April 2021 Magazine

EYFS series: Education
concept that some objects are bigger or
taller than other objects, then inevitably
you will be covering some area of space
and measure as well.
revisions and ELGs part 3
In this article we look at the upcoming
changes to the specific areas of the Early
Learning Goals, those for:
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Creative art and design
Literacy
The main change here is the addition
of “Comprehension” with ‘Reading’ and
‘Writing’. After all, what is the point of
learning to ‘read’ if you don’t understand
what you’ve read? That would be like
being able to read a foreign language,
but having no understanding of what it
means – it’s pointless. Ensuring children
comprehend and understand what
they read, or probably more precisely,
what the practitioner reads, is crucial.
Interestingly, the expectation that children
will demonstrate an understanding of
‘what they have read’ has gone, which
implies that reading independently by the
end of the Reception year is not realistic
for most children.
Paraphrasing the new ELG for Literacy
slightly, children at the expected level of
development will:
• Understand what has been read to
them, retell stories and narratives in
their own words
• Anticipate events in stories
• Use new vocabulary in discussions
and role plays
Last month we discussed the importance
of, and emphasis on oral communication
in early years, and is underlined in the
new ELGs for literacy too since there is
an obvious link to understanding and
vocabulary. The emphasis now is more
on the ability of students to understand
words they hear, and use them in their
own communication rather than stress
reading in early years. Clearly reading
is the ultimate end goal, but how this
is done is still up for discussion. Many
early learning educators choose to
support children in developing phonemic
awareness, phonological awareness
and phonics knowledge in the
pre-school years through a number of
different methods including purposeful
play, linking pictures, sounds and letters/
words or formal phonics. However, with
children, there is rarely a ‘one size fits all’
approach, and each setting will have their
own literacy challenges, and should tailor
their approach to the literacy curriculum
according to their own needs. Perhaps
your setting has a higher proportion of
disadvantaged children at risk of falling
behind in language, or a high proportion
of EAL children, or parents who push for
early phonics at the expense of other
learning areas. Only you will be able to
determine what is right for the literacy
development of the children in your
setting.
Whilst we have focused here on ‘reading’
and ‘comprehension’ mainly, the ‘writing’
element has remained consistent, so
encouraging mark-making in different
media and scenarios will also remain
important.
Mathematics
Much has been written about the changes
to the Maths ELGs, especially with the
removal of “Shape, Space and Measure”,
replaced by “Numerical Patterns”. Some
people have been upset with the greater
emphasis on number bonds, counting
and patterns, however, within early years,
much of the Maths curriculum involves
teaching numeracy by using shapes,
space and measures anyway, so the
debate may be more about semantics
than practice. For example, when you
show a triangle to a pre-schooler, you are
not only teaching the name of the shape,
but also that triangles have 3 sides, and
usually, that it has fewer sides than a
square (4 sides). Children often play with
different-shaped polygons way before they
can count, therefore, it is difficult to see
how early years maths can really be done
without teaching shapes, spaces and
measures. Just because this is no longer
one of the requirements for assessment
at the end of the Reception year, doesn’t
mean it will be ignored.
Also, as early years practitioners, you will
already know that the ELG outcomes are
not the only thing you teach, so these
things should continue to be included
to give a well-rounded and balanced
curriculum. If you teach counting, or the
The inclusion of “Numerical Patterns” is
a significant change though because
when children recognise patterns in
maths (e.g. doubles/odd/even numbers/
things changing by a set amount), they
often find other concepts easier later on,
such as multiplication and division, and
square and cube numbers. However, it’s
also useful to remember that patterns
can also be to do with shape, colours,
symmetry and rotation as well as quantity
and numbers, so these things could be
incorporated to help children understand
numerical patterns too.
Understanding the world
This has been split into ‘past’ and ‘present’
and ‘Technology’ has gone, although
as technology is now abundant in many
educational settings, most children will
naturally grow up with using things like
computers, games, YouTube videos,
audio stories, animations etc, shown on
technology as a matter of course.
There is some extension to the “Natural
World” section which includes ‘other
important processes and changes in the
natural world’, as well as the seasons,
where you could consider teaching things
like life cycles - butterflies, bees, worms,
plants, frogs, hedgehogs are all good
candidates here, but you could also
consider changing weather, and habitats
too.
Expressive arts and design
One of the changes in this section is
that ‘Performing’ has been replaced
with “Being Imaginative and Expressive’.
Perhaps this stems from an inference
that ‘performing’ somehow implies an
audience and this is not what is required
here. What is being encouraged is a
confidence in expressing ideas in different
forms and using their imaginations.
Moving in time to music can be
encouraged from very early on by rocky a
baby rhythmically, or through baby music
classes which help children recognise and
respond to different rhythms, picking out
the patterns that they hear. Music and
maths have long been connected, so there
are opportunities here to work across the
curriculum by listening for the numerical
patterns in musical rhythms, for example.
As with the other areas, it cannot be
stressed enough that your curriculum
should be matched to the needs of the
children in front of you, and that you
should be working everything backwards
so that your curriculum for babies and
younger toddlers is building towards the
later outcomes. And also keep in mind the
role of parents and the 3 characteristics of
effective teaching and learning, namely:
• Playing and exploring
• Active learning
• Creating and thinking critically
Further information
• Early adopter handbook
• Getting it right in the early years – a
review of the evidence
• Nursery World article
• Communication in the revised ELGs
14 April 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | April 2021 15