The EYFS consultation has been launched (2nd August 2010). Find it here, respond to it and let us know what you said here! And if you're not all questionnaired out, we'd love you to take part in our own EYFS survey, which you'll find here.

If you haven't yet had a chance to try out our Progress Recording and Monitoring System (PRAMS) software, why not give it a try (subscribing members only). Intended as a system for recording observations and assessing them against the development matters statements of the six areas of learning, the program is intended primarily for FS1 providers and can be found in the Resource Library, or by clicking here.

An online version is now available of The Coalition: our programme for government. It sets out a programme for partnership government over the next five years.

New Local Authority Members. We're delighted to inform you that Coventry City and the LB of Redbridge LA have joined the FSF County subscription scheme. Manchester, North Tyneside, Gloucestershire, Windsor & Maidenhead, Norfolk, Guernsey and Staffordshire have renewed for a second year and Portsmouth City, Medway, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Cumbria, Wandsworth, South Gloucestershire are renewing for the third year. A special welcome back for Brighton & Hove, Leicestershire, Stockton-on-Tees and Brent who have just renewed for a fourth year. We are especially pleased that NE Lincs, Middlesbrough, Sandwell, Suffolk, Essex, Hampshire, Birmingham and Cambridgeshire have just renewed for a 5th Year: welcome back! If you work in any of these authorities and would like to take out a free subscription, please click here. Current members from these authorities need do nothing: their account subscriptions will automatically be renewed.

New: Aug 9, 2010

Using the Mosaic Approach to Listen to Young Children
Developed at the Thomas Coram Early Childhood centre, the Mosaic Approach uses children's photographs, tours and maps to gain an in-depth understanding of children's lives and what is important to them. Here, Sue Ridgway describes how she used this approach in her setting, and the impact it has had on the experiences of children, their families and the staff.

New: Aug 6, 2010

Taking a Risk? The value of risk and challenge in the early years.
This article examines the role of risk taking in child development and how practitioners can foster a positive attitude to risk and challenge in the early years.

New: Jun 15, 2010

Ofsted Inspection Reports for Childminders (Part 2)
In this article we look at the quality and standards of the early years provision and outcomes for children.

New: Jun 14, 2010

The Practitioner as an Explorer: Effective Observation Techniques
Observation is at the heart of effective provision, and it ensures that we keep the child at the centre of our practice. This article discusses various tools and techniques practitioners need to carry out effective observation and to support learning within the EYFS.

Featured article: Educational Pioneers: Loris Malaguzzi, 1920-1994

Loris Malaguzzi was an Italian educationalist. In the latter half of the Twentieth Century his name became synonymous with teaching in a municipality in Northern Italy called Reggio Emilia. Malaguzzi's educational philosophy was based on citizenship, exploration and building relationships. What is unique about the education in Reggio is that its citizens had to make a fresh start after the destruction of the Second World War, from building new schools to adopting a new pedagogy. It is because of this that many educationalists believe that the Reggio Emilia approach is not transferable in its entirety to another location. As Moss explains, it is not ‘a recipe', but rather it ‘provides us with a sort of lens for looking at our own situations' (in Abbot and Nutbrown, p.133).

Loris Malaguzzi was born in 1920 in the Italian town of Correggio. He became a primary school teacher and went on to study psychology in Rome. In 1945, as the Second World War ended, he was working near the town of Reggio Emilia. He had heard that the parents of the town were building their own school after the wreckage left by the war, and he decided to visit the project. He later wrote that this first school was ‘created and run by parents in a devastated town, rich only in mourning and poverty' (Pound, p.52). Malaguzzi was inspired by the determination of these parents, and he began to work with them. It was a community effort, and this sense of citizenship and cooperation became central to Malaguzzi's theories and to the Reggio approach in general. Many more parent run centres followed, but as time went on it became harder to fund the schools. The Catholic Church and politicians in Rome were opposed to the preschools, believing that the child care they provided would encourage mothers to go out to work. In order to diffuse this opposition, Malaguzzi took his schools to the public:

‘We would teach school and show exhibits in the open air, in public parks or under the colonnade of the municipal theatre. The children were happy. The people saw, they were surprised and they asked questions' (Malaguzzi in Thornton and Brunton 1, p.4)

Almost twenty years later, in 1963, city funding was provided, and in 1967 the municipality of Reggio Emilia took over the running of the schools. In 1987, global interest in the teaching at Reggio schools inspired Malaguzzi and his fellow teachers to set up an exhibition in the United States called The Hundred Languages of Children. Malaguzzi died in 1994, but his philosophy of education remains in Reggio schools today.

(Read more) (Subscribing members article)

Featured article: The Drawings of Reception Boys: Fantasy and Frustrations

My PhD research project is centred on the communicative potential of young children's drawings. Drawing is an activity that most young children enjoy and there is much evidence to show how it can offer them a powerful means of communicating their ideas, experiences and feelings. However, The Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage (DfES, 2008) contains mixed messages: some positive things are said about drawing, but drawing as a form of communication is predominantly seen as a pre-writing skill. This view needs to be corrected as it undermines the complexity and richness of young children's drawings that often belies their apparent simplicity.

In the school year 2007/8 I made regular visits to a mixed reception/year one class in a school in rural South West England in order to explore what and how young children communicate through drawing, as well as what influences their drawings. There were 14 children involved in my project: eight girls and six boys aged between 4 years, 8 months and 5 years, 11 months. In this article I will focus on the drawings of the three reception children, who were all boys.

Each child was given two scrapbooks in which to collect their drawings: one for school and one for home. I discussed the drawings with the children, with the class teacher, and with the children's parents, as well as conducting classroom observations. The children were asked to choose their own 'project names' and throughout the research, in line with Wood's (2005) advice, the children were recognised as expert informers and witnesses regarding their own experiences and perspectives.

.......I can suggest some general implications for practice:

Firstly, each individual had his own unique ideas and means of expression. The drawings were influenced by various factors, but they were mostly self-motivated and therefore personally significant. Most of the drawings were produced at home, but even in more formal learning contexts it is important that young children are given time and space to create drawings (and painting, models etc.) that are spontaneous and meaningful. This is not to say that requested drawings cannot be meaningful, but it is misguided to judge young children's drawings in terms of realism or expect each child's to look the same.

Secondly, it is important that practitioners (and parents) engage children in conversations about their drawings in order to fully understand their interests and intentions, and to also show that their drawings are valued (Davis, 2005). If the conversations are natural and enjoyable the children might then be more likely to volunteer information, as I found as my study progressed. Conversations need only take a few minutes, but sensitive questioning could lead to useful insights (e.g. tell me about your drawing...who is this, what are they doing/thinking, where did your idea come from? etc.). These insights could aid practitioners with assessment and also help in planning relevant and worthwhile learning activities, linked to the children's drawing interests.

Finally, practitioners (and parents) shouldn't feel that offering guidance to support children's drawings might in some way disturb their creativity. After all, activities like writing are frequently modelled and supported in the classroom (Kress, 2000). Faye, the class teacher, often drew for the children and also invited them to offer feedback on her drawings. If we want both boys and girls to enjoy drawing, and make the most of their skills, then they must see that we enjoy drawing and find it a useful way of communicating too.

(Read more) (Subscribing members article)