Launched on 24 October, the consultation follows a pilot of the draft versions of the Early Learning Goals (ELGs) and EYFS Profile handbook in 24 schools and its evaluation by the Education Endowment Foundation.
As well as seeking views on the latest changes to the goals and educational programmes, the Government is also consulting on assessment and moderation processes under the Profile, as well as the criteria used to score each child.
Proposed Changes
The latest revisions to the goals and educational programmes are across the areas of learning, most notably in:
Communication and Language - It now has an increased emphasis on regular conversations and sensitive questioning. And, in response to sector criticism that ‘Attention’ and ‘Understanding’ had been omitted from this area, the DfE has renamed the ‘Listening’ ELG to ‘Listening, Attention and Understanding’. The extent of the changes in this area reflects the Government’s aim to improve outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds by strengthening their language development and ensuring the ELGs ‘reflect the strongest predictors of future attainment’, in this case vocabulary.
Personal, social and emotional development - It has become more of a priority, and now comes after C&L, rather than Physical Development. Its goals now incorporate more elements linked to attachment and self-regulation – another key indicator of attainment.
Expressive Arts and Design - The Performing ELG from the pilot has been renamed ‘Being Imaginative and Expressive’.
Notable too are the lack of changes that many within the sector wanted to see, principally:
Literacy - The third goal of ‘Comprehension’ remains within this area of learning.
Mathematics - The educational programme now mentions encouraging children’s curiosity about number, shape, space and measure, but these are still not covered in the goals.
Understanding the World - Information Technology is still not included within the goals, though the scope for exploration within the natural world has been extended.
'In a Muddle'
An ‘unrepresentative’ panel of experts assembled to draft the earlier versions of the goals, lack of consultation, and insufficient clarity – and cohesion – around Government plans have resulted in widespread criticism of the EYFS reforms to date.
Development Matters is being rewritten as part of the reforms, but this non-statutory guidance will only be launched along with the final EYFS in September 2021. Schools can volunteer to implement the new ELGs next year (2020), ahead of the revised framework being made compulsory in 2021. Early Education earlier dubbed the process a ‘rewrite of the EYFS curriculum by the back door’.
Many within the sector remain dismayed at the muddled nature of the goals and the fact that they remain largely developmentally inappropriate.
Early years consultant Helen Moylett said of this latest version, ‘It is slightly more developmentally appropriate, but it’s still got a long way to go.
‘I think it is muddled because they have started in a “topsy-turvy” way with the ELGs. They have started it without a mandate to do it and the sector is up in arms about it.’
More particularly she takes issue with the proposals for Communication and Language. She explained, ‘These statements do not recognise the interconnected nature of the three Prime Areas, and how all three are foundational for children’s learning. It misleadingly suggests a primacy about spoken language which is neither developmentally nor chronologically correct.’
Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of Early Education, feels there is room for improvement within both C&L and Literacy.
She said, ‘It is our view, for example, that the Government’s key focus on Communication and Language is best shown by keeping three ELGs in C&L, not reducing them to two while adding one to Literacy.
‘This change is also likely to lead to an increase in the number of disadvantaged children not reaching the Good Level of Development, as the data show the Literacy goals are already pitched too high, further increasing the perceived equality gap while making no actual difference to children’s outcomes.’
Also attracting criticism are the proposals for self-regulation. While early years experts agree its importance in early development, they question its place in PSED.
Early years consultant Nancy Stewart said, ‘The Government is actually going to confuse people about what self-regulation is. The EYFS already covers self-regulation very well around managing relationships, which is emotional self-regulation, and the Characteristics of Effective Learning, which is cognitive self-regulation. They do not need to put this shorthand and very muddled mess in there.’
She also voiced concerns about how the final version of the EYFS framework will ‘marry up’ with the revised Development Matters.
Time for Reform?
Early years consultant Jan Dubiel, however, has welcomed the review of the EYFS, the first since 2011, and emphasised that it is ‘not a review of the whole EYFS, rather specific aspects of it’.
He said, ‘We do need to celebrate what we have but also understand that it is not static, and as we understand more about the nature of learning and what children need to learn most, then that should be incorporated into the document.
‘It ultimately comes down to interpretation and it is really important that people see the changes in context with the EYFS. The Characteristics of Effective Learning are still very much in place and are a very strong part of the EYFS.
‘People need to remember that the review is changing set parts but it is not a fundamental overhaul of the whole document.’
Have your Say
- Find the consultation at: https://bit.ly/36ClqL6
It is open until 11.45pm on 31 January 2020
Practitioners are requested to respond personally, even if they are members of a professional organisation.
Before and after
To help make comparisons between the pilot and consultation versions of the EYFS, Nursery World has created a before-and-after guide. Included are the educational programmes, ELGs and the rationale for the changes.
Download the guide at: https://bit.ly/2qvSbJk
More information
See Work Matters on page 32 for more on the pilot; look out for comment online; and read our further Analysis of the goals and educational programmes in Nursery World on 25 November.
