Nursery World - EYFS Best Practice in Schools

As concerns grow about the over-formalisation of Reception learning, Charlotte Goddard hears how some academies are protecting early years

Download the PDF of EYFS Best Practice in Schools - Being Bold

Embattled early years teachers, many already feeling under pressure to abandon their play-based pedagogy in favour of a more formal approach, were dealt a further blow at the end of last year. Many in the sector interpreted Ofsted’s Bold Beginnings report, which promotes earlier exposure to more formal learning, as an attack on free-flow and child-initiated practice. A further report, Grouping in early years and key stage 1 – ‘a necessary evil’?, issued by the Institute of Education in December, found that early years teachers were concerned about increased pressure to group children by ability in order to meet curriculum expectations further up the school.

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