Ofsted launches five-year strategy to take account of pandemic's impact on youngest children
Catherine Gaunt
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Ofsted has published a new five-year strategy with a stronger focus on the inspectorate’s work in the early years, acknowledging that the sector has been 'hit hard' by Covid.
The strategy sets out how it will continue its work to improve the lives of children and young people, which is more important than ever following the disruption and distress of the past two years, the inspectorate said.
Ofsted said the strategy centres on ‘the fundamental principle that Ofsted will be a force for improvement through the intelligent, responsible and focused use of inspection, regulation and insights.’
It sets out the strategic priorities for Ofsted over the next five years, which include a stronger focus on the inspectorate’s work in the early years and ensuring children get the best start in life.
Ofsted’s recent reports on education recovery highlighted the serious impact the pandemic has had on some of the youngest children. Many have gaps in their communication and language skills and are behind where they should be in their personal, social, emotional, and physical development.
It acknowledges that the early years workforce has also been hit hard, saying that thousands have left the sector since the first lockdown in 2020, while those who have stayed are often struggling to get by on low wages.
There has also been a drop in the number of childcare providers. At the start of the pandemic there were just over 75,000 registered providers, but that has since dipped below 70,000, ‘with childminders accounting for the bulk of the reduction.’
To play its part in the recovery, the strategy commits Ofsted to helping make sure every child’s earliest experience of education is as good as it can be.
The inspectorate said it would 'use research and insight to support young children’s physical, social and wider development, increase training for the inspection workforce, and promote a better understanding of early education and care in support of positive change.'
Ofsted will also share data and insights about group-owned early years providers, to improve regulatory oversight at the group level, and work with Government to simplify the regulatory regime for childminders.
In the section in the strategy document titled ‘the best start in life’, Ofsted said:
‘We will develop the evidence base about early years education, including curriculum and pedagogy, and act on it.’
‘A good early education, particularly in reading, sets the foundation for later success. There is a strong statistical relationship between early childhood experiences and a range of life outcomes, from educational success to well-being and good health. While many children do well in the early years, over a quarter are still not reaching a good level of development by the age of five.
‘Our curriculum reviews in schools have helped demonstrate high- quality education in different subjects. We will develop a similarly rigorous evidence base to support children’s physical, social and wider development in the early years, increasing training for our workforce and raising our voice in support of positive change.’
Ofsted will:
- Develop the evidence base around the early years learning and development curriculum through our research and insights programme.
- Develop specialist training on early years education for our workforce to enhance their understanding of what high-quality early education looks like.
- Raise awareness and promote a better understanding of education and care in children’s early years.
Chief inspector Amanda Spielman said, ‘Our strategy for the next five years takes account of the impact of the pandemic and raises still further our ambitions for children and learners. Ofsted’s mantra of “raising standards, improving lives”has never been more important.
‘If the past two years have taught us anything then perhaps it is how resilient people can be, not least the youngest in our society whose start in life has been challenged in a way we’ve never seen before.
‘We recognise the outstanding work early years providers have done to help children recover what they missed, and this strategy aims to increase our support for a workforce that is so deeply devoted to what it does.
‘Whether it is through developing specialist training for our inspection workforce or through sharing our own insights, we will do everything in our power to help every child gain the best start in life.’
On inspection generally, the strategy states that it would accelerate the inspection cycle so that all schools are inspected by July 2025.
Ofsted said it would ‘allow more time for professional dialogue and evidence-gathering by increasing the proportion of longer inspections in education’.
The Early Years Alliance welcomed Ofsted’s increased focus on supporting the early years sector in its new five-year strategy, but was sceptical about how much 'tangible change' Ofsted could bring about without the Government providing more sector funding.
CEO Neil Leitch, said, 'Even with these positive intentions, it’s difficult to see how much actual change Ofsted, as an independent inspection body, will be able to bring about. Even before the onset of Covid-19, early years providers were grappling with a raft of challenges, such as staffing shortages and immense financial pressures as a result of years of Government underfunding - and there is no doubt that these challenges have been hugely exacerbated by the pandemic, with more and more settings being pushed to the brink of closure.
'As such, while Ofsted’s pledge to develop an evidence base on what good early years practice looks like, and to issue specialist training for early years inspectors, are broadly positive policies, these alone will do little to tackle many of the concerning trends that Ofsted has rightly identified, such as continued recruitment and retention challenges and sustained declines in provider numbers.
‘Ultimately, what the early years sector needs is adequate investment to ensure that settings are able to deliver quality care and education to children and families, something that is all the more important given the impact of the pandemic on children’s early development.’
The National Day Nurseries Association welcomed Ofsted's commitment to provide the sector, Government and Parliament with more evidence to back up existing knowledge on early years education to keep it top of the political agenda, but said Ofsted lacked understanding about workforce issues.
Chief executive Purnima Tanuku said, 'In offering specific training to its own inspection workforce, Ofsted is acknowledging that they require improvement and we hope that this means inspectors will have more empathy with and understanding of early years settings and their workforce issues. Sadly, this has been lacking in many cases and has placed unreasonable burdens on our nurseries and other providers. We have seen evidence of staffing pressures leading to downgraded inspections putting further pressure on the remaining staff.
'Ofsted has rightly recognised both the tough challenges the whole early years sector is dealing with, but also their amazing work and dedication over the last two years supporting our youngest children with their development and wellbeing. We have shared our concerns over the rate of early years settings closing linked to chronic underfunding and the pressures of the pandemic.
She added, 'Ofsted’s commitment to being a responsible inspectorate needs to be translated into actions on the front line, meaning that early years providers have a much more positive experience and work together with the regulator to improve outcomes for our youngest children. They must also urgently review their complaints procedure so it is fit for purpose, fair and proportionate.'
