Literacy news
Practitioners want Early Years Foundation Stage left as it is
13 Sep 2010
Practitioners’ Experiences of the Early Years Foundation Stage, a report published by the Department for Education but originally commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families under the previous Government, shows that there is “overwhelming” support from early years practitioners for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
The report’s research was conducted between September 2008 and March 2010 and included focus groups attended by 190 practitioners and subsequent one-to-one interviews with 42 practitioners.
The report concluded that there was “overwhelming satisfaction with the current requirements” and that “the majority of respondents would like to see only minor changes in the EYFS, and would prefer ‘no change’ to radical changes in the current requirements.”
“Many of the dissatisfactions expressed by practitioner groups stem from the implementation of the EYFS rather than the documentation itself, which is widely viewed as embodying the beliefs, principles and practices to which most practitioners adhere.”
While the report found that the EYFS was supported by practitioners it did identify a few areas of dislike or concern: “Both teachers and headteachers disliked the strong emphasis on emergent literacy and numeracy and felt that these goals tended to be pursued at the expense of Personal, Social and Emotional Development.”
Those practitioners involved in the study also found assessment of children against the EYFS Profile “increasingly problematic” and said they found it “ill-founded, illogical or inappropriate.”
In an article in Children and Young People Now the “tension and frustration” which some practitioners felt while trying to assess children’s communication, language and literacy skills was highlighted. The time when children were nearing the end of this stage, before entering into key stage 1, was reported as a time when tensions intensify.
The EYFS is currently being reviewed by Dame Clare Tickell, Chief Executive of Action for Children. The review will look at how children between birth and age five have their communication skills assessed.
Most read
Related content
- London Literacy Champions evaluation report 2012 in Research reports
- Help! There’s a boy in my class! in Blogs by Jim Sells
- Talk To Your Baby and National Childbirth Trust Research Review in Research reports
- New political group to focus on literacy in Blogs by Jonathan Douglas
- Literacy: A route of addressing child poverty? in Research reports
