Learning and development within the Early years foundation stage
You must work in partnership with parents and carers, to promote the learning and development of all children in your care and ensure their entire early years’ experience contributes positively to their brain development and readiness for Key Stage 1. The learning and development requirements are informed by the best available evidence on how children learn. They also reflect the broad range of skills, knowledge, and attitudes children need as foundations for life now and in the future. Early years providers must guide the development of children’s capabilities to help ensure that children in their care will fully benefit from future opportunities.
The EYFS learning and development requirements for group and school-based providers are made up of the seven areas of learning and development, as set out in the educational programmes described below.
In reception year, teachers and practitioners will also utilise the early learning goals which summarise the knowledge, skills and understanding that all young children should have gained by the end of the EYFS.
There are seven areas of learning and development that set out what providers must teach the children in their settings. All areas of learning and development are important and interconnected.
Three prime areas are particularly important for learning and forming relationships. They build a foundation for children to thrive and provide the basis for learning in all areas.
These are the prime areas:
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development
Providers must also support children in four specific areas, which help strengthen and develop the three prime areas, and ignite children’s curiosity and enthusiasm.
The specific areas are:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
Early Years Child Development Training.
Early years settings have the autonomy to design a curriculum that is unique to their children, families and community. While the EYFS provides the statutory framework and educational programmes, it is up to each setting to decide what they want children to learn, how learning will be sequenced, and the experiences that will help children make progress. When designing a curriculum, practitioners should consider the needs, interests and starting points of their children, the knowledge and skills they want children to develop over time, and the values that are important within their setting. They should also reflect on child development, the characteristics of effective learning, the local community, cultural diversity, and how the indoor and outdoor environments can support learning. A well-designed curriculum should provide rich, meaningful experiences across all areas of learning, build on what children already know and can do, and create opportunities for children to become confident, curious, independent and resilient learners.
Curriculum intent, implementation and impact
When designing a curriculum, it is helpful to consider three key elements: Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.
Curriculum (Intent) is what you want children to learn and why. It reflects your vision for the children in your setting and considers their needs, interests, starting points and experiences. It outlines the knowledge, skills and behaviours you aim to develop through your curriculum.
Pedagogy (Implementation) is how the curriculum is put into practice. This includes the learning experiences, teaching strategies, interactions, routines, environments and resources you provide to support children's learning. It considers how practitioners deliver the curriculum through both adult-led and child-initiated opportunities.
Assessment (Impact) is the difference the curriculum makes to children's learning and development. It focuses on how children progress over time, what they know, understand and can do as a result of the experiences provided. Impact can be identified through observations, assessments, children's engagement, and their growing confidence, independence and achievement across the areas of learning.
You can access further information to Get help to improve your curriculum planning (Gov.uk).
The ways in which a child engages with other people and their environment underpin learning and development across all areas and support the child to be motivated to learn.
The three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:
| Characteristic | What the characteristic covers |
|---|---|
| Playing and exploring |
|
| Active learning |
|
| Creating and thinking critically |
|
The characteristics describe behaviours children use in order to learn and what you need to enable to teach successfully. Your practice should be adapted to meet children’s individual learning styles.
Our Talking about the characteristics of effective learning support tool is available by request, please email [email protected].
The following non-statutory documents provide guidance and examples of how to support the characteristics of effective teaching and learning:
The Early Learning Goals (ELGs) are the level of development children should be expected to have achieved by the end of the EYFS. You should not use these as a curriculum. In early years your focus should remain on the educational programmes you offer to children to give breadth and depth of your curriculum. The ELG’s are there to support teachers to assess children’s capabilities in readiness for year one.
Last updated 13 August 2026