Outcome 1
The revised EYFS came into effect from 1st September 2012. The EYFS comprises a set of Welfare Requirements and a set of Learning and Development Requirements which must be followed by providers of care for children from birth to 5 years old. It is the curriculum that must be followed to help support a child’s individual learning and development.
Some of the key changes that have been made to the EYFS framework would be:
There is more of a focus on the 3 prime areas of learning – Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional.
The number of early learning goals has also been reduced from 69 to 17.
A summary assessment is now required for children as a part of the two year old check.
The assessment when a child reaches five has been simplified.
Strengthening partnership between parents and professionals.
Some of the changes of the Safeguarding and Welfare requirements would be:
It now includes examples of adults’ behaviour which might be signs of abuse and neglect.
Safeguarding policies and procedures must now cover the use of mobile phones and cameras in the setting.
Using this framework there are 7 key areas of learning and development that are covered. With this, practitioners set activities for children that are based on and cover the 7 areas. These are:
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social, Emotional
Literacy
Maths
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
Each of these main areas has a subtitle which breaks down the area into more specific sections i.e. literacy: reading. There is also a grading system for age groups, helping the practitioner to find the right area to look in for area of development.
The EYFS also enables adults such as parents to understand how and why ‘key workers’ work and observe children in this way.
The Montessori Education is an approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori and