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Development matters- or does it?
1. This a really important read including views from @EYAlliance and @earlyed_uk who share their disappointment and concerns, along with @NickGibbUK who sees this as a way of improving standards.
Development matters- or does it?
1. This a really important read including views from @EYAlliance and @earlyed_uk who share their disappointment and concerns, along with @NickGibbUK who sees this as a way of improving standards.
2. No offence Mr Gibb- but as an EYs teacher of 20+ years I’m standing with organisations who understand young children, respect me as a practitioner at the coal face, listen to my views, consult me and represent me.
3. The world has changed. And whilst I agree fully the EYFS needed reviewing as did Development Matters- what it didn’t need was a complete rewrite. The opportunity has been completely squandered to build on something already held in high regard internationally.
4. Instead we are being taken completely backwards. Evidence was handed over to the @educationgovuk on a plate by the EYs coalition spelling out what mattered, many of us came to @ncbtweets events and told civil servants what matters.
5. But surprise surprise not were those of us on the ground ignored - but the research @_CREC was ignored too.
6. So we now have an EYFS coming which steps away from what really matters (CoELs) towards goals of learning by rote and recalling knowledge.
7. We have a baseline test costing £11m and a £9m language intervention which requires children to be taken away from the enabling environment where they are settled and engaged. £20m wasted.
8. And today a completely rewritten (not reviewed) Development matters was published. Unfortunately this non stat curriculum guidance doesn’t reflect its title in many especially for Reception children whose development in large has been ignored and sped up.
9. Much talk of workload reduction. Spent day doing zoom home visits and making class CovidSecure- this doc lands which if I was an early adopter (thank god I’m not) could have increased workload again. Throw in if I was doing baseline- and tell me again it’s workload reduction?
10. Eyfs reforms and this new DM guidance should have been paused and reviewed. Work started before Covid I assume and the world has changed. Much like a new car being driven from a showroom or a new pc being purchased- we now have documents out of date before they begin.
11. If reforms were paused- there could have been collaboration and reviewing in light of covid, as well as the important #antiracism work that must happen. We could have learned from 2020 and built upon it. Instead we are going backwards.
12. And the problem is that if you at ad up and say any of this, if you speak out and share concerns- you are told you are a negative, naysaying, anxiety causing person who wants children to fail.
13. Lets be very clear here- tbh I could do without this campaigning. I have a family. I work full time. I could do without having to write threads like this, and work on petitions and blogs. I could do without it. I would rather go into work, do my job, come home and be done.
14. But I can’t. We can’t. Because our children need us to stand up and speak out. It’s not their fault they are on the receiving end of policies and agendas which have no regard for their childhood and seem to view them as runners in an endless race.
15. So please keep speaking up- let’s prove that this isn’t about a few people being hysterical. This is about an entire sector who want to engage, who have expertise and so much to share- that needs to be heard if we truly want to make a difference for every child.
16. Sorry for typos! It’s been a long day. Thread over and good night!
