More play, less work at school

A foundation phase for three-to seven-year olds in Wales which favours a play-based rather than a formal approach to learning is to be introduced by the Welsh Assembly. Announcing the start of formal consultation on the proposals, Jane Davidson, the Welsh Assembly's minister for education and lifelong learning, said the Assembly thought that not enough children in classes in Key Stage 1 (age five to seven) benefited from the best practice in early years education and that formal learning was being introduced too soon.