 2005), its
interpretation and meaning.
 Is it possible, for instance, to ensure that early
emotional attachments or responsiveness to the
environment be ‘taught’?
The Childcare Act 2006
 New assessment arrangements include a profile,
renamed the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
which will “serve the same function [as the FSP] and
be subject to minor changes reflecting the
development of the EYFS” (McAuliffe, Linsey &
Fowler, 2006, p. 78). In fact “The EYFSP is identical
to the Foundation Stage Profile” (DfES, 2007c, p.3).
 The Secretary of State may issue an order specifying
details of how, when and by whom young children
are to be assessed under the EYFS.
 This gives the State an unprecedented role in
directly assessing the educational development of 05 year olds and, via Ofsted and other accountability
systems, in ensuring that the provision guarantees
children’s progress in line with expectations.
The Early Years Foundation Stage
 “Providers have a duty to ensure that their early
years provision complies with the learning and
development requirements” (emphases added)
(DfES, 2007a, p.8). Requirements of whom? For
instance, is it reasonable to make requirements of
small babies? If not, then the requirement must be
placed on staff to ensure that the infant’s learning
and development goals are met. This recalls the
‘taught’ debate.
 Is this instrumentalist approach to early education
appropriate?
The Early Years Foundation Stage
 The ‘Development Matters’ heading within each Area
of Learning and Development represent a
hierarchical model of attitudes, skills, etc. required
in order for children to reach early learning goals.
 The ‘Look, listen and note’ section is centred on
assessment and systematic observation.
 Reference is frequently made to not using the
curriculum requirements as a checklist (e.g., DfES,
2007b, p.11, DfES, 2007c, p.20). How can this be
avoided given that they either ‘must’ or ‘should’ be
carried out?
 Practitioners must plan for individual children using
observational assessment – there must be no ‘tests’
anywhere in the EYFS (DfES, 2006, p.13).
The Early Years Foundation Stage
 Learning must be active and strike a balance between childled and adult-led activity (DfES, 2007c, p.9).
 Practitioners must plan activities towards the achievement of
the early learning goals.
 In the final year of the EYFS, this includes a statutory duty to
fill in the EYFS Profile in its entirety, and to report this to
parents.
 Again, everything is premised upon the child’s development
leading towards and necessary for the achievement of the
early learning goals at the end of the key stage:
“This means that practitioners must implement clear,
principled approaches and a seamless continuum of
assessment from the child’s first days in a setting to the end
of the EYFS” (DfES, 2007c p.3). “The Development matters
column identifies the developing knowledge, skills,
understanding and attitudes that children will need if they are
to achieve the early learning goals by the end of the EYFS”
(DfES, 2007b, p.11).
The Early Years Foundation Stage
 Section 3 of the Statutory Framework (DfES,
2007a pp. 19-40) emphasizes the need for a
range of policies to be drawn up by all childcare
providers – some of these, such as the
safeguarding children policy, the policy for
supporting disabled children, the policy for
managing the administration of medicines, etc.
will be new to many.
 Questions might be raised about how this
growth in bureaucracy might serve to remove
certain types of setting and EY-worker from the
childcare market.
Why are the ideals rarely realised in the Reception
classroom?
• Parental pressure to see outcomes either in terms of
adults’ or their children’s recording
• Restrictions of time and space imposed by whole school
requirements
• Downward pressure on ‘standards’ from KS1
• Lack of understanding on the part of staff
• Intervention by or lack of understanding from
management
• Overspill from KS1 legislated curricular requirements
• School timetables
• Adult-child ratios
• Children’s ability to profit consistently from free-play
based activities
Is it in the practice that the Foundation Stage failed?
• In March 2007, Ofsted published its first major
study of the foundation stage in six years. This
highlights some of the disparities and anomalies
which have been generated in the implementation
of the Guidance and FSP.
• We should note some of Ofsted’s findings, and ask
why such issues arise in EY practice? It is also
important to consider some of the presuppositions
made by Ofsted – we might relate these to our
theorists, Marx, Weber and Foucault.
Is it in the practice that the Foundation Stage failed?
• “Curricular emphasis on certain early learning
goals meant inadequate planning for others”
(Ofsted, 2007, p.3).
• “[A]chievement was lower in calculation, early
reading and writing, a sense of time and place, an
understanding of culture and beliefs, and
imaginative play because practitioners gave these
too little attention” (ibid.).
• A great deal of emphasis is placed on gender
differences and the failure of settings to take
account of these (ibid., p.8). What do we make of
these claims, and in particular, if they are true,
how are gender differences allowed for in the
‘averages’ indicated in the EYFSP?
Is it in the practice that the Foundation Stage failed?
• In common with some of the earlier criticisms of the FS in
practice, Ofsted state that in the rare cases where teaching
was ‘unsatisfactory’, there were “limited opportunities for
children to make choices and initiate ideas. The experiences
were predictable and dominated by inappropriate
interventions from adults who, for example, stepped in too
quickly without appreciating children’ immediately prior
learning.”
• “In most Foundation Stage 2 settings [Year R], the balance
of play and directed activities was intelligently planned.
However in a few settings children were introduced too
quickly to recording their own work, completing worksheets
which did not sufficiently engage or move their learning on”
(ibid., p. 16).
• “In a few settings, practitioners used the early leaning goals
as the starting point for planning, rather than the stepping
stones. This limited the scope of the curriculum, particularly
for some of the youngest children” (ibid., p.17).
Is it in the practice that the Foundation Stage failed?
• Ofsted’s recommendations:
• How should we respond to these selected recommendations,
given the understandings we have developed through
applying Marx, Weber and Foucault?
• LEA’s should “use data effectively to identify strengths and
weaknesses in curricular provision…” (emphasis added)
(Ofsted, 2007, p.4).
• Staff in settings should “provide regular, planned
opportunities, including imaginative play, for children to
develop their creativity and adults should discuss with them
what they are doing” (ibid., p.5).
• They should also “work with children and parents to involve
them more fruitfully in assessment” (ibid.).
The Early Years Foundation Stage
Bibliography
Department for Education and Skills (2006) The Early Years Foundation Stage: Consultation on a single quality framework for
services to children from birth to five, Nottingham: DfES Publications, online at
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/Complete%20for%20WEB.PDF
Department for Education and Skills (2007a) Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Nottingham: DfES
Publications, online at http://www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/eyfs/resources/downloads/statutory-framework.pdf
Department for Education and Skills (2007b) Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Nottingham: DfES
Publications, online at http://www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/eyfs/resources/downloads/practice-guidance.pdf
Department for Education and Skills (2007c) Creating the Picture, online at
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Hansard, House of Commons (2005) ‘Childcare Bill’, House of Commons Standing Committee D, 15 December 2005, Clause 41
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McAuliffe, A., Linsey, A. & Fowler J. (2006) Childcare Act 2006: the essential guide, London: National Children’s Bureau and
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