Children's minister Beverley Hughes said last month that parents and providers could apply to be exempt from particular elements of the learning and development requirements in the EYFS 'on philosophical grounds' (News, 3 July).
Childcare providers can apply for limited exemptions, where a majority of parents support doing so.
Parents can apply for exemptions if they consider some or all of the learning and development requirements to conflict with their religious or philosophical views.
The DCSF guidance published online sets out the steps that providers and local authorities will need to follow to opt out of all or part of the learning and development requirements in the EYFS.
An application must be sent to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, where casework officers will assess it. It will then be passed to the Independent Adviser on exemption, Dorian Bradley, the former director for children at Ofsted, who will review the evidence and make a recommendation to the children's secretary on whether the exemption should be granted or not.
The guidance includes an application form for providers and a template letter to use when consulting parents.
It states that providers need to 'look carefully at the EYFS and consider if there is a real problem or conflict which would mean that an exemption is needed. In most cases it is likely that a provider's approach can be accommodated within the EYFS.'
It envisages that it is likely that only 'a small number of specific parts of the learning and development requirements are an issue'.
If this is the case, providers will need to have discussions with their local authority. If they still feel an exemption is necessary, providers can discuss the issue with the QCA.
Providers must consult parents and ensure that they understand the learning and development requirements of the EYFS and the implications in terms of how an exemption would change the child's experience and what impact it will have on the child's funding.
The document states, 'The total support must be calculated from all the parents, not just those who respond. Votes of agreement can only be counted where a written response has been received.'
Local authorities will be able to decide whether or not to fund early years providers who have been granted exemptions.
Because the Government is committed to reviewing the EYFS in 2010, the maximum time for which an exemption can be granted is two years.
The Open Eye group, who have led a high-profile campaign against the EYFS becoming law, said the exemption process was not transparent and was too complicated and bureaucratic for providers.
In a statement they said, 'It also requires little short of Sherlock Holmes' ingenuity even to find it on the Web. This is, therefore, an expertly camouflaged exemption process; and once unearthed, we find a procedure that is labyrinthine in its bureaucratic complexity, presumably to minimise the number of exemption applications that make it as far as the minister's desk.'
Download the guidance at http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/eyfs/resources/downloads/guidanceexemptions.doc