I've tweeted about this union report suggesting it is a gross misinterpretation of the Bold Beginnings report - along with a worrying underestimation of what children enjoy and what they can achieve.
I've also written an article for SEN Magazine (not published at the time of writing this message) about the Bold Beginnings report - how it has opened up a hornets' nest but can it lead to opening eyes and minds?
School leaders' union rejects Ofsted view of early years education
By Bernadette Meaden
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/25979
Delegates at NAHT's Annual Conference 2018 voted overwhelmingly to support a motion from the union's Staffordshire branch which read:
Ofsted's recent Bold Beginnings report on teaching in the reception year has provided some deeply flawed analysis based on limited evidence. Conference is asked to reject an interpretation of early years education that:
*fails to acknowledge the wealth of evidence and research that the role of play is crucial in children's learning as part of the curriculum
*requires four-year-old children to sit and undertake formal work too early
*fails to recognise the professional judgement of teachers who are best placed to assess a pupil's readiness for formal writing or desk-based learning
*and fails to meet the needs of pupils with SEND ( special educational needs and disabilities) who will be left behind by an inappropriate early years curriculum.
Conference is asked to urge national executive to continue to reject the Bold Beginnings report that once again imposes a particular ideology on teachers and school leaders, regardless of evidence and to the detriment of young learners.
At the time of writing this comment, one of my grandsons is a month away from his second birthday.
He can remember a new word, and when to use it appropriately, after only hearing it only once.
His gross motor skills and balance are extraordinary and have been for some considerable time.
His fine motor manipulative skills are extraordinary. There is nothing he cannot handle, put together, pull apart, slip through, connect, build - you name it.
Please don't tell me that by the time he is four to five years old he won't be 'ready' to sit at a desk, learn to hold a pencil with the tripod grip - but, instead, needs to do some ribbon activities to build up his shoulder strength.
He thrives on being taught, and learning, new information, new words, new skills - every single moment of every day.
And please don't suggest that he is the only one.