The Daily Mail's front-page headline said, 'Toddlers taught to speak by state diktat'. Other national newspapers implied that the Government had devised a 'national curriculum for toddlers' where three-year-olds would have basic instruction in English and maths.
Children's minister Beverly Hughes announced last week that the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) would 'support the delivery' of quality integrated education and care for every child attending a day nursery or in the care of a childminder from birth until the point when they begin Key Stage 1.
Early years experts, some of whom have been involved in developing the new framework, dismissed suggestions that a 'curriculum' for nought-to-fives might curtail childhood by replacing play with more structured activities.
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