A Critical Analysis of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) - Essay Example

Introduction The early year foundation stage (EYFS) is an imperative time for the emotional, cognitive, social and physical development of children. This is a learning period targeting children below five years of age. The curriculum is designed in a way that it ensures holistic development of children. There are seven main parts that are covered at this stage. They include the social and emotional development. This allows the children to recognize who they are as well as respecting other people in the society. At the same time, the children learn how to perform certain activities such as dressing. Communication and problem solving are other important areas of learning at this stage (Silberfeld 2009, p.67). The children begin developing the confidence needed when communicating. At the same time, they learn how to solve problem through games and listening and answering questions from stories. The curriculum also ensures that children understand the world they live in and development physically and creatively. They understand the world around them through use of different materials and tools to create their surroundings. The EYFS is used as a platform that prepares children for what they will become in future (Beckley 2009, p.98). The knowledge and the kind of preparation at this stage dictate how the children will respond to learning in future. The environment in which the children are raised is imperative. It determines whether such children become intelligent or not. While certain settings foster intelligence, others do not (Carr 2005, p.65). it is imperative for teachers to know that children at this stage learn more from observation and what they hear. The children believe the information passed to them. They are not able to criticise like their counterparts in late childhood (Callaway 2005, p.67). For that reason, accurate information is vital at this state. This includes the information on chats, which the pupils are expected to read. It is difficult to undo what the children have already recorded in their mind. The curriculum is the most important tool in ensuring that the children acquire the best learning while still in their early stages (Glazzard et al. 2010, p.98). However, one of the most striking feature is the fact that play becomes an integral part of learning (Edwards 2001, p.38). Children understand better, when concepts are addressed through play. It has been effective in ensuring that children develop both physically, cognitively and socially (Glenda 2003, p.98). Through play for instance, most children are able to discover their potential. This is especially when such children are involved in activities that involve role-play. It is therefore imperative that the curriculum involve all kinds of play to ensure that the children concentrate and get the best out of learning (Goffin 2011, p.78). The following discussion will focus on the role of curriculum in promoting learn as well as how play promotes learning. The environment where the children are exposed is supposed to be safe and free from any materials that would cause any harm. It is the responsibility of the school management to ensure that the structures are well constructed and are safe to be used by the children (. The classroom for instance should have enough space where the children are allowed to play and interact. With the current need for inclusion, I it is also vital that the designs of such classes make it possible for children with disabilities to learn. They ought to be made part of the class and benefit just like any other child. In addition to that, the current classes may have children from different cultural backgrounds. The teacher has a responsibility of ensuring that such students benefit from this kind of setting. To help understand the above themes, I visited a primary school in New Ham East London. It was a class that had the children at the age of between 3 and 4. The class had a total of 25 pupils with one main teacher. The class has children from different cultural setting. However, it was difficult to note the difference since all the pupils seemed to enjoy what they were doing. However, due to the number of activities that are involved, the teacher has three assistant teachers who become very essential during games and other learning activities. The classroom has five tables and enough chairs where the children are allowed to sit. Once the teacher calls the register, the children are required to make a circle and do some singing. The class has a cardboard that makes it possible to store all the equipment needed by the children when they are learning. On the wall are charts with the alphabets and drawings. The first activity in the morning involves watching a video and learning from it though questions. In this particular morning, the story that the children were watching and listening to was ‘Humpty Dumpty.’ As the learning progresses, children are split in groups where they are assigned a teacher to assist them learn. The main activities involve learning through playing with toys. At this period, teachers take the advantage of asking children what such toys represented. In the afternoon, I was able to observe the fact that even the children with disability were included in the school. This is an imperative aspect in that it assists such children to feel as an integral part of the larger community. Inclusion has become a major issues requiring that the teacher consider giving such children special attention to ensure that they are assisted. At the same time, it gives such children confident unlike when they are separated from the rest. In the same afternoon, children were involved in a number of activities. The major one was meant to ensure that children learnt how to create simple words through sticking alphabets on the white boards. From the above analysis of the nature of the classroom, it is clear that the requirements of EYFS have been adhered to. The learning is inclusive in that children from all backgrounds and cultures are allowed to learn together. At the same time, the curriculum used by the teachers has made it possible to produce holistic children. Games and other related activities have been used to promote learning. This is imperative to ensure that children participate fully in the learning process. How curriculum promotes learning The curriculum is friendly in the sense that it is pupil-centred (Mayall 2002, p.78). It is designed to ensure that children get the best out of learning. The teacher is therefore not allowed to have a mind-set when they are going to teach. The method of delivery is normally dictated by how the pupils respond to the teaching. It is therefore vital that the teachers make close observation that ensures that all the pupils gain from learning. Unlike the curriculum in the upper primary, this particular curriculum is supposed to ensure that children participate actively in the learning activity (Miller 2011, p.54). It is worth noting that children at this stage are easily distracted and therefore may lose their concentration. However, the design of the curriculum is in a way that all the children are involved. Different equipment and materials are used to facilitate learning in children. Some of the materials involve the games through which children are expected to explore their world. Secondly, students are expected to learn through different types of plays and listening to stories. Other forms of entertainment would include watching and listening stories from the play. If the teacher wants to teach a particular theme, a story may be told, after which the pupils are supposed to respond to questions. In so doing, the teacher will be in a position to provide important information to children (Mooney 2000, p.74). On the other hand, the curriculum has also emphasised on the role of environment in fostering learning. One of the main requirements is that the environment should be safe from any forms of distractions and anything that may harm the children. This explains the main reason why the setting of the class I visited ensured that there was enough space in class to ensure that children could play without any hiccups. In addition to that, the class was designed to ensure that even the children with special needs had chance to learn without any problem. The curriculum ensures that the surrounding environment is part of learning for the children (Pound 2005, p.92). For instance, in the classroom walls, there are pictures and diagrams that the children have made. Apart from that, there are alphabets, with each representing a diagram and a word. For instance, ‘A’ may represent a diagram of an apple and bear a name. This therefore ensures that children continue to learn since the environment makes this possible. Therefore, the curriculum is dynamic and the teachers may change depending on the needs of the children. As indicated before, the curriculum should be child-centred. The teacher will therefore need to change depending on the needs of the children in the classroom. The curriculum also requires that the needs of every child be met regardless of their socioeconomic background, culture and physical challenges. There should be no discrimination of the any sort. This explains why the class I visited had children from different cultures. The class should also have a manageable number of pupils. This is to ensure that the teacher is not overwhelmed when addressing the needs of every child. For instance, the class had one teacher and three assistants. This was imperative in ensuring that the children needs were addressed and that each of them benefited. The main aim of the curriculum is to ensure that all the needs of the pupils are addressed. In addition to that, the curriculum is designed in a way that the talents and gifts of children can be established. Though playing and role-playing for instance, some pupils are able to discover their potential early. For instance, some of them may be musicians, actors or potential teachers. The curriculum therefore does not only support learning, but also the identification of the different gifts and talents in children. The curriculum supports what is referred to as the child initiated play and active learning (Rodger 2012, p.76). This was clear in the school that I had visited, and it involves giving the children the right to select the type of toys or activities in which they were involved. The child initiated play has been described as a way through which the teachers and parents can know the different talents of children. In the school I had visited, the children were divided into groups depending on the toys they had picked and the games that they wanted to play. The teachers then took the advantage of learning more by asking questions such as ‘why do you like cars?...do your parents have a car? What does this part of car called? It becomes easy for the teachers to establish the motives behind selecting certain types of activities. Secondly, the active learning is also supported and promoted by the curriculum. This is explained as the process through which the pupils participate in learning through motivation. They perform different activities in the classroom and gain through learning. Active learning has been encouraged in the sense that it ensures that children have gain a