Battle lines are being drawn over the Reception year in schools after the publication of a report calling for a government review to investigate the gap between the way children are taught in Reception and Year 1.
The report on effective primary education, led by retired headteacher Dame Reena Keeble for the Teaching Schools Council (TSC), has caused an outcry among Reception teachers and early years practitioners. They believe its authors have misunderstood the nature of the play-based Reception year, which follows the early years foundation stage (EYFS) framework rather than the national curriculum.
EYFS resists top-down pressure to treat four-year-olds as if they were older
Dame Reena said Reception was the “most important year” in primary school, but staff covering it were becoming “isolated”. She told TES that she thought pupils could do better if there was greater clarity in what they were aiming for.
Now Early Excellence, an early years training company, has announced that it is setting up its own review of Reception teaching and practice - and it is calling on teachers, heads and inspectors to contribute. Here is everything you need to know.
What’s the problem?
“In our view, Reception is the most important year,” the TSC says in its report, Effective Primary Teaching Practice. But it explains that it is also an area of particular concern. It wants the Department for Education to support a review - which would be led by teachers and heads - “to address the confusion and lack of consistency regarding curriculum and practice” between the Reception year and key stage 1.
What does the TSC mean by ‘confusion and inconsistency’?
One example that the report gives is a reliance on the counting-based approach to calculation in Reception. This contrasts with methods being used in KS1, where being able to partition numbers is crucial for successful calculation. It says that this is “leading teachers to have to teach pupils to avoid previously learned approaches”.
How has this happened?
The mismatch occurs because Reception and Year 1 are covered by different curricula. The gap between the two has become more noticeable since the revised, tougher national curriculum was introduced in 2014.
What do early years teachers disagree with?
The report is based on visits to just 20 schools, and early years organisations have questioned whether the recommendation is justified considering the small sample. Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of Early Education, a campaign group that has criticised the report, said it showed a “deep misunderstanding” of the fact that the EYFS differed from KS1 because it drew on research around the best ways for the under-5s to learn.
Is one curriculum for school-aged children the way forward?
This is perhaps the fear behind the furore - that the national curriculum could be extended to Reception year. The play-based EYFS, which was made statutory in 2008, has been popular among early years teachers precisely because it resists the “top-down” pressure to treat four-year-olds in Reception as if they were older. In fact, there have long been concerns about the early school starting age in England. Early Education has called for children who do not reach a good level of development in the Reception year to be able to continue with a similar, play-based curriculum in Year 1. And in Scotland, the Upstart campaign is calling for a kindergarten stage for children aged 3 to 7.
So there is a pressure for formal teaching to begin later, but isn’t it good for children to be in school from a young age?
There is international evidence that preschool education does have an impact on how children perform academically later on. Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) shows that pupils who attend early childhood education perform better in reading tests at 15 - even after taking socioeconomic background into account. But the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which runs Pisa, has found that the quality of provision is crucial. Almost all the countries covered by OECD research now have an early years curriculum, running from the age of 3 until compulsory schooling. These curricula generally highlight the importance of play, and aligning them with school curricula can be a challenge.
So is there going to be a government review of the Reception year?
The government’s response to the TSC report was merely to “note the recommendation”. It has a review of primary assessment - which may include a new baseline assessment in Reception - planned for next year.
Early Excellence has launched its own project to look at effective teaching practice in Reception. It is called “The Hundred Review” because it aims to draw on the experience and expertise of hundreds of teachers.
