Nursery World - EYFS best practice in schools

What is true ‘free-flow play’, and when is children’s ‘involvement’ in their learning not actually worthwhile engagement? Dr Julian Grenier unpicks the theories in the context of best practice

It could be argued that early years provision in school largely fits into three categories: the good, the bad and the ugly. As I have argued in this guide, the ‘ugly’ is the type of provision that pays no account to the child’s experience or to evidence about effective pedagogy. It is driven solely by external factors, such as high-stakes assessment data, or a wrong-headed drive to have a consistent style of learning across every age group so that nursery children end up with maths and writing books just like everyone else.

But it is much more common to find the ‘bad’: early years provision which is well-intentioned, but simply not very effective. Typically, this is the sort of provision which is informed by a desire to do the right thing. Practitioners may have attended training on play-based provision, or free-flow environments. But the problem is implementation.

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