lot from the process. How role and value of play is promoted through the curriculum Play is an integral part of learning in children. It will become difficult for the children to understand the concept being taught to them unless they learn through different stories. The curriculum has promoted learning through plays and other related activities (Taylor 2005, p.76). There are various roles that play plays to facilitate learning. The curriculum has ensured that the children understand what is taught to them through different types of plays. Through this, teachers are able to teach the children different lessons. In the school that I had visited, play was used to assist children in communication skills and understanding different social phenomenon. They are able to appreciate their surrounding and everything that is taking place. Play has also been said to be an important tool that can facilitate language development in children as well as making children more social. The roles of play in the curriculum are explained below: Play can promote creativity and imagination This is one major importance of integrating play in learning. It has been observed that children who are exposed to play, especially through toys are likely to be more intelligent. Some of the games that the children are required to play require them to make different decisions. This ensures that the cognitive part of the children is at work. They learn how to reason and deal with different challenges through plays. It helps them to develop mentally, becoming more creative as they try to navigate through different kinds of challenges. It is said that through certain games, it is possible to know which of the children can become leaders in future. This is especially the kind of games that require role-playing. Those who take the position of leaders are faced with certain decisions to make in order to lead a given group of people. In the process, this fosters creativity amongst these children, enabling the teachers to realise their main strengths and weaknesses. Enables the teachers capture the attention of children Another major reason why the curriculum makes use of plays is to ensure that the attention of the children is captured (Wood 2005, p.83). As indicted above, children are likely to get distracted and lose concentration. However, the use of play within the curriculum becomes imperative in ensuring that learning becomes more enjoyable in children. It seeks to encourage children to participate in learning and gain from the same. However, it is also the responsibility of teachers to ensure that children are not distracted during learning. For that reason, they should not be able to see what is happening outside the class through the windows. The teachers must try to contain the children to ensure that they concentrate on what is happening. Play may help reduce stress in children At the age of 3-4, the children have just left an environment at home, and have gone to a different setting altogether. This creates many problems for many children who may even refuse to attend school depending on their assessment of the setting. Play has been found to be important in such a setting. With the children being distressed by the sudden change of environment, it will be vital to ensure that the children like the new environment. All the types of anxiety are addressed through games and children learn enjoy learning. It creates a friendly environment that facilitates learning for all. It is also a way of responding to the stress that the children have gained in their families. It is a common knowledge that some pupils come from unstable families. They experience many problems including psychological and physical abuse. Some are denied the parental love due to lack of bonds with their parents. This is especially the children whose parents are involved more in their careers. Play becomes important in addressing the plight of such children. Play fosters physical and social development in children Depending on the background of the children, some of the may be shy and appearing to be antisocial. This is especially if they have been brought up in malfunctioned families. For instance, if children are brought up by parents who are always in domestic violence, they may be affected psychologically. This is especially if they are abused physically in the process. Through observation, a teacher is able to tell whether a given child has been physically or psychologically abused. However, apart from addressing such needs through counselling, play in children makes it possible for such children to begin opening up and becoming social. Some of the children many not possess the communication skills needed to interact with the environment. Through involvement in a number of games and other forms of play, becomes possible for such children to have the skills necessary to facilitate communication. Play has also been said to be important in children to facilitate the physical growth. This is especially the physical kind of play that is able to ensure that the children avoid certain lifestyle diseases. Some children due to inactivity have been reported to have lifestyle challenges. Some of them become obese putting their lives in danger. With the current lifestyle, there are high chances that the number of obese children is likely to increase. For instance, all the children are dropped in school by their parents or the bus schools. The same happens in the evening. They hardly walk and this puts their lives in more dangerous situation. However, with the physical plays in school, the situation changes. Such children are able to gain physical strength and health. In conclusion, the curriculum plays an