The EYFS framework was implemented in the UK in 2008 in response to research that showed the correlation between quality childcare and children's future learning and development.
It applies to childminders, maintained nurseries, pre-schools, infant schools and the Reception year in primary schools and is intended to be a tool offering comprehensive guidance to support and enhance children's learning and development until age five.
The EYFS highlights three prime areas and four specific areas of learning and development that early education and care must be focused around.
The framework built on and replaced Birth to Three Matters, the Foundation Stage and national standards for daycare.
CONTROVERSIES
The EYFS was not without controversy when it first came in. More than 4,200 parents, childcare experts and educationalists signed a petition to stop it becoming law, as part of the Open EYE campaign to prevent the ‘schoolification of early childhood’.
Campaigners were concerned that starting formal education too early might harm children's development. However, defending the new framework, Jeanne Barczewska wrote: ‘There are people who do not know that it is alright for a baby to gurgle, coo and make noise. They do not know that by doing this babies are going through the first stages of working their mouths, tongues and vocal cords, all which will help them to develop the ability, for example, to talk and chew… We must do all we can to help carers have a good understanding of how children develop’ (Nursery World, 5 April 2007).
EVER EVOLVING
The framework has gone through several changes and updates since it first came in.
2012 saw a revised curriculum and a reduction in the number of Early Learning Goals from 69 to 17, as well as a progress check for children at age two.
New observation and assessment processes came in 2021, alongside new curriculum guidance and a shift away from children meeting standardised criteria.
Meanwhile, 2023 changes increased the statutory minimum staff-to-child ratios in England from 1:4 to 1:5 for two-year-olds, and put more emphasis on communication and language development.
RECENT CHANGES TO THE EYFS
January 2024 saw the previous single version of the EYFS framework being replaced with two versions, one for childminders and one for school- and group-based providers. This was to help facilitate the extension of the early years entitlements, which came in from April 2024.
Additional changes to the EYFS will come into force from September 2025 that aim to strengthen the safeguarding requirements. The areas covered include staff recruitment, child absences, safer eating, safeguarding training, strengthening whistleblowing and children's privacy.
As the field of early childhood education continues to evolve, further updates to the EYFS will be expected to incorporate developments in our understanding of how young children learn in their earliest years.
Four guiding principles for the EYFS
- Every child is unique
- Foster positive relationships for independence
- Create enabling environments with teaching and support from adults
- Recognise individual rates of learning and development
Prime areas
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development
Specific areas
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
