If one message is made clear in the opening sections to the Government's proposals for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), then it is this: checklists of activities for babies and topic-driven provision for older children will have no place in the proposed framework. In their place must come responsive, flexible provision, built around the needs and interests of the individual child and delivered through a cycle of observation, assessment and planning.
The consultation document on the single framework (see opposite) stresses repeatedly the importance of a 'personalised approach to learning', the need for 'well-planned play based on the interests and developmental needs of each child' and 'the need to plan for the individual child using sensitive observations and assessments'.
'Schedules, routines and activities,' states the document, 'must flow with the child's needs, with practitioners planning for individual children, using sensitive observational assessment.'
The message, of course, is not new. Such an approach is advocated in both Birth to Three Matters and the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. But many in the sector, including Lesley Staggs, early childhood consultant and former national director for the Foundation Stage, welcome the fact that the principles have been set out more boldly than ever before. 'The principles are absolutely right and I'm really positive about that,' she says.
However, early years experts have real concerns that the proposed structure of the framework, which extends the six areas of learning to birth, can ever deliver the quality of practice that the Government aspires to (see box).
Linear or holistic
Ruth Pimentel, national director for the Foundation Stage within the Primary National Strategy, explains, 'This structure is intended to support the practitioner in building continuity from birth to the end of the EYFS and beyond that into Key Stage 1.'
Early years consultant Wendy Scott has some reservations about the document, but says she thinks that the structure 'might help practitioners to see what the groundings of later development are'.
Others, however, are more critical. They believe that the structure runs counter to the aims stated in the early sections of the document and will only perpetuate the very provision that the EYFS is trying to eliminate.
Extending the areas of learning to birth, they argue, will only encourage practitioners to take a linear, compartmentalised view of child development and a narrow, prescriptive approach to planning, particularly for children under three.
Julian Grenier, head of Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children's Centre, London, fears that the central message of the opening sections will be lost as 'poorly qualified and trained staff are likely to skip all the introductory bits and use the grids as a tick box'.
Julia Manning-Morton, senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University and author of Key Times for Play - The first three years, shares his concerns.
'A principle of any early years curriculum has got to be that children learn holistically, but this framework undermines that approach,' she says.
Pat Wills, headteacher at Claremont Community Primary School in Blackpool, agrees. 'The Foundation Stage curriculum and Birth to Three Matters enabled us to see children's learning as haphazard and very personal to the individual child. This document allows for none of that.'
Ms Manning-Morton believes that the decision to shoehorn all the elements of Birth to Three Matters into the six areas of learning serves only 'to skew the balance of focus away from the aspects of A Strong Child and A Healthy Child, which are fundamentally important to quality birth-to-threes provision.'
She cites, as an example, 'A Strong Child', which amounts to one quarter of Birth to Three Matters, but now forms only part of 'Personal, social and emotional development', so diminishing the prominence this area of development deserves within any under- threes curriculum.
As a result, she says, 'we end up focusing on the content of children's learning and not the dispositions, and design out some of the goals that we should have for young children, such as empowerment'.
Crucial training
Alert to the possibility of misinterpretation, the early sections of the document stress repeatedly that the 'sections are not intended to be prescriptive or exhaustive', that 'they should not be used as checklists', that 'none of the six areas of learning can be delivered in isolation' and that the child icons within the grids should not be used as crude markers of 'ages and stages'. However, experts remain unconvinced that all practitioners will be able to interpret such a complex document adequately.
Jools Page, senior under-threes training and quality officer for Kent Early Years and Childcare Unit and an honorary lecturer on the MA in Early Childhood Education at the University of Sheffield, says, 'I was heartened to read the consultation document on the EYFS. The links to Birth to Three Matters can be clearly identified from the outset and are firmly embedded in the principles.
'I am, however, concerned about the areas of learning for children aged birth to three and about the support and training that practitioners will require to ensure that the holistic approach to learning is not lost.
'Practitioners have just begun to really think carefully about planning to meet the needs of the whole child. It would be devastating if misinterpretation sees a return to the less meaningful planning via ticklists and worksheets that we have worked so hard to shake off.'
Lesley Staggs hopes that the guidance materials, setting out examples of good practice, 'will allay many of the concerns that people have' about the structure of the document and the extent to which it will be able to raise the quality of provision.
But, like many other experts in the sector, she believes that the success of the framework hinges on training. 'What is so critical is the training that will be rolled out to implement the EYFS and whether there is enough funding for it,' she adds.
The Government has given reassurances that training will be a priority. A DfES spokesperson says, 'The Transformation Fund represents an investment of Pounds 250m over two years. This is a significant sum of money, and there has been a clear signal to local authorities that the EYFS is one of the priorities on which they should focus.'
THE EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE
* The proposed Early Years Foundation Stage, due to begin in September 2008, takes as its starting point the five outcomes set out in Every Child Matters and builds upon Birth to Three Matters, Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage and the National Standards for Under-Eights Day Care and Childminding.
* The Early Years Foundation Stage - Consultation on a single quality framework for services to children from birth to five can be downloaded at www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations.
* The consultation will run until 28 July.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development Dispositions and Attitudes: Dispositions and Attitudes
Development matters
* Develop an understanding and awareness of themselves
* Learn that they have influence on and are influenced by others
* Become aware of themselves as separate from others
* Discover more about what they like and dislike
* Have a strong exploratory impulse
* Learn that they are special through the responses of adults to individual differences and similarities
Look, listen and note
* How young babies begin to explore their own movements and the environment in individual ways
* How babies respond to other adults and children
* How babies play with their own feet, fingers, and toys placed near them
* Strategies babies use to indicate likes and dislikes
* How babies show confidence in exploring what they can do
* Instances of young children celebrating their special skills or qualities.
Effective practice
* Say or sing made-up rhymes or songs while stroking or pointing to the baby's hands, feet or cheeks.
* Respond to and build on babies' expressions, actions, and gestures.
* Find out what the baby likes from its parents.
* Playfully help babies to recognise that they are separate and different from others, for example pointing to own and baby's nose, eyes, fingers.
* Give opportunities for babies to have choice, where possible.
* Follow young babies' lead as they explore their environment, people and resources.
* Ensure that each child is recognised as a valuable contributor to the group and celebrate cultural, religious and ethnic experiences.
Planning and resourcing
* Devote uninterrupted time to babies when you can play with them. Be attentive and fully focused.
* Place mirrors where babies can see their own reflection. Talk to them about what they see.
* Provide choices of different vegetables and fruit at snack time.
* Allow enough space for babies to move, roll, stretch and explore.
* Collect stories for, and make books about, children in the group, showing things they like to do.
