EYFS consultation - Solving the EYFS puzzle

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) consultation is continuing to cause controversy within the sector for being ‘school driven’, despite the Government apparently listening and attempting to make the educational programmes and Early Learning Goals (ELGs) more developmentally appropriate since the pilot.

The aims of the review, the first since 2011, are to:

• improve outcomes for children at age five
• reduce teacher workload so that they can spend more time supporting children’s learning
• strengthen the language and vocabulary development of children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in a bid to close the attainment gap.

Early years consultant Jan Dubiel welcomes the review. He believes that while the EYFS is ‘revered around the world’, it should not be static and should be changed as we understand more about pedagogy, neuroscience and how children learn. However, many within the sector are critical of how the Government is going about the process of change.

TOPSY-TURVY PROCESS

Early years consultant Helen Moylett criticises the DfE for going about the reforms in a ‘topsy-turvy’ way by starting with the ELGs, while Development Matters, which is also being rewritten, will only be launched along with the final EYFS in September 2021.

Concern about how the final ELGs will ‘marry up’ with the revised non-statutory Development Matters has also been raised. Early years consultant Nancy Stewart is one of many who would prefer to know the ‘bigger picture’ for the consultation so that the impact on practice can be fully understood.

She also questions why it has been felt necessary to change every educational programme when a review of academic research, Getting it Right in the EYFS, found no evidence to support extensive changes to the framework. ‘There is no need to redraft everything,’ she says. ‘It would make more sense to pick out specifics and redraft those, than rewrite the whole thing.’

Ms Moylett argues that the education programmes should be for the whole of the EYFS and, therefore, applicable to all children. ‘There is no mention of babies anywhere and not much talk appropriate for children aged under three,’ she says. But Mr Dubiel argues that the EYFS will continue to be a birth to fives framework and, rather than babies being forgotten, they will be included in Development Matters.

He says that the majority of changes are concentrated on outcomes for children at the end of Reception, an area that needs resolving because, as The Hundred Review found, it is a ‘pinch point’ caught between two curriculums (see More information). ‘People need to remember that this is changing set parts but it is not a fundamental overhaul of the whole document. It is just the ELGs,’ he says.

SHIFTING GOALS

The original ELG review panel was seen as ‘unrepresentative’ of early years professionals, and objections to the proposed goals persist, despite further changes since the pilot evaluation – and the DfE stating it has been ‘working with experts to further finesse the new proposed educational programme summaries’.

Some of the most recent changes to the goals and programmes are now more developmentally appropriate and welcomed, for example:

• In Literacy, the expectation that children will demonstrate an understanding of ‘what they have read’ has been removed, implying that it is recognised that most children will not be able to read independently by the end of Reception.
• In Expressive Arts and Design, the goal entitled ‘Performing’ has been replaced with ‘Being Imaginative and Expressive’.
• In Understanding the World, exploring the effects of the seasons has been extended to include other important processes and changes in the natural world (see box).

Generally, however, the amendments are seen by some as a belated attempt to remove inappropriate proposals and are criticised for not going far enough, with early years experts referring to them as ‘muddled’. One area repeatedly flagged up for improvement is how self-regulation is addressed.

There is also frustration that some of the earlier proposals that proved unpopular with the sector remain unchanged in this latest version.

These include the plan to stop assessing children at the end of Reception on Shape, Space and Measures, and Technology; the decision to move the Health and Self-care goal from Physical to Personal, Social and Emotional Development; and the introduction of a third Literacy goal of Comprehension.

DIRECTIVE NOT RESPONSIVE

As well as being critical of the many small changes within the consultation document, consultants have concerns about the kind of practice that will result from these revised goals and educational programmes.

Early years and creative arts consultant Anni McTavish warns that in their proposed format, the ELGs are bullet points which will ‘inevitably invite a tick-box approach’.

Ms Stewart objects to the teacher focus. ‘The Early Learning Goals are very much around a taught curriculum and introducing vocabulary. It’s not about children showing what they can do in a range of situations and talking about them, it’s very much about being read to,’ she says.

‘There is a strong focus on teacher input in a directive way, rather than a responsive way.’ She would prefer there to be more of a focus on play and exploration and activities that are meaningful for the child.

Mr Dubiel acknowledges there are some areas that remain ‘quite a challenge’ and could be worded better or looked at differently, such as the expectation that children will count confidently beyond 20, and the wording of the self-regulation statement. Overall, however, he believes it is building on the existing EYFS and that practitioners will be able to interpret it.

