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mamapink
01-03-2008, 01:25 AM
hi just on sky news and they have a bit on wanting to scrap the eyfs ( have your cries been heard)


Child psychologists want a review of new curriculum which says children should begin learning aged four.

Learning will begin earlierFrom September 2008, the Early Years Foundation Curriculum will be a legal requirement for under fives in England.

Under the new framework, more than 500 tasks and skills must be adopted by all nurseries and childminders.

Dr Richard House, psycotherapy and counselling lecturer at Roehampton University, says the requirements are not appropriate for children under five.

And Lobby group Open Eye warned the framework was too rigid, too prescriptive and too much for children who were too young.

It fears it will cause unnecessary stress for youngsters and adversely affect their interest in learning.

However Carol Medcalf who runs the Carol Jane Montessori Nursery in north London says it will not change the way children are looked after.

" Ofsted don't want children to be sitting down, writing and joining the dots, that's what they're against. They are very for free play, children finding their own way, staff doing a lot of observation on the child to see what stage they're at and introduce and individual curriculum for them. It definitely doesn't stop them running around having fun."

Children's minister Beverley Hughes MP defends the curriculum.

She says: "We need to be able to give assurances to parents that wherever their child is, there's a set of standards for that nursery to work to, to make sure the child is safe, happy, playing, and everyone is working to achieve the same quality."


just thought some one might want to read it

bye pink:o

Heaven Scent
01-03-2008, 02:44 AM
I am Montessori trained and have always observed children before introducing new activities. Because in a montessori school we use very specialised and exact equipment its very easy to do because we have always believed that children all develop the same skills but at different times and where ever I worked I used a tick sheet with all the materials listed on them and as a child was introduced to a task it was ticked and dated and again when they mastered it and a comment was added and as children moved up through the school it was very easy for the next teacher to see where the child was up to and the children learnt without realising it and I'm sure that thats what Ofsted are trying to do with this Eyfs but they are still expecting this topic planning which is at odds with the individual observing and planning approach and if they would/could just drop the emphasis on that then it would be quite easy really because you could look at and list all the areas of learning and then list the items / activities you have in your environment or that you feel would help develop each area and have a list for each child in the setting then you could just observe what the child is doing look at that area of learning and develop it ticking and dating the stage and the item used to encourage the child to develop the new skill and then do the same when they have mastered that skill and put comments (observations) beside it on how the child did and why you decided to concentrate on this task at this particular time.

I don't mean a list that you rididly work you way down because thats not how children develop more of a list that is child led eg they may develop item 5 then item 9 then item 2 and so on and they may also be develpoping skills in other areas also so it will all be cross referenced and you may be helping them to develop a variety of skills at once or by using a variety of different materials throughout the day. That way it would all be very straight forward and easy.

I did use this system when I was teaching in a year 1 class in a school in london because I couldn't tell from what the records that had come from the reception teacher who had left at the end of the previous year whether the children had just been introduced to something or had mastered it and when the school inspectors (it was the year after the introduction of the national curriculum but before ofsted came into power) came in they were so impressed with my record keeping and planning that they asked to meet with me specially. Everything was all child led and so easy to follow and subjects were cross referenced e.g if a child was very experienced with number bonds but their reading and comprehension level was not great it would mean that in some instances their progression in maths would be stunted because they hadn't got the reading skill to progress independantly in that particular of maths so I would have to ensure that the child would work on the literacy skills in order for them to move on or if they were not ready to master that then I would see what other area of maths they might be interested in e.g spacial awareness, shape, matching etc and introduce them to that and go back to the other number work when the child had all the tools available to them to master it. I did that with a class of 22 girls in a short morning and again with boys in the afternoon in an orthodox jewish school and it worked a treat so if I could just get on some training on EYFS and see what they say and perhaps work it out my way then it could bring the paperwork to a minimum. I would love to be able to use all proper montessori equipment with the children but that would be impossible as it is soo expensive and I would need loads of space to store it and it wouldn't get used to its best advantage with so few children. However in time I hope to get some and adapt other stuff that is on the market which is pretty similar to try to do the same job.

