The rise of EYFS formalisation is putting holistic, child-centred learning and play at risk – here’s how practitioners can push back, says Emily Hanson…
I’ll never forget the joy of setting up my first EYFS classroom. I was a fresh, shiny, enthusiastic NQT, deeply passionate about learning through play in the early years.
I will also never forget the Sisyphean efforts of sustaining and protecting continuous provision as my first year went on.
My PGCE, while training me across primary, had specialised in the EYFS. Cambridge deeply embedded a fierce determination for the early years cohort to put play at the focus of our work.
We were warned that once we entered the schooling system formally, we’d likely be up against it to protect the incredible value of play within primary settings.
I felt that deeply, nearly a decade ago. I now see it happening with my own children – and I’m determined to continue safeguarding play in EYFS.
In all areas of learning, play should not be an added extra for when the “proper” stuff is complete. Early years practitioners know this in their bones.
Development Matters has play at the heart of all learning. It is the medium within which true, deep learning and joy occurs.
Nurseries are assessed against this, PGCEs and nursery practitioner courses nurture it. But why, in that final year of the EYFS, when children enter school, is it so frequently seen as less than?
I would argue this owes to a deep disconnect between the EYFS curriculum and the national curriculum. The EYFS embeds pedagogy. It oozes a child-centred, holistic approach.
The national curriculum, while broad, varied, and (thankfully, owing to the 2025 review) more representative of the world we live in than ever, does not always have a holistic reflection on a child’s development.
It, too frequently, is read as a to-do list, a collection of planned knowledge. Often, based upon high targets, high pressure, and low budgets, schools’ use of the national curriculum is summative of Yeats’ “filling of a bucket” instead of the “lighting of a fire”.
And that bucket-filling, sadly, often seeps across (not down) to the EYFS. Year 1 phonics screenings, SATS tests and overall assessments often lead to a “push down” approach, where, as opposed to the beautiful pedagogy of Development Matters being taken up by older year groups, the more rigid methodologies of the national curriculum are placed upon younger children.
So, what does this look like in practice?
Creeping formalisation is easy to spot. Had I more words to play with, I could produce a long list of the places it appears – but I argue it’s found most in one of our most assessed areas of learning in the UK: phonics.
Following the UK government’s 2021/22 round of systematic synthetic phonics scheme approvals, schools are now expected to select from a predetermined list of phonics schemes.
This isn’t inherently a negative thing – reading and writing being vital, mind-opening and life-changing skills to have (reading, in fact, is my favourite thing to do!).
I do feel, however, that many of these schemes do not differentiate learning for the EYFS. A popular phonics scheme, for example, has EYFS children carrying out adult-initiated work for nearly an hour a day, post-Christmas.
Children are expected to sit at desks, and continuously read and write set decodable texts with interspersed adult guidance.
I taught such a scheme; my daughter uses such a scheme. It’s effective, certainly – but it is not developmentally appropriate.
Gone, often, are the playful characters taught around letter sounds. Gone, frequently, are the stories, the nursery rhymes – the freedom to teach phonics and reading around the interests of the cohort.
Teachers may attempt further story and literacy teaching later in the day to make up for the restrictive nature of such schemes, but this pulls further from the free play children deeply need.
Reading is seen as a pure, stratified skill to teach, and is so often divorced from the true joy of playful, exploratory storytelling.
Similar schemes are on the rise for other “core” subjects. From maths to PE, structures are often not an option, with almost minute-by-minute plans telling practitioners and teachers exactly how to deliver learning, with no freedom to follow the interests or choices of the learners. Buckets, indeed.
And what do we lose when these precious hours are scripted and controlled? Play, freedom, choice.
I have a few recommendations up my sleeve that you can use today.
Continuous provision should always be at the heart of your teaching. You may find set lesson plan structures, expectations for all classrooms, and an assumption that learning happens in adult-guided time.
Wherever you can, embed your EYFS teaching in high-quality, open-ended play opportunities. Do what you can to set up a continuous provision-friendly environment, and capture regular evidence of learning outcomes growing through playful, child-initiated activity.
Proof is in the pudding, after all.
Often, Key Stage 1 teachers will know, deeply, the need for play in older groups. The more teachers you can immerse in early years pedagogy, the more important continuous provision will be viewed as in your school.
So, share your resources wherever you can. Engage in conversations; offer slots in your outdoor area, if possible, for Year 1 and 2 learners.
If teachers are particularly interested, you might even share with them some approaches to facilitating your pedagogy in older classrooms.
I particularly love the Cool Curriculum, a framework enabling Key Stage 1 practitioners to adopt EYFS pedagogy.
Many incredible teachers have not held an EYFS teaching position. The role often confuses those who have been trained on the pedagogy of the national curriculum.
Teachers of older age groups are relying on you to explain how your pedagogy (sadly) contrasts deeply with the national curriculum, and why it must be protected.
If something being discussed as a whole-school initiative doesn’t seem right to you, speak up and explain why.
Even better, offer ways that playful learning and continuous provision could be adopted in older age groups.
The freedom you have to promote play in EYFS and beyond will vary from school to school. The more formal a school, the harder the push will be, but I advocate for surrounding yourself with equally passionate folk.
I hugely admire the work of practitioners like Ruth LeeQue (My Mummy Teacher) and her campaign, Play is Learning. She provides templates and petitions to promote early years into KS1.
Game Changers Collective is another fantastic group advocating for progressive, age-appropriate pedagogy in the UK.
Early years practitioners are unique folk. We adore play and freedom, and the true magic of learning. My wish is that one day, our pedagogies will be spread beyond age five.
For now, though, we must safeguard what we have. I hope this inspires you to remain the fierce protectors of play in EYFS.
Emily Hanson is director at Emerlilly, a digital marketing agency for education brands.
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