An expert evaluation team has issued its final recommendations for Wales' new Foundation Phase - now, is it going to work? Mary Evans reports
A major study of the play-based Foundation Phase (FP) pilots in Wales - the new approach to learning for children aged three to seven - found that despite increased staffing, the children's opportunities for learning in the areas of literacy and their interaction with adults declined compared with the existing system.
While participants felt better ratios made a difference to the children they were teaching, they struggled to quote specific examples. Some cited improvements to classroom management and organisation, according to the final evaluation report.
The study team, from the Institute of Education, University of London, the University of Oxford and the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, visited all the 41 pilot schools and early years settings four times over the course of the exercise, which ran from September 2004 to October 2006.
The biggest change they saw arising from the deployment of extra staff was, 'Some aspects of teacher workload (eg planning, assessment and teaching for a set number of children) were being redistributed to the additional adults, rather than the expected outcome of consistently higher quality learning experiences and interactions with the children. This is compounded further by the finding from the quality observations which show a decline in the quality of literacy and interactions.'
But the team also said, 'Some of the weaknesses... are associated with historical tensions that have existed in the early years, for example the disparity between the maintained and non-maintained sectors, diverse staff qualifications or local authority differences.'
The report says that generally, staff engaged in the pilots worked extremely hard and enthusiastically to make the FP vision a reality. It states that some settings were doing extremely well and highlights the most effective practice as well, which was found in a minority of settings.
Need for clarity
'This report is excellent,' says early years consultant Branwen Llewellan Jones. 'It tells us that the pilots have not been particularly successful, but it sets out the challenges to be met.'
Welsh education minister Jane Davidson issued an action plan last month to coincide with the report's publication, explaining how its key recommendations will be addressed in the lead-up to FP roll-out across Wales in 2008. More funds have also been promised.
How effective the plan will be remains to be seen. An action plan was produced in response to the team's interim report, but the final study identifies outstanding challenges such as the need for an improved communication strategy and clear guidance on the FP pedagogy.
The study team also call for clarification of the key terms such as 'play' as, 'it is evident that there are mixed messages'. The team's leader, Professor Iram Siraj-Blatchford of the Institute of Education, says, 'The report team must say very strongly, "we are not against free play". People do not understand that there are different types of play and the need to have a balance in those different types of play. There are some things that can't be done through free play. For example, aspects of the Foundation Phase mathematics require adult guidance and sometimes appropriate adult teaching. You have to plan number songs and activities that get children thinking.'
Sharman Morgan, early years project co-ordinator of the Wales Pre-School Playgroups association, says, 'The report highlights that the notion of "play" is rather ambiguous. It is paramount that clarity is achieved throughout to ensure the fulfilment of the FP's objectives, to the benefit of the child.'
Marion Dowling, president of the British Association for Early Childhood Education, says, 'It will take time for people to understand the terminology and put it into practice. The report is indicating that although everybody is very positive about the framework, in practice there is still a lot to do to raise awareness and to make people understand some of the terms.'
Training courses
The report makes various recommendations (see box), and the action plan promises the formation of a new National Project Management Group, chaired by Ms Davidson, to oversee and support the implementation of the FP along with the development of an effective communication strategy.
A revised framework for children's learning will be issued, as well as guidance and a development and training pack that takes account of issues such as the role of play, assessment and transition.
There will also be a major in-service training programme, and initial teacher training courses will reflect the FP. But ratios will be 1:8 for all three- to five-year-olds and 1:15 for five- to seven-year-olds. There is no mention of regional advisers.
The literacy findings were not a surprise to Professor Siraj-Blatchford. 'The curriculum did not come out until the middle of the first year. Training is still coming on board. They are getting some things right, but they are facing great challenges as they get to grips with a new pedagogy.'
She identifies two strong themes coming out of the pilots as the need for practitioners to have a thorough grounding in the new, play-based experiential pedagogy, and for teachers/adults to develop people management skills so they can deploy the extra staff in schools more effectively.
'The pedagogy has changed dramatically, but not everyone understands what individualised learning is and it requires more commitment to understanding child development, curriculum and assessment.
'For teachers, it is not just about leadership in pedagogy but it is also about managing a larger number of adults.'
Best practice
The literacy findings came as no surprise, either, to Mrs Llewellan Jones. 'I work with schools, as a consultant, and people are terrified of the word pedagogy. Teachers are finding it difficult to conceptualise planning based on observing children, watching what the children are interested in, analysing and using that to plan for possibilities.
'The action plan talks about best practice. but there is no agreed model of best practice. Why are they getting advice from Estyn (the Welsh education inspectorate)? Estyn does not exist to define good practice - it exists to identify good practice.'
Professor Siraj-Blatchford is doubtful whether regional advisers, to advise on best practice, will be appointed. 'It's difficult to say, but I hope so. Given that Wales has 22 local authorities and each one has people who, although they have some guidance, are to some extent re-inventing the wheel, it is a large number of authorities for a small country.
'If regional advisers were not appointed it would be very disappointing. If there are resources to keep the ratios at 1:8, we cannot see why there are not the resources to fund these five posts.'
Although more funds have been promised in the action plan, Ms Morgan says there are concerns about how they will be distributed. 'The non-maintained pilot settings have made concerted efforts to maintain pace with the expectations of the FP, which has been extremely difficult in terms of expenditure, particularly with regard to training.' For example:
- The training budget is extremely tight in comparison with the funds available to the statutory sector.
- Groups have to find and fund additional staff cover.
- Pre-school groups are geographically diverse and there have been difficulties in terms of access.