Prime areas:

Describe the area of learning and development within the current framework which relate to school readiness.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) consists of about the seven areas of development, which consist of three prime areas and four specific areas. Each of the areas is considered essential for a child to develop skills and competence, to be considered ready for school at the age of 5 years.

Prime areas:

Communication and Language:

Communication and language skills are the foundation of any development in a child, and without the communication and language skills, learning becomes delayed or even impossible. A child must listen, understand and respond with attention to be considered ready for school. The response should be appropriate and relevant to the topic with proper words directed to the person involved in the conversation.

Physical Development:

Physical development includes moving and handling with good and fine motor skills. These skills are used for writing with pencils or using scissors; it also involves managing of self-care routines and feeding themselves, going to the toilet alone and even dresses individually.

Personal, social and emotional development:                

The child displaying confidence and willing to try new activities can express feelings to the known people. Being able to manage their feelings, emotions and also express their views and needs. They should be able to follow instructions and rules while cooperating and also exhibit good behaviour when taking part in activities as a part of having social skills. Being able to display good behaviours and knowing what is required and what is not. Along with those skills, a child must be willing and show interest in new opportunities that can help in learning. Lack of necessary skills in a child may result in feeling clueless and lost in changes and prevent them from being ready for school. The prime areas of development are needed for all kinds of learning in the child’s life.

Specific areas:

Literacy:                                                                                                                                                                                                          

A child is considered literate when he/she can read and write effectively. A child is considered ready for school when they can read certain sets of high-frequency words and also being able to translate them or pronounce them into meaningful and accurate word. Being able to write meaning full words is also necessary for being school ready.

Mathematics:

Simple mathematical skills like counting numbers from 1-20, addition of two simple numbers, and subtraction of two simple numbers are required to be considered as school ready. It also includes an understanding of the concept of double or half in daily life. The child should even know the use of weight, height, size and be able to apply in real life.

Understanding the world:

Children need to be aware and understand their surrounding and the differences in the communities they are living. They should understand their family traditions, cultures and also be aware of others about following other religion, tradition and culture. The child should even know about the changes in surroundings like season, weather changes, animals, birds and be able to discuss about them. They should also be keen on learning new technology for learning opportunities.

Communication and Language

Expressive arts and design:

The child can be able to use imagination and creativity to be able to use various resources available around the child. Taking part in role play, music and dance can help in using of imagination and creativity of skills and express thoughts and feelings. Learning can be more exciting and be engaging with these skills enhancing the children’s learning process by creating curiosity and also gives motivation to the children. These skills help in adapting to changes and cope with it that indicates a child ready for school. The absence of these skills can affect the learning and development of the child.

Identify assessment strategies in relation to the current framework.

The EYFS specifically states specific requirements to be covered in order to promote children’s learning and development. These include:

• The early learning goals that are like targets the setting and practitioners should help children achieve in order to be ready for school.
• Have in place assessment strategies to measure progress.

The early learning goals should be achieved in the early years of the foundation stage to be able to acquire the necessary skills in all the areas of development to move into the National Curriculum. This assessment helps in understanding the importance of the three prime areas and four specific areas of development to move into the National Curriculum (Year 1).

At the end of the academic year when the child turns 5, each child’s development is compared with the Early learning goals to assess and identify the stage the child is at. This is called the Early Years Foundation stage Profile which helps in creating a profile for each child including additional needs required for the child to be able to get the necessary skills and knowledge for further development.

Through this observation, the child’s ability and capability is monitored by practitioners by comparing with a base of standards for expected age and targets. This helps in understanding the current position and ability of the child and then to set objectives and goals for the child to be able to move forward and monitor the stages of progress of the child. The professionals and the parents involved in the assessment are an essential part of the journey.

The specific requirements relating to their assessment are:

The evaluation should be based on observing the children when they are involved in activities independently without any external influence from their parents. These assessments should be stored in the form of notes, paper and photographs and it should be checked by a supervisor for accuracy and objectivity. The result of the assessment should be assessed by the professionals of observers and supervisors for accuracy and then forward it to the parents. The assessment should include most of the time in engaging with the child and less time in doing paper works and assessment based on information in papers. The assessment should be passed on to other professionals and the parents/carers relevant or involved to the child so that the development can be continued with effective strategies and planning. Special needs of the child should be mentioned in the assessment and should be forwarded to the relevant professionals.    

