The phrase ideological assault may help us understand what is happening to and in our society. For understanding is half the battle. To begin, readers I’m offering two single word definitions from a rather elderly edition of the New Shorter Oxford English dictionary for your consideration: Ideological: A system of ideas or way of thinking pertaining to a class or [...]
Archive for the ‘History of opposition to EYFS learning and development targets’ Category
1 Apr
Phonics/reading test for five and six year olds rejected by the government’s EYFS review panel
Front page Times Educational Supplement today we find an interesting piece by Helen Ward entitled: “Phonics knocked off it’s perch by EYFS review”. in which Helen appears to be highlighting how the findings of the government-sponsored review panel appear to directly contradict coalition government policy on the reading test for five and six year olds. I’m saying ‘coalition government’ policy [...]
31 Mar
In which the writer considers the EYFS Review and only narrowly avoids the use of expletives…
It’s fairly standard these days for a government review to be ‘leaked’ in a targeted way to the press – before it is published. That’s how certain media machines work. Your average PR agency with any clout – knows that public opinion can be influenced by providing journalists with crease-free copy before the event. That [...]
30 Mar
Early Years Foundation Stage Review: Demonstration 26th. March, 2011.
The results of the Early Years Foundation Stage Review have been announced today. Rest assured readers, I do intend to share my thoughts with you all on this front – as soon as I can. However, in the meantime – I’m sharing this photograph – sized up so that you can see the detail of [...]
16 Jul
Government review of Early Years Foundation Stage. Interview with Sarah Teather Children’s Minister
Nursery World conducted a lengthy interview with the Children’s Minister Sarah Teather this week. See this link: Sarah Teather on the Review of the Early Years Foundation Stage
22 Jun
Open Eye Conference 2010. “The Child the True Foundation” Article in the Telegraph and Dr. Aric Sigman.
The international Open Eye conference I attended two weeks ago received coverage in the national media, including the Telegraph newspaper: They chose the challenging headline “Ban Computers from schools until children reach age 9 says expert”. Dr. Aric Sigman is quoted: “There is evidence to show that introducing information and communications technology (ICT) in the early years [...]
28 May
Half term – politics, academies, PTA, eyfs parliamentary petition, coalition government and a child’s first year at school
As the coalition government sets about it’s business – coalition agreements on education and schools are analysed in the mainstream press but official statements on the future of the Early Years Foundation Stage compulsory Learning and Development Requirements remain noticeably absent. The e-parliamentary petition system was de-activated by the U.K. administration around six weeks ago (due to the election, they said). [...]
4 May
Are Early Years Foundation Stage Profile scores being used to predict Sats results in YOUR CHILD’S school?
Measuring things can be very useful, can’t it? Especially for small children. A tape measure is fun to use. Clocks tell us when it’s time for tea…(or in this case – hot chocolate in M and S). But (and it’s a big but) – targets can also distort the way we perceive our fellow human beings. [...]
26 Apr
Open Eye Conference (June 12th.) and the Early Years Foundation Stage
As a family we’ve come a long way since we applied for and were refused a parental exemption to the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage legislation in our state-funded primary school. It was back in August last year that I first became aware of the existence of the organisation Open [...]
22 Apr
Are the Early Years Foundation Stage Learning and Development Requirements child (and parent) abuse?
I spent half an hour on the phone this week being interviewed by a fellow journalist from a national newspaper. We talked about parental exemptions to the Early Years Foundation Stage Learning and Development Requirements. Once again I was asked if we were the only parents in the U.K. to apply for and be refused an exemption [...]
