It is now almost two years since we first announced the launch of the Open EYE Campaign for open early years learning in the press, setting out in detail our concerns about key aspects of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.
We wish to introduce some tempered realism to recent uncritical statements by prominent authorities in the field about the alleged successes of the EYFS since its inception in September 2008. We believe that such viewpoints do not represent accurately the full reality of Early Years Foundation Stage on the ground, 18 months after implementation.
Open EYE wishes to acknowledge the many positive and helpful aspects of the EYFS; for example the admirable principles and the necessary welfare requirements. Certainly it has reminded all practitioners working with young children that outdoor play is an entitlement, and that children can and should initiate their own learning within an enabling emotional and physical environment. We are not calling for a wholesale ‘dismantling’ of the EYFS, and we have never done so. However, we continue to express serious concerns, now shared by many across the sector, as to the inappropriateness of the statutory learning and development goals, and the uses to which they are being put.
The statutory learning and development requirements
In December 2007 we pointed out the conflict between the EYFS principle of the ‘Unique Child’ and the legislated requirement for ‘the early learning goals - the knowledge, skills and understanding which young children should have acquired by the end of the academic year in which they reach the age of five’ (EYFS Statutory Framework, p. 11).