ABSTRACT
Following a long career as an early years teacher in north west England and eight years as a tutor working on teacher training courses at the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), two years ago I decided to take early retirement and train as a nursery inspector. The publication by the Labour Party, of their pre-election document Early Excellence-A Head Start For Every Child (1996) was a heartening indication that the early years were firmly on the political agenda. My decision was also influenced by my involvement, whilst at the university, in the production of the professional development pack-Firm Foundations: Quality Education in the Early Years (1996), developed to support early years staff in the ‘delivery’ of the Desirable Outcomes for Young Children’s Learning on Entering Compulsory Schooling, SCAA (1996). The snippets of video, filmed in a variety of preschool settings, showed how the requirements of the ‘Desirable Outcomes’ could be met in many different ways whilst safeguarding the autonomy of the child and recognizing that learning is not compartmentalized.
