The Foundation Phase

The Foundation Phase, implemented in 2008 is “The statutory curriculum for all 3 to 7 year olds in Wales, in both maintained and non-maintained settings. It encourages children to be creative, imaginative and makes learning more enjoyable and more effective.” (Welsh Government, 2014)

The Foundation Phase promotes the idea of learning through play and therefore makes learning more enjoyable for a child, allowing them the ability to connect with and take interest in each task they perform.  The Foundation Phase gives children the opportunity to explore and understand the world in accordance to their developmental stage in a fun and exciting way. (Welsh Gov, 2008)

In this link there is a useful video and pod-cast describing the how children learn in the Foundation Phase, unfortunately these could not be download.
  

There are 7 areas of learning in the Foundation Phase. These areas of learning are (Welsh Gov,2008):

1. Personal and Social Development, Well-being and Cultural Diversity
2. Language, Literacy and Communication Skills
3. Mathematical Development
4. Welsh Language Development
5. Knowledge and Understanding of the World
6. Physical Development
7. Creative Development

Each of these areas of learning has a holistic approach meaning each subject areas link together. This overlapping helps a child to build on previous knowledge and experiences they may have with a subject often allowing them achieve a true understanding.

The Foundation Phase allows children through play to “practise and consolidate their learning, play with ideas, experiment, take risks, solve problems, and make decisions individually, in small and in large groups. First-hand experiences allow children to develop an understanding of themselves and the world in which they live.” (Welsh Gov, 2008) 

There are seven main aims of the Foundation Phase, these were developed from the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child. These aims were to ensure that all children (Welsh Gov, 2008):

1.  Have a flying start in life and the best possible basis for future growth and development 
2. Have access to a sufficient range of opportunities for learning, including the development of personal and social skills
3. Have the best possible physical, mental, social and emotional help with freedom from any form of abuse including victimisation and exploitation
4. Have access to leisure, sporting and cultural activities 
5. Are listened to and treated with respect. They should also be able to have their race and cultural identity recognised
6. Have a safe home and community that supports both physical and mental well-being
7. Are not disadvantaged by their background e.g. disadvantaged by poverty

There are many advantages and disadvantages to the Foundation Phase. Some of the advantages are as follows:

·         The Foundation Phase provides a child with solid grounding for future leaning (Welsh Gov, 2010)

·         Allows children to be creative, imaginative and have fun while learning  (Welsh Gov,2010)

·         Makes topics relevant to everyday life therefore making it more accessible to children as they are able to see how it impacts them directly (Welsh Gov, 2010)

·         Chief inspector Ann Keanne states that the benefits are evident in the child’s overall wellbeing (BBC,2011)

Some of the disadvantaged are as follows:

·         Some believe that children are not learning enough as the activities available are not challenging enough (BBC, 2011)

·         According to Estyn, reading and writing standards are no acceptable as they are significantly lower than they should be (Estyn,2011 )

·         Schools with a large minority often struggle (BBC, 2011)

References


BBC, (2011) Some Welsh Foundation Phase Pupils don't learn enough.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-14898083 (Accessed December 11th)

Welsh Government, (2008) Framework for Children’s learning for 3 to 7 year olds in Wales
http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dcells/publications/141111-framework-for-childrens-learning-for-3-to-7-year-olds-en.pdf (Accessed December 09th)

Welsh Government, (2010) Foundation Phase roll out-continues 
http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/articles/educationandskills/100903foundationphase/?lang=en (Accessed December 09th)

Welsh Government, (2014) The Foundation Phase
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/earlyyearshome/foundation-phase/?lang=en (Accessed December 09th)