1

THE EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE PROFILE – NUT ADVICE TO MEMBERS IN ENGLAND OCTOBER 2008

Introduction

This document provides up-dated professional advice and guidance to members who work in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile was launched in September 2008 and replaces the Foundation Stage Profile, which teachers have been using since 2003. The two documents are, however, extremely similar and it is likely that the confusion about statutory requirements relating to the Foundation Stage Profile which NUT members have reported will continue with the introduction of the new Early Years Foundation Stage Profile in some schools and local authorities.

This document sets out the requirements on teachers and schools relating to the Profile and suggests ways in which workload arising from it could be reduced.

The guidelines contained within this leaflet are issued as a set of instructions that, if followed, will reduce or remove workload burdens associated with the Profile. They are written in such a way as not to leave members feeling isolated, nor feeling constrained against using their professional judgements.

Use of the guidelines will support, not hinder, members in their professional work. Members will exercise their professional judgement in deciding whether to draw on the protection afforded by the NUT. Where members consider that carrying out any aspect of the guidelines would, in fact, increase pressure on them, then they should continue to operate according to their professional judgement.

The National Union of Teachers will continue to represent members who face any excessive workload demands arising from the Profile. The NUT regional office should be informed immediately if members believe that they are subject to excessive demands relating to the Profile.

The NUT’s advice reflects the recommendations included in the National Assessment Agency’s “Implementation and Moderation of Foundation Stage Profile Assessment 2007: Annual Monitoring Report” and “Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Handbook” from which all quotes contained in this leaflet have been taken.

The “Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Handbook” and other Profile related materials produced by the NAA are available to download from

Baseline Assessment

There is no statutory requirement for teachers to carry out baseline assessment or any other form of on-entry assessment. The decision on continuing use of baseline assessment is that of the head teacher, in consultation with staff, not the local authority. Members who are concerned about being expected to continue using baseline assessment should contact their NUT Regional Office for advice.

Assessment Procedures

The “Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Handbook” says that the primary purpose of the Profile is “to provide Year 1 teachers with reliable and accurate information about each child’s level of development at the end of the EYFS”. The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory guidance says that assessment during the EYFS should enable practitioners to “make professional judgements about children’s achievements and decide on the next steps in learning”. The Profile should not, therefore, be used as a summative measure of skills and knowledge by which children are “scored” through Profile scale points attained.

Assessment should be based primarily on on-going observations of children. When making a judgement for the Profile, teachers should draw on at least 80 per cent of evidence from knowledge of the child, observation and anecdotal assessments and no more than 20 per cent of evidence from adult-directed or focussed assessments. The “Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Handbook” says “practitioners are neither expected nor required to create onerous systems in order to demonstrate this, but need to be aware of this ratio when considering the evidence in order to finalise their EYFS profile judgement.”

There is no need for supplementary assessments or specific tasks to be undertaken for any of the six areas of learning. The 2007 Annual Monitoring Report states: “The NAA reasserts the consistent national position that there is no expectation or requirement that any formal assessments or completion of records takes place in addition to the FSP.”

This means, for example, that EYFS teachers should not be asked to undertake additional assessments of children’s phonic knowledge and/or reading attainment in order to complete the Profile. The NAA and DCSF have both been consistently clear that they do not support the testing of children in the EYFS, or the use of test data evidence for making judgements in the Profile.

How the Profile is completed is a matter for teachers’ professional judgement. Provided that assessment is recorded against the scales and reported to parents and the local authority, schools and settings will have met their statutory requirements.

Teachers are required to seek contributions to the Profile from parents on any relevant aspects of their children’s development. This should be integrated with the existing practice of settings. There is no requirement to hold additional meetings.

NUT members who feel pressurised into using assessment approaches which they believe are inappropriate for the EYFS should contact their relevant Regional Office for advice.

Moderation

Moderation of the Profile is a statutory requirement and local authorities are responsible for the moderation process. They must ensure that all settings receive a moderation visit at least once every four years. The “Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Handbook” says “procedures should be designed to promote consistent and accurate assessment judgements, should be supportive to practitioners and should not be burdensome for schools and other settings.”

There is no requirement to always formally record or document evidence used when making an assessment on a continuous basis. The NAA, in its guidance to local authorities in 2007, advised: “although practitioners may choose to record specific evidence in order to secure their own judgements, it is their final assessment of the child, based on all the evidence they have (documented or not) that informs their completion of the Profile and it is this judgement that is moderated by the LA.”

