If you were one of the nearly seven million people who watched the BBC1 documentary 'Nurseries Undercover' last week, you will no doubt be appalled at the bad practice revealed and worried that daycare is getting bad press that the majority of settings don't deserve (see News, page 4). However, the programme should be a wake-up call to the Government in terms of ensuring high quality as the childcare sector expands. For, all too often, the Government has been half-hearted in its commitment to quality, faced with the pressure to meet targets based on quantity. It lowered the staff qualifications needed under the National Daycare Standards; it abolished targets for settings to meet quality assurance schemes; it requires local authorities to employ support teachers whose recommendations are too often ignored or overruled by less qualified Ofsted inspectors; it trumpets its belief in a robust inspection regime, but is looking to move to less frequent, light-touch inspections with fewer inspectors.
If you were one of the nearly seven million people who watched the BBC1 documentary 'Nurseries Undercover' last week, you will no doubt be appalled at the bad practice revealed and worried that daycare is getting bad press that the majority of settings don't deserve (see News, page 4).
However, the programme should be a wake-up call to the Government in terms of ensuring high quality as the childcare sector expands. For, all too often, the Government has been half-hearted in its commitment to quality, faced with the pressure to meet targets based on quantity. It lowered the staff qualifications needed under the National Daycare Standards; it abolished targets for settings to meet quality assurance schemes; it requires local authorities to employ support teachers whose recommendations are too often ignored or overruled by less qualified Ofsted inspectors; it trumpets its belief in a robust inspection regime, but is looking to move to less frequent, light-touch inspections with fewer inspectors.
The dangers of a light-touch inspection regime, run by a slimmed down workforce of inspectors who are already under pressure, were evident from this TV programme. The Government must give issues of quality the attention they need.
