Anyone else worried that the government might not be best placed to make decisions about their child's early years education?

[semi]

I am a worried parent. With the government falling apart as we speak for a series of misjudgements, is it just me or are there other parents out there who feel that they government might not be best placed to tell me what my child's early years eduction should look like? EYFS is somewhat structured and I can't help but wonder if by not opting to either educate my daughter myself, or move to another EU country like Sweden I may be doing her a later dis-service! Anyone else with me out there? I'm of that mindset that I shouldn't have to wait until my daughter's at school to become an active parent. The time is now.....

I use the EYFS everyday and it is a lot less structured than the previous Foundation stage.
Personally, I love the EYFS, and I have been working with pre-school children since 1992. It places the child at the centre of the curriculum, with the child's intersets being key. as oppossed to the National curriculum of Key Stage 1 which has the curriculum at the heart with the children working towards meeting targets and performance tables.
Early years care and education has come a bloody long way under this government and it is looking bloody scary if the Tories win the next election.
anyone remember the Desirable Learning Outcomes?

The bad old days of worksheets and providing evidence and it was means tested, unlike the early years education grant which all children are eligable for.

I use EYFS everyday and disagree that it is a lot less structured than the Foundation Stage. As a teacher it worries me that we have a curriculum for children who aren't of school age (0-5) ...

It worries me that any government goes on their whims to chop and change entitlement, curriculum, goals and assessment.

There is not enough attention paid to the real EY experts and the 'tinkering' style of changes leads to a poorly thought out approach. with little or no regard paid to the initial theories behind the practice.

In order for the EYFS to be properly implemented across the board, the government need to look at Year 1 and 2 and provide a continuation of the EYFS into these stages also.

It also needs to allow those that don't want to follow the EYFS to opt out, if they to allow parental 'choice'

Just a few thoughts!

I'm a childminder and I use EYFS every day. I agree with purepurple: it's a lot less structured than the appalling Foundation Stage with its Stepping Stones and Early Learning Goals targets that had to be met according to the child's age. I prefer the EYFS - much more child-centred.

EYFS has exactly the same ELGs (with two exceptions in Linking Sounds to Letters) as the Foundation Stage to be met at the same ages ...

It is less structured for me because under the old system we had topics and themes and the planning was done for the whole group.
Under the EYFS we go with the child's interests and have no topics or themes and the planning is individual.
So different children are working towards different stepping stones.
My long term planning is the continious provision

We haven't used topics and themes for 5 years as we have followed the children's interests and planned retrospectively.
Many teachers report they don't see any difference other than a huge increase in paperwork and less time to engage with the children.

EYFS has 69 outcomes for the end of the Reception year only, but nothing like the prescriptive "mapping the child through the curriculum" milestones during their 3rd and 4th years that the FS had.

Probably, if your experience is only of the final year, as a Reception teacher, you wouldn't notice much difference, then.

EYFS has 117 outcomes at the end of reception just the same as CGFS. It is exactly the same as last year and the year before and the year before apart from slightly different wording on two ELGS and more evidence required for moderation. I know I've spent my weekend recording them ready to be reported next week.
Tanith I teach in a FSU so work with nursery and reception children and we also have a CC attached and I'm mentoring the manager for her EYFD so I am well aware of her workload working with children 0-5.

Yes, that's why we home educate. I'm not only worried about the early years, but the whole of schooling. Why don't you home educate?

Agree with Flamingobingo,

This is one of the main reasons we Home-ed too

Why don't you give it a go? It's great fun and you don't have to stick to the NC either.
My 2 boys learn what they want, when they want. It's very liberating!

I'd be really interested exploring home ed Kaytee. I was privately educated when I was a younger and since we're struggling, as are many families to make ends meet won't be able to offer our daughter the same start....as i am very passionate about my child's learning....what age did you home ed them from?

reading the thread flamingobongo (what a great image that conjures up?!) your perspective too would be appreciated.

We pulled our dc out of school 4 years ago and haven't looked back I have 2 sons, 12 and 9.

We don't follow the NC at all. DS, who's 12, is looking towards taking Maths GCSE next year but that's the only exam he's interested in atm. He also wants to join the Air Cadets when he's 13 and do a Duke of Edinburgh Award then. He wants to be an airline pilot so we're looking into what qualifications he'll need for that. The thing about H.E is that it can go in whatever direction your dc want it to, iyswim. You literally can follow your dcs' interests. We don't see the point in cramming for subjects that they don't need or enjoy.

The freedom it brings is great. Our only gripe would be that we're more skint than we would have been if they'd gone to school

here's a good place to start.

Hi Kaytee, I am new to Mumsent - and so not as au fait as I could be with the abbreviations. NC - got that - nat curriculum - but what does DS and DC mean? Presumably yif you're home schooling you can't work - or do you do both - from your post I guess it's the former? that's a very big committment isn't it? I do admire your success...and I bet your children think you are the BEST mum on the planet!!!!

Hi Semi,

Ds = dear son, dd = dear daughter dc = dear children. Crazy, eh?

I do work, sometimes, for a few hours in the evenings. Light delivery work so not too taxing! I sometimes do portraits and sell them, but not very often as I don't get the time. Dh (dear husband) works full time and looks after them when I'm out for the eve.

Our boys were sooo desperate to get out of school and I was never that keen on the idea myself so we decided to take the leap and get on with living as we chose to. I was lucky enough to find loads of other home-edders in/around my area so we are never short of company. It really helps to have the support of other like-minded people as it is, imo, a very scary thing to jump into! Once you're there though, it feels like the most natural thing on earth

i know your littles ones are not so little now but since i was recently contemplating nursery care i am now - with the awful news about the paedophile nursery teacher in plymouth - absolutely horrified at the thought of her attending - which makes me feel even more justified that no one is better placed to look after and indeed educate your kids than yourself!!