The Foundation Phase

The foundation phase is a fairy recent and statutory curriculum which has been introduced into all primary schools among Wales. It was first introduced in 2008 which took away the key stage one area.

The Welsh Assembly Government (2008) state that this new curriculum is aimed at three to seven year old's in order to meet different needs and skills during their time in the setting. Within the setting, there are seven areas of learning.

This picture shows the seven core areas within the Foundation phase curriculum. 

Each of these areas have a different purpose where a number of subjects can be adapted to, for example; knowledge and understanding of the world can also link to geography and religious education. By having this new curriculum, children pick up on a number of different skills without realising.

The foundation phase offers a holistic nature of learning (Welsh Assembly Government, 2008) where all the aspects of the areas of learning are interlinked to the young child. During activities, a child may be acquiring skills of more than one of the seven areas. In my opinion, I believe that this is a positive aspect to a child’s learning as it promotes a disposition to the child where they also pick up on a number of key skills.

The curriculum also builds up on prior learning as children learn from the moment they are born, the earliest experiences of their learning has a great impact upon their learning within the foundation phase. This leads to the benefit that the foundation phase builds upon a child’s interest; this is dependent on their experience and knowledge in order for them to take interest of specific activities.

Under the curriculum of the Foundation Phase, the child is influenced to make their own decisions and explore using the materials around them. It is also important for teachers to have knowledge and understanding of child development and how important each aspect within the curriculum is towards the development of the child.

Further evidence from the Welsh Assembly Government (2008) who state that this curriculum focuses upon experimental learning in order to develop a variety of skills within the child, these being; their overall skills and understanding based on the seven core areas in order to develop the whole child, positive attitudes towards their learning, self-esteem and confidence and being able to tackle problems while having a first-hands on experience.

Assessment within the Foundation Phase is different within each of the seven areas; however during assessment the child doesn't know that he/she is undergoing assessment. At times children work on their own, in pairs/groups or sometimes as a whole class, this allows the teacher to observe each children in different situations. Each area has an outcome where the child is matched to where they are at in terms of their development. However within each area, a child could be on a different outcome in one than they are in another, but instead of trying to record what they believe is best between the two areas, all seven areas need to be considered so the child gets an outcome for the overall framework. (Welsh Assembly Government 2011) 

The reason why I have included this video is because it gives a brief clip of young children learning within the foundation phase and a programme which has been set up in order for teachers to plan their lessons around the seven areas within the curriculum. From the clip we can see many of the areas being taught and the key skills which are being used and also being developed.