important role as far as promotion of learning in children is concerned. The curriculum is designed in a way that it is pupil-centred. It is supposed to address the needs of the children and not what the teacher want to achieve. A teacher ought to be dynamic. This is done to ensure that changes are made depending on the needs of the pupils. Curriculum is made to ensure that the classroom and the surrounding environment foster learning. The walls for instance should have different chats promoting learning in children. In the school that I had visited, the classroom had chats with alphabets where each representation a diagram and words. Students are able to learn from these types of diagrams. The number of staff is vital in ensuring that the needs of the children are addressed. This is especially when they are learning through games. Teachers need to be there to make a number of observations. The learning environment should be safe in the sense that it protects children from any harm. There should be enough space in classroom to facilitate games and other physical plays. The classrooms should on the other hand make it possible for the needs of children with disabilities to be addressed. Inclusion becomes imperative in the current times. Unlike in the past where children with disability would be required to attend special schools, inclusion has become a major phenomenon. This is to avoid any form of discrimination and provide the child with a chance to gain from learning. Finally, play is important and therefore an integral part of learning. It fosters creativity in children as well as enabling the teachers teach different lessons. Bibliography Beckley P. Elvidge K., and Hendry H. 2009 Implementing the Early Years Foundation Stage: A Handbook, McGraw-Hill: Open University Press. Carr M. 2005 Assessment in Early Childhood Settings, London: Paul Chapman Publishing. Callaway G. 2005 Early Years Curriculum: A View from Outdoors, London: David Fulton Publishers. Edwards A. & Knight P. 2001 Effective Early Years Education. Teaching Young Children, Buckingham: Open University Press. Glazzard J., Chadwick D., Webster A. and Percival J. 2010 Assessment for Learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage, London: Sage. Glenda Mac Naughton 2003, Shaping Early Childhood. Learner, Curriculum and Contexts, UK: Open University Press. Goffin S. & Wilson C. 2001, Curriculum Models and Early Childhood Education (second Edition), New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Pound L. and Hughes C. 2005 How Children Learn: From Montessori to Vygotsky - Educational Theories and Approaches Made Easy, London: Step Forward Publishing. Mayall, B 2002 Towards a Sociology for Childhood: thinking from children’s lives. Buckingham: Open University Press Miller L. and Pound L. 2011 Theories and Approaches to Learning in the Early Years (Critical Issues in the Early Years), London: Sage. Mooney C. 2000 Theories of Childhood: An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erickson, Piaget and Vygotsky, USA: Redleaf Press. Rodger R. 2012 Planning an Appropriate Curriculum in the Early Years (third Edition), London and New York: Routledge Silberfeld C. 2009 UEL Early Childhood Studies Reader. London: Sage Taylor, J & Woods, and M. 2005 Early Childhood Studies: A Holistic Introduction. Second edition. London: Arnold Wood E. and Attfield J. 2005 Play, Learning and the Early Childhood Curriculum, London: Sage. Appendix 1 Observation 1 Date: 04/03/2013 Method: Narrative Start Time: 09:00 Finish Time: 11:30 This observation was carried out at the Reception Classroom of a Primary School at New ham in East London. The setting is of a Primary school, and in the class, there are 25 children from different cultural backgrounds. The children are in the age group of 3 – 4 years old. The class had one teacher and 3 support teachers, who were supposed to support the children during the activity. In the classroom, there are 5 tables with chairs for the children to sit down. Around on the display wall in the classroom there are posters to show the variety of work the children have done. Also in the wall, there are alphabets letters with the pictures that start with the alphabet letters for example: A is a picture of an apple and aeroplane and for alphabet letters D is a picture of a dog, dolphin and donkey to help the children to understand. In addition, in the wall, there are the days and month of the year that also has the children’s birthday’s that show when each child’s birthday is. The days and months posters are in different language such as French, Spanish etc. On the sides of the class rooms there is big storage cupboards that are used to store the equipment and then on the reading area there is a shelf to hold the reading books and there was a sofa for children to sit down when they are reading the books. The classroom was designed around with all the six areas of development according to EYFS. Also in the wall, there was the EYFS policy for all staff at the setting to have access to. In the class room there is a big white board and also a smaller one and there have all the alphabet letters and numbers for the children to stick the alphabet letters together to create simple words. When the children arrived at the classroom they all sat down on the floor, while the teacher took the register, then the teacher and children they stood up from the carpet and they all created a circle in the class and they all started to sing and dance by saying good morning to everyone and welcoming me in the seat. The teacher explained the activity to the children: that the activity was about “Humpty Dumpty”. To support the activity for the children the teacher