The case for a developmentally-informed education system in the early years

A developmentally-informed early years system is one that is underpinned by a clear understanding of children. In this chapter we argue that this involves integrating scientific insights into child development with expertise in how public policy, services and practices can influence this development. We present a framework of six core principles capturing essential knowledge about child development, which we propose should inform decisions about early childhood education and associated policies and services. We explore these principles in the context of the Early Years landscape in England. We consider challenges for this framework in the current system and explore what might be done to make the whole system – from front line practice to national policy – more developmentally- informed.