Nursery World - To the point: Let's get on with it

The revised EYFS has now been pored over and has met with both approval and alarm. Of course, people have their own basic outlook towards any sort of change - some of us look forward to the stimulation of something new, while others resist change and typically look for the negatives in a new situation. Seeing these tendencies in action with the revised EYFS has led me to reflect on professionalism in the early years, and our responsibility to live the qualities we aspire to protect and promote in children.

The EYFS describes the characteristics of effective learning and teaching - playing, being willing to have a go and take a risk, persevering with challenge, enjoying achieving their own goals, being creative, solving problems and thinking for themselves. A practitioner who embodies those approaches will not be much daunted by a brief legal framework, which after all describes practice in fairly loose and general terms.

A playful, motivated, creative and thinking professional will have the confidence to interpret the requirements of the statutory document in the light of what they know, believe and have skills to put into practice. They will be ready to learn if a new framework triggers new or deeper thinking. Where the framework may fall short of describing the best possible approach, that presents no limit to those who work toward their own standards of practice.

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