The IEYC is designed around eight learning principles, that we consider essential to children’s learning and development.
The IEYC is built around four Learning Strands that underpin all learning and development:
There are 18 IEYC units of learning. Units currently include topics such as: To The Rescue!, This is Me, The Brilliant Bug Ball, Weather Wonders, Dinosaur Detectives, Ocean Treasure, Once Upon a Time and Animal Rescuers.
The units are based around exciting themes aimed to capture children’s natural curiosity.
We don't set targets for children with the IEYC, or score them at the end of learning outcomes, however we do provide schools with guidance to support assessment. We believe that it is more important to focus on IEYC Learning Principles so that children are supported in learning and developing at their own unique pace.
At this early stage of development, observation and interactions are the best way to make assessments, which should be continuous and should involve both the child and their parents.
Learning journals provide an ideal format for capturing observations throughout a child’s learning journey. They also allow the learning and reflections to be opened up to the child and their parents. Any evaluation and reflection should be unique to the child, resulting in individually tailored next steps for their development.
It’s important for each early year provider to know how well their children are doing – as individuals, within particular groups (such as children with EAL and/or SEN), and as a whole cohort. To do this effectively, you need to be confident in your observations and reflections of your children. As a result, you will be able to support you're children as they make progress and can more easily adapt activities accordingly.
When the IEYC was launched and we learned that it was designed with two phases of development in mind we saw the potential it offered for planning for mixed-age groups like ours.