At the time of writing this blog, in cold and lockdown February, September 2021 might seem a long way away but it’s not really and time will fly.
Now is a good opportunity to set aside time in your busy schedule to prepare for the changes that are coming in September with the introduction of the new statutory Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, 2020) and Development Matters (2020) guidance (links at the end) –
**Read the new documents
What do they mean for your ways of working? We know that DfE are asking Ofsted to focus on practice, not paperwork – will that make a difference to what you do / what you expect staff to do? If you have found paperwork to have a negative impact on your wellbeing or time spent playing with the children, now is the time to start looking at what changes you might make - and evaluating whether they positively impact on practice.
**Do some professional development
Childcare.co.uk has commissioned a series of free webinars at www.childcare.co.uk/webinars and there are more blogs on this website and online. You will find it useful to read through the changes, so you feel ready to go with the revised requirements.
**How do the changes fit with your pedagogy and practice?
You may need to reflect and discuss with colleagues as you adapt for the new framework. For example, you might be a child-led setting – you will need to reflect on how the ‘adult-guided’ focus in the EYFS 2020 will impact on your day-to-day teaching. Or you might feel that the suggested curriculum in the Development Matters 2020 guidance is not for you or is missing elements you want to include in your teaching - now is the time to reflect and review.
**Child development knowledge
A deep and meaningful knowledge and understanding of child development will be key to delivering this new curriculum because the current assessment guidance (Development Matters 2012, Early Years Outcomes 2013 and the parent guidance ‘What to expect, when?’ 2015) will be archived. Do you feel your knowledge of child development – and staff understanding of typical ages and stages of learning – is strong enough without a tick list approach? Do you need to do more professional development?
Note: there will be some non-statutory guidance on typical child development trajectories in the 'Birth to 5 matters' document from Early Education and partners. However, writing this as the 2nd draft is being evaluated, it is important to note that the current Birth to 5 Matters does not fully align with the EYFS 2020 and new thinking in the statutory framework.
**Assessment documentation expectations will change
Apart from writing / typing the statutory Progress Check at 2, formative (ongoing) and summative (summary) assessment will not be inspected by Ofsted. If you or staff write, for example, baseline assessments, termly reports, progress tick lists, transition documents etc for the children, you should reflect on their value for you, the child and the child’s family while bearing in mind they will not be inspected by Ofsted.
**Can you talk about each child in your setting?
You and your staff / the child’s key person will need to be able to confidently discuss - explain - talk about - describe each child’s progress from their individual starting points, including how you use updates from home / other settings to support their learning and how you support their home learning. If you don’t feel this is possible yet, what do you need to change so you can discuss each child with your Ofsted inspector?
Note: my advice is to have a 'story in your head about each child' - their personality, likes, dislikes, interests, what makes them tick, what their play is telling you, what they can say and do, their current and evolving skills and knowledge ... so you can talk to your inspector about the progress they are making from their starting points.
Between now and September 2021
Now is the time to train yourself and your staff and make slowly update your systems and ways of working, evaluating each change as you go along. Positives – and challenges – are regularly discussed on social media.
Here is some feedback from early adaptor schools –
**Providers have tried to align the new Development Matters 2020 with the old Development Matters 2012. This is neither necessary nor recommended. The new Development Matters 2020 is a curriculum starting point. You need to look closely at and evaluate / improve; assessment will be easy when you see the children engaging with your curriculum and learning new skills and developing new knowledge.
**Providers have tried to separate Development Matters 2020 into aspects like they currently use. The thinking here is that it will make things easier for staff - however, it is important to note that the early learning goals are not included in the revised Development Matters 2020 guidance. The early learning goals are considered to be a one-off, end of reception assessment and must not be used to drive the reception curriculum – and they are not meant to be used in the early years.
**Settings which have embraced the new ways of working say staff really value the time they are spending interacting with the children – but feedback suggests some staff, especially those who have become reliant on taking photos and ticking assessment boxes, are struggling with this part of the changes and need a lot of support and professional development input, especially around play, scaffolding learning and typical child development without a tick list.
**Some settings are finding that parents are resistant to the paperwork changes and staff need to more fully explain the benefits of play to them. Further guidance will be provided via Childcare.co.uk documents for parents.
Do you have more questions?
If you have any questions about the changes, you can engage with FREE weekly webinars here - www.childcare.co.uk/webinars. If you are a childcare.co.uk gold member you can watch again here - www.childcare.co.uk/webinarplayer.
I will also blog a lot between now and September and I want to blog on subjects you want to read about, so please let me know what is worrying you about the changes and I will try and help!
Thank you, Sarah
Trainer, consultant, childminder...
Links to the updates
**There will be a new EYFS 2020 which will be statutory from Sept 2021. DfE are still consulting on some updates to the safeguarding and welfare requirements – mostly to clarify wording
https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/DRAFT-EYFS-Framework-for-comment-February-2021.pdf
**There will be a new curriculum guidance document ‘Development Matters 2020’. It is not a tick list and if you turn it into a tick list you are missing the point – it is a curriculum starting point, not an assessment guide –
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/914443/Development_Matters_-_Non-statutory_curriculum_guidance_for_the_early_years_foundation_stage__1_.pdf