DfE confirms revised EYFS and Reception Baseline statutory from September

The reforms will introduce a focus on language and vocabulary development, as well as teaching numbers in maths, and are intended to reduce unnecessary paperwork for practitioners and Reception teachers giving them more time to support children’s early development.

The EYFS reforms would support the Government’s efforts to raise standards in early education to improve outcomes for all children, particularly disadvantaged children which is crucial now more than ever, the DfE said.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said, ‘It is vital that children do not miss out on building important vocabulary and reading skills in their early education, despite the challenges the pandemic has presented. Our early years reforms have already shown great results in pilots, and schools across the country are now set to benefit from strengthened teaching practice and improved standards of early education.’

The new EYFS statutory framework has been published and legislation laid in Parliament. This is the revised and final EYFS framework that all registered nurseries, childminders, schools and pre-schools in England will follow from 1 September 2021. 

The changes were developed with childhood development experts using the latest evidence on what is most important for supporting the learning of our youngest children.

The reforms have been piloted and consulted on, and more than 3,000 schools are currently taking part in an early adoption year, the DfE said.

As outlined in the official response to the public consultation, published in July last year, the Government said it has reformed the framework to transform early years curriculum and assessment, focusing on what matters most for children's outcomes: 

• A strong and holistic curriculum that puts early language development at the heart
• A streamlined and effective assessment process through a revised EYFS profile and removing statutory local authority moderation, which will reduce unnecessary workload and cement the EYFSP as a tool that is designed to support children’s transition to year 1
• A new requirement to promote good oral health.

Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) - 'A harmful policy?'

The Department for Education has also confirmed that the Reception Baseline Assessment will be statutory for schools from September 2021. The DfE said that the new assessment would 'introduce a fairer accountability system for schools, based on the educational progress their pupils make during their time at primary school.'

An optional Early Adopter Year launched in September 2020 for schools to familiarise themselves with the content and administration.

However, plans to introduce the Reception Baseline have been mired in controversy, with parent campaigners and teaching unions opposing the idea of a formal assessment so early in children starting school.

Commenting on today's announcement, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said, 'In yet another end-of-term announcement, the Government is confronting schools with new, unnecessary and harmful policies.

'The answer to the challenges of educational recovery is not more testing, but this is a lesson that the Government is finding it hard to learn. Research into Baseline pilots has suggested that it will disrupt children's settling-in period in their new school and that it will provide no useful information to teachers.

'Its main function will be to hold schools to account for their test results. Like the rest of the panoply of statutory assessment in primary schools it will work to damage the quality of educational experience, in the name of principles which most educators see as irrelevant to their current priorities.'

'This year of all years is a terrible time to introduce a statutory requirement to introduce a baseline test which is designed not to give information to either teachers or parents.'

A spokesperson for campaign group More Than A Score said, 'This is a terrible decision for teachers, schools and, most importantly, four-year-olds starting school for the first time. Adding another test in primary schools is not the answer to the challenges of educational recovery.

'Sitting a test with clear right and wrong answers will not provide "valuable" one-to-one time for pupils and teachers. It will disrupt vital settling-in time for the whole class.  

'The Government has still not provided answered important questions about using Baseline as a seven year progress measure when pupils move between schools. It has also failed to provide any information about exactly how progress can be measured between a "snap-shot" of data collected at the age of 4 and three days of exam-style tests taken at the age of 11.'

• Nursery World has launched a series of EYFS Essentials training videos, starting with The Four Principles of the EYFS with Judith Twani. To find out more and to order visit www.nurseryworld.co.uk/eyfs-essentials
• The Foundation Years website has made available a series of podcasts, commissioned by the DfE, that you can access here