Open Eye Campaign For Open Early Years Education

EDM number 1031 in 2007-08, proposed by Annette Brooke on 25/02/2008.
Categorised under the topic of Pre-school education.

That this House notes the concern of academics, practitioners and members of the public over the prescriptive nature of the Learning and Development Requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) legislation which comes into force in September this year; further notes the questions raised by the Open EYE campaign over the extensively prescriptive nature of the literacy goals set by the Government and whether the kind of cognitive learning set out in the EYFS framework is developmentally appropriate for all young children; further notes that children must be provided with a solid foundation in socialisation, listening and speaking skills, and fine motor skills before proceeding to the demands of reading and writing; draws attention to the fact that authentic play is vital to the development of emotional and cognitive intelligence and typically reaches its peak between children's fourth and fifth birthdays; further notes the concern expressed by the Open EYE campaign that this important characteristic of early childhood could be seriously hindered by the nature of the EYFS targets; and urges the Government to consider an independent review of the framework, and the EYFS, for all settings.

This motion has been signed by a total of 86 MPs.