Jan is both nationally and internationally recognised as a specialist in Early Childhood Education. He was identified by the TES as one of the ten most influential people in British education in 2018. Having trained as an Early Years specialist, Jan worked as a nursery, reception and Year 1 teacher in schools across the country, leading teams as an Early Years co-ordinator.
Following roles as an Early Years Consultant and Senior Adviser, he was appointed by the then Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to lead on the management of the (Early Years) Foundation Stage Profile, and had national responsibility for its implementation and moderation, developing guidance and support materials and working at a strategic level with policy makers.
As a member of the expert advisory panel, he advised the DfE on the revision to the ELGs and EYFS Profile and helped to shape and deliver a strategy that supported early years managers and educators in all aspects of practice and provision. He developed the EExBA which supported more than 12,000 schools as a baseline assessment and tracking system, and devised an international qualification for kindergarten teachers.
Jan has developed a national and international reputation as a conference speaker, consultant and trainer and he has written widely on different aspects of early years policy and practice, especially in terms of pedagogy, curriculum and assessment. His approach to assessment is outlined in his book “Effective Assessment in the EYFS” (2014) and has recently collaborated with Julien Granier in providing further insight into understanding assessment and curriculum in the 2023 publication “Putting the EYFS Curriculum into Practice”.
Jan is now providing training for early years practitioners to support the implementation of the EYFS curriculum.
In his introductory video, he outlines some of the considerations for practitioners when implementing the curriculum. In the YouTube videos, Jan talks about the relevant issues relating to curriculum thinking which will be explored in greater detail in the training courses.