What do you think of the new Early Years Foundation Curriculum?

[IloveHairyMaclary]

Are there any teachers/TAs (esp. reception) out there? What do you think of the new EYFS?

How much difference do you think it will make to what you do in the classroom & to the children? Do you think it is a good idea?

Bump!!

petitions.pm.gov.uk/OpenEYE/

I would urge you to sign the government petition against the new EYFS, at the above link. It throws out all spontaneity in children's play.Play activities will have to be set up to provide an agreed outcome. Early years practitioners will be bogged down with ticking boxes instead of interacting with the children.

I think it's ridiculous and potentially worse. (I'm not a teacher) I looked at the goals the other night here and they go from the sublime to the ridiculous
I shudder to think how much time and money has been spent on this. there are 60+ goals - at best it will mean early years workers waste 10 mins per child per year ticking boxes. at worst they might take it seriously, in which case they'll forget how to interact and care for the children. because they'll be writing reports for bureaucrats who know everything about setting goals and nothing about children.

I work at a playgroup and actually we're all fairly happy with the new framework. It's very very similar to what we have now and in actual fact is explained much better and set out more clearly.

The assessment thing is much the same too, and it doesn't mean sitting for hours doing paperwork - scribbling a few observations when you notice a child doing something is fine. For example, one thing we have to do is observe when a child is aware of a need relating to health & safety or their physical needs - noting that a child asks for you to tie their laces suffices, as does that a child knows we wash our hands with soap and water after using the loo, or a child asking for a drink after running around. Hardly rocket science or onerous or inhibiting a child's sense of play or spontaneity is it.

It certainly does not 'throw out all spontaneity in children's play'. Play activities have always been planned to help children development in various ways and this will continue - so you set out activities you think will encourage for example fine motor skills or numeracy skills (less than, more than etc), but the children are still free to choose their activities and indeed to spontaneously change the nature of their play.

I have read so much rubbish and over-reaction in the media recently about this, but I don't know a single early years worker who is against the changes or thinks they will be onerous or hinder play or staff interaction with children. Barely half an hour ago I left a meeting examining some aspects of the EYFS, and everyone agreed how clear and sensible most of it was.

The only thing I dislike about the new framework is that the ratio is allowed to rise to 1 adult per 13 children if there is a qualified teacher in the setting. I can't see any good setting actually operating to this, it would be impossible.

That link hatwoman gave just sets out all the principles underpinning children's play. It is pretty much what we already do and good settings are doing all this as a matter of course. It's not a case of sitting every minute of every day with ticklists or 'testing' children.

interesting eco. to me it seems over-engineered. I get very frustrated with over-engineering in my own work. it can be self-defeating. hth school run time.

I agree that play activities have always been set out encourage development but I think it is far more important that children are free to explore and not meet targets-they have enough of those when they get to school.It seems silly to have a box to tick when babies babble to show an interest in using language-maybe the don't want to babble at the prescribed time! If you have a group of children I don't think you want to be wasting time finding the paper work to tick a box to say they can tie shoelaces. All children develop differently-they don't want to be labelled so early. It is a bit like continually digging up a plant to see how it is growing!

There was a very good article in the Times newspaper, some months ago, saying it was curriculum by stealth.

Interestingly, the EYFS underlines in many places that children develop in different areas at different times, so it's not that you're necessarily saying that children have to 'meet targets' or do such-and-such by whatever age, it's more a case of observing them and noting progress and using those observations to inform your planning. So if you have noted that a child or children in your group like doing a certain activity or are proficient in one area, you use that knowledge as just one part of your planning to make sure you are meeting all their developmental needs.

Who is going to have time to read all this? For example I can't see any point in ticking boxes for shoe laces. Parents will know if their DC can tie shoe laces, a reception teacher will know withinn 5 minutes of the first PE lesson who can dress/undress themselves! It is needed in school, but to make children start jumping through hoops from birth is wrong IMO. Children are all different! My cousin's son didn't babble-he didn't speak until he was 5 yrs- when he started in full sentences and hasn't stopped since! At least the first 5 years of childhood should be free!

