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The EYFS areas of learning and development were split into ‘Prime’ and ‘Specific’ categories in 2012, after the Tickell Review recommended the division to ‘highlight the centrality of personal, social and emotional development, communication and language and physical development’.
The division, in effect, separated the foundations for learning from ‘pure curriculum’ (i.e. discrete and specific knowledge and skills outlined in the Specific areas).
Tickell drew on the Early Years Learning and Development Literature Review and concluded in her report that, ‘Essentially, children are primed to encounter their environment through relating to and communicating with others, and engaging physically in their experiences.’
The report also made clear that the Prime and Specific areas needed to be viewed as ‘complementary and interconnected rather than in isolation’ and that successful outcomes in the Specific areas depended on the Prime areas being secure. Nevertheless, the division has led to confusion and raised questions among practitioners:
- Should the under-threes curriculum consist only of the Prime areas?
- Are the Specific areas relevant for this age group?
- Should the curriculum in Reception be based largely on the Specific areas (especially Literacy and Maths)?
- Should ‘proficiency’ in the Prime areas be ‘assumed’ by this point so that more ‘academic’ learning can be addressed?
Despite these unintended consequences, it is important to bear in mind the rationale for the division and to revisit how the areas combine and overlap in typical episodes and journeys of learning and development in the early years.
EARLY CHILDHOOD
First, it is worth recalling that while the EYFS ends abruptly at age five, accepted definitions of early childhood typically continue to age seven. This means that Reception children are still firmly within this unique and specific phase of development. So, the underpinning nature of the Prime areas remains of utmost importance throughout the EYFS, and support for their ongoing development should not be limited to younger children.
Ensuring that children make relationships, manage their physical skills and develop their use and understanding of language should continue to be an integral part of the later EYFS experience.
Given the current pressures on schools to have children meet or exceed the early learning goals, there can be the temptation to ‘leapfrog’ the Prime areas in the name of ‘school readiness’. However, such an approach will inevitably prove unsuccessful as the more academically based Specific areas will lack a sufficient foundation on which to thrive.
EXPLORATIONS
Similarly, it would be absurd to suggest that the Specific areas were of no relevance to the youngest children in the EYFS. Understanding the physical realities of the world around them is the central, biologically driven mission of young children. High-quality provision enables children to explore textures, objects and materials and to express their thoughts and imagination.
Additionally, all theories and approaches to early childhood learning and development recognise that children do not learn in separate, fragmented ‘curriculum areas’. The domains of children’s learning are always multi-faceted. So exploring, creating, solving a problem or communicating an idea inevitably encompass different components of the curriculum.
INTERDEPENDENT
What needs to be fully understood is how the Prime and Specific areas are interdependent and inter-reliant. By identifying them as ‘separate’, the revised EYFS was illuminating the fact that Prime areas are constants of children’s behaviour and development and present in all learning. So recognising and supporting them in everything that a child does is an inevitable element of EYFS pedagogy.
Allied to this is the necessity to ensure that the Prime areas are developed fully and continually to secure the firmest foundations and contexts for all learning.
Equally, EYFS practitioners need to be aware that while the Prime areas provide the context, exploration and development in the Specific areas are an equally inevitable part of children’s learning experiences. While children gain confidence in themselves and the ability to communicate, they invariably begin to access the knowledge, skills and understanding that form the essence of the Specific areas.
Given the differences between the Prime and Specific areas – in their nature, their role in learning and development and in the ways in which they are attained and supported – the current distinction is, in my view, a necessary one. But only with a thorough understanding of these differences will practitioners be able to secure positive outcomes for children.
Jan Dubiel is head of national and international development at training and resource company Early Excellence
MORE INFORMATION
Dame Clare Tickell (2011) The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning, https://bit.ly/2vzYcqB
Evangelou M et al(2009) Early Years Learning and Development Literature Review, http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/11382
National Association for the Education of Young Children (2009) Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8, https://bit.ly/2HnGKXC
