Early years provision

Early years education is about developing learning through play for all children from birth to five years old. This might take place in children’s centres, nursery classes or reception classes at infant and primary schools as well as in pre-schools, day nurseries or at a childminder’s. Children are entitled to free part-time provision after the age of three with some limited care for two year-olds. Although early years education is not compulsory until the term following a child’s fifth birthday, it is a vital stage in their development as it may determine their life chances and help them to make progress when going into compulsory education.

Changes to early years teaching

The new early years foundation stage framework for birth- to five-year-olds became statutory in September 2008. It is a principles-based framework focusing on learning through play and is structured around four themes:

• a unique child
• positive relationships
• enabling environments
• learning and development.

It also stipulates six areas of learning:

• personal, social and emotional development
• communication, language and literacy
• problem solving, reasoning and numeracy
• knowledge and understanding of the world
• physical development
• creative development.

Indoor and outdoor activities are based around children's development in these areas.

There is no formal testing at this stage, though each child's progress is assessed using observational evidence. At the end of the reception year, each child has an early years foundation stage profile that records their achievements in the six areas of learning.

The ability to listen and communicate effectively with young children is vital.

The skills you need to teach young children

There needs to be a qualified teacher in nursery or reception classes who works with other professionals such as nursery nurses. Many achieve qualified teacher status (QTS) through a bachelor of education (BEd) or postgraduate certificate of education (PGCE) specialising in early years education. QTS is not an essential requirement for working in the private and voluntary sector. However, a new development, early years professional (EYP) status, is an alternative graduate-level status aimed mainly at those working in settings other than schools. The government wants every children's centre and full daycare setting to employ an EYP in the next few years.

The ability to listen and communicate effectively with young children is vital. You have to be flexible in your teaching approach in order to adapt to the children’s needs and to support them in the most appropriate way.

Planning for individual children in the classroom

It’s never dull working with very young children and one of the exciting challenges is planning appropriately for each individual. It can be very rewarding seeing things again for the first time through the eyes of a child. Teaching is not a nine-to-five job, however, and there is a great deal of preparation and paperwork involved.

We would like to thank Anne Renwick of the University of Cumbria and Samantha Dever of Cumbria Children's Services for their help with this article.