Early years hearts sank as news broke that the BBC was to screen an undercover documentary exposing bad practice in nurseries. Yet the public backlash from 'Whistleblower' has not been very great, certainly not compared to that for 'Nurseries Undercover' three years ago.
Managers of high-quality private settings, bracing themselves for negative reactions from parents, have told Nursery World that few have even bothered to comment on the programme, and none have let it affect their confidence in their chosen nursery.
This may in part be because the documentary was not well-made - padded out with irrelevant footage, sensationalising with doomy music and shots of the reporter scurrying along badly-lit night-time streets, and containing errors and misinterpretations. Viewers are also savvier now about TV's own failings after a catalogue of incidents from 'Richard and Judy' to 'Blue Peter'.
All that said, 'Whistleblower' did contain instances of completely unacceptable practice. It raised important questions about the quality of some provision and, particularly, the system of inspection and regulation.
Inspection used to be once a year; now it is once every three years, with the focus moving more to self-evaluation. Does Ofsted have enough inspectors, trained to the right level? However, Ofsted alone cannot stop nurseries being under-staffed, with workers who are over-stretched, badly-paid and ill-trained.
We know that many of our readers run nurseries of a very high standard, but there is much to be done to ensure quality across the sector. Read the wide range of views in this week's issue, and let us know what you think.
