Responses to the QCDA's consultation on the first year of the Early Years Foundation Stage are illuminating, particularly in providing confirmation of more informal reactions to the new framework (see news, page 4).
Although the QCDA survey was set up to gather individual answers, Early Education carried out its own survey of 295 early years practitioners from a wide range of settings to come up with some very useful findings that should be fairly representative of the sector as a whole.
The overwhelming impression is that the EYFS is going down well. Practitioners feel validated in taking a child-centred approach, with learning through play at its heart. 'It has been nice to have "permission" to start from the child,' said one respondent.
The difficulties and criticisms cited will not come as a surprise. There is widespread agreement that some of the early learning goals for communication, language and literacy are pitched too high.
Recording children's progress was seen as problematic, mostly because of external pressure from inspectors and advisors to provide numerical data on groups of children, rather than the learning journeys and photographs that practitioners found useful.
And while practitioners themselves were confident that they understood the EYFS, many did not believe this was true of other professionals they worked with, particularly teachers in higher key stages.
It seems that early years practitioners such as these do understand the aims and principles of the EYFS and appreciate its confirmation of their good practice. It would be great to think that in response, their thoughtful concerns will be listened to and acted upon.
