‘Birth to 5 Matters – Guidance by the sector, for the sector’ is on track to be launched later this month after the final sector consultation on the non-statutory Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) guidance resulted in a ‘resounding endorsement’ of the document.
'Since children develop in their own ways, we wanted to support practitioners to think about children where they are rather than by their age,' said Nancy Stewart, who has led on developing the Birth to Five Matters guidance
'Since children develop in their own ways, we wanted to support practitioners to think about children where they are rather than by their age,' said Nancy Stewart, who has led on developing the Birth to Five Matters guidance

‘We are delighted to see the positive, enthusiastic response that has greeted the guidance,’ said Nancy Stewart, project lead for the Early Years Coalition.  ‘At the same time practitioners have taken the opportunity to say what they want and need, and we have over 800 specific comments to take into account as we develop the final version.’

Responses to the draft include:

  • ‘It is very informative. Makes me feel more valued as it seems to talk our language and shows exactly what we do. It is also not that dissimilar from the format of the previous Development Matters that we use to monitor and track children’s progress. It seems a lot more practical and we could implement it.’
  • ‘Whilst an experienced practitioner it still allowed me to reflect on current practice and where improvements could be made. I think it will be so valuable to our less experienced practitioners and I hope training organisations for early years practitioners take note and start improving their training in line with this.’

The latest consultation did find that there was some uncertainty about how the ‘Birth to 5 Matters’ document will sit alongside the statutory EYFS and other guidance, and concern that there could be confusion among practitioners.

In response to this the Early Years Coalition stated, ‘We will send clear messages in all our communications about how Birth to 5 Matters supports practitioners to implement all aspects of the statutory EYFS and is not in conflict with it. We will explain the reasons for the structure used, and assure practitioners that both Ofsted and DfE confirm that they may choose to use any non-statutory guidance which they find useful.’

The Early Years Coalition is also developing an approach to training and professional development opportunities which will be available after the launch.

An important element of the latest consultation was seeking practitioners’ views on how ‘Birth to 5 Matters’ links the progression in development and learning to age bands. The overlapping age labels used in the current Development Matters have now been relabelled as Ranges 1-6, without ages listed on each page. 

‘Since children develop in their own ways, we wanted to support practitioners to think about children where they are rather than by their age,’ said Ms Stewart. ‘It is still important to indicate typical ages for some purposes, though, such as helping practitioners develop their knowledge of child development and helping to identify when children need extra support. So we have included a key to the overlapping age ranges on an introductory page.’

This aspect of the document had been heavily debated throughout the consultation. The large majority, 82-91 per cent, agree that it is an improvement over the existing approach. They believe that it will support practitioner knowledge, help to identify children needing additional support and will support practitioners to observe, assess and plan.

Only 3-7 per cent disagreed that the approach will be effective and is an improvement over the previous version, with the remainder neutral.

In preparation for the document’s rollout at the end of March, practitioners were also consulted on the format of the guidance, with most (80 per cent) indicating that they would like printed guidance. Many (61 per cent) also plan to access the interactive online version which will contain further resources and evidence.

There is also interest in accessing the guidance through an app (49 per cent) and the Early Years Coalition is in discussion with several app providers about this.