Nursery World - 'Father engagement' should be inspected by Ofsted, says pressure group

'Father engagement' should be included in Ofsted's inspection framework for early years services and schools, says the Fatherhood Institute in its response to the Government's families green paper.

Currently in nursery inspections, information is only collected on 'parental involvement' and is not broken down further. Children's centres are required to gather information on fathers' participation.

Adrienne Burgess, head of research at the Fatherhood Institute, said, 'The problem is when things are measured by parental involvement, as most people focus on the mother and see fathers as being optional in a child's life. The DCSF only requires children's centres to collect gender-specific data, not nurseries or schools, which masks the differences between mothers and fathers.'

The Institute makes its recommendations as part of the consultation on Support for All - Families and relationships, the green paper published in January (News, 28 January).

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