Resignation Interview
Ruth Pimentel, head of Early Years Foundation Stage, resigns
Ruth Pimentel has resigned as head of the Early Years Foundation Stage after three years in the post.
However, her employer, Capita, said she will not be leaving her post of National Director, Early Years until her successor is appointed.
Ruth took over as National Director from Lesley Staggs, who resigned three years ago. She has spent five years with the National Strategies and during her time as National Director she oversaw the implementation of the controversial Early Years Foundation Stage, which became statutory in England in September.
Ian Harrison, Managing Director, Capita SCS and National Strategies, said that the company had "reluctantly accepted that this is the right time for her to leave us to pursue the next stage of her career".
He paid tribute to Ruth and her work. "During her time with National Strategy, Ruth led the significant developments that resulted in the creation of the Early Years Foundation Stage, a major achievement and the cornerstone of the Government's early years strategy. She also played a big role in the development of the Communication, Language and Literacy Development (CLLD) programme."
Mr Harrison added that Ruth would still be supporting the National Strategies while it made "new arrangements to cover the post in the longer-term."
Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, praised Ruth for the "excellent work" that she had done over the last five years and thanked her for the part she played in the launch of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
"During her time with the National Strategies, Ruth has led on valuable work to ensure that every child gets the opportunity to experience high quality early learning" Ms Hughes said.
"I know that Ruth will continue to play an active part in the continued development of excellent early years practice, and I wish her well with the next stage of her career."
Ruth was unavailable for comment on Friday 7 November, when news of her resignation got out, as she was in meetings all day but last month she took part in a three-way discussion about the EYFS for Morton Michel with leading Early Years Consultant Wendy Scott and myself (James Tweed).
Click here to listen to the full EYFS discussion.
During the 40-minute interview at the headquarters of the Department for Children, Skills and Families in Westminster, Ruth defended the EYFS from criticisms that its two literacy goals are set too high for most five-year-old children and that it was making childminders leave the professsion.
When asked if there was anything that she could change about the EYFS if she could, hypothetically, Ruth replied: "In terms of what we need to change, I think we need to look at the research, what the research is telling us, what information is coming back from practitioners about how they find it, how useable it is, what it actually means - because there is always going to be misinterpretation."
"What we can do to make sure that that doesn't happen? So there are two jobs to be done, I think. The first one is the job of making sure everybody understands what it is they definitely must be doing to support all children in the here and now with what they've got, what they can be doing that helps them move on. We don't want to stand still in this country; we want to continue to really move forward."
"And then there's the bigger picture stuff, which is what are the real issues that we haven't yet grasped in the Early Years Foundation Stage that we would really welcome feeding into any review that takes place."
The review by Jim Rose is expected to produce its interim findings shortly. Whether its findings are part of the reason Ruth has decided to step down now, only she knows and at the moment she's not available to comment.