Exploring teacher perceptions and the measured impacts of a progressive curriculum reform for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds

Abstract The Foundation Phase is a pioneering early years education reform that was introduced across Wales in 2008. Based on a progressive, child‐centred design, this reform aimed to improve educational outcomes in Wales and reduce achievement gaps for young learners. This paper reports a number of findings from a mixed‐methods study that assessed the impact of the Foundation Phase on pupil outcomes. The study paid particular attention to learners from disadvantaged backgrounds and responded to a gap in the empirical literature on the impact of progressive early years reforms on pupil outcomes. The findings reveal a disconnect between teachers' positive perceptions of the programme for learners disadvantaged by poverty and its more modest impact on measured attainment. This disconnect is explored in the paper, with the aim of helping to better understand the impact of progressive reforms like the Foundation Phase for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, providing valuable insights for similar programmes and the new curriculum being rolled out in Wales.