There are, to my mind, three main and potentially very disturbing issues:
- The focus in the statutory and practice document on child-initiated learning and play is very welcome, but how can this playful learning experience also be 'planned and purposeful', as required by the EYFS? Play serves whatever purposes the initiating child chooses - quality planning can only be achieved by practitioners who thoroughly understand and value young children's interests and motivations.
- Synthetic phonics - while I endorse strongly the need for children to be able to read and to understand phonics, it is not necessary - and positively harmful - to do this before children have the necessary oral language skills and enthusiasm for the written word. There is ample evidence that this type of skills-based teaching has no long-term effects on children's literacy capabilities.
- The Early Learning Goals, especially for under-threes, in this document are so inane as to make child development at best laughable (believe me: I've tried it on international early years parents, practitioners and academics) and, at worst, very damaging to young children. They are an insult to many competent young children. They should be abandoned, or used only as a simple guide for practitioners.
A final point relates to training. There is massive evidence that the highest-quality learning experiences for children are provided and implemented by practitioners trained in a rigorous understanding of young children's development and with a deep respect for their inherent learning capacity. A few hours training in how to 'deliver' the EYFS will be no substitute for long-term, degree-status training, which should be at teacher-education level and beyond. Our young children deserve nothing less.
JANET MOYLES, emeritus professor, Leicester. - send your letters to ... The Editor, Nursery World, 174 Hammersmith Road, London W6 7JP letter.nw@haymarket.com 020 8267 8402.