NEW EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME
'Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive, and to develop their co-ordination, control and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity and to make healthy choices in relation to food.' (Revised Statutory Framework, paragraph 1.6)
The goals for Physical Development are now under just two aspects: 'Moving and handling' and 'Health and self-care', with 'Self-care' absorbed from Personal, Social and Emotional Development and the original goal for handwriting absorbed from Communication, Language and Literacy. However, the most significant change to Physical Development is its new status as a Prime area.
As one of the three Prime areas - along with Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language - the crucial importance of physical development is now acknowledged. These three areas are intrinsically linked, and raising the profile of Physical Development alerts practitioners to the way in which it - and movement, in particular - underpins all other areas of learning.
As Penny Greenland, founder and director of movement play specialist Jabadao, emphasises, 'Movement, as much as a good diet, supports the growth of the brain and nervous system and is involved, therefore, in all aspects of development.'
MISSED OPPORTUNITY?
The educational programme for Physical Development is broadly similar to the requirements in the current EYFS and, indeed, there is little real change in Development Matters, as they continue to focus on the fundamentals of physical independence, nutrition and motor control. There is, however, a missed opportunity here, perhaps, to broaden awareness of the link between physical development, movement and sensory experience with the shaping of the brain.
With increasing evidence of the link between inadequate early movement experience and learning delay, practitioners need more information, for example, about children's instincts for vestibular and proprioceptive experiences and the impact of retained reflexes and poor sensory integration on future learning and emotional well-being.
Not bumping into things, going to the toilet independently and handling tools effectively are admirable goals. However, these revised requirements for Physical Development do not yet reflect the breadth of physical and sensory experience that our babies and young children need in order to ensure a good foundation for their future progress.
ESSENTIALS FOR PRACTICE
Babies and young children instinctively seek out the kinds of movement experience that not only build their muscles but also fire up their brains. While all this physical activity should be accessed naturally, both indoors and out - and still is by some children - evidence is beginning to suggest that babies and young children nowadays have fewer opportunities for such experiences. For example, many are spending increasing amounts of time strapped into a sitting position in cars seats, bouncers and baby buggies.
As early years practitioners, we cannot assume, then, that all children in our care will have had enough sensory and movement experiences of the right kind early on, so we have a responsibility to make sure that these are provided in our settings.
As well as spending more time being held gently in caring arms, babies in particular need to be lying on their backs and tummies so they can wriggle and roll around.
Growing children need to experience sensory-seeking movement such as creeping and crawling, running and jumping, clambering and climbing, stretching and swinging, spinning and rocking. The parts of the brain that stimulate the urge to communicate and support an inner sense of well-being are linked to these kinds of activity just as much as the mastery of physical skills.
Later cognitive capacity is also linked to early movement experience, so literacy and computational skills have much more to do with early movement experience than many people think.
EARLY LEARNING GOALS: NEW AND OLD
NEW
Physical Development
Moving and handling: children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively including pencils for writing.
Health and self-care: children know the importance for good health of physical exercise and a healthy diet and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe. They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently.
OLD
Physical Development
By the end of the EYFS, children should:
Movement and space
- Move with confidence, imagination and in safety
- Move with control and co-ordination
- Travel around, under, over and through balancing and climbing equipment
- Show awareness of space, of themselves and of others
Health and bodily awareness
- Recognise the importance of keeping healthy, and those things which contribute to this
- Recognise the changes that happen to their bodies when they are active
- Recognise and explore how sounds can be changed, sing simple songs from memory, recognise repeated sounds and sound patterns and match movements to music
Using equipment and materials
- Use a range of small and large equipment
- Handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control
EYFS CONSULTATION FEEDBACK
1st consultation - Do you agree with the early learning goals relating to Physical Development? Yes (57%), No (15%), Partly (27%) and Not sure (2%)
MORE INFORMATION
- See our guide to physical development at: www.nurseryworld.co.uk/go/physicaldevelopment/
- Look out for our Nursery Equipment supplement, due out on 28 May, which will be focusing on all aspects of physical development
