In this document, Early Childhood Action presents a framework for early childhood work
which proposes a ‘new paradigm’ for early childhood professionals and practitioners. The
motivation for this new framework document is concern about England’s Early Years
Foundation Stage ‘curriculum’, and the disquiet which aspects of this statutory
framework has generated across the sector since 2007. As such, the following document
can both serve as an ‘alternative approach’ to England’s Early Years Foundation Stage
‘curriculum’ for those who are seeking such a choice , and it can also sit alongside the
revised EYFS, so that practitioners who currently have no choice but to work within the
statutory EYFS can bring an informed and critical viewpoint to theirpedagogy and work
with young children – and, hopefully, find ways of preserving the core principles of their
practice, notwithstanding the countervailing demands that the EYFS, at its worst, can
make upon them.