I bet this is just like a load of auld rambling to you all but I was just trying to make a point forget about the topic based planning and tying it into they Eyfs but instead do child based planning and yes do topics but just make a small reference to it in the childs developmental / learning / achievement records. does anybody see what I mean and the topic should be chosen around the interests of the children or the areas of learning and shouldn't be planned too far in advance so bin the concept of long term planning / yearly planning and replace it with a plan for covering festivals etc over the year but these are incidentals so mention in December we will cover festivals of light and see what ones are covered throughout the world inlcluding christmas ofcourse the amount of time you devote to each festival will depend of the relevance to the group if you have a lot of hindus in a group you will devote longer to their festivals than to say Jewish ones if there are no jewish children in the group because its relevant to them its also good to look at both the religious and the secular side to a festival. and then you could also have a small topic that interests the children running at the same time it doesn't matter how long it lasts as the children should dictate this but if you are going to do anything plan it as best as you can once you know the children are interest in it and let the children develop the plans with you once you decide on a topic do try to have a rough guide of how you are going to develop the topic and what areas of learning could be developed then be led by the children - an idea you think is great they could think is a disaster etc etc not all topics have to coper all areas of learning in order for it to flow naturally and smoothly it shouldn't that is what makes planning so difficult because people are clutching at straws and are not being about the limoitations of the topic some topics could be great for maths other for language development but may cross over into the other areas and not into some which is still perfectly ok it may also cover different areas for different children. If this is how EYFS is going to work then I'm happy with it. If it is going to force things for the sake of it then I'm not going to be comfortable with it and its just another waste of time paperwork exercise paying lipservice to being child centred.

Celine:)

ajs
01-03-2008, 02:53 AM
hi celine where did you do your montessori taining
i did mine at the lmc in 1980
i hardly ever use mine now thouh infact i barely remember anything
i still have all the text books though maybe i should reread them

Heaven Scent
01-03-2008, 12:30 PM
Hi Mandy I did mine in Dublin but in the London Montessori Centre - now merged with St Nicolas and called Montessori international - I used to attend confrences there when I was still working in Montessori but I just don't have the time any more. I even bought equipment to use when working in the Jewish school in London I think you can use the principles in lots of different settings but its just not so structured and I also believe that what we are seeing happening today with EYFS has been derived from the success of Montessori Inspections but the trouble is they are still holding on to the traditional was too much and the child centred side with only work if the thematic appraoch is changed and tweaked - Where are you based? I know people mis understand some of the Montessori principles bujt years ago I went to a confrence about adapting Montessori to the modern world and it was very interesting - it is just like adapting all the work of all the early educators to the modern world. Also some people have got hold of the wrong end of the stick with some of the principles - there is even incorrect information in text books used for Nat Dip and DCE courses many say that Montessori didn't allow the children to be involved in imaginative play - not true she just said that children under the age of 6 could not distinguish between fact and fantacy and shouln't be subjected to fairy stories - there is a huge difference. Also people think that in Montessori schools do what they like whereas its where they like what they do because everything they do comes from them - I think thats what they are trying to do with the EYFS but are going about it in a very complicated way thats all. - I wish I wasn't having this bloomin' inspection so soon and then I could get my head around it more easily.

Speak to you soon

Celine

sarah707
01-03-2008, 02:51 PM
I can see exactly what you are saying Celine, but a lot of people (including childminders, teachers and children's families) are very unhappy without topic or theme based planning to refer to and, in my literature, I have argued very strongly for keeping it... but within acceptable limits.

EFYS puts a strong focus on doing a good proportion of child led activities and an equal proportion of adult planned activities, to extend a child's learning - so if you see them interested in something, plan around it...

The danger there, of course, is as soon as little johnny says the word 'dinosuar' we have a carefully planned 4 week unit of activities ready for him the next day, when really he was just playing with saying a new word and wasn't really that interested at all! :p

Much of my planning revolves around festivals, the seasons and children's interests - a favourite book, a song etc... and there are lots of references in Ofsted literature (and coming from the Govt) to show they keen to see children being planned for like this.

But I do agree we need a good balance. It's easy to let a child play all day with his cars and sit back thinking - well he's following his interests isn't he...

What we ought to be thinking is how to use the cars to make tracks in paint, to explore the sand pit, to think about up and down by putting them through a tube, to go through a puddle outside, to draw a map of the local area with roads for the car etc... that, in my opinion, is embracing child-led play but also including extended learning for each child :D

childminder54
13-03-2008, 05:16 PM
i wish they would ban it put they wont to much money gone into it to set up


veronicaxx:clapping: :clapping:

buildingblocks
13-03-2008, 08:25 PM
Interestingly enough read something today (but can't remember for the life of me where it was) that the Open Eye people (thinks that the right name for the group) do not want it banning as such but want it changing from being Statutiry and compulsory to being more a choice - sorry not the right wording and can't remember exactly what it said