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Framework is not a checklist

I support Anastasia de Waal's comment about the proposed infant curriculum ('In my view', 17 November). The apprehension that the framework will turn into a series of checklists is well founded. Already, many talk of the Birth to Three framework as a curriculum and plan around it for Ofsted's sake. For those of us passionate about how we support very young children, it is a regrettable sign. There are too many myths that working with under-threes is easy. Only very skilled, responsive and knowledgeable practitioners can follow a child's lead and scaffold their development at the right pace. Some settings fill the 'baby rooms' with their youngest and least experienced staff. Scarily, some people still believe that all you need with young children is to be 'loving and patient'. What of the brain development research and the importance of helping young children make critical synaptic connections, especially those disadvantaged children who feature highly in the Government's agenda of social justice?
I support Anastasia de Waal's comment about the proposed infant curriculum ('In my view', 17 November). The apprehension that the framework will turn into a series of checklists is well founded. Already, many talk of the Birth to Three framework as a curriculum and plan around it for Ofsted's sake. For those of us passionate about how we support very young children, it is a regrettable sign.

There are too many myths that working with under-threes is easy. Only very skilled, responsive and knowledgeable practitioners can follow a child's lead and scaffold their development at the right pace. Some settings fill the 'baby rooms' with their youngest and least experienced staff. Scarily, some people still believe that all you need with young children is to be 'loving and patient'. What of the brain development research and the importance of helping young children make critical synaptic connections, especially those disadvantaged children who feature highly in the Government's agenda of social justice?

A coherent framework has to be created against the reality of a service where children as young as three months are in daycare for more than ten hours a day, 51 weeks of the year.

We cannot pretend that this curriculum is pulling together what we already do. That's nonsense. It will be misinterpreted no matter how much Lesley Staggs and her team try to provide guidance and support. Let's use it to have a full national discussion about what happens to lots of young children in nurseries and how this curriculum can build on and improve practice.

We must also ensure that any training and inspection framework is knowledgeable and well-informed about the under- threes. If this curriculum is to be based on a real philosophy, then let's articulate it and take time to embed it. Let's not rush what could be a useful platform for a momentous discussion.