put a video about “Humpty Dumpty”, she started to showed images of a book about “Humpty Dumpty”, and then teacher started reading the book for the children by using the wooden blocks to create a wall to help the children to understand the activity. After the entire teacher started to ask the children questions about the activity: the questions were such as: What happen to Humpty Dumpty? Why Humpty Dumpty fall off the wall? The child A said the Humpty Dumpty fell off from the wall because the wall I was too high and then other children’s answer was the humpy dumpy was sleepy? The Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall because the wall was not safe. After question time, the teacher offered the children the opportunity to use wooden blocks to create walls by them self and acting what was happened to Humpty Dumpty. After the “Humpty Dumpty” activity, the teacher gave the children the opportunity to choose any activities that children like. Some of the children choose to read in the reading areas, also some of them choose to play with fruit puzzle activities that are on the table provided by the teacher and the support teacher. On another table, there is a book that has different amounts of ducks in each page and also there are ducks toys that children have to find out how many ducks have in each pages. Child A and B choose the duck activity and then the teacher showed the child A and B a page of the book that had 13 ducks and the teacher is asking the child A and B how many ducks there are and then child A and B both started to use the duck toys to counting 1 to 13 ducks toys. Child A and B both opened each pages of the book and both of the children together used the ducks to find out the amounts of the ducks each page has. In addition, some children choose another table of activities that the children can draw and make cards for their parents or for the one they like At 11am children were split in 3 groups, as the teacher and teacher assistant provided different toys to the children in each group: the toys for the first group was aeroplane toys, cars, houses, post-box etc.: and group 2 were provided toys such motorbike, lories, cars, etc.: and for group 3 were toys such bus, taxi, vines and as well there was the toys such as man and women bus drivers. Children in all 3 groups they all took a toy in their hand and they started to make noise and sound such as cars, motorbike, aeroplane, taxi, bus. Through the activity, children were able to communicate and socialize very well – asking questions amongst each other: some of the questions that they asked include the following: Do you like car? Do you have a car in your home? Do you have an aeroplane toy at home? What are your favourite toys? During this activity, the children enjoyed communicating and supporting each other. At 11:30 is home time and when the child’s parents were outside the teacher called the child’s name and she speaks with the children’s parents about what they done through the day. Appendix 2 Observation 2 Date: 04/03/2013 Method: Narrative Start Time: 12:45 pm Finish Time: 03: 15 This observation took place at the same class in afternoon lessen and there were 25 children as well. The teacher started with the registers and the activity in afternoon lessens were the most the same activities as on the morning lessen but different children. It was observed that in afternoon class there is a child with disability as him was not able to speak and to walking as him is in a wheelchair. The teacher said when the child was came in October for the first time they find difficult to understand and to communicate with the child but after the teacher communicate with the child parents they can communicate easy and understand well the child needs. The child with special education needs (SEN) was able to take part in all the activity that other children took part. It was observed that all children and the child with SEN they all created a circle in the class and started to sing the song of the “Five Litter Monkey” and as well, there in the middle of the circle were 5 children that they had to pretend are the five litre monkeys jumping on the bed. After “Humpty Dumpty” and “Five Litter Monkey” activities it was observed that the children had opportunity to choose any activity that they want and some of the children they choose the white board to stick alphabet letters to creating simple words such a cat, dog, car, red, frog, bus, duck etc.; and also same of the children draw them onto the sheets of paper provided by the teacher and the teacher assistant in the middle of a table. A child was observed that she was finding difficult to draw the simple word but the teacher assistant help her by drawing the word herself and with the teacher support the child was able to create and draw them onto the sheets of paper by her. During activities, the children enjoyed communicating and supporting each other by asking the questions such as: Do you have a dog? Do you like dog? Do you have a car at home? During activities, the children enjoyed communicating and supporting each other. The classroom setting was very good: the building was new, and had a lot of space, available for the children to move around without hurting one other. During the activity, children were very happy and it was evident that they had enjoyed the activity. In summary, the lesson was very meaningful and particularly appropriate for the class. Based on the nature of the lesson was smoothly deployed and the set objectives met satisfactorily. The teacher and support teachers were able to offer all the support required – which enabled all the children to realize the expected learning objectives. Read More