The Importance Of The EYFS

Unlike The Reggio Emilia approach, the EYFS follows the concept of schemas which Athey (1924) introduced and Piaget (1896) elaborated on. Piaget (1896) described schemas as basic building blocks, he believed children built on their knowledge by learning new skills and aspects- which is the aim of the EYFS objectives (McLeod, 2015). The EYFS outlines the milestones for children to achieve, which are more complex and extend skills as the children get older. It works on the foundation of embedded learning, practitioners plan to ensure that skills are concrete in order for children to achieve the Early learning goal (ELG) before leaving the Early Years, which relates to Donaldson’s (1926) ‘embedded thinking’ theory as children revisit skills to ensure they are secure. A good aspect of the EYFS is that practitioners plan activities according to the children’s current level of development, which Froebel’s (1782) theory agrees with. He suggests that teachers should begin where the child’s development is, which is what the EYFS indicates practitioners should do. The EYFS covers several aspects of learning and practitioners must consider each one equally as important. As a result of this it supports children in achieving the ELG as it considers their emotional and social development too, which Maslow’s (1943)
The approach recognises that children express their thoughts, ideas, understanding and feelings in different ways, through writing, creativity and imaginary play as well as speaking. Settings value this approach by providing children with opportunities to express themselves. Like Chomsky (1928), Vygotsky (1896) and Bruner (1915) they recognise that language is an important aspect for children to be able to communicate and develop in other areas (Lemetyinen,