Child Centred Planning in the Early Years Foundation Stage

Jo McEvoy, Samantha McMahon

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781526439130
  9781526439123
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526482600
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

Planning for learning in the EYFS is not a simple task.

Planning can be daunting, time consuming and ineffective. It is easy to fall into the trap of planning for activities and topics, rather than planning for learning. 

Be better, more confident and effective at planning for learning in the EYFS with this book.  

*Explore the wider context of children?s learning
*Make professional, informed decisions to support all children
*Use statutory and non-statutory guidance appropriately
*Be responsive to children?s individual needs
*Capitalize on learning opportunities as they arise
*Be an advocate for child-centred planning

 

 

Section 1 Overview of planning in the Early Years Foundation Stage

1 The planning context

Jo McEvoy

Chapter aims

By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

• understand the background and context from which the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) has evolved
• explain and make appropriate use of the statutory and non-statutory documents that make up the EYFS framework
• describe the underpinning knowledge and skills that are required for curriculum planning in the EYFS
• appreciate that the context in which you work will influence your decisions about how you plan for learning in the EYFS

As you read this chapter, refer to pages 1–5 of Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (Early Education, 2012).

Introduction

Planning for learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is not a simple task. It requires you to understand and apply the principles of the EYFS Statutory Framework (DfE, 2017, p6), know and understand the learning needs of your children and appreciate the particular context in which you work. There is no easy ‘one size fits all’ solution, because planning in the EYFS requires you to make decisions based on sound professional judgement and understanding of child development theory. Therefore, it is often the case that planning can be perceived as a daunting task, taking up hours of time and not always achieving its intended outcomes. It is easy to fall into the trap of planning for activities and topics, rather than planning for learning. While these activities and topics may be enjoyable and educational, there is the danger that without giving sufficient attention to the learning that you want children to experience, the learning potential and progress of some children may be compromised.

Therefore, this chapter aims to set the scene for the whole of this book by exploring the wider context for planning in the EYFS. It will guide you through the statutory and non-statutory guidance for the EYFS, so that you can become more confident in making professional, informed decisions about how you plan for children’s learning and development. It will support you to use the non-statutory guidance, Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Early Education, 2012) appropriately, as an assessment tool to support child-centred planning that takes into account child development theory and the characteristics of effective learning and teaching. At the heart of this chapter and throughout this book is the key message that planning should not be a paper exercise, but rather, the means through which you ensure that all children make progress because you are responsive to their individual needs and you capitalise on learning opportunities as they arise.

The Early Years Foundation Stage: background and context

The current version of the EYFS framework (DfE, 2017) has evolved from the original EYFS that was produced in 2007 and became statutory in 2008. It was an integral part of the Every Child Matters agenda (DfES, 2004) that sought to integrate children’s services to work together towards the achievement of five outcomes incorporating education, health and well-being. The policy context surrounding the original version of the EYFS was focused on closing the gap in outcomes between children from disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged backgrounds. There was a drive to raise the quality and increase sufficiency of childcare and early education for the achievement of two aims. First, ensuring sufficient childcare to enable parents to continue working was part of the drive to reduce child poverty and second, raising the quality of child care and early education was the means to securing positive outcomes for all children and particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Four themes with accompanying principles underpinned the original EYFS. These were: the Unique Child, Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments and Learning and Development (DCSF, 2008) and although there have since been three subsequent revisions to the EYFS (DfE, 2012, 2014, 2017), it is important to note that these underpinning themes have remained the same.

Tickell’s review of the EYFS

The first revision to the original EYFS was undertaken in 2011 by Dame Tickell (Tickell, 2011). The review had been planned since the EYFS was first introduced in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this new integrated approach to care and education for children from birth to five years. Tickell consulted widely with stakeholders about how useful the EYFS framework was in practice and its success in meeting its aims. She made 46 recommendations, some of which have influenced how practitioners assess and plan for learning today. Practitioners reported that assessment processes using the original version of the EYFS were cumbersome and required too much paperwork. They were concerned that this was taking them away from time spent interacting with and teaching children. Although Tickell acknowledged that excessive recording of assessments was an inaccurate interpretation of the EYFS statutory requirements, she did advise on a slimming down of the EYFS and made recommendations for simplifying assessment, reducing the number of Early Learning Goals to 17 and insisting that ‘paperwork should be kept to the absolute minimum required to promote children’s successful learning and development’ (Tickell, 2011, p58). While continuing to recognise observational assessment as fundamental to curriculum planning, Tickell recommended that practitioners be clear that recording assessments was different to actually making assessments and not all assessments need to be recorded in writing. She clarified that assessment is an on-going process that informs how practitioners respond to children, through planning learning experiences to ensure they make progress.

