Like any football referee, Ofsted is bound to come in for severe criticism, and over the years it certainly has done. The damning report from the Education select committee, The Role and Performance of Ofsted, is likely to lead to significant structural and operational changes.
Dame Clare Tickell had already weighed in last month, calling for an urgent review of the standards of the early years inspectorate in her Early Years Foundation Stage Review.
Few would disagree that Ofsted has grown into a huge and unwieldy beast, and many teaching unions and other bodies have welcomed the committee’s conclusion that it should be split into two new organisations, one dealing with education and one with children’s care.
For those in schools working with Key Stage 1 and above, this may make sense. But it could seem a retrograde step for the early years sector.
There have been decades of debate about the need to abolish the divide between education and care, especially in the early years. Some progress, though not enough, was made under the previous Government. Now, everything seems to be moving in the opposite direction, from the structure of Government departments to this latest proposal.
Strangely, given the over-arching framework of the EYFS, the report says nurseries should be in the education side of inspection, while childminders should be categorised as care, along with children’s homes, adoption and Cafcass. So would childminders only be inspected for ‘care’, even if they offer the free entitlement? And nurseries would apparently be back to ‘joint inspections’ for education and care, with two people from different bodies!
We can all agree, however, that better training is needed for all inspectors.
