EYFS – The Debate
Early Years Foundation Stage – The Debate
As the EYFS is the current hot topic we thought it would be fitting to organise a debate between two very important people within the Early Years sector.
Thanks to James Tweed, we have managed to organise a very interesting debate between Ruth Pimentel, who is the National Director of the EYFS and Wendy Scott, Early Years Consultant.
The debate has been divided into 14 sections. To listen to the relevant sections click on the any of the questions found below.
Please note that the audio files are quite big and may take some time to download / buffer depending on your internet speed.
- Introduction
- What is the thinking behind the Early Years Foundation Stage?
- Wendy, what are the good things about the EYFS?
- Ruth, what do you see as being the good things about the EYFS?
- What areas are not so good?
- Ruth, do you agree that that is the situation?
- Could you explain what is meant by learning through play in the EYFS?
- There’s been a lot of controversy around the EYFS literacy goals. Ruth, what have you got to say to this?
- There seems to be anecdotal evidence of local authorities putting pressure on schools to achieve higher Foundation Stage Profile results, whereas surely that’s not what the Foundation Stage Profile or even the EYFS is really about?
- There have been concerns about the EYFS being reduced to a “tick-box” exercise by poorly trained and motivated staff. What can be done to stop this from happening?
- What have you got to say to childminders who may be feeling burdened by the EYFS?
- The Open EYE campaign has been very vocal around the literacy Early Learning Goals. What do you have to say about their criticisms of those particular goals?
- Knowing what you do now, is there anything that you would – if you could – change about the EYFS, hypothetically?
Read the EYFS Dabate Transcript
EYFS The Debate - Your thoughts - Please feel free to mail us your comments
Hello,
I am a childminder considering leaving the profession.
I have been a childminder 4 years, my house was clean (not always tidy) and I was relax about my job. Now I fear the visit of the the Environmental Health department as I don't find the time to clean as well as I would like to because of the extra work requested by EYFS.
Before the EYFS I use to tidy and make safe before, during and after work. Now that I have to write down that I have made safe and what I can do for improvement, I have less time to actually do it.
If I don't write down the Risk Assessment regularly I am stressed because of the fear of the repercussion from an Ofsted inspector who will phone me in the morning to let me know he/she will come same day..
Before the EYFS I use to do more activities with the children, now I need to put down on paper what I plan to do before and after work and during work I write what I am doing with the children leaving me less time to actually sit with them, run with them, jump with them, laugh and play. I am stressed because I can't give them 100%, I give them 80% but a young child needs 100% from his carer.
When I write down the OBSERVATION for EYFS the parent rarely read it. They prefer the chat at the end of the day, not written information and they know the time I spend writing it is time I have spent away from reading to the child, chatting to him or playing with him.
The good point of EYFS is the that children have learned to be independent, they know how to play on their own whilst I write down the observation and activities. Before 1st September EYFS I was only writing the important stuff for children who could not yet speak. Nappy, feed, sleep, main activities.
Nobody looks after my son when I do the extra paperwork in the evening, therefore he whatches TV on his own. Not fair for him. He misses out when it was to be with him that I chose to be a Childminder.
In one year, the fees I charge have increased by 1.5% but my Ofsted registration has increased 67%, we should be paid more for the extra work we do for Ofsted, not pay them more.
I speak fluently 4 languages and understand some Polish and Spanish, I am computer literate, I am hard worker.
I think a trip to the Job Centre will be less time consuming and may have a more rewarding outcome than reading the 54 pages of Statutory Framework setting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage, 114 pages of the Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage and the 26 pages of Self-evaluation guidance and the 20 pages guide to inspection on Ofsted's Childcare and Early Years Registers for finally spending 9 hours or more filling the 30 pages Early Years Self-evaluation form before the inspector knock on my door.
I like being with the children, picking up my son from school with the other children, exchanging information with the parents. I like being a Childminder, I love the children I care for, it breaks my heart to be thinking of leaving.
I would like Ruth Pimentel, head of Early Years Foundation Stage and her successor to know how I feel. I would like NCMA to ask themselves why they have not done more to prevent the workload associated with EYFS and Ofsted Inspection becoming so heavy.
Kind regards
(Name and address provided)
I am a childminder of 21 years and who has cared for nearly 50 children in that time. I have considered giving up, but have decided to instead try to gain exemption from the EYFS learning and development goals. However, if I am unsuccessful I will be forced to give up the job I love because it has turned into a nightmare.
Ruth Pimental says "we knew or were beginning to know in this country that early years was really important", but childminders have always known that. That is why so many of them have been in the job for so long. They know they are doing a worth while job that often involves long hours with little or no breaks sometimes for quite low pay that can also be quite exhausting, but they do it to help the children.
