The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), holding the consultation along with the Department for Education and Skills, said the aim was to have a national curriculum for England 'that is right for each phase of education'. It wants to hear from practitioners if they think the statutory curriculum for children aged three to five meets this aim.
The Education Act 2002, which received Royal Assent in July, extended the national curriculum to include the Foundation Stage. Paragraph 80 of the Act states, 'The curriculum for every maintained school in England shall comprise a basic curriculum that includes... a curriculum for all registered pupils at the school who have attained the age of three but are not over compulsory school age (known as "the National Curriculum for England").'
The Act also allows the education secretary to specify Early Learning Goals and educational programmes for children during the Foundation Stage.
The QCA said the consultation sought to address two points - whether the six Early Learning Goals as set out in the QCA's Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage should be adopted as the Foundation Stage's statutory learning goals, and whether activities and play opportunities planned and provided to develop children's emotional, physical, social and intellectual capabilities should have regard to the curriculum guidance and be consistent with children achieving the Early Learning Goals.
A QCA spokesman said, 'In the Education Act is a section relating to a statutory curriculum for the Foundation Stage. The consultation is to look into what that should contain. The reference point is the Early Learning Goals and the curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage.
'The consultation looks at two questions - whether the Early Learning Goals should be the basis of statutory provision, and whether activity and play opportunities should have regard for curriculum guidance.'
Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA/00/587) is available free from the QCA Publications order line on 01787 884 444 and is on the website www.qca.org.uk/ca/foundation.
The consultation runs until 1 November and can be found at www.qca.org.uk/consultation/foundationstagecurriculum.
