Academics from the University of London's Institute of Education and the University of Wales Institute found, in their final evaluation of the play-based FP pilots, that stakeholders reported that they received 'no information and communication at all'. Others complained that 'too little was often provided too late' and that the channels of communication were often 'unclear and arbitrary'.
The evaluation report recommends that structural change is needed to ensure that local authority staff are better equipped to support FP settings and says that without this, 'implementation will flounder'.
Welsh education minister Jane Davidson told delegates at the launch of the action plan at the 'Building the Foundation Phase' conference in Cardiff on Monday that the Assembly is developing a national marketing plan to support local and national staff recruitment and retention programmes. She said she will also be looking at ways to explain to parents, carers, governors and the public what the FP is about and what changes it will bring.
The evaluation revealed other 'key challenges' that need to be addressed, based on the 41 schools and early years settings that took part in pilots from September 2004 to October 2006.
It found that the new approach to learning for children aged three to seven had been 'received with enthusiasm' by most stakeholders. But it highlighted the disparity between the maintained and non-maintained sectors, diverse staff qualifications and local authority differences.
Professor Iram Siraj-Blatchford of the Institute of Education, who led the evaluation team and was recently appointed to the minister's advisory group, told Nursery World that 'a tension existed' between the lower ratios and the highly qualified, better paid staff.
She said, 'It's very popular to have lower ratios, but the further advantage is that the maintained sector already have more resources. They tend to have more support staff and more material and physical resources, and staff are sometimes better paid. But the evaluation shows that all these extra staff were not necessarily well-used, and staff knew this. One of the things that leaders of classes asked for was training in adult management because they didn't know how to handle the extra staff.'
The report recommends a ratio of 1:10 maximum where the group is led by a fully qualified teacher in a pre-school, nursery and reception class, and in the non-maintained sector a ratio of 1:8 where the leader is not a trained teacher.
But the minister said that the ratios would remain at 1:8 for all three- to five-year-olds and 1:15 for the five-to-seven range, because 'this provides the right level of support and adult input'. She added that the 'latest projections' show that 2,800 extra staff are needed to meet these ratios.
Download the final evaluation report, Monitoring and evaluation of the effective implementation of the Foundation Project across Wales and the action plan at www.wales.gov.uk.
Action plan
Curriculum guidance Consultation on the revised Framework for Children's Learning will be launched next month prior to implementation in January 2008. Further guidance is to be released before September 2008.
Funding A draft FPbudget has been increased to 10m to allow: expansion of FP pilots to be doubled to 84 Early Start settings in September 2007; design and delivery of a five-day bilingual training pack for all staff working in FP and 2m training budget to support LEAs to deliver pack and prepare staff for September 2008 and beyond; funding for LEAs to appoint a FP training and support officer and resources for LEAs to employ support teachers to provide 10 per cent teacher time in funded non-maintained settings.
Workforce development All staff to be properly trained and equipped to deliver curriculum; staff to be available in sufficient numbers and, over time, all support staff to hold appropriate qualification to at least level 3.
