Rumbold (1990)

Notes on the text

Preliminary pages Correspondence, Contents, Membership

Part 1 Issues and proposals

Part 2 Material to aid practitioners

References

Annexes

The report of the Committee of Inquiry into the quality of the educational experience offered to 3 and 4 year olds, chaired by Mrs Angela Rumbold CBE MP

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1990
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

ISBN 0 11 270721 1

Preliminary pages
[the first 4 pages are unnumbered]

Acknowledgement

We wish to thank the Pre-School Playgroups Association and Her Majesty's Inspectorate for the photographs which appear in this report.

Note on the terms used

1. Education for the under fives can happen in a wide variety of settings, and can be supplied by a wide range of people. Some will be professional teachers; many will not. This report is not aimed simply at professional teachers; we have therefore used the term'educator' throughout to describe an adult working with the under fives, unless our meaning is more limited.

2. We have used the term 'under fives' to describe children who have not reached their fifth birthday. The term 'rising fives' is often used to mean children between four years and nine months and five - strictly speaking, children attending primary school who will reach their fifth birthday during the term in question.

3. The phrase 'early years', which applies to the age range for which teachers are trained, and sometimes to the remit of local education authority advisers, means the 3 to 7/8 age range, and thus embraces both nursery and early primary education.

4. All other terms of art, abbreviations and acronyms are explained or set out in full at the point where they are first used.

Home Office
Queen Anne's Gate
London
SW1H 9AT

27 September 1990

COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY ON THE UNDER FIVES

Early last year, when, as Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, I had responsibility for education for the under fives, Kenneth Baker asked me to chair a Committee of Inquiry on the quality of the educational experience offered to 3 and 4 year olds.

I am very grateful to the members of the Committee for the time and painstaking care they devoted to their task, and to the assessors, observers and secretariat for the able support they provided. I now have pleasure in submitting the Committee of Inquiry's report.

ANGELA RUMBOLD

The Rt Hon John MacGregor OBE MP
Secretary of State
Department of Education and Science

Mrs Angela Rumbold CBE MP
Minister of state
Home Office
Queen Anne's Gate
London
SW1H 9AT

25 October 1990

Many thanks for your letter of 27 September, and for the report of your committee of Inquiry on the quality of education for the under fives. I am very grateful to you for undertaking this work, and seeing it through, despite your departure from DES, to its conclusion.

I have not yet had time to study the report properly, but I shall do so shortly; at the same time, we shall decide on matters such as its handling and publication, and how to take forward its recommendations. Meanwhile, I would be grateful if you would pass on my sincere thanks to all the members of the committee for the hard work and detailed thought they gave to this demanding brief; and above all I am indebted to you.

Contents
[page v]

Membership of the Committee of Inquiry into the educational experience offered to 3 and 4 year oIds

Part 1: Issues and proposals

1 Introduction
2 Starting points
3 Characteristics of young children
4 Aims of early childhood education
5 A curriculum for the under fives
6 Effective curriculum planning and implementation
7 Continuity and progression
8 Observing, assessing, reporting and recording
9 Monitoring, evaluation and review of provision
10 Education, training and support for adults working with under fives
11 Organisation and co-ordination of services
12 Issues to be addressed

13 Introduction
14 The process of learning for the under fives
15 Areas of learning and experience
16 Adults working with the under fives and their families

Annexes

1 List of those submitting evidence
2 Statistics
3 International comparisons

Membership of the Committee of Inquiry into the quality of the educational provision offered to 3 and 4 year olds
[page vi]

Chairman

Mrs Angela Rumbold CBE MP Minister of State, Department of Education and Science

Members

Ms Lesley Abbott, Principal Lecturer in Primary Education (Early Years), Manchester Polytechnic
Professor Neville Bennett, Professor of Primary Education, University of Exeter
Mr Peter Gedling, County Education Officer, Dorset
Ms Lesley Grundy, Headteacher, Grandpont Nursery School, Oxford
Mrs Rose Johnson, Headteacher, Brentfield Primary School, Brent
Dr Christine Pascal, Senior Lecturer in Education, Worcester College of Higher Education
Mrs Gillian Pugh, Head of Under Fives Unit, National Children's Bureau
Mrs Ann Sharp, Adviser (Early Childhood Education), Sheffield Local Education Authority
Mrs Jennie Shaw, formerly Chair, National Executive Conunittee, Pre-school Playgroups Association

Assessors

Ms JF Cramphorn, Department of Education and Science
Mr AJ Rose HMI, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Schools

Observers

Miss C Baines, Department of Health
Mr MJP Cunliffe, Scottish Education Department
Dr R Webb, National Curriculum Council
Mr MJ F Wynn HMI, Welsh Office Education Department

Secretariat

Mr CJ Dowe, Secretary to the Committee
Miss S E Gray, Assistant Secretary to the Committee (till September 1989)
Mrs G Davison, Assistant Secretary to the Committee (from October 1989)