Introduction

With everyone starting to settle into the beginning of the new academic year and the initial flurry of new children and parents becoming less hectic and more familiar, it is a good time to reflect upon what underpins early years practice. For some practitioners, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (DfE, 2024a/b) framework may be completely new as they are at the very beginning of their career, while others have implemented it since it was first introduced in 2008. Whether you are starting this academic year as a trainee, a newly qualified or seasoned practitioner, it is always good practice to take time to refresh your knowledge and understanding of the EYFS framework and how it applies to your practice. This guide is intended as a brief overview of the framework and not as a deep dive into every aspect of it. This guide aims to highlight some of the key elements of the EYFS framework and encourage you to explore it further throughout your day-to-day practice as you actively implement it.

What is the EYFS?

The EYFS framework was introduced into practice in September 2008 for children aged 0-5 years. The EYFS amalgamated and replaced previous frameworks and guidelines, such as the government’s Every Child Matters initiative and the curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage. The EYFS was introduced into all early years settings as a single, statutory framework. The main purpose of this new framework was to set out the standards and requirements that all early years providers needed to implement and maintain to ensure that every child could learn and develop to their full potential, which included ensuring that they are kept healthy and safe.

It is strongly advocated that “... children learn best when they are healthy, safe, secure, when their individual needs are met, and when they have positive relationships with the adults caring for them” (DfE, 2024a: 22). The EYFS framework seeks to ensure that this is achieved by delivering high quality care and education, through building a strong foundation for learning and development, by working in partnership with parents/carers and by providing equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice.

Underpinning legislation and statutory guidance

The EYFS framework and the standards and requirements set within it are made statutory through underpinning government legislation and policies. As a practitioner, you have a role and responsibility to implement the EYFS framework, which includes understanding some of the key legislation and wider government policies underpinning it. Some of these key pieces of legislation and policies include:

The Childcare Act (2006)- This act places a duty on local authorities to improve the overall outcomes for young children, and to narrow the attainment gap for disadvantaged children within their locality. It additionally places an expectation on local councils to further increase accessibility and secure sufficient childcare for working parents.

Working together to safeguard children (2018)- This piece of statutory guidance sets out clear roles and responsibilities of individuals and organisations to ensure children are kept safe. This guidance is strongly linked to compliance with welfare requirements within the EYFS framework.

Prevent duty guidance for England and Wales (2015/2021)- Issued under section 29 of the Counterterrorism and Security Act (2001), the Prevent duty guidance for England and Wales came into force in 2015. The guidance placed a statutory duty on practitioners to protect children within their care and be alerted to factors that could impact upon and cause concerns in a child’s life. The key people around a child can have a strong influence on the values and beliefs that they hold. Therefore, all early years practitioners and providers must have an awareness of how children can be influenced to hold and express extremist views. It is your role and responsibility to additionally be able to identify and respond effectively to concerns surrounding radicalization and extremism.

The Equality Act (2010)- This Act is a substantial piece of legislation that protects everyone, including children and young people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation. This is particularly relevant for children with SEND in early years settings, as it places a statutory responsibility on practitioners to make reasonable adjustments within their practice to support the individual and specific needs of each child. This is to ensure that every child can access all areas of provision and learning opportunities to ensure that they can achieve the best possible outcomes.

The SEND Code of Practice (2015)- This code of practice sets the legal requirements and statutory guidance for all professionals working with and/or supporting children and young people aged 0-25 years. Under the SEND Code of Practice (2015), all early years providers and practitioners must give regard to the code, without exception and it outlines clear roles and responsibilities to ensure that they are effectively identifying and supporting all children with SEND.

The Data Protection Act (2018)- Within an early year setting you must keep personal information and records about each child and where relevant their families. However, you must handle, store and, where appropriate, share the information with other professionals securely and ethically. The Data Protection Act (2018), more commonly referred to as the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in the UK, provides guidelines on what personal data should be collected and how it is then subsequently processed and stored.

Updates and your responsibilities

Although the main purpose of the EYFS framework remains the same, aspects of the framework have been revised and updated since it was first implemented in 2008. The main aim of revisions and updates has been to ensure that the framework incorporates any changes in government policy and practice. It additionally aims to continuously improve the quality of the framework and subsequent delivery of high, quality early years practice to ensure that our youngest children have the best start in life.

Many of the changes and updates made to the EYFS are statutory and often result in changes and updates needed within your own practice and settings policies and procedures. Therefore, you have a legal responsibility to ensure that you are implementing and referring to the most up-to-date version of the EYFS for your specific type of provision.

The most recent update to the EYFS came into effect in January 2024, where the previous singular framework was divided into two versions, one aimed at childminders and one specifically for group and school-based settings. The latest version of the EYFS included some regulatory changes and offered new flexibility within practice.  

All early years/childcare providers in England are regulated by the governing body; the Office for Standards in Education, Childcare Services and Skills (Ofsted).  This governing body regulates and inspects educational provisions, including early years /childcare to ensure that the quality of care and education meet the requirements and standards of the EYFS framework. Ofsted has the authority to take action if standards and the quality of care and education are not met. This can include suspending the setting registration, closing the setting and even taking further legal action against the provider and/or individual practitioners.

Conclusion

As was stated in the introduction, this guide aimed to provide a brief overview of some of the key aspects of the EYFS framework. From this guide, I invite you to reflect on how you implement the EYFS framework into your own practice and how it applies to you within your specific setting, whether you are part of a large team of practitioners in a group/school-based provision or as a childminder working on your own. The EYFS framework has many parts to it, with what sometimes seems like an endless list of statutory standards and regulations. However, it is not expected that you should know the EYFS framework word for word, but it is expected that you are aware of what your role and responsibilities are within it. A good practice tip is to keep a copy of the EYFS framework to hand and refer to it throughout your day-to-day practice to remind yourself of why you do what you do.

Furthermore, by understanding the EYFS framework and applying it to your practice, you are in the privileged position of being able to assess how effective the latest revisions and updates are in the ‘here and now’. It gives you a voice to highlight potential conflicts between policy and practice and advocate for further changes to improve practice further, based on your daily experiences of working with it.