QCA commissioned CUREE to conduct a research project into practitioners’ experiences of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which came into effect in September 2008. The central question underpinning all our evidence gathering activities is: What is children's experience of the Early Years Foundation Stage?
We are researching early years children's experience of learning in the following ways:
- a literature review
- 13 focus groups consisting of a range of practitioners (reception and nursery teachers and teaching assistants, childminders, pre-school staff etc) to investigate the impact the EYFS has made on their planning, delivery and assessment, and
- an online questionnaire to provide longitudinal, quantitative data from across the early years profession.
From the focus groups we are seeking to find out, for example, how different providers:
- plan for learning across the different areas of learning and development
- gather information from parents and carers to inform planning
- balance adult-led and child-initiated activities
- extend children’s learning, and
- go about assessment.
Once the focus groups have been completed we will feed the information into the online questionnaire. The questionnaire will be hosted on the QCA website and will be open for one year. We will identify the web hosting arrangements, build the data base, promote the questionnaire and report on the emerging trends and patterns.
The field work will be complemented by a literature review consisting of a synthesis of research reviews from the fields of curriculum, early years education, and baby and child development.