First of all, an apology. I should have realised that you?d want to know a bit more about the EYFS training I did at the weekend, I just didn?t think to go back to the other thread. I hope you haven?t spent the whole weekend in suspense.
Secondly, a disclaimer. This was what I picked up from a course put on by my LA. It?s completely different from what they?ve previously told us. They wasted hours telling us how to complete learning journeys and trackers, and how to do observations and assessments. Now they?re telling us we don?t need all that. The question is: were they wrong then, or are they wrong now?
The EYFS is changing, ladies and gents. It?s not changing very much in its content, though. You may already know that the areas of learning are being changed. We were told they are being reduced from the 6 areas to 3 prime areas: Communication and Language, Personal Social and Emotional Development and Physical Development. However, there are also 4 literacy, mathematics, expressive arts and design and understanding the world ? sound familiar? 
Now, when I went to school, 3+4=7. I?m pretty sure they also taught us that 7 was greater than 6. Not according to the new EYFS: the areas are being reduced and, when you look at the areas, you realise that they are just the same as before, except literacy is now on its own as one of the 4 specific areas of learning, and the 3 prime areas are being given more importance. It was that sort of day, really, where we were sure we remembered being trained on the EYFS, they were now telling us it was changing but, hey, it still actually looks the same in a lot of ways 
Now the paperwork, which is what we?re really interested in and where the real surprises came.
We should only be recording and documenting in order to support our knowledge of the child. If we?re likely to forget something, if it?s significant, if we need to clarify, that?s when we write it down. Otherwise, there?s no point and we?re wasting our time.
Assessments are for our use. If we aren?t using them in our work ? and we don?t have to so long as we can otherwise support our knowledge of the child ? we should not be doing them.
We were given the usual lists of recording methods such as photos, post-it notes, learning journeys, observations etc. etc., but we were told we should be picking and choosing those which will work for us: none are compulsory.
I was so flabbergasted, I asked specifically and had it confirmed:
Learning journeys are not compulsory
Trackers are not compulsory I?d go as far as to say they?re not even recommended. This one, I suppose, we should always have known because it does say repeatedly in the EYFS that it?s not to be used as a tracker or ticklist. Quite why so many LAs, including my own, thought it necessary to waste all that money by producing their own version of trackers, only they can say.
I?d have thought I was dreaming, or in some caffeine-induced hallucination, except that the most recent inspections I?ve heard about from some of our new childminders have all reported the same thing: they are doing too much paperwork and it?s not necessary.
Now, whether they are right and we?ve never been required to do all this, or whether they are now doing a huge backtrack, I?m not quite sure. I remember, when the EYFS came out, thinking it sounded quite good and a million times better than the rigid Foundation Stage. Then I attended training by the LA and read books and articles, going through it all and the list of paperwork requirements got ever longer and I thought I must have misunderstood.
We are not meant to be working late into the night or taking days off to complete paperwork. If we are, we?re doing too much.
We were encouraged to go onto www.foundationyears.org.uk for the latest information on what?s happening with the EYFS.
We were recommended to go onto the OFSTED website and read what OFSTED ask their own inspectors to look for here
Inspectors are interested in how well we know the children and how provide for their needs. They want us spending more time interacting with the children and less time on paperwork. That seems to be the message they?re trying to get across now.
Whether that message will change in a few months time, I don?t know.