The Early Years Curriculum Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Early Years Curriculum - Research Paper Example Such childhood is viewed as necessary to provide the foundation for realizing children's abilities and talents as they grow up. The EYFS assures parents that their children achieve this goal. The EYFS undertakes several tasks in ensuring that the outcomes of Every Child Matters are achieved by setting the standards, providing for quality of opportunity, creating the framework for partnership working, improving quality and consistency, and laying a secure foundation for future learning (Statutory Framework 2008). Learning through EYFS is done through a principled approach which the following are embedded: a unique child, positive relationships, enabling environments, and learning and development. The observation on curriculum took place on Nov. 7, 2008 at Odessa Primary School while the other one was at Montessori Day Nursery which opened in 1998. It was noticed that both settings recognized the areas of learning and early learning goals of the EYFS which include personal, social, and emotional development, communication, language, and literacy, mathematics development, knowledge and understanding of the world, physical development, and creative development. However the delivery of these goals differed in the two observed settings, which will be mentioned in this paper. One of the underpinning policies of EYFS is "every child matters," which seemed to have been overlooked or neglected by the Montessori Day Nursery in t... y Nursery in that staff ignored other children who bullied others and threw objects on them, such as the incident in which one boy threw a metal car and hit another boy, to which a staff treated it as we don't hit our friends, which was contrary to her appeasement of the other child as it was an accident. Based on the observation, the Montessori Day Nursery did not seem to follow in practice the overarching aim of EYFS, which is to help young children achieve the five outcomes of Every Child Matters which include, staying safe. The bullied children seemed to experience lack of safety by the bullies, in which the staff tended to treat the situation lightly. Enjoying and achieving seems a lacking element in the setting, since there were plenty of distractions while the class teacher was reading a story, affecting the quality of the experience as well as other's desire on the activity. Most staff members ignored the children's bad behavior as if nothing happened, resulting in non-absorp tion and disturbance on the part of other children who were willing to listen and learn from the story. In fact, when the boy who hit another with a metal toy car was told we don't hit our friends, the teacher started to read the book again, in which the boy started to punch and push other children to which she did not pay attention and just carried on with the reading. When asked if she planned the activities in advance, the activity sheet shown did not match the actual activities conducted since according to the teacher, the activity sheet only served to guide her. The Montessori Day Nursery however heeded to the provision set by the EYFS in relation to housing young children of varying ages, from birth to the end of the academic years in which the child has his/her fifth birthday. The