Actually, the example of the shoe laces (since you keep going on about it!) wasn't about the children doing them up, but about the children noticing their own physical/health and safety needs. So for example, some children wouldn't notice their lace was undone, and would just trip over, while child would firstly notice it and secondly think/know to ask someone to sort it out. Neither is wrong, the first child is not 'marked down' for it or anything, they are just different stages in development.

There are absolutely no hoops to jump through. It is simply about observing what children are doing and making sure that the environment you are providing for them is safe and happy and appropriate, and one in which they are given all the right sorts of facilities, materials, stimuli and adult support to develop at their own pace in all areas of learning and development.

It's really not complicated at all and most of it is already happening in early years' settings with no fuss or stress. And as far as the children are concerned, they are just playing! As they should be.

'A new national curriculum for all under-5s will cause untold damage to the development of young children, a powerful lobby of academics says today.

The highly prescriptive regime for pre-school children, which is due to become law next year, has been introduced by stealth, they say. It will induce needless anxiety and dent children?s enthusiasm for learning, according to the group of experts in childhood development.

They say that the severity of the compulsory measures, which will apply to an estimated 25,000 nurseries across the private and state sectors, has gone virtually unnoticed and risks an array of educational and behavioural problems for the country?s children. '

This is the start of the article in the Times published on Nov 30th of last year if you want to read the rest it is at

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article2971600.ece

It started a government petition to have an independant review. People that I know in early years education have signed the petition.

'The bad news is that Brown?s muddled thinking and insistence on a one-size-fits-all underfive curriculum won?t just not work for the most vulnerable. The severity of its prescriptions will also kill off the more free-form nursery approaches beloved by Montessori and Steiner groups, which believe in introducing more structured learning later. Many parents ? me included ? happily pay for this different approach.'

This is from another very good article in the Times on Dec 2nd 2007 titled He Needs Science not Maths-it can be seen at:

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article2982765.ece

Five years is young enough for all this structured play-a lot of countries wait until 7yrs.

sorry -independent - I should proof read for spelling.-they glare at me after I have posted.

'But protesters are objecting to the framework being made compulsory, and say that it puts pressure on children to start reading and writing too early. Among the more contentious goals is expecting children to "use their phonetic knowledge to write simple, regular words and make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words". The campaigners also warn that the framework will hamper free play, cause stress and lead to early-years workers ticking boxes instead of interacting with children.

Steve Biddulph, the Australian educational psychologist and author, told a recent early-childhood conference that he felt "horror" for the framework, "which goes against everything I understand about early learning... Any attempt to force or structure learning in the under-fives actually backfires. It's like ripping open a rose to get it to bloom." '

This is part of an article in the Independent newspaper last Thursday written by Hilary Wilce-you can see it on line.There is a very large movement to stop this framework being implemented in September. Signing the petition, if it is something that concerns you, is a great help towards being taken seriously by the government.

We'll have to agree to disagree. Like I say, every early years' worker I know is broadly in favour of the new framework. I don't know anyone who actually works in the sector who has signed the petition or wants to sign it. We obviously know very different people!

Actually, in many European countries, the pre-school arrangements are actually MORE structured than here. It's not school and it's not usually reading or writing, but the play is most definitely structured. It's not a case of children doing what they are like until they are 6 or 7. I've known children move from kindergartens in Europe and start reception here (or in one case Yr 1) and they've found it less structured and less pressured here.

You never get everyone agreeing. I spoke to an early years worker this morning who was all for it and thought it was a good thing-equally I know those who have signed the petition.

I am a reception teacher and a signatory of the Open Eye petition as are all the staff at my school including the head. There is a current debate on the TES early years and TA forums. The Open Eye petition has over 6000 signatures since Christmas from many highly respected early years practitioners such as Margaret Edgington who is the campaign spokesperson.

eco I have just completed research for my MA in Early Childhood Education looking and England has the most prescriptive early years curriculum in Europe

I think the main point is that one size does not fit all.