Early years Ofsted reports to be 'shorter and punchier'
Friday, November 21, 2014
Inspection reports are going to be ‘punchier’ from January, Ofsted’s early years chief has said.
Standard text, such as information about what the different types of judgement mean, will be removed, and reports will be written ‘in a more concise manner’.
Ofsted says it has been working with its inspection outsourcing companies Tribal and Prospects to ensure the revised format can be introduced in the new year.
Speaking at Nursery World’s Business Summit last week, Nick Hudson, director of early years, said that some reports were ‘excessively long’.
‘In many cases an early years report is longer than for a large further education college. We are going to make reports shorter and punchier.’
An Ofsted spokesperson added that the reports would continue to give an overall rating and individual grades for different aspects of the provision.
‘The reports will still provide a summary of the judgments made and the key findings. This will be followed by a section on what the early years provider needs to do to improve.
'Ofsted will continue to have information under headings, including the contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children and how well the early years meets the needs of young children, but we will report in a more concise manner.’
Ofsted inspectors have been criticised for poor writing in the past, with spelling and grammar howlers including ‘Partnership with parents are satisfactory’, and ‘Subject leaders have not received suffiecient trianing ot help them to do their job well’. Tribal inspector David Marshall was also sacked this year for cutting and pasting near-identical sections of text for different school reports.
- Did your Ofsted report contain 'inadequate' English? Leave a comment below
- Nick Hudson also called on early years providers to respond to Ofsted's consultation on proposals for a new framework for the inspection of maintained schools, academies, further education and skills providers, non-association independent schools and registered early years settings, 'Better inspection for all'. The consultation closes on 5 December.
