Background to the research

In Spring 2023 Welsh Government held a series of conversations for practitioners in Early Years  non maintained nursery settings to to support National Network Conversations to support the implementation of ‘A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings.’^[1] Building on the 2021 to 2022 Curriculum Design conversations, the Spring 2023 National Conversation focused on supporting practitioners and setting leaders to reflect on their curriculum and assessment design processes since September 2022.

Research Approach

The research involved conducting a thorough thematic analysis of the transcripts from the National Network Conversation on the experience of Early Years providers in non-maintained settings of curriculum delivery to date. The aim of the analysis was to draw out high level findings around the progress non maintained Early Years settings had made to date with curriculum implementation whilst identifying some of the emerging successes and challenges that had arisen to date. Some of the key themes identified in the analysis were centered around Curriculum Progress to date, Staff development and training, parental engagement and the use of networks to share best practice. These findings were then used to inform an improved understanding of curriculum implementation to date and develop some clear and actionable next steps which could be used to address some of the challenges raised.

[1] Curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings – Hwb (gov.wales)