When commenting about the fall in childminder numbers, Ruth Pimental says "we need to just wait and see what the actual figures are", but the numbers have been falling for 7 consecutive quarters now and the first fall came the quarter after the EYFS was announced. It would appear that she thinks that the previous falls don't count because they happened before the EYFS, but has she tried speaking to any of those childminders to find out why? Of course not, yet her department has already caused 12.5% of the childminding profession to give up with more to follow.
The recording of the observations and the planning that follows it is not there to help the child and it certainly doesn't help the childminder. Instead it is required by Ofsted to act as evidence and an audit trail to prove that these activities are happening, but childminders have always done this. Just because they didn't write it down doesn't mean they weren't doing it. Good childminders are always monitoring the children in their care and making sure they have the toys, equipment and activities that are appropriate for the stage they are at, but that isn't good enough for Ofsted. One of my parents has told me she doesn't want daily diaries etc because she can see with her own eyes that her 2 children are developing well and a verbal summary of the day is more than adequate, but try explaining that to an Ofsted inspector or Surestart for that matter. It just falls on deaf ears.
When a childminder is doing 50 - 60 minding hours a week (not uncommon when you have some arriving early and others going late) it is a big imposition to expect a childminder then to start writing up the days activities, writing plans for the next few days and keeping the children's profiles up to date. Many childminders also have young families of their own and anecdotal evidence from various childminder's forums shows that their own children are suffering at the expense of the minded children because of the paperwork. And that is fine under the EYFS because their own children aren't being minded for reward and so fall outside the scope of the EYFS.
All the government have to do is recognise that childminders working on their own and in their own home should, with the permission of the parents, be allowed to use the EYFS as a guideline rather than having it being statutory. Any childminder who then chooses to follow the EYFS to the letter can do so, but the choice is then left to the parents as it should be.
Thanks for giving us childminders the opportunity to reply.
Pat Adams
I decided to become a childminder 23 years ago when a friend asked me to care for her little boy. A couple of interviews and a chest xray later, and I was Registered. How different it is now for those who want to do the same job!
I am a strong supporter of enabling child care workers to do the job effectively, and I am fully aware of the need for training courses to enable those working with children to understand how children learn and develop, and our role in providing the enabling environment and warm relationship that fosters a happy, safe and relaxed atmosphere in which each child can happily realise their full potential.
However, I feel this has now been taken too far, and it seems “the powers that be” don’t know how or when to stop! The lengths that childminders are expected to go to in order to prove they are doing the job properly have become crippling and counter-productive to the extent that more time is spent on paperwork that on caring and nurturing the children!
I, like many other childminders, gave up an enormous amount of personal time just to prepare for my Ofsted. I spent weeks compiling my Portfolio, cataloguing my Toys, books, games, puzzles and equipment; compiling cleaning rotas, putting together endless policies, parent information booklets, files for training, files for resource collections, working out a system for recording each child’s development, the list goes on and on… I am an “all or nothing” person and it seemed that the only way I could prove I was doing the job to an “outstanding” standard was to tow the line and do the preparation, and I couldn’t have been happier with the result of my Ofsted Inspection. BUT it didn’t make me a better childminder! I still cared about and loved the children, I still provided the caring environment, and I still try to help each of my little ones to blossom and flourish, to feel loved and cared for, to be aware of the needs and feelings of others and to know that each one is recognised as being unique and valuable.
Yes it should be obligatory for childminders to attend relevant courses and keep up to date with current thinking and procedures, in order that they can prepare to do the job effectively, but the burden of delivering EYFS in a childminding setting is too much for many childminders, and this needs to be reviewed.
Childminders are NOT teachers in the formal sense of the word. We are, and should be well informed about child learning and development, and be able to provide lots of learning experiences at the appropriate times in each child’s learning journey. However, we care for children in our own homes in the same way as any caring well informed parent would do, and it is often physically just too much to keep up the level of commitment in writing up records of each child’s development, take photos as evidence, carry out observations, assessments, planning of activities; keep up to date with such things as medication records, accident/incidents books, accounts, contracts, child record forms, daily diaries for our own records as well as for parental information the list goes on…. And all this has to be done on top of what is often a 10 hour day, from 8am to 6pm in my case, and many childminders start and finish outside these hours!
We do need time for our own families as well, and the pressures that are being put upon us by the mandatory EYFS are too much, that is why many childminders are leaving the profession.
