The word ‘curriculum’ can still feel unfamiliar in early years circles, like it’s something for older children but not an appropriate way of thinking about children in the EYFS.

So, I thought I would begin with a few headline thoughts about the early years curriculum:

·         An early years curriculum provides a structure and sense of direction for the practitioners in the setting.

·         It provides opportunities for all children to learn.

·         It is ambitious.

·         It challenges stereotypical beliefs that some groups of children are ‘less able’ to learn and make progress than others. 

·         It starts with children’s experiences in their family and immediate environment, so learning is meaningful.

·         Strong leadership is essential for the development, and monitoring, of a high-quality curriculum.

·         The curriculum must be suitable for every child. 

Probably one of the most significant challenges as we rethink the early years curriculum, is dealing with the problem of too much of a focus on content and coverage – especially for older children in the phase. It’s depth in learning which really matters, not superficial coverage.

Where there is too much content, and too much focus on coverage, then groups of children start getting left behind – even this early in their learning journey. Once children begin to fall behind, it gets harder for them to keep up. That means it’s important for settings and schools to map out clearly the key knowledge and skills which they want children to learn. This needs to be designed so that all children can keep up. This means some children will need challenging and open-ended activities – so they can deepen their learning, rather than move on to new content. They will experience curriculum content at greater depth. Other children will need regular extra help to keep up. 

This approach rests on something which we know is a strength in the early years: valuing every child. We all need to be firm in our belief that every child can make progress. We all need to have the professional skills to support every child’s learning. Then early years education can promote equality and give every child a fair chance of success.

Well-planned play is an essential part of the early years curriculum. High quality play is supported by well-organised environments and skilful practitioners.  Play is one of the key ways for young children to learn. As Professor Iram Siraj argues, ‘play is widely recognised as a leading context for the child’s acquisition of communication and collaboration skills’.

Sound curriculum design can enhance the youngest children’s play.  An example of this is Treasure Basket play for babies who can sit up but not yet crawl. Treasure Baskets give babies a great opportunity to explore different natural materials. They can choose what they want to pick up and investigate more using their hands, mouths and all their senses. Practitioners need to prepare the resources and the learning environment with great care. Otherwise, the planned learning will not happen. The Treasure Baskets need to be made available to babies of the right age, in a protected space. Otherwise, the materials may be picked up by more confident toddlers and taken to different parts of the room. That stops the youngest babies from having a rich play experience with the baskets. 

Another familiar activity which is very rich in learning is blockplay. Playing with blocks helps children to develop many areas of learning. Let’s start with their co-ordination. They have to place and balance blocks carefully to build structures. Blockplay also helps children to develop their attention: you need to give all of your effort to making sure that tall tower doesn’t tumble down! As children make more complex structures with blocks, practitioners can point things out to them. They can use ordinary language to talk about the different shapes of blocks, words like ‘curved’, ‘straight’, ‘thin’ or ‘long’. They can rephrase children’s everyday language as mathematical language, for example refining ‘big’ to ‘tall’.

Skilfully-supported blockplay helps children to learn about space, shapes, and number. It helps their physical development. It helps them to plan what they want to do and to develop their concentration and persistence.

High-quality play helps children to learn across many different areas of the curriculum. 

Often, we expect children to be able to take part in pretend play ‘naturally’. But not all children find this easy. They often need rich first-hand experiences to play. After taking a small group of children on a bus ride, practitioners can enrich play back in the setting. That play could include important details like waiting at the bus-stop, consulting the timetable. Children might pretend to buy tickets or use a smart card when they board. They might pretend to ring the bell at the right moment and then get off. Rich play like this provides multiple opportunities for learning. Those opportunities include learning about maths, practising speaking and listening, developing social skills. The children will also be learning about the wider world, like how public transport works and how you pay for things.  

It’s crucial to break down big goals we might have for children, like learning to write in the Reception year. We need to consider all of the essential things which a child must know and be able to do first. For example, in order to write a sentence, here are just some of the things which children need:

•      The ability to speak in sentences. It is vital to support children’s early communication before expecting them to write.

•      Motivation to write, when it’s such a difficult skill for young children to learn

•      Understanding of the features of print. For example, knowing that print has meaning and is written from left to right in English

•      The physical skill to hold and control a pencil or pen 

These are all ‘component skills’ which you need to be able to write. A well-planned curriculum will consider all of the component skills children need to learn to write. It will put an appropriate emphasis on developing children’s communication and their physical skills. It will outline how children can have repeated, motivating experiences which help them to develop the skills they need. These skills include the phonic knowledge children need to learn to spell. They include the physical skills which lay the foundations for developing an efficient and accurate handwriting style. These skills need to be repeated over time until they become automatic. Each child needs to learn these skills in an appropriate sequence. It’s no good expecting a child to write a sentence, if they cannot say a sentence. You can read some more of my thoughts about this in the Times Educational Supplement.

Curricular plans need regular review. Settings need a systematic approach to check that the curriculum is actually working to meet the needs of all the children. Children often attend two or more different settings in the EYFS: a child might start in a preschool, and then move into a Reception class for example. So different providers in local areas need to work together. Then they can check that their work to promote the child’s care and early learning leads to successful outcomes by the end of the Reception year. 

Curricular plans should be flexible enough to allow for changes in direction. Practitioners need to respond quickly to children’s sudden new interests.  

The evidence suggests that a completely child-centred early years curriculum is not effective. Of course, open-ended experiences are important and give children opportunities to make choices and develop their thinking. And, responding to children ‘in the here and now’ is an essential part of an effective early years education. But, even a very rich and well organised learning environment is not adequate in itself. Every child won’t spontaneously be able to develop learning at their own pace. 

Young children need a balanced curriculum which includes teaching which has been planned ahead, as well as making time for their spontaneous learning.  They need organised, adult-guided learning to bring new ideas and experiences into their lives. Children need well planned, specific learning experiences. These will deepen or consolidate their learning over time. Otherwise, children will miss out on valuable learning. 

It is important to ensure that children’s knowledge and skills are secure at earlier stages, before trying to ‘move them on’. For example, practitioners working with Reception children are advised to check all of the earlier stages of development. It’s important to ensure that every child’s learning is secure first, rather than go straight to the Reception year guidance. 

It’s important to remember that young children’s development is not orderly. Instead, development proceeds in a web of multiple strands. Different children follow different pathways. That’s one of the key reasons why we need to be cautious about the idea of ‘readiness’. If we wait until we see spontaneous signs of ‘readiness’ in a child’s freely-chosen play, that child might well miss out on a lot of the help they need to learn. Young children think and reason like adults. But they are inexperienced. There are many things they have not done, or seen, or practised yet. So rather than waiting for children to be ready, it’s important for us to ensure that children have all the experiences they need. Children experience much of their learning through free choice in a well-planned and organised learning environment. Some of their learning takes place in playful, adult guided activities. And some of their learning is directly taught.    

If you take just one thing with you as I come to an end, I hope it’s this – from the literature review which informed the current EYFS: 

·         Depth in learning is much more important than breadth.

·         Deep understanding is more important than superficial coverage.