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In September, 2021, the new EYFS framework will become statutory.
To accompany it, we have new Development Matters guidance, released now to give us time to reflect, understand, and consider what we want to change before it’s rolled out in Autumn 2021.
The new document comes with a lofty goal – to help remove the burden of paperwork that is overloading our practitioners, and get back to high quality assessment and observation for the sake of every child.
As a software company, helping you to track learning journeys, observations, and assessments we recognise that we’re part of that story.
That’s why we gathered Julian Grenier, The Development Matters 2020 author, and two of Ofsted’s top Early Years experts – Wendy Ratcliff and Phil Minns – to answer your questions.
You can sign up to watch the full recording for free here, including hearing from Wendy and Phil about the assessment and evidence that Ofsted expects.
Below are video clips and summaries featuring Julian’s thoughts on assessment, ticklisting, next steps, curriculum, the new observation checkpoints and more. Next week, Phil and Wendy’s answers will get the same treatment.
But to start, here are my five key takeaways from the session.
I started off by asking Julian about why it is that we talk so much about ‘evidence’ in the early years, and how much of it we really should be collecting.
Evidence is not a helpful term, explained Julian – because it assumes a lack of trust in practitioners. While it’s absolutely vital that practitioners deeply understand the children they’re working with, we shouldn’t have to collect evidence just to prove it to somebody else.
He mentions how important it is to understand:
It’s on these things and more that we should be carefully noticing and listening, focusing on high quality assessment that helps us to understand every child.
In particular, Julian notes, we ought to focus our attention carefully on those children who need the most support. If we can remove the burden of paperwork and unnecessary data-tracking and evidence, we get more time with those who need our help the most.
Next up, we discussed how we make sure no child is left behind, when we don’t have comforting checklists to fall back on – something that neither this nor the former version of the Development Matters encouraged.
Julian reminded us that this Development Matters 2020 document won’t be fully rolled out until 2021, explaining that now is a time for slow reflection and not rushing into big changes.
So how do we check progress is happening? Julian mentioned checking in on milestones (something we’ll return to later) and deeply observing all of our children. Fundamentally, though, progress checking shouldn’t be about levels or numbers, and certainly shouldn’t be about checklists.
Your early years curriculum is something your team should know well, and kept under constant review according to Julian, as it changes to reflect new children.
Julian gave us an example from his nursery school, Sheringham. They have a large amount of children with EAL, so a lot of their focus is on supporting early communication skills in English, while encouraging parents to continue speaking in the child’s first language at home.
He explained that planning multiple next steps for every child is unrealistic – and instead it’s about balancing what skills and strengths you know the child brings to your setting, with a clear big picture of what you’d like all children to learn.
The Development Matters 2020, is labelled as curriculum guidance, and it’s rightly started a conversation about how settings should be building their own early years curriculum.
Julian explained there’s no one starting point for your curriculum, but the Development Matters guidance should be seen as the floor not the sky. Be ambitious, he explained, and make sure you find the right tool for the right job.
The majority of assessment happens in the moment, according to Julian, as we notice carefully what’s going on with our children and respond immediately.
Learning journeys, on the other hand, should be for significant moments – something new, a first time playing together with a friend, a moment of struggle and persistence. Something of importance that over time tells the story of that child’s progress.
There’s huge value in sharing that both with parents and the children themselves but we must be proportionate so that practitioners can spend the vast majority of their time in the moment with their children.
One of the new elements in the Development Matters 2020 guidance is the observation checkpoints. They’re just for the prime areas, and are key milestones to prompt practitioners and watch out for areas where children might need additional support.
Julian added that they’ll be most useful for inexperienced practitioners, where more support might be needed.
We also discussed inclusive practice here, and why he wants to see a move away from marking children with special needs as sitting within a much younger age band. “Children with special needs and disabilities aren’t 2 years younger in their development,” he explained, “they’ve just got a different pathway.”
Finally, we discussed another big change in Development Matters 2020 – that the youngest age band has been expanded to include all children 0-3.
This follows on from Julian’s earlier point that it’s not helpful to label children as ‘younger’ based on what they can’t do yet. The 0-3 age band, he thinks, much better reflects that children develop in different ways and at different rates – particularly at this young age.
If you’d like to see the full hour-long session, featuring Julian’s answers as well as input from Ofsted’s Phil Minns and Wendy Ratcliff, you’re in luck!
Just head over here, leave a few details, and you can watch the full session back on-demand, for free.
Guidance from the Danish Health Ministry, translated in full to English.
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The full recommendations from a working group of over 70 nursery chains in the UK.
Please note: here at Famly we love sharing creative activities for you to try with the children at your setting, but you know them best. Take the time to consider adaptions you might need to make so these activities are accessible and developmentally appropriate for the children you work with. Just as you ordinarily would, conduct risk assessments for your children and your setting before undertaking new activities, and ensure you and your staff are following your own health and safety guidelines.
Find out below how Famly helped Tenderlinks in recording child development, and see what we can do for you in a personal demo.
“Famly’s strengthening our parent partnerships as staff can quickly note down meaningful observations and then come back to them later ensuring they can stay focused on the children." - Vicky-Leigh, Manager, Tenderlinks Nursery
Find out below how Famly helped Tenderlinks in recording child development, and see what we can do for you in a personal demo.
Sign up now
Find out below how Famly helped Tenderlinks in recording child development, and see what we can do for you in a personal demo.
Sign up nowFind out below how Famly helped Tenderlinks in recording child development, and see what we can do for you in a personal demo.
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