ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the nature of progression in science and technology through the 3 to 7 age range, explores the tensions faced by teachers in the light of sometimes conflicting requirements and deals with suggestions for practice to reduce children’s experiences of discontinuities. It identifies a number of tensions associated with changes to curriculum and pedagogy. Schools should particularly consider the needs of younger/less mature children, those who are less able, have special educational needs or a disability or speak English as an additional language. Children experience many transitions between the ages of three and seven: from home to a nursery or school environment, from play-based learning to more formal teaching, from ‘areas of learning’ to a subject-based national curriculum. According to Ofsted data has consistently shown that significant numbers of children move into Year 1 without achieving all the Early Learning Goals, suggesting that many children will need support to achieve within the framework of the National Curriculum.
