Doubts over EYFS moves

The EYFS framework document has been criticised for not giving a clear picture of the overall EYFS structure, early years experts said after the publication of the revised framework.

The DfES is holding a six-week consultation on the learning and development requirements set out in the framework.
 
However, speaking to Nursery World, national director of the Foundation Stage Ruth Pimentel said that the EYFS Practice Guidance and the other materials, including practice cards and a CD-Rom which will be published in the spring, would be user-friendly and interactive.

But early years consultant Margaret Edgington claimed that many question marks remained around the EYFS. She said, The framework is not clear and the links between it and any other materials are confused and confusing. Without knowing what else is to come and what the status of this will be, its impossible to be positive about the first document.

She said she believed it should be a statutory requirement, rather than just guidance, for children to have fresh air and ventilation and an outdoor space. The framework states that wherever possible there should be access to an outdoor area, but does not make this a specific requirement.

Ms Edgington added that she believed that the practice guidance should be statutory because she feared it could otherwise be ignored by some practitioners.

People are getting good Ofsted reports now without following the good practice in the curriculum guidance, she said.
Ms Pimentel stressed that people would have to have regardto the EYFS Practice Guidance and that it was very unlikely that people would meet the standards required by Ofsted unless they followed the guidance.

She added that the guidance gave practitioners flexibility, but if they ignored the guidance they would not fulfil the requirements. If you dont look at the learning and development grids, then you wont be fulfilling the requirements, she said.

Julian Grenier, head of Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Childrens Centre in London, said that the framework document that was published online did not give a clear picture of the EYFS.
For example, although it sets out the Early Learning Goals, he said, we are still waiting for the revised guidance on how to reach them.

He added, The point of Birth to Three Matters and the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage was that they gave a lot of suggestions on how practitioners could support childrens well-being and learning, the Stepping Stones on the way to achieving the Early Learning Goals for the end of the reception year. Whats been published this week isnt that.

Practitioners will be interested in approaches at different stages along the way. The Early Learning Goals are important, but what a child is going to achieve at age six is not terribly relevant for someone settling a six-month-old baby into nursery.
Responses to the EYFS Learning and Developments Requirements Order can be made online at www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations until 2 February.