YOU HAVE DESCRIBED THE FRAMEWORK AS ‘PIONEERING’. WHY WAS IT SO GROUND-BREAKING?
Birth to Three Matters (B-3M) was the first national framework that supported children in their earliest years.
It was commissioned by the UK Government, and developed by a research team at Manchester Metropolitan University, led by Professor Lesley Abbott. My role was researching and writing the strand called A Strong Child. It was published in 2003, and then incorporated into the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage in 2008. It offered a rounded, positive and detailed picture of very young children as active learners who develop through interaction with the world, and with adults and other children.
It provided innovative, accessible resources to support children’s development, based on the latest research and, importantly, the insights of parents and practitioners. The framework validated the expertise of early years practitioners and supported their professional development with training materials. It was critical in protecting birth to threes from the narrow demands of the National Curriculum.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH.
Currently our work focuses on the under-threes, with a particular interest in two-year-olds in formal and informal settings.
This is all part of a 20-year research programme on the education and care for the under-threes. More recent examples of the group’s research are already reinvigorating curriculum and pedagogy for children between birth and three, and particularly for the two-year olds receiving free places.
Over the coming months, we hope to continue developing this line of inquiry, with a clear focus on putting the well-being and lives of children, families and parents at the heart of any research; taking an empirically attuned, interdisciplinary and co-produced approach to our work; and continuing to develop our new models of working closely and carefully with early years settings, families, communities, the LA, early years alliances and arts organisations across the Manchester region.
WHAT IS BIRTH TO THREE MATTERS’ VIEW OF THE CHILD?
The baby and toddler is a strong and competent learner from birth. They are active and curious world-makers, and parents and families are central to their well-being.
This capable child is seen holistically: the framework cuts across ‘subjects’ or discrete skills to focus on the vital role of individual interests, environments and parental knowledge in the growth of the child. The framework is underpinned by research on children growing up in differing cultures and circumstances, and refuses the kind of ‘deficit’ thinking that so often emerges from universal, linear models of development that cannot cope with cultural diversity.
B-3M challenges this deficit view, which tends to coalesce around language, attainment and development ‘gaps’, by demonstrating that learning is a shared process, a to-and-fro of energy and interactions that flows throughout the whole day. Such a relational approach respects babies and toddlers as autonomous, healthy, capable learners, and skilful communicators, able to take risks, make decisions, and learn from doing.
HOW WOULD THE FRAMEWORK CHANGE IF IT WERE BEING DEVELOPED FROM SCRATCH TODAY?
B-3M was built on an in-depth and wide-ranging research literature; an updated framework needs to build on this by including new research, as well as responding to the new, interdisciplinary understandings of childhoods and development. A new framework would also need to address the major social and global changes since the original framework, including environmental threats, pandemics, migration, the intensification of digital and online life, and issues around race and de-colonising childhood that have been thrown into relief by Black Lives Matter.
It would engage more carefully and inclusively around diversity and difference. A new curriculum for the earliest years could be re-imagined with an emphasis on the creative, sensory and expressive dimensions of early development and learning.
HOW DOES THE B-3M APPROACH COMPARE WITH THE REVISED EYFS AND GOVERNMENT POLICY?
B-3M is a strongly theorised holistic perspective that resists deficit thinking and raises the profile of the funds of knowledge held by very young children and families.
When the framework was incorporated into the EYFS, its principles had a continuing presence, especially in supporting guidance Development Matters. With each successive revision of the EYFS, the focus on the youngest children, the environment and relationships has lost out in favour of the Early Learning Goals and on getting children ready for school. The most recent revisions continue this, concentrating on where children need to be at four, rather than on the child of the present moment.
ARE THERE EARLY INDICATIONS THAT IT IS STILL USED? IF SO, WHY?
The B-3M framework continues to exert both national and international impact. Early findings from our survey indicate that the framework is alive and well across multiple UK settings. It continues to be offered abroad (identified examples include international nurseries and chains in Nigeria, Bali, Qatar, Italy, India, Egypt, Dubai and Denmark).
It fills a gap that is not met by the EYFS and Development Matters to ensure provision is responsive to under-threes. Other respondents appreciate its accessibility and competence-based approach, using it to facilitate conversations with parents, and as a starting point for inducting less experienced practitioners. Early years trainers and advisers have commented that it gives practitioners much-needed understanding of the unique qualities of babies and toddlers.
The range of underpinning research has also been singled out as not only helping students, but also as a starting point for researchers who are new to working with very young children and their families.
More information
Practitioners who have used, or still use, the framework in their setting are invited to fill in a ten-minute survey before11 August at: https://bit.ly/2OOqa8R.