How to make the most effective use of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile is explained by Marie Charlton and Jan Dubiel, Early Excellence Development Team.

Among the recommendations in Dame Clare Tickell's review of the EYFS, are several that address one particular aspect - assessment.

Much has been debated and written about the time-consuming nature of observations, the bureaucracy of recording, and the use of assessments to set targets and measure progress; Dame Clare alludes to this during several points of her report. At the heart of all these issues lies the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP).

Currently the only statutory assessment in the entire EYFS, the Profile often bears the burden of a hostile view of the notion of assessment itself. It suffers from the three Ms: misunderstanding, mythology and misuse. Although the Tickell recommendations suggest that the EYFSP is to be radically overhauled, much of the rationale and key principles are to remain intact, and the EYSFP scales themselves, set to be simplified, retain a similarity to the original assessment.

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