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Early years sector raises concerns about revised EYFS amid a broad welcome

The revised Early Years Foundation Stage has received a broadly positive response from the early years sector, although some reservations have been raised over the requirement for progress checks on two-year-olds.

Early years organisations and unions welcomed the revised framework, but voiced reservations over the progress checks, which they said could create unnecessary panic among parents.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, said, 'While we welcome the introduction of the progress checks, the Government must take note of parental concerns about these checks. A recent Alliance survey of 2,000 mothers and mothers-to-be found that most are worried the progress check could result in a possible misdiagnosis of their child, given natural fluctuations in children's development at this age.'

Teachers' union Voice also warned that the progress checks would need to be used sensitively and appropriately as well as to take into account differences in children's rates of development.

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