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Mind the gap

A report has found that there is a glaring gulf between the principles of the Foundation Stage and classroom practice. Mary Evans looks at why it's so hard to get the reception year right Reception classes are providing warm, caring and safe environments in which children are making good relationships with each other and the staff: that's the good news in a study commissioned by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

Reception classes are providing warm, caring and safe environments in which children are making good relationships with each other and the staff: that's the good news in a study commissioned by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

The sad news from Inside the Foundation Stage: Recreating the Reception Year is that all too many of these caring, well-intentioned staff are not delivering the high-quality, play-based learning envisioned by the Foundation Stage.

The research team - Sian Adams, Elise Alexander, lecturer in education Mary Jane Drummond of the University of Cambridge, and Professor emeritus Janet Moyles of the Centre for Research into Education and Teaching at Anglia Polytechnic University, Chelmsford - investigated how early years practitioners are establishing the Foundation Stage as a whole new phase of learning, distinct from Key Stage 1, and grounded in the principles of early childhood education.

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