Media

International conference to examine new curriculum for children up to age of five

22 November 2007

On Thursday 22 November the Minister for Children, Beverley Hughes MP, will open the first international conference on the Early Years Foundation Stage – a new framework for providers who care for and teach children from birth up to school entry.

The two-day conference is being held at the Department of Education, Oxford University, and has attracted some of the world’s leading educational experts. They include Professor Lilian Katz, from the University of Illinois; Professor Kathy Sylva, from Oxford University, who is Convenor of the ‘Families, Early Learning and Literacy’ Group’; and Professor Ingrid Pramling-Samuelsson, from the University of Göteborg, who is President elect of OMEP World Organization of Preschool Education. Also speaking are the heads of two children’s centres  (in Northamptonshire and the West Midlands), which have started to implement the new curriculum.  

All registered early years providers and schools will be required to use the new framework known as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in September 2008. The framework builds on, and replaces, the guidance given to providers of care for babies and toddlers (0-3) It also addresses the Foundation Stage curriculum for three to five year olds and the national standards for day-care.

Professor Lilian Katz will reflect on the new EYFS from an international perspective.  She will say that the new statutory curriculum is ‘a major step in the right direction’. However, she will look critically at the emphasis that the new curriculum places on the teaching academic skills, including phonics. ‘Available research suggests that the benefits of the formal academic instruction for four- and five-year-olds seem to be promising when tested early, but considerably less so in the long term. Indeed, there are some indications that the long-term negative effects of premature academic instruction are more noticeable for boys than for girls.’

Professor Katz believes the new framework needs to focus more on ‘children’s intellectual development’ and not on ‘academic skills’. Instead of learning formal academic skills children learn to think for themselves in settings where they are given opportunities to observe, experience and investigate their environments   She will cite the experiences of  ‘best practice’ in Reggio Emilia in northern Italy. (*Notes to Editors)

Professor Ingrid Pramling-Samuellson will express her surprise at the emphasis on starting to read so young, including instruction in phonics. In Sweden, children are not formally taught to read until they are six or seven years old as the Swedish Early Years curriculum concentrates more on the development of speaking, listening and narrative language.

Hosting the conference, Professor Kathy Sylva will say that the commitment given by the government to pre-school education has been one of its main achievements in the last 10 years. However, she will refer to research she co-led with Sandra Mathers at Oxford’s Department of Education, which shows that the quality of childcare settings is heavily influenced by staff qualifications, especially  qualified teacher status (QTS). ‘There is a direct relationship between observed quality in early childhood settings and the presence of qualified teachers on the staff.’

The conference will be held at Oxford University Department of Education at 15 Norham Gardens, Oxford, on 22 and 23 November. 

If you want the full programme or would like to attend the conference or arrange interviews with the speakers, please contact Oxford Press Office on 01865 280534 or press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Notes to editors:

  • Professor Kathy Sylva leads research group ‘ Families, Early Learning and Literacy’, within the Department of Education, Oxford University. Professor Sylva is one of the leaders of government research into effective provision of pre-school, primary and secondary education  (EPPE). She has a particular interest in the role of early intervention in combating social disadvantage and exclusion. Professor Sylva was a Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills during their enquiry into early education in 2001 and Every Child Matters in 2003/4. She serves on government advisory committees concerned with national assessment, evaluation of programmes such as Sure Start, and curriculum for children 0-7 years.
  • Professor Lilian Katz is an international leader in early childhood education. She has been teaching at the University of Illinois since 1968, as well as lecturing in all 50 US States and in 43 countries, with visiting posts at universities worldwide. Dr. Katz has authored more than 150 publications, including articles, chapters, and books about early childhood education, teacher education, child development, and parenting. she served as vice president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) from 1986 to 1990 and later was elected president of NAEYC, serving from 1992-1994. Dr. Katz is currently Principal Investigator for the Illinois Early Learning Project and lectures and consults around the world.
  • Professor Iram Pramling-Samuelsson, from the University of Göteborg, is president elect of OMEP. It is an international, non-governmental and non-profit organisation concerned with all aspects of early childhood education and care.
  • Pen Green Centre, a children’s centre in Corby, Northamptonshire, is the setting of a child/family case study presented by Margy Whally.  It illustrates the ways the curriculum is experienced at the centre and at home. The head of Washwood Heath Children’s Centre in Birmingham will also be speaking at the conference on ways they have integrated  aspects of practice from Reggio Emila into their daily practice.
  • The Reggio Emilia approach to Early Years education: In educational terms the northern Italian town of Reggio Emilia has become renowned worldwide for its forward thinking and exemplary approach to early childhood education. Its philosophy is that a child must have first hand experience, often involving visual representation, so that children can make discoveries about their world.

More information