Early years consultation

Early Years Foundation Stage

On 6 July 2011 the Department for Education opened a consultation on a revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This follows the recent review of the EYFS by Dame Clare Tickell and seeks views on the government’s proposed changes to the EYFS.

Points of interest from the consultation document.

High quality early education can make a big difference to children’s life chances. Improving the support that children receive in their early years is central to the government’s aims of greater social mobility and reducing the number of children in poverty.
Teaching in the early years should be focused on improving children’s ‘school readiness’; guiding the development of children’s (cognitive, behavioural, physical and emotional) capabilities so that children can take full advantage of the learning opportunities presented to them in school.
In the three years since its introduction (in 2008), the EYFS has played a crucial role in improving outcomes for children. But it remains the case that many children are still not reaching a good level of development by age 5.
The draft revised EYFS explains how early years providers can build stronger partnerships with parents and carers, and teachers and other professionals, to ensure extra support is provided for children who struggle at nursery, to enable them to catch up.
Having considered Dame Clare Tickell’s recommendations from her review of the EYFS, the government’s view is that:
- the EYFS has had a positive overall impact on children in early years settings, has reported increased professionalism and has helped to raise standards
- it should be retained as a universal framework to enable the sector to sustain momentum in driving up quality
- more needs to be done to identify children who need extra help, and to secure multi-agency support
- some aspects of the EYFS are seen as overly-burdensome – to address this the EYFS should be simplified and made more accessible
Subject to the necessary legal processes, the revised EYFS will be delivered in settings from September 2012. It will contain legal requirements for all early years’ providers that are registered with Ofsted on the Early Years Register, as well as independent and maintained and non-maintained special schools with provision for children from the age of three to the end of the academic year in which they turn 5. The aim is to ensure that there is a level playing field between maintained, voluntary and private sectors, ensuring a consistent, high quality experience for all children, regardless of which setting they attend.

More information can be found at Consultation on a revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) - Department for Education

The ‘core purpose’ of sure start children’s centres

The Department for Education has also published for consultation a document on the ‘core purpose’ of Sure Start Children’s Centres. The core purpose is intended to move beyond the concept of a full core offer which all Sure Start Children’s Centres were required to deliver as the network was being established.

The key points of interest from the consultation document are listed below.

The government believes that children’s centres should have a clear core purpose, focused on improving outcomes for young children and their families, with a particular focus on the most disadvantages families, in order to reduce inequalities in child development and school readiness; supported by improved: parenting aspirations, self-esteem and parenting skills; and child an family health and life chances.
The government has worked with sector leaders to consider evidence and good practice, resulting in a co-produced statement of intent about how the core purpose can be achieved, by:
- assessing strengths and need across the area to inform local commissioning of services – this means children’s centres influencing local strategic needs assessments, with commissioning decisions taken forward by the local authority, in partnership with the health and wellbeing board
- providing access to high quality universal (available to all families who wish to use them) services in the area – universal services which make a difference to children and families when delivered in an integrated manner are: high quality, inclusive, early learning and childcare; information and activities for families; adult learning and employment support; integrated child and family health services
- using evidence-based approaches to deliver targeted, family-centred support – targeted services which can make a difference for families with the greatest needs are: parenting and family support; targeted evidence-based early intervention programmes; links with specialist services
- acting as a hub for the local community, building social capital and cohesion – this will involve children’s centres capitalising on their role as a welcoming environment for families and using their facilities creatively so the whole community can benefit, and using the skills within the community to benefit the children’s centre
- sharing expertise with other early years setting to improve quality – this could involve sharing expertise, brokering relationships, sharing (and learning from) good practice, support for childminding networks, shared training and joint planning.
Sector leaders believe that all children’s centre activity should be underpinned by the principles of:
- respecting and engaging parents – this may involve a role for parents in governance and will give local families a greater say in how services are delivered
- working in partnership across professional and agency boundaries – reducing child poverty and increasing social mobility, children’s centres will also work with a range of other partners to help them deliver this core purpose, including other early years providers, Jobcentre Plus, GP consortia, information and advice organisations, schools and voluntary and community sector organisations

More information about core purpose of sure start children’s centres.