Nursery World - EYFS best practice - All about… children in the community

Amid criticism of the proposed Early Learning Goals, Meredith Jones Russell finds out how the European BRIC project put community at the heart of learning experiences

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As the pilot EYFSP beds down in 25 schools across the country, sector concerns about the proposed goals continue to mount – chiefly about their disregard for experiential learning and focus on acquiring knowledge through books. This is particularly true of the goals within Understanding the World (see below).

While the educational programme refers to the importance of children’s ‘personal experiences’, the goals place a heavy emphasis on children learning about their community and roles in society through stories and non-fiction texts. The vision is in stark contrast to a significant European project which aimed to make children visible and active members of their local communities and so increase their ‘democratic engagement in public spaces’.

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