Ofsted: More details on early years assurance inspections set out
Annette Rawstrone
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
New guidance on the programme of ‘assurance’ inspections for early years providers, starting in January 2021 has been published by Ofsted.
Inspectors should have ‘due regard to the limitations the pandemic may have caused’ during an assurance inspection, as well as any EYFS disapplications that a provider may be relying on.
Ofsted states, ‘We are not going to be going out looking to find fault about how people have handled their approach to the pandemic. We will continue to be sensitive to the challenges presented by the pandemic; we will always take that context into account.’
The guidance also says that inspectors should continue to consider the usual inspection criteria when gathering and recording evidence.
Ofsted will take a ‘proportionate and risk-based approach’ to selecting providers for an assurance inspection. It will focus on early years settings where:
- providers are overdue for their first inspection
- providers are rated as ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ (with learning and development actions) at their last inspection and are overdue for a re-inspection
- a risk assessment has indicated that there is a need to prioritise them for an inspection and where there are concerns about learning and development.
The inspections will be undertaken in all Tier areas, including Tier 3, although Ofsted will be ‘sensitive’ to any deferral requests.
Ofsted states that the purpose of assurance inspections is to find out what it is like for children in their early years settings and to provide assurance that providers are meeting the requirements of the Early Years Register and, if applicable, the Childcare Register.
The assurance inspection will not result in a judgement of quality. But it will consider whether the setting continues to meet EYFS requirements. The inspection will result in one of three possible outcomes:
- met
- not met with actions
- not met with enforcement.
The inspector is not expected to check that each of the statutory requirements set out in the EYFS are met. However, if, in the course of collecting evidence, the inspector finds that a particular requirement is not met, they should take this into account when reaching a decision on the outcome.
Guidance states that failure to meet a statutory requirement will not always result in a judgement of ‘not met’. When a statutory requirement is not met, the inspector will take into account the impact of this on children’s health, safety and well-being as well as on their learning and development. If the inspector determines that it has an impact on these aspects, they will either issue actions for the provider to take or consider enforcement action.
The resulting report aims to give parents information and reassurance about what is happening in their child’s setting.
Full routine graded inspections will resume in early years setting from April 2021.
More information
