Steve Posted August 2, 2010 Posted August 2, 2010 Hi all - Just to let you know that the promised EYFS consultation has been launched and you can find it here. We've linked to it on the front page and I imagine many of you will want to discuss it further, so this is a suggested gathering point for conversation.
catma Posted August 2, 2010 Posted August 2, 2010 Got a v boring day in the office tomorrow so that will entertain me!!!
emmajess Posted August 2, 2010 Posted August 2, 2010 Have just started having a look at the response form. Maybe it's just me but does it seem a little funny that one of the questions for parents is ... What are the most important things that you think schools or other settings should be required to do to support your child's learning and development? and then asks the respondee to tick their most important three... ... when one of the key (and I'd thought widely agreed to be positive and welcomed) aspects of the EYFS is that all the 6 areas are of equal importance. As a parent as well as a teacher, I'm finding this difficult to choose... Thinking about for my specific children, for other specific children, children in general...? So many many more issues with this question
mundia Posted August 2, 2010 Posted August 2, 2010 Hi Emma, I quite like that particular question, my greater concern is that will this consultation actually get out to many parents who don't have a role as parent and practitioner? I think those questions are there to gauge what parents think is important in terms of what settings provide, and this will form part of the final review. I am sure we have all met parents who ask when we're going to teach their child to read or write or do xyz? For those parents, they will choose the relevant boxes accordingly. Its good to see that you can add your own comment, so you can say all of them in your response. I think it will be interesting to see if parents' views of what we should be doing match with our own. And that will depend on who this consultation reaches.
HappyMaz Posted August 2, 2010 Posted August 2, 2010 I think it will be interesting to see if parents' views of what we should be doing match with our own. And that will depend on who this consultation reaches. I will certainly be sending this link to all parents I have an email contact for, and encouraging them to contribute! Maz
KST Posted August 2, 2010 Posted August 2, 2010 Just spend all evening filling it in, when I tried to submit and save i got an error - anyone else had this problem?
JacquieL Posted August 3, 2010 Posted August 3, 2010 Well I've submitted mine but got some strange response telling me I wasn't logged in when I was. I'll see if I get an email telling me they received it, as I ticked the notification box. At least we can save it for later. I didn't like the boxes where I had to choose 1 or 3 so wrote what I actually thought in the response boxes.
Guest Posted August 3, 2010 Posted August 3, 2010 How do I send a link to this to other people? It seems to be a very long bit to copy and paste in the www box.
Steve Posted August 3, 2010 Author Posted August 3, 2010 It is quite a long url - you could always send them to the FSF front page and tell them to click the first link in the first paragraph.
Steve Posted August 3, 2010 Author Posted August 3, 2010 ...Or give them this address which will take them directly there: http://tinyurl.com/2ualtfv
Guest Posted August 3, 2010 Posted August 3, 2010 Well I've submitted mine but got some strange response telling me I wasn't logged in when I was. I'll see if I get an email telling me they received it, as I ticked the notification box. At least we can save it for later. I didn't like the boxes where I had to choose 1 or 3 so wrote what I actually thought in the response boxes. I got the log in error too
KST Posted August 3, 2010 Posted August 3, 2010 I emailed them to tell them about my error and they said they had received my response. I don't think they send you an automated email telling you they've received it. But I would assume it has been recieved despite the error message! I found it very hard to select 3 options for some of the questions, felt they were all equally important, I also wrote this in the box underneath. On the whole felt it asked a lot of good questions.
JacquieL Posted August 3, 2010 Posted August 3, 2010 There was a box saying please tick if you want your response acknowledged, and I haven't had an acknowledgement yet. Yes there were some interesting questions but without the response comment boxes we are limited to expressing 3 preferences in some cases, which may not accurately reflect our opinion, so that can distort the findings. The thing about questionnaires is that they can be phrased in such a way that they are not open-ended, and can manipulate the outcome. Anyway we'll see. I rather enjoyed thinking about it all and writing briefly about what I thought.
Guest Posted August 3, 2010 Posted August 3, 2010 I've found it really interesting to think about whether all six areas DO have equal importance - it's a good question to my mind. I'd rate communication skills really highly, it's the lack of speaking and a limited vocabulary that I believe holds back children from disadvantaged backgrounds. I also think creativity is crucial at this stage. And reading does lead onto everything else, so if that is in place by the end of reception it helps children access the rest of their schooling. Seeing 'economic wellbeing' written down like that also raises a question mark in my mind. Who thought that this was a sensible overarching aim for the EYFS? It sounds like someone has been sitting in a room in Whitehall going 'what can we do to ensure children are pulled out of poverty' and someone else has gone 'make it an aim of the EYFS'.
