Research School Network: Developing Early Years Pedagogy within Year 1; the why behind the how

Children’s transition from Reception to Year 1 raises a number of challenges for schools to meet. The dislocation between the EYFS curriculum and the National Curriculum as discussed by Fisher (2010) and Bryce Clegg (2017) presents the first challenge for transition from Reception classrooms in July to Year 1 classrooms in September. The tension between curriculums was reflected in the Bold Beginnings (Ofsted, 2017) report which stated:

​‘Reception and Year 1 teachers agreed that the vital, smooth transition from the foundation stage to Year 1 was difficult because the early learning goals were not aligned with the now-increased expectations of the national curriculum.’ (Ofsted, 2017:4)

However it is not only the curriculum content and focus which shifts over the summer holiday but the broader ethos and pedagogy sitting behind teaching and learning within many ​‘formal’ Year 1 classrooms (Fisher, 2010 and Bryce Clegg, 2017). The ​‘gap’ or dislocation between EYFS and Year 1 is best summarized by Fisher (2010) who argues that children move from an environment in which they are empowered to lead their own learning to one in which they play a more passive role and their learning is both adult directed and whole-class based.

​‘While Reception children are to be found engaged in playful learning indoors and outdoors, Year 1 children are frequently found sitting passively on carpets listening to the exposition of their teachers’ (Fisher, 2010: 4)

Significantly, children’s expectations and concerns about their transition, which mirror these changes, add another layer for consideration (Sharp et al. 2006). The following interaction from Sharp et al’s research illustrates children’s perceptions of moving from Reception to Year 1.

​‘Researcher: Is there anything you don’t like about being in Year 1?

First boy: Being on the carpet for a long time.

Second boy: Neither do I because it is very boring.

First boy: And it wastes our time playing.

Second boy: It wastes your life.’

(Sharp et al. 2006: 22)

Reviewing the research evidence thus far raises the question for schools ​‘how can we develop our provision to better support children’s transition between EYFS curriculum and Key Stage 1 National Curriculum?’

In his report on the Primary Curriculum Rose (2009) recommended that stronger links are developed between EYFS and Key Stage 1 and argued that in doing this schools would support summer born children and those who were still working within the Early Years curriculum as they start Year 1. Within our school, we felt that developing a way to take an EYFS pedagogy into the National Curriculum in Year 1 would enable us to support children who were still working within the Foundation Stage and needed this approach.

We discussed the challenges of moving from our child centered EYFS provision to a formal Year 1 pedagogy within our school context. Ensuring that our provision across the school meets the needs of all children, but in particular disadvantaged pupils, is a key aim of our School Improvement Plan (2019).

As a team we set out to explore how we could create a teaching and learning environment in order to foster a ​‘good transition’ between the EYFS curriculum and Year 1 National Curriculum. Instead of a sudden shift in curriculum expectations, teaching practices and learning environment we explored how we could develop an EYFS pedagogy within the National Curriculum of Year 1. As we researched Early Years approaches further we found there were many ​‘elements’ to EYFS teaching and learning which we wanted to foster within our approach including but not limited to; independence, engagement, children’s ownership, an enquiry based structure and child initiated learning. As Ephgrave argues ​‘We don’t have to ​‘force’ children to learn, we just have to find ways to teach them that are engaging, active and appropriate’ (Ephgrave, 2017:7).

With this in mind we developed a teaching and learning environment which bridges the gap for our Year 1 pupils. In the next blog post how we designed and implemented this approach will be discussed further.

References

Bryce-Clegg, A. (2017) Effective Transition into Year One Bloomsbury.

Ephgrave, A. (2017) Year One in Action: a month by month guide to taking Early Years pedagogy into KS1 Routledge.

Fisher, J (2010) Moving onto Key Stage One: Improving transition from the Early Years Foundation Stage Open University Press.

OFSTED (2017) Bold Beginnings: The reception curriculum in a sample of good and outstanding primary schools

Rose, J. (2009) Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum: final report Department of Children, Schools and Families.

Sharp, C, White, G, Burge, B and Eames, A. (2006) Making a successful transition into Year 1 nfer practical research for education.