Physical Development

 The EYFS profile should be created by 30 June of the academic year and shred with the relevant related people of the child and the year 1 teacher as well. The contents of the profile must state where the child stands in relation to their relevant age and stage of development and also inform about the expected level, whether the child is emerging or exceeding the standards.

Considering the assessment and the result, the year 1 results are given to the teacher hired for more learning and to monitor:

• If they engage in play and show curiosity to learn by providing new experiences a try.
• If they display perseverance and persistence
• If they are able to invent and practice creative thinking and problem-solving abilities

This gives an opportunity for the Year 1 teacher and the parents to understand the child better and be able to plan further steps to expand their learning and development.

Evaluate the current framework’s assessment process in supporting children’s preparation for school.

This process is well planned, and it offers excellent opportunities and strategies for every child involved in the betterment of learning and development. The process provides equal and comprehensive opportunities for every child to help in the progress of every child associated in it with different strategies to promote growth in the learning and development of children. The time period required to carry out this assessment helps in addressing immediate support or planned support for the child at an appropriate time. The results are to be shared with every relevant person to the child who can help him learning and development, for example, teachers, parents, associates and friends to make the profile of the child better than before by receiving feedback about the child. This sharing of information gives a better perspective and reliable information about the child,

Factors affecting the assessment may be the experience of the staff, efficiency of the staff and their level of objectivity. Excessive pressure on the practitioners due to less time and excess profile to be made for a huge number of children can cause ineffective report as it is very time consuming and also it has some practical difficulties to make in short period of time as it requires thorough study and analysis and also gathering of information from different sources like parents, teachers and friends as well.

The involvement of the parents also depends on the social, economic status, education and general awareness of this study on children. For instance, at a state-funded setting, the nursery offers the parents to assess their children’s learning and development and to comment on the progress of their child, but most of the parents do not visit the nursery nor leave any comments. Only a few parents attend the nursery to avail this opportunity to visit the nursery to monitor their children and also leave valuable comments on their children’s progress and recommendation to improve their child’s learning. Those parents who do not bother to visit the nursery or leave their valuable comments are solely dependent on the practitioner and their ways of learning. They create a barrier for their children to learn and develop outside the setting as the practitioner is the sole source and help for efficient learning and development of the child. This creates a gap between the practitioner and the parents which results in less attention towards the child and development as the information collected gets insufficient as the information gathered is limited to only personal interaction without any social information of the child.

According to me, the main drawback of this assessment is the process of assessment and also that it needs to carry out the assessment and to prepare the Early years foundation stage profile for an individual child at the age of 5 years when the academic year comes to an end. This process is very much time consuming and requires a lot of attention.

 It also states that every child is unique and grows at a different phase which requires different strategies for the different stage of development of the child. Depending on the pace of the learning, support for every child should be provided efficiently for effective learning and development of the child. After a successful preparation of the early years foundation stage profile of a child with satisfactory results and expectation, it is not a matter of concern for anyone involved with the child as everyone expects that to be normal. But,

When a child is still emerging or struggling to meet expected levels because of their developmental delays, age gap or leaning gap, still the child has to progress to the next level.

The children with an unsatisfactory assessment of early years foundation stage profile, special needs and care should be taken comparing the assessment report of the child.  Although the child has to progress to the next level, vital information and recommendation need to be passed on to the teachers of year 1 teachers to be able to guide the children properly and individually. The difficulties faced by a child in climbing the education ladder gets increasing, knowing it is going to be a struggle, the difficulties only keep piling on. The child often gets left behind or faces extreme pressure in trying to catch up with expected levels of development and also competing with others. The teachers often getting busy in delivering lessons and in paper works reduces the time of interaction with the students resulting in low communication with them. The assessment should give freedom to the children to choose their timing of the promotion to the second level without being pushed or forced can prove a lot more effective and productive for the children.