The Department for Education, Sport and Culture has announced the percentages of children that have reached the Good Level of Development at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. The scheme was introduced in the Island last year following its implementation in England in 2012.
Children are defined as having reached a Good Level of Development (GLD) at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage in the reception year if they have achieved at least the expected level for the Early Learning Goals in the prime areas of learning. There are 17 learning goals covering personal, social and emotional development, physical development, and communication and language; and the specific areas of mathematics and literacy.
Points are awarded for those children who are defined as ‘emerging’, ‘expected’ and ‘exceeding’. The number of children that achieve the ‘expected’ level is reported as a percentage.
The GLD was implemented in England in 2012 and in its first year registered 42 per cent attainment compared to the Isle of Man’s first year of 47.3 per cent.
Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, Graham Cregeen, MHK said:
'The figures for 2017 give a wide spread of results across the Island’s schools, which reflects the similar figures of when it was first introduced in England. The Department believes there have been issues with the implementation of the assessment at certain schools, resulting in some inconsistencies in the figures and I have asked the Department to work with all schools to improve their understanding of the assessment.
'I am committed to real improvement in early years education which is why we have committed an extra £1.4 million this year and have introduced a new post which will be dedicated to assessing early years and ensuring the quality of the delivery of education.'
