Opinion: To the point - Protecting the Early Years Foundation Stage
Wendy Scott, early years consultant
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
From an early years perspective, it was frustrating that significant recommendations for the primary curriculum did not survive the end of this parliament. It remains to be seen whether Sir Jim Rose's proposal that the Early Years Foundation Stage approach should be continued into Key Stage 1 will be reinstated after the general election, together with more freedom for teachers to exercise their professional judgement.
I hope schools will use the additional training day they have been granted to think through their curriculum, particularly if plans for the reintroduction of more formal lessons are on the agenda.
Although there are two all-party parliamentary groups concerned with children, there is not yet consensus as to how best to support learning and achievement. Both Labour and Conservatives are inclined to prescribe approaches to early education, and are committed to accountability regimes which exert considerable counter-productive pressures on children and staff. Is it too much to hope that Liberal Democrat ideas about additional investment and training, coupled with a lighter touch, will help to restore the kind of professional judgement called for in the Rose Review, and in Excellence and Enjoyment before that?
The cross-party Select Committee for Children, Schools and Families has been outspoken in its support for an early years phase that continues up to age six or seven, and has argued against premature academic pressures for over 20 years. Its recommendations have been based on sound evidence, now strengthened by findings from the rigorous Cambridge Review of Primary Education.
Its director, Robin Alexander, says, '[This Review] is for the longer term... as an exercise in democratic engagement as well as empirical enquiry and visionary effort, its final report is not just for transient architects and agents of policy. It is for all who invest daily, deeply and for life in this vital phase of education, especially children, parents and teachers.'
The promised review of the EYFS will be an opportunity for all concerned to become involved in this crucial debate. If we can transcend political differences, and rely on evidence rather than ideology, birth to seven could be re-established as THE key stage.
