Learning and Development and the Early Years Foundation Stage

1548 Words7 Pages
The field of early childhood education and learning has experienced radical changes and has been transformed in the last decade. In this assignment I will be looking at the historical and theoretical milestones whilst exploring the implementation of some of the policies that have helped to shape the changes. Tina Bruce, a leading figure in early childhood education and an expert on the principles of learning, is believed to have been a great influence in shaping the way forward for childhood and education, she was on the working party for The ‘Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage’, the ‘Birth to Three Matters’ Framework and the Foundation Stage Profile. Tina Bruce drew heavily on the work of Froebel, Steiner, Montessori and Piaget to write 10 principles of early childhood education which are believed to be the foundation of all children’s learning today. In 1988, the Education Reform Act set out a National Curriculum for England and Wales. The intention of this act was to offer a broad and balanced curriculum in all schools. Before the 1988 Education Reform Act, there was very little government intervention in curriculum planning and implementation. A change in early childhood education brought in by the conservative party was the introduction of the framework for early year’s education represented by ‘Desirable Learning Outcomes” (DLO’S). The DLO’s signalled a move to a more formal approach to learning in the early years, aimed at improving outcomes for children at the end of their primary education. This was the first stage of a nursery voucher scheme which linked to the Desirable Learning Outcomes. The scheme gave parents with 4 year old children a voucher for up to three terms of part time education in any preschool provision. However, in order to be able to receive the vouchers pre school provisions had to show that they were moving towards the
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