Moderation of the Profile is not about auditing marking, as for Key Stage 1, but about helping teachers identify what they should observe when the assessment criteria are being fulfilled. The NAA have found that evidence presented for moderation was sufficient in the vast majority of cases. The “Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Handbook” says “there is no need for extensive collections of evidence for individual children, or for individual pupil records.” NUT members who feel pressurised or are required to collect moderation evidence for each child should contact their Regional Office for advice.

The NAA, in its Annual Monitoring Report, have identified a number of instances where local authorities have prescribed a task for moderators to undertake with a group of selected children. The NAA have condemned this practice as “a wholly inappropriate and invalid means of establishing or verifying FSP judgements as it disregards the key strands of evidence required to ensure accuracy.”

The NAA has also noted that the introduction of the Early Years Outcomes Duty and specific local authority targets for Profile scores has led to “some LAs have interpreted this as an escalation of the FSP to a ‘high stakes’ assessment that has generated unnecessary anxiety and the pursuit of narrow and inappropriate outcomes. Where this is the case there is the possibility that it will have a negative impact on the FSP’s accuracy and validity.” NUT members who are concerned that the approaches to moderation used by their local authority are contrary to the EYFS statutory guidance or NAA advice should contact their Regional Office for advice.

The NUT believes that it would be good practice to pair newly qualified teachers and those new to the EYFS with a more experienced colleague, either within the setting or in a neighbouring setting, in order to support their approach to the Profile and moderate judgements.

Moderation of the Profile aims to secure consistency of assessment across schools and settings. Observation of teachers teaching should not form part of that process, although moderation might include gathering information about pupil standards through classroom visits.

Reporting Arrangements

The Profile must be completed by the setting where the child spends the majority of time between 8 am and 6 pm during the final year of the EYFS. The setting should take intro account all available records from other settings the child may have attended and also any formal or informal discussions with parents and carers during the previous year.

It is a requirement that completed profiles are shared with parents, but they can be presented in any format the school chooses (see below). Profiles can be used as the required written report at the end of the reception year but each school or setting is free to decide whether to share the actual scores with parents.

NUT members are advised that they need not complete more than one written report per pupil a year. The Profile should form part of that report. Where advice is needed, members should contact the appropriate Regional Office.

Data Recording and Analysis

Profile assessments should be finalised during the summer term. There is no requirement to record judgements against the 13 scales in any particular way. Schools and settings may choose to record children’s EYFS attainment by using materials developed by their local authority, their own systems based on the early learning goals or the eProfile available from Suffolk County Council (see http://schoolsportal.suffolkcc.gov.uk/schools/FSP/). The former Foundation Stage Profile hard copy booklets which were produced by the NAA have now been discontinued.

Transfer of Profile data to the local authority should be completed by administrative staff wherever possible, although the “Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Handbook” says that the data should be quality assured, by “school managers and setting leaders …after processing by administrative staff since it’s at this stage that errors, such as incomplete entry, can creep in”.

Some NUT members have reported that they have been expected to use data from the Profile for value-added purposes or to predict children’s future performance. The “Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Handbook” says “EYFS profile scale points and cumulative point scores are statutory assessments that exists in their own right. They are not equivalent to any national curriculum levels or sub-levels and no such comparison should be made.”

In addition, the 2007 Annual Monitoring Report says “The NAA reasserts its position that any equation of FSP scales or scale point scores to national curriculum levels or invented sub-levels is a spurious exercise and that there is currently no reliable numerical correlation between attainment in FSP and national curriculum key stage 1 assessments”.

NUT members are reminded that under the provisions of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, teachers should no longer be required routinely to produce analyses of pupil results. NUT members should inform the NUT Regional Office if they believe they are subject to excessive demands for excessive recording and processing of pupil assessment data arising from the Profile.

Performance Management

Some NUT members have reported that, as part of performance management arrangements, they have been set objectives specifically related to children’s performance against Profile scores, particularly those relating to literacy and phonics knowledge.

The objectives set for performance management should be achievable, fair and equitable in relation to teachers with similar roles/responsibilities and experience. In setting the objectives, the reviewers should have regard to what can reasonably be expected of teachers in the context of their roles, responsibilities and experience.

Detailed guidance on performance management is available in the NUT Model Performance Management Policy for Schools, which can be downloaded from the NUT website NUT members who are concerned about the appropriateness of linking Profile outcomes to their performance management should contact their regional office for advice.

19/05/2019