Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

In many cases what surprised the reviewteam was the overall support whichdifferent pieces of research lent to thegeneral picture which was emerging.Generally, disagreements betweenresearchers seemed to be more concernedwith methodology or research approachesand the validity of previous studies, ratherthan about the main findings concerningchildren’s development and learningin this age group. In the event, becauseof time constraints, the pro forma wasused simply as an aide memoire and noteswe re wri t ten beside the data base pri nto u t s,or attached to hard copies of articles.As each team member gatheredinformation she would add it to a draftsection for which she was responsible,concerned with a particular Componentof the Framework. As a result of the verybroad coverage of the literature review,there were some topics which receivedless attention than others. However, itmust be said that there are, in any case,certain topics which have been neglectedby research. These include, in particular,young children’s spiritual and moraldevelopment, research about ECEC andchildren in this age group, especially thatabout two year olds.the Aspects and Components of theFramework and the chapters and sectionsof the literature review.The first draft of the review was sent outto members of the Steering and WorkingGroups and to the MMU team members.Further, two colleagues at CanterburyChrist Church UC provided a helpfulcommentary on the review, to strengthenits inclusiveness of young children withspecial needs.Since the review is intended for use mainlyby practitioners, it would have been idealhad time allowed for it to be read at thisstage by a sample of practitionercolleagues, so augmenting the practitionerrepresentation on the Working Group whoreceived the draft. However, time was veryshort, and this meant that when all thesuggested amendments had beenreceived, the text was redrafted andreviewed only by DfES colleagues and theproject Director, Professor Lesley Abbott.We would hope that this literature reviewwill complement those referenced in ourtext and the forthcoming reviews by theBERA Early Years Special Interest Groupand the EPPI Early Years Group.Initial drafts of sections of the literaturereview were put together by one memberof the team, who also incorporated therelevant quotations and definitions fromthe Framework itself. These links weremade in order to help readers readilyrecognise the connections between183