Research to re-evaluate the evidence used in developing the Early Years Foundation Stage is underway, ahead of the review of the EYFS next year.
The research, carried out for the DCSF by the Department of Education, University of Oxford and Westminster Institute of Education at Oxford Brookes University, concentrates on studies published since 2000. This is in order to update the sources of evidence on which the EYFS is based.
It analyses research into cognitive, social, emotional and brain development for children from birth to five, and how this links with the areas of learning and development in the EYFS, such as communication, language and literacy.
The second part of the study looks at how family, setting, neighbourhood and culture can support children's development.
Details of the Early Years Learning and Development Literature Review are available at www.dcsf.gov.uk/research.