Editor’s view - Drowning in paperwork

It’s easy to tell when a news story that we run touches a real chord with our readers in the early years sector.

At the moment, it’s the report ‘Early years practitioners doing more paperwork than necessary’ (online, 10 September) that is in this position, with many thousands reading the story and lots piling in to comment on social media.

Even schools minister Nick Gibb, newly placed in charge of early years education and funding, joined in on Twitter, saying, ‘To clarify that EY teachers and practitioners don’t need to prepare paperwork for inspectors. We want to free teachers and practitioners to spend more time on important activities such as reading to children.’

The survey by the Early Years Alliance, in partnership with Ofsted and the Department for Education found that more than 8 in 10 practitioners think they are doing more paperwork than they have to for the EYFS, with almost three-quarters taking a just in case’ approach to doing additional paperwork for Ofsted.

There are obviously several factors that contribute to this stressful overload of bureaucracy – local authority expectations, individual inspectors’ approaches, managers’ instructions and so on. And let’s not forget that practitioners’ own lack of confidence about feeling able to ditch some of the paperwork they do is a major factor.

It is heartening to hear that Ofsted has already been sharing the findings of the survey in its recent inspector training, according to senior manager for early years Wendy Ratcliff.

We need clear and consistent guidance for all concerned, however, if the myths about the need for paperwork are to be dispelled and the early years burden eased.

At least Nick Gibb is on board with the case for change!