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Held to account

Why should local authorities be responsible for targets in the Foundation Stage - and what can practitioners do to help them? Lesley Staggs weighs up their new duties There is an understandable - and very well-founded - concern among most early years practitioners at the mention of the word 'targets'. They bring images of our youngest children being hot-housed and pressurised with the consequent erosion of the opportunities to make the most of the 'here and now' that underpins the work of early years practitioners. There's also a suspicion that this is, yet again, a downward pressure driven by targets schools are expected to achieve when children are 11.

There is an understandable - and very well-founded - concern among most early years practitioners at the mention of the word 'targets'. They bring images of our youngest children being hot-housed and pressurised with the consequent erosion of the opportunities to make the most of the 'here and now' that underpins the work of early years practitioners. There's also a suspicion that this is, yet again, a downward pressure driven by targets schools are expected to achieve when children are 11.

Despite all of these very real concerns, I welcome the introduction this year of Foundation Stage targets for local authorities. I believe that high-quality Foundation Stage provision makes a positive difference to children's early years. And I don't believe that we need to shy away from being held accountable for the huge investment that we have demanded and continue to demand.

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