Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on the teaching of literacy and numeracy in the early years.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. The EYFS can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.

For literacy, the EYFS requires early years practitioners to encourage children to link sounds and letters, through the use of phonics, and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest. For teaching numeracy, practitioners provide children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measure

Through the recent primary assessment consultation, we are exploring the content of the early learning goals (ELGs) specified in the EYFS, including those relating to literacy and numeracy. The consultation closed on 22 June, and a Government response will be issued in due course.