‘It is about a policy for the early years and what then happens is that it trickles down to practitioners and what they do as their practice,’ he says. ‘They take the decisions of how they use it in everyday practice.’

Overview of the areas of learning

Communication and Language

Consultant Helen Moylett welcomes that there is more emphasis on conversation and less on reading to children in the proposed educational programme and that ‘using past, present and future tenses’ has been restored.

But, in contrast to the current goal, she says, ‘There is nothing here about expressing themselves effectively and actively communicating with others, taking listeners’ needs into account; nor clarity around the importance of using language for thinking in narratives and connecting ideas. These are the ways language supports learning across all areas, not just repeating vocabulary whether it is characterised as “new” or “recently introduced”.’ (See also Opinion at www.nurseryworld.co.uk/opinion)

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This area has become more of a priority, but its content is heavily criticised. Early years consultant Anne O’Connor says the inclusion of attachments and executive functioning skills is ‘misguided’ because they are not appropriate factors to be used for judging a child’s development.

‘It is not the child’s responsibility to work hard at creating attachments,’ she explains. ‘A young child living with insecure attachments, for whatever reason, or not yet interested in forming friendships, does not “get better” at it by putting more effort in, by “working towards” relationships as a specific learning goal.’

While consultant Nancy Stewart welcomes the important area of self-regulation being addressed, she feels that it is confused. ‘The EYFS already covers self-regulation very well around managing relationships, which is emotional self-regulation, and Characteristics of Effective Learning which is cognitive self-regulation. They do not need to put this very shorthand and very muddled mess in there,’ she explains.

Physical Development

It has been welcomed that there is no longer the expectation for all children to draw accurately and use the tripod grip and that play is now specifically mentioned. However, the ‘bigger picture’ for PD is dismal, believes physical development trainer and director of Active Matters, Dr Lala Manners.

‘Physical Development has more to lose than any other area of the EYFS if the proposed revisions are accepted,’ she says. ‘Half the area – Health and Self Care – has been moved to PSED, leaving only Gross and Fine Motor skills. The impact of this on CPD opportunities, funding for training and ultimately children’s overall health and well-being will be entirely negative.’

Literacy

The most important part of this area, according to Ms Stewart, is left until the end: ‘It is also crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading.’ She suggests putting love of reading and motivation to write at the top, which would make it ‘a meaningful and therefore fascinating area for children of all ages’.

She also feels that the omission of any sense of meaning in Literacy reflects the DfE’s ‘rigid insistence on synthetic phonics’ and argues that the ‘Comprehension’ ELG should be moved back to C&L because it describes oral behaviours. (See also To the point, page 14.)

Mathematics

There is now reference to Shape, Space and Measures in the educational programme, but consultant in early childhood education Di Chilvers believes that removing them from the ELGs is a ‘huge mistake’.

She is concerned that while experienced practitioners will continue to understand their importance in underpinning children’s all-round mathematical development, new staff may not. ‘The profound and implicit message is that if they are not a goal, they are not important,’ she says.

Overall, she believes that the proposals take a ‘narrow, uninspiring view of mathematical learning focusing only on number, which seems to completely contradict Ofsted’s “mantra” of a broad curriculum.’

(See also ‘Over to you’, page 38, and online comment at: www.nurseryworld.co.uk/opinion)

Understanding the World

‘Understand the effect of the changing seasons on the natural world around them’ has been broadened out to ‘Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.’

However, Information Technology is still not included as a goal. Many say Technology should be included at a time when there is a push for increased focus on STEM subjects.

Expressive Arts and Design

While welcoming the ‘Performing’ goal being changed to ‘Being Imaginative and Expressive’, consultant Anni McTavish points out the word ‘perform’ remains in the wording of the goal. She questions what happens if a child prefers to express their creativity through other art forms.

She is concerned that the proposals will limit children’s creative and imaginative opportunities and development. ‘End results are important, but so too are the learning processes and dispositions that can grow and develop through a rich and varied art and design curriculum,’ she says.

MORE INFORMATION

The consultation is open until 31 January 2020:https://bit.ly/36ClqL6

Nursery World has created a before-and-after guide to help compare the pilot and consultation versions: https://bit.ly/2qvSbJk

Getting it Right in the EYFS, https://bit.ly/2r9Tuhe

The Hundred Review, https://bit.ly/2KBLVXA