Short measures

When the Birth to Three Matters framework was produced it was hailed as welcome and overdue guidance for practitioners working with under-threes. For Peter Elfer, senior lecturer in early childhood studies at Roehampton University, it was a counterweight to an often prevailing culture among policy makers in the UK that 'children are born at three, when the Foundation Stage begins'. Birth to Three Matters, he says, emphasised for the first time 'that children are born at nought' and that the greatest need for that age group 'is support and development, not to be continually measured'.

However, there is uncertainty among practitioners about whether the framework will be incorporated in the revised national care standards. There is also concern that its purpose is being misunderstood in some quarters, particularly among Ofsted inspectors, and that it is being transformed into a curriculum. A DfES spokeswoman says there are 'no current plans' to make the framework 'a statutory requirement' and insists that it is 'not a curriculum but guidance on effective practice to promote learning and development'.