Peer-reviewed article
Learning, development and the early childhood curriculum: A critical discourse analysis of the Early Years Foundation Stage in England
Elizabeth Wood ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This article analyses the Early Years Foundation Stage, the national framework for education from birth to 5 years in England. It uses critical discourse analysis to examine how the framework presents learning and development, and what this means for curriculum, teaching and assessment. The author argues that the framework draws selectively on child development theories and government-funded research. It also argues that the framework moves from developmental processes to learning outcomes and school readiness. The author questions whether the framework helps with equity and inclusion, and proposes an alternative view in which learning leads development.
Key points
- The evidence base for the framework relies on selective use of child development theories and government-funded research.
- The framework reflects a Piagetian view that 'development leads learning', which makes children 'knowable' and 'measurable'.
- The framework shifts from developmental processes to learning outcomes as the basis for curriculum, assessment and school readiness.
- The framework works as a discursive regime that shapes how practitioners must meet performance criteria used to assess outcomes, evaluate standards and define 'quality'.
- An alternative 'learning leading development' onto-epistemology is proposed.
Limitations
This is a critical analysis of policy discourse, so it does not measure outcomes for children or test whether any approach improves them. The abstract does not describe which documents were analysed or how they were selected, and it focuses on England only.
Abstract
This article focuses on the national policy framework for early childhood education (birth to 5 years) in England – the Early Years Foundation Stage, specifically the use of child development theories as the underpinning knowledge base for practice. The aim is to understand what constructions of learning and development are foregrounded in policy, and their implications for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Critical Discourse Analysis methods are used to expose learning and development as messy constructs, and to propose three arguments. First, the evidence base for the Early Years Foundation Stage relies on selective appropriation of child development theories, and findings from government-funded research. These sustain normative discourses, reflecting a Piagetian ontology of ‘development leads learning’, through which children become ‘knowable’ and ‘measurable’. Second, the Early Years Foundation Stage shifts from developmental processes to learning outcomes as the basis for constructing curriculum, assessment of children’s outcomes and school readiness. Third, the Early Years Foundation Stage constitutes a discursive regime, which influences how practitioners must fulfil performance criteria that serve multiple purposes of assessing outcomes, evaluating standards and defining ‘quality’. From a critical perspective, this analysis questions the efficacy of the Early Years Foundation Stage in addressing the problems of equity and inclusion in diverse societies. The Early Years Foundation Stage exemplifies the policy technologies that can be discerned in international contexts, through which specific forms of curriculum coherence and control are produced. An alternative ‘learning leading development’ onto-epistemology is proposed, which offers potential for challenging the (il)logic of the Early Years Foundation Stage.