‘As early years educators we’re preparing children for a future that’s increasingly unpredictable and planning a suitable curriculum is a big part of that,’ keynote speaker Dubiel, early education consultant and adviser, told delegates at Nursery World’s conference in central London yesterday [12 July].
Addressing professionals at ‘EYFS: Developing a curriculum for your children to thrive’ Dubiel said that there is a need to ‘future proof’ early childhood education in order to prepare a generation of citizens for an unpredictable and rapidly changing world.
He highlighted this with a quote from the late educationalist Sir Ken Robinson, ‘No other period in human history can match the present one in sheer scale, speed and global complexity of the changes and challenges we face... We are preparing children for jobs that don’t exist yet, using technologies that haven’t been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.’
Dubiel added that it is disappointing that the Characteristics of Effective Learning are slipping down in focus because they need to be a part of the curriculum not an add-on. Instead of knowledge just being key for employment and economic currency in the future, he said that creativity, imagination, originality and the cognitive ability to adapt and innovate are also valuable.
He referred to the ‘massive’ responsibility that early years practitioners have and the infinite potential that young children also have by quoting Maria Montessori who said, ‘Within the child lies the fate of the future’.
He emphasised how the sector is working with many children who were born during lockdown which has directly impacted on the current cohort’s:
- Emotional wellbeing
- Social development
- Physical development
- Language development.
‘A curriculum needs to shape knowledge and skills and the kind of learners you want. The curriculum belongs to you,’ said Dubiel. ‘We want people who will be successful learners and thinkers and confidence and security is part of that, particularly in this post-Covid context.’
He outlined how the role of the curriculum is to:
- Work with and interpret an (external) framework of outcomes and expectations.
- Identify critical knowledge, skills and behaviours.
- Embed shared core values.
- Enculturate children.
Along with curriculum being ‘the stuff we want children to learn’ Dubiel said it’s also what children want to follow and pursue and needs to be refined and adjusted year on year depending on the needs of the cohort.
Ofsted and curriculum knowledge
Managing director at Early Years Fundamentals Pennie Akehurst acknowledged that many practitioners feel unprepared for designing a curriculum and many settings relied on the original Development Matters document and software systems prior to the introduction of the Education Inspection Framework in 2019 which ‘thrust curriculum into the spotlight’ and made it ‘high stakes’. Since then, she said that actions on curriculum knowledge and delivery have consistently been in the top ten mentions in Ofsted reports. She took delegates through a seven-step plan for ensuring that a curriculum has the elements needed to meet both the needs of children and statutory requirements.
Research evidence
To support practitioners when designing their curriculum, Nicola Cherry and Louise Jackson, content specialists for the early years at the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), shared the importance of using research evidence alongside professional expertise to help maximise impact for children and shared a couple of free tools (see further information below). They said it is important to use evidence to:
- Help make decisions about what is working and not working well
- Articulate what you do and why
- Critically evaluate whether the existing curriculum is maximising impact for all children
- Prioritise teaching approaches and practices that will have most impact on children experiencing poverty
- Inform professional conversations
- Unite values and understanding.
‘Research evidence supplements expertise, it does not supplant it,’ said Jackson.
Throughout the conference the themes of high ‘aspirations’ for children and the importance of giving children ‘agency’ through a high quality curriculum were repeated by many of the speakers.
Dr Nathan Archer, director of the International Montessori Institute at Leeds Beckett University, ended the day by reassuring delegates that they too have more agency – ‘the ability to act and make decisions that influence and affect one’s world’ - and power than they may believe.
He shared inspiring case studies from his research illustrating how professional confidence to challenge established systems can take many forms.
‘I argue that it feels timely to take stock of our core values and beliefs and to reflect on our value system as the basis for our decision making, our practice and our identities,’ he said. ‘I also argue this is all the more important in a time when policies might be seen to be in tension with some of these values.’
Further information
Early Years Toolkit, EEF: https://bit.ly/44lcmIb
Early Years Evidence Store, EEF: https://bit.ly/3rqwxpm
- Check out Nursery World’s upcoming one-day conference on 'Physical Development in the Early Years' being held in London on Tuesday 7 November 2023 here
