1

Referencing the EYFS

Les Hereward 2009

This is not an easy reference but you will need to do so in order to write effectively in TMAs

and ECAs for this course, I hope the suggestions here will help. There are a number of

things to bear in mind.

1. There are a least 2 editions and an electronic version

2. The EYFS is a collection of documents, not one document

3. There is no ‘real’ author: so we say DfES or DCSF instead but not EYFS.

The 2 editions

The first version of the EYFS was published in 2007 and a later

addition with some changes was published in 2008. Where

possible you should try to use the later version but this might

be difficult since many setting have the older version. This is

one of the reasons why an electronic version helps. If you must

use the older version of the EYFS you must be clearer you are

doing so, apart from anything else the page numbering is

different.

The first version of the EYFS was published by the DfES in 2007

which is the version in many settings, it looks like the one on

the right. To show this is the version you are using in your text

you would write (DfES 2007…)

The second edition was published by the DCSF (which superseded

the DfES) in 2008. See the copy left, it says May 2008 under the title

and the red writing at the bottom now says children, schools and

families. To show this version in your writing you would write (DCSF

2008)

The two editions are not identical.

This means you need to be clear about which edition you using.

The online version is the later edition, but more of that later.

2

Referencing the EYFS

Les Hereward 2009

Referencing in the text

You must be clear about which document you are using. In text you can name the

document. For example you could say, ‘… as it says in the Practice Guidance ‘You must

promote positive attitudes to diversity and difference’ (DCSF 2008 p6). Avoid using the

phrase EYFS, instead say which book or card you are using.

Long reference at the end

You must mention the book at the end. As with any other ‘book’ you start with the author

(DfES or DCSF) but here you also use the full version of the name like this:

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (2008) Practice

Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Nottingham, DCSF

Or if you must use the older version

Department for Education and Skills, (DfES) (2007) Practice Guidance

for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Nottingham, DfES Publications

Using several EYFS documents

I do hope you are still reading because it is not quite as easy as this (needless to say)

As we know very well the EYFS is a collection of documents and you may need to refer to

more than one in your TMA. This causes a problem since the short reference (DCSF 2008) is

the same for all the documents. In order to make this clear a system of letters is used. SO if

in your TMA you wrote something like: ‘… as it says in the Practice Guidance ‘You must

promote positive attitudes to diversity and difference’ (DCSF 2008a p6), this is echoed by

the Statutory Guidance where we are told: ‘Providers have a responsibility to ensure

positive attitudes to diversity and difference’ (DCSF 2008b p.9)’ you would have two

references to two books both referenced as DCSF 2008, to overcome this we use letters

given in the order in which they appear in your text; that is what the a and b are. Once you

have lettered a document in your writing like this it stays the same through the whole TMA

or ECA. Note all the colours and highlights are just for this paper references appear as

normal text.

3

Referencing the EYFS

Les Hereward 2009

At the end you references would be:

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (2008a)

Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Nottingham,

DCSF

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSFb) (2008a)

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage,

Nottingham, DCSF

I hope you are still with me next we move on to the Cards!!

There is no example I can find in the course resources but I would suggest that we can regard the cards as one document: Principles into Practice Cards seems clear. SO in text our reference would read something like this: ‘ ‘… as it says in the Practice Guidance ‘You must promote positive attitudes to diversity and difference’ (DCSF 2008a p6), this is echoed by the Statutory Guidance where we are told: ‘Providers have a responsibility to ensure positive attitudes to diversity and difference’ (DCSF 2008b p.9) and to the Principles into Practice Cards where it suggested that we should ‘Support babies and children to develop a positive sense of their own identity and culture’ (DCSF 2007 card 1.1)’ Note that the card has a publication date of 2007 so no need for a little letter. At the end your references would now look like this:

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (2007)

Principles into Practice Cards for the Early Years Foundation Stage,

Nottingham, DCSF

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (2008a)

Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Nottingham,

DCSF

Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (2008b)

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage,

Nottingham, DCSF

I hope this helps in your referencing: as I said it is a fiendishly difficult set of references,

however you do learn useful principles that will be useful later. There is a second document

to go with this about the online resources.