As a codicil, really, to the last posting, the report in Education Guardian today is very encouraging, linking a phonics approach to a whole community drive to improve literacy standards:

Synthetic phonics, where children learn to sound out the single and combined sounds of letters, has been at the core of the scheme but it has not been the only factor. A 10-strand intervention was set up, featuring a team of specially trained teachers, focused assessment, extra time for reading in the curriculum, home support for parents and carers, and the fostering of a “literacy environment” in the community.

(My emphases)

The artcile continues, very tellingly:

Lynn Townsend, head of service for education at West Dunbartonshire council, says the project would not have succeeded if they had not focused on the few falling through the cracks.

If we don’t pretend that one single set of actions will work for all children, then maybe we can do something about raising standards through phonics teaching.

Structure:

For curriculum exploration, the central document must be the Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage:

This sets out the four guiding themes of the new framework:

1. A Unique Child: every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

2. Positive Relationships: children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.

3. Enabling Environments “ the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.

4. Learning and Development: children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and inter-connected.

These four themes underpin the Principles into Practice Cards such as the Section 4 (Learning and Development) cards that cover not only “subjects” such as Physical Development (Card 4.9) but which also have guidance on the learning environment (Card 3.3), Parents as Partners (2.2) and Inclusive Practice (1.2)

Message:

In linking the current Foundation Stage with the Birth to Three Matters Framework, and in particular by giving the B-3 format such prominence, I think we are intended to see a unity in ‘pre-school’ practice, and, although this is far from the fusion that we might like, there is still an increased emphasis on good practice in Early Years across all sectors:

• An increased awareness of what is appropriate for a child
• “Delivering” personalised learning,
• Presenting positive attitudes to diversity
• Clear statements on the central role of Play in early learning

The message in terms of quality is still (as it has been since OfSTED Technical paper 11 in the first handbook) that the ethos of Early Years remains distinct, based on developmental principles and using play.

Having said that, Appendix 2 of the Practice Guidance (pp 22-114) takes a longer view of the progression children make – from birth! – to goals that are, for the most part, identical to the Early Learning Goals currently in use.

These, for example, are some of the statements for the 40 – 60+ month age range for some of Knowledge and Understanding of the World:

• Notice and comment on patterns.
• Show an awareness of change.
• Explain own knowledge and understanding, and ask appropriate questions of others.
• Investigate objects and materials by using all of their senses as appropriate.
• Find out about, and identify, some features of living things, objects and events they observe.
• Look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change.
• Ask questions about why things happen and how things work

The integration of the work of the Rose review is likely to be the subject of further communication, but it is interesting that the Linking Sounds and Letters section of the Practice Guidance now notes in the Effective Practice column that When children are ready (usually by the age of five) [the practitioners should] provide systematic regular phonics sessions. These should be multisensory in order to capture their interests, sustain motivation and reinforce learning.

There are a lot of separate documents to be accessed, and I don’t intend to work my way through them. This link goes to the page of the Standards Site which presents all the different documents as pdfs.

So my first lengthy quotation (because it’s central to the play project that most of this blog is really about) comes from the Practice Guidance (The Early Years Foundation Stage Practice Guidance 00012-2007 BKT-EN 07 © Crown copyright 2007 )
Play (Principles into Practice cards 3.3 and 4.1 )
1.16 Play underpins the delivery of all the EYFS. Children must have opportunities to play indoors and outdoors. All early years providers must have access to an outdoor play area which can benefit the children. If a setting does not have direct access to an outdoor play area then they must make arrangements for daily opportunities for outdoor play in an appropriate nearby location.
The EYFS CD-ROM also contains information suggesting innovative ways to engage children in outdoor play.
1.17 Play underpins all development and learning for young children. Most children play spontaneously, although some may need adult support, and it is through play that they develop intellectually, creatively, physically, socially and emotionally.
1.18 Providing well-planned experiences based on children’s spontaneous play, both indoors and outdoors, is an important way in which practitioners support young children to learn with enjoyment and challenge. In playing, children behave in different ways: sometimes their play will be responsive or boisterous, sometimes they may describe and discuss what they are doing, sometimes they will be quiet and reflective as they play.
1.19 The role of the practitioner is crucial in:

• observing and reflecting on children’s spontaneous play;
• building on this by planning and resourcing a challenging environment which:
• supports and extends specific areas of children’s learning;
• extends and develops children’s language and communication in their play.

1.20 Through play, in a secure but challenging environment with effective adult support, children can:

• explore, develop and represent learning experiences that help them to make sense of the world;
• practise and build up ideas, concepts and skills;
• learn how to understand the need for rules;
• take risks and make mistakes;
• think creatively and imaginatively;
• communicate with others as they investigate or solve problems.

This is an interesting report. Here’s the text.

And here are some brief thoughts:

The context: is to provide a baseline for the introduction of the new Early Years Foundation Stage, publication of which is imminent. The report also links to the DfES guidance on “Improving Outcomes in the Foundation Stage,” which is linked here.

Main findings:

The report comes out strongly in favour of play, with statements such as:

There was a clear link between communication skills and the development of creativity. Creativity flourished where practitioners supported and valued language development and children’s imaginative play.

It will doubtless be reported as being more about statements such as:

Most children achieved well in the majority of the early learning goals.
However, achievement was lower in calculation, early reading and writing, a sense of time and place, an understanding of culture and beliefs, and imaginative play because practitioners gave these too little attention. Girls achieved better than boys and reached higher standards.

But note how much priority there is given to play! This ties in with OfSTED’s reporting on a cross-national comparative study of EY in England Denmark and Finland and with the report on Transition.

Page 4 gives the clearest indication of the thinking: Not all settings were aware enough of the impact of girls’ and boys’ different choices of play activity on their progress in other areas of learning. Something that could do with further study from trainee teachers as well as managers and practitioners?
There was a clear link between communication skills and the development
of creativity. Creativity flourished where practitioners supported and
valued language development and children’s imaginative play. And if this might seem self-evident to many, its inclusion is itself significant.