The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) is the Department of Basic Education’s curriculum for children from birth to four. It is written for adults who run programmes with babies, toddlers and young children: practitioners in centres, childminders, support staff, parents and caregivers, and people who monitor ECD programmes.
It is not CAPS, and it is not a Grade R lesson-plan pack. Grade R sits in the Foundation Phase and uses CAPS. The NCF runs up to the point where a child enters Grade R.
The official files live on the DBE site, including versions in all official languages. Use those files. This page explains how the framework is organised so you can open the right document and plan from it.
Get the official NCF
The DBE index is titled National Curriculum Framework for Children from Birth to Four. The English comprehensive version on that index is a February 2015 DBE document. The file itself is posted as NCF English 2018 web.pdf.
Download from the official index, not from a random copy:
DBE National Curriculum Framework for Children from Birth to Four
The index currently offers Afrikaans, English, IsiNdebele, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Siswati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.
The English file is here: NCF English comprehensive version (February 2015).
The English file identifies the Department of Basic Education as source and may be quoted or reproduced with that acknowledgement, but not sold or used for commercial purposes.
Who the NCF is for
The document says it guides people developing programmes and working with babies, toddlers and young children from birth to age four. That includes:
- parents and caregivers
- early childhood practitioners in centres, family and community support services, and childminders
- practitioner, educator and support staff
- monitoring personnel who visit ECD programmes
It can also support older children who help with child-to-child ECD work. Adults are expected to apply it in centres, homes, neighbourhoods and other places where young children are cared for.
The DBE’s ECD Directorate describes its own scope as birth to five. From 2022, ECD functions sit with DBE. The NCF document itself is still the birth-to-four curriculum framework, not Foundation Phase CAPS.
The three themes and twelve principles
The NCF is built on three themes, written from the child’s point of view:
- I am a competent person
- My learning and development is important
- I need strong connections with adults
Twelve principles sit under those themes. They cover the child as a unique, active learner; local and indigenous knowledge; play and hands-on experience; families; close adult relationships; and adults’ duty to protect children’s rights.
Use the themes when you plan. An activity that drops play, home language, belonging or a close adult relationship is not using the NCF, even if it looks like school readiness work.
The six Early Learning and Development Areas
The NCF organises children’s learning into six Early Learning and Development Areas (ELDAs):
- Well-being
- Identity and belonging
- Communication
- Exploring mathematics
- Creativity
- Knowledge and understanding of the world
Each ELDA has aims, broad developmental guidelines, example activities, and assessment “watch points”. The guidelines describe development from birth to about five. They are not a tick-list. The activities are examples, not a script. Adults must fit them to the child, the language of the home, and local practice.
Age bands the NCF uses
In line with the National Early Learning and Development Standards (NELDS), the NCF uses four broad bands:
- Babies: birth to about 18 months
- Toddlers: about 18 months to 36 months
- Young children: about three to four years
- Towards Grade R: about four until the child enters Grade R (described as the year they turn five)
These bands are for observation and planning. They include children who develop at different rates, children with disabilities, and children with barriers to learning. They are not a pass mark, and they are not a Grade R CAPS ATP.
How to use the NCF in a programme
A practical weekly rhythm that stays inside the document:
- Watch and listen to one or two children against the ELDA watch points, not against a worksheet.
- Plan play and care that could support an aim in more than one ELDA (for example a snack-time conversation can touch well-being, identity and communication).
- Keep it play-based and hands-on. The NCF treats play as a way children make meaning, not as a reward after “real work”.
- Work in the language the child knows. The framework treats local and indigenous knowledge, and the child’s identity, as part of learning. English later is not a reason to drop the home language in the baby or toddler years.
- Talk with families. Parents are described as central. Notes from observation are for planning and for discussion with families, and for referral with the family where extra support is needed.
- Do not test. Assessment in the NCF is formative. The document is explicit: the child cannot pass or fail, and there are no formal tests or examinations at this stage.
If you need forms, registration routes, training providers or funding notices, start at the DBE ECD page and the ECD Info Hub. Those are separate jobs from using the NCF with children.
- DBE ECD programme
- ECD Info Hub
- Bana Pele ECD Registration Drive (programme registration, not curriculum)
NCF and Grade R
When a child enters Grade R, the curriculum is Foundation Phase CAPS, not the NCF. The NCF’s “Towards Grade R” band is still an ECD planning band. It does not replace Grade R Mathematics, Home Language or Life Skills CAPS.
Do not relabel NCF activities as CAPS lesson plans. Do not use Grade R ATPs with babies and toddlers.
Limits
This page is a map of the official NCF. It does not include a CAPS123 activity pack, programme-registration steps, subsidy amounts, learnership intakes or the Grade R compulsory-schooling rules.
Use the official NCF file for the aims, examples and watch points.
Sources
- Department of Basic Education, National Curriculum Framework for Children from Birth to Four index: education.gov.za NCF index
- Department of Basic Education, The South African National Curriculum Framework for children from Birth to Four, comprehensive version, February 2015 (English file on the DBE index, filename
NCF English 2018 web.pdf): English NCF PDF - Department of Basic Education, Early Childhood Development programme page: education.gov.za ECD
- ECD Info Hub: ecdinfohub.org
- Department of Basic Education, Bana Pele ECD Registration Drive: Bana Pele