The summer holidays are nearly over, and the forthcoming school year promises to be another one packed with change. The Early Years Foundation Stage will celebrate its first birthday in a few days' time and, despite its tender age, it will be subjected to review soon.
Although there are some aspects that are causing concern, many nursery managers feel that they have got to grips with the EYFS, its implementation has settled down, and using the framework is improving their setting's practice.
Wholesale change at this stage would be disruptive and counter-productive. Early years practitioners should be given more support where needed, but allowed to benefit from continuity.
The introduction of the Early Years Single Funding Formula and the extension to the free entitlement also promise a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the sector. The private and voluntary sector fear that they will lose out to the maintained schools; the nursery schools fear that their 'high-cost, high-value' provision will not be funded sufficiently; there is widespread concern that giving a quality incentive to top settings and effectively penalising poorer ones will not result in higher quality overall. There is a lot riding on how the local authorities manage all of this.
Overshadowing everything, however, is the prospect of a general election. Many early years organisations believe that there will be a Conservative victory, but there are few clues as to the implications for the sector if this happens other than Michael Gove's recent comment that the Tories would take their foot 'off the pedal' of early years. We need to hear more from all the main parties as soon as possible.