An important addition to the revised EYFS that also impacted assessment and planning was the introduction of the Characteristics of Effective Learning and Teaching (DfE, 2012). This was significant because it highlighted the purpose and importance of planning, not only for academic outcomes, but also for children’s dispositions to learning. This shifted the focus to include planning for how children learn as well as what children learn. A third significant amendment that impacted assessment and planning was the changes made to the areas of learning and development. Tickell recommended that there be seven areas of learning and development instead of six. Taking account of extensive research that was emerging about language and communication and its impact on lifelong learning, Tickell recommended that communication and language be taken out of the area of literacy and included as an area of learning in its own right. To further emphasise its importance, this area was positioned as a prime area of learning and development alongside physical development and personal, social and emotional development. The remaining four areas were labelled as specific areas of learning and development and these were: Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design. The revised EYFS became statutory in September 2012 and its accompanying guidance, Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Early Education, 2012) was also revised to reflect the new 2012 version of the EYFS. Since then, there have only been minor revisions to the EYFS framework in 2014 and 2017, in order to update some of the legislation within the safeguarding and welfare requirements. It is the current EYFS Statutory Framework (DfE, 2017) and its accompanying guidance, Development Matters (Early Education, 2012) that will be discussed in the following section.

The current Early Years Foundation Stage

Two main documents that support providers and practitioners to implement the Early Years Foundation Stage are:

• The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (DfE, 2017); and
• Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Early Education, 2012).

The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage

The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (DfE, 2017) is the document that is legally binding for all Ofsted registered Early Years providers. It outlines the legal requirements for learning and development, assessment and the safeguarding and welfare of children. It promotes a principled, play-based pedagogy and lists the Early Learning Goals that are the expected outcomes for children at the end of the Reception year, which is the end point of the EYFS. This document is the one that registered providers use to ensure that they are fulfilling all the legal requirements for running an EYFS setting or an EYFS class in a school. Practitioners also refer to this document to ensure that their practice is meeting the statutory requirements, but for more detailed guidance on how to support young children’s learning and development, most practitioners use Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Early Education, 2012) in their daily practice.

Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage

It is vitally important to recognise that Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Early Education, 2012) is not an EYFS curriculum or a planning tool. The opening statement from Development Matters makes it clear that it is a guidance document to support understanding of how young children learn and develop.

This guidance helps adults to understand and support each individual child’s development pathway. Other guidance is provided at www.foundationyears.org.uk.

(Early Education, 2012, p1)

Development Matters (Early Education, 2012) is intended to be used alongside other resources to support your assessment of children’s learning and development and it is the assessment of what children know and can do and how they learn that will inform your planning. There are development charts provided for each of the seven areas of learning and development and each one is divided into six age phases in months, which overlap with each other (see Early Education, 2012 for these charts). By overlapping the age brackets in the development charts, the authors intended to give the message that learning and development are not necessarily linear. Piaget’s maturation theory (Piaget, 2001) proposed a linear approach to learning and development. Socio-cultural theorists such as Vygotsky (1896–1924) and Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005), however, expanded this theory, highlighting the important influence of the child’s culture and upbringing on their learning and development (Neaum, 2013). Thus, for some children a linear progression through the milestones in Development Matters may be the norm, but for others their journey may move in non-linear directions, progressing through some of the development milestones and missing others and often occasionally moving sideways across different areas of learning and development. The learning and development grids that accompany each area of learning are not intended to be used as checklists or as learning objectives for planning purposes. The guidance clearly stipulates that:

Children develop at their own rates, and in their own ways. The development statements and their order should not be taken as necessary steps for individual children. They should not be used as checklists.

(Early Education, 2012, p6)

Thus, for planning purposes you will need a sound knowledge and understanding of child development theory. Development Matters is very useful in guiding you through typical patterns of development but it only provides a snapshot of the many milestones that children may reach along their development journey towards the Early Learning Goals. More detailed child development textbooks will support you to carry out more authentic assessments of children and plan...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• About the editors and contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Section 1 Overview of planning in the Early Years Foundation Stage
• 1 The planning context
• 2 Principles of planning
• 3 Observation, assessment and the planning cycle
• Section 2 Planning for learning
• 4 Planning for the prime areas of learning
• 5 Planning for the specific areas of learning
• 6 Planning the learning environment
• Section 3 Planning for ages and stages
• 7 Planning for babies and toddlers Birth to 23 months
• 8 Planning for 2-year-olds
• 9 Planning for pre-schoolers From 36 to 48 months
• 10 Planning for the Reception class
• Section 4 Ensuring quality and outcomes
• 11 Monitoring and evaluating EYFS planning
• Index