Guest LornaW Posted August 6, 2010 Posted August 6, 2010 I wanted to respond as a parent with with grown up children felt I couldn't! I didn't like the choose you first 3 either but agree with suzie8 about communication skills and for me dispositions and attitudes and then if the children are able to sort things out iin a creative way not just artistic creativity then they are ready to take on the world!!! I think the economic well being is from the Every Child Matters agenda and so they are sticking with this. I have always seen this in EYFS as being able to account for yourself. I really went to town on the EYFSP as I would like to see it abolished - don't reckon they will though but it is worth at least putting the case forward. As usual they will only get the answers to the questions they have asked it would have been good if they had asked what questions need to be asked. Lorna
mundia Posted August 6, 2010 Posted August 6, 2010 Im with you Lorna on the EYFSP, I also went to town on abolishing it so that makes at least two of us then! I am interested to know what questions you think need to asked but aren't being and can you find a place to say that anyway?
Steve Posted August 9, 2010 Author Posted August 9, 2010 Following up on the DFE consultation we thought it would also be interesting to put a survey together ourselves. So if you have time, please have a look through it here. We've put more of an emphasis on free text answers as we thought it would make interesting material for an article. But don't neglect the main consultation (here) - that's the important one!
mundia Posted August 24, 2010 Posted August 24, 2010 Just in case anyone has been enjoying a well earned summer break and hasn't seen this yet, EYFS consultation and the FSF own survey Please do take a few minutes to have a look if you haven't done so already.
suebear Posted September 15, 2010 Posted September 15, 2010 Right, took the plunge and completed the consultation. A few comments I thought I'd share No. 19 How would I change the aims The overarching aim of the EYFS is to improve children's developmental outcomes and to reflect that it is every child's right to grow up safe, healthy, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and to be treated with respect. 23. The EYFS should not be about getting children ready for Year One. It is about understanding and getting the child ready for life not an education system. 39. Meeting Ratios Extremely difficult, there seems to have been a shortage of Level 3 trained staff who are willing to work for pittance. Find it daft that they haven't sent hard copies to all registered settings or at least a letter telling people to participate. Anyone would think they didn't want our opinion especially as they put it out in the middle of the summer holidays when staff and parents are away
eyfs1966 Posted September 28, 2010 Posted September 28, 2010 I have also added my two penneth worth to the main consulation. I agree however with other repsondents that the questions asked are quite narrow and a wider "what do you think are the best features of the EYFS and what are the most burdensome and unhelpful restrictions of the EYFS" would have been more helpful for me. I couldn't help but feel that the questionnaire had been produced with specific findings anticipated (eg. the need to reduce the EYFS burden on out of school care, which incidentally, I fully support!)
eyfs1966 Posted September 28, 2010 Posted September 28, 2010 PS. I also agree that hard copies should have been sent to all providers. Without this forum, I would never have heard of the consultation.
mundia Posted September 28, 2010 Posted September 28, 2010 Timely reminder thanks. The consultation closes on Thursday so this is your last chance to have your say. Please take time to respond if you haven't already.
Steve Posted September 29, 2010 Author Posted September 29, 2010 ...and while we're on the subject, anyone who wants to complete the FSF survey but who hasn't yet got around to it, you can still do so here. We'll be closing it on Monday, and currently have 181 responses with lots of interesting comments!
Cait Posted September 29, 2010 Posted September 29, 2010 so will you be putting some sort of 'collection of comments' together and sending this in to the consultation too?
Steve Posted September 29, 2010 Author Posted September 29, 2010 Ooh, I don't know about that. I'm not sure there would be any way to do that. But I will post the results including a lot of the (many!) comments, and quite a lot of people keep their eyes on the FSF so hopefully it won't go unnoticed.
Guest Posted September 29, 2010 Posted September 29, 2010 I can't reveal my sources, but I have been speaking to someone today about some work related stuff and he was able to give me a 'sense' of where the government might be heading with the whole EYFS review. Apparently it is likely that things like the profile will become 'suggested' rather than 'statutory', i.e. practitioners will be expected to use something else to assess if they choose not to use it but it won't be compulsory anymore. It is also likely that the link between FS and KS1 will be lost or downplayed at least, and KS1 will be more closely linked to KS2 and the National Curriculum. However, the EYFS as a whole is being seen as a positive and is likely to be retained in a similar format to what we have at the moment, if slimmed down a bit. Sorry I can't be more specific but it was a very reliable source with irons in the right kind of fires! Time will see if my source was right.
Steve Posted September 29, 2010 Author Posted September 29, 2010 Hmm. It makes one wonder what the purpose of the consultation is if certain people are already pretty sure of what they're planning to do...
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