Publications

Debates on how best to educate young children have been raging over the last 100 years—more often fuelled by ideological preferences rather than empirical evidence. To some extent this is hardly surprising given the difficulty of examining pupil progress in a systematic and comparative way. However, the introduction of a new child‐centred curriculum in Wales…

Gwerddon, 26(2) The Foundation Phase (FP) is a statutory curriculum in each state school in Wales since 2008. The curriculum follows a developmentally appropriate pedagogy, and encourages children to engage by learning through experiences. The paper that follows is taken from a wider evaluation of the FP, commissioned by Welsh Government in 2012 and considers…

In Building a Brighter Future: Early Years and Childcare Plan (2013) the Welsh Government set out how it would make early years Foundation Phase provision more accessible. The ultimate aim of increasing flexibility of provision is to increase participation in the early years of the Foundation Phase. To further these aims in 2013 the Welsh…

In this report we present a technical discussion of the three year evaluation (August 2011 to August 2014). This includes an outline of the evaluation design, the methods used in the evaluation and other detailed information about the evaluation. 2. The Foundation Phase is a Welsh Government flagship policy of early years education (for 3…

The Foundation Phase is a Welsh Government flagship policy of early years education (for 3-7 year-old children) in Wales. Marking a radical departure from the more formal, competency-based approach associated with the previous Key Stage 1 National Curriculum, it advocates a developmental, experiential, play-based approach to teaching and learning. The learning country: A paving document…

This final report presents the main findings from the evaluation. These are organised in four main chapters: the implementation of the Foundation Phase Foundation Phase practice the impact of the Foundation Phase an economic analysis of the Foundation Phase. The final chapter discusses the implications of these findings with associated recommendations.

It draws on: 239 classroom/setting observations 341 practitioner interviews 604 school/setting survey responses 1,008 parent/carer survey responses 37 Local Authority interviews 4 non-maintained organisation interviews.

It draws on: 239 classroom and setting observations 341 practitioner interviews 604 school and setting survey responses 37 Local Authority interviews 4 non-maintained organisation interviews.

The Foundation Phase is a Welsh Government flagship policy of early years education (for 3 to 7-year-old children) in Wales. Marking a radical departure from the more formal, competency-based approach associated with the previous Key Stage 1 National Curriculum, it advocates a developmental, experiential, play-based approach to teaching and learning. The Learning Country: a Paving…

The Foundation Phase (introduced in 2008) provides a developmentally appropriate experiential curriculum for children aged 3-7 in Wales. The Welsh Government commissioned independent evaluation (led by WISERD) aims to evaluate how well it is being implemented, what impact it has had, and ways in which it can be improved. The three-year evaluation utilises a range…