Thank you for reading my comments,
Yours sincerely,
Mrs R Richardson
Registered Childminder
Ofsted have no idea about what a childminder is all about.They are only concerned about education.a childminder is home based as the parents have chosen this,they are happy to get a childminder to love and make a child feel secure.This early minding will be with them for the rest of their lives and to help make them happy confident children.They don't need proper education untill the law says they have to at 5 yrs old.We as mums doing our minding know what a baby or toddler need at the right time depending when they are ready.All children and babies develope at different rates.Love and securety is VERY important to a little one away from parents while at work.
W. Hampton
I have been a childminder for 20 years and really enjoy my job, i think we really make a difference to the children we look after. BUT I am now thinking of giving up my much loved job, WHY?, because I want to look after the children not spend all day filling in observations, diaries and all the other endless paperwork we now have to do. Teachers get ppa time, nursery staff get time to fill out paperwork, when there is just one of you its your family time that has to go to make room for all this extra work. Working in a supermarket is sounding more beneficial by the day. Angela Black |
I am registered childminder and have been for the past 19 years. I have always received a good in my ofsted inspections. However I had my oftsed inspection last week and was down graded to satisfactory, mainly because of the new EYFS. At the beginning of September when we were starting the new observations I was having quite a hard time exactly understanding what it was that I was supposed to be looking for and recording down and the following-on procedure. Why was this going to be so very different from what I have always been doing? I spoke to my childcare co-ordinator and she was very helpful and understanding and informed me that there would be some follow on courses better explaining things. Unfortunately for me my inspection was due and I would not be able to benefit from these. However she did tell me that this was new to everyone and that there would be an allowance for things. I have been doing the best I thought possible in recording the children’s activities, doing projects with them and follow on educations. I am not a trained teacher, if I had wanted to be one I would have gone to college and would be earning a lot more than I am now. I am a mother of 3 grown up children. The parents of the children I look after have always been very happy with the love, care and attention I have given their children. I was very disappointed when I received my new grading. Nothing has changed over the years with my care and setting, but I am apparently not doing as well as expected with the EYFS.
I can fully understand why so many childminders have given up, the feeling amongst those I have spoken to is unease and disharmony.
(name and address supplied)
| I am a childminder od 22 years and I'm not a paid teacher i don't have paid holidays and i definately did not go into this profession to deal with the vast amount of paperwork, I have run a very good childcare buisness over these years without the need for all this new paperwork, so what am I now doing wrong? I went into the profession for the care of the children and the parents choice not to send youngones into a nursery envioroment giving the children a warm homely enviroment, now we are expected to tow the line and act as poorly paid cheep nursery care, as we are expected to do the same as in nurseries, i cannot blame childminders quitting I am certainly pondering on that boarderline and it such a shame as its been a most rewarding job over 22 years especially when I see the children grown up in good professions, I have had over 76 children through my door over this period and it will be sad that the new laws of EYFS are destroying good quality child care. Its about time childminders stuck up for their rights, after all we are self employed running our own buisness (do these laws affect any other self employed person running their own buisness) no they don't. I say fight for what you believe in so come on you childminders have your say. Dianne |
|
Many thanks for the chance to listen to your interview.... Unfortunately this has come too late for me, after 20 years as a childminder, having NEVER had a child leave me before starting school I have resigne as a childminder. A childminder is a 'Home' from home enviroment, I am NOT a My job is to cherish, love and ensure my children can read and write and are when they start school this is done at HOME with LOVE and PATIENCE and LEARNING through play. So thank you ofsted...what a waste of time and government money you are. Bring back Social Services, who do know us childminders who do know local area and the needs of those area not faceless government departments.. A very disgrunled ex-childminder. Y. Dixon
31 October 2008 13:08
I have been a childminder for 13 years, and I have to say am thinking of leaving the job. I feel all the joy of looking after children has been taken away by all the paper work. Most of my little people that I look after are recommendations, they trust me and I supply an environment that is the next best thing to their own homes. I am not a school, I do not want exams (MVQ's), otherwise I would work in a nursery environment. The parents think it's all rubbish as well, they don't want a nursery type placing for their child, they want a more homely place, more one on one etc. They laugh and shake their heads when I tell them of all the things we have to write down etc with regard to looking after there little person. I do understand that children develope at a different rates but I think it should be up to the childminder/parents to educate the children upto a certain standard and discuss any probs with parents if we feel the need. It's all a bit 'Big Brotherish'. I could go on, but I havn't got the energy, no one seems to listen to the childminders and we are the ones doing the job. There are going to be loads leaving the job with no-one to replace them. All this is not helping, it's hindering. Thanks for hearing our comments. |
EYFS Training CD
Are you still having trouble understanding and implementing the EYFS?
To help you in this process we have available a training CD, containing nine courses to support your individual professional development, that cover all the themes and commitments for the EYFS.
Click here for further information on the EYFS training CD
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