Nursery World - Interview – Wendy Ratcliff, Ofsted's Principal Officer for Early Education

Catherine Gaunt spoke to Wendy Ratcliff, Ofsted's Principal Officer for Early Education, about the findings of Ofsted's Annual Report for 2022-23.

Wendy Ratcliff: 'Amongst all the challenges, our inspection results show that most children are getting good early education, and that's a reason to be optimistic about the future'

The report does highlight the growing workforce crisis and the impact on quality. Is that something that you’re seeing in practice in inspections, with the rise in unqualified staff?

We’re keeping a close eye on that because when we look at the overall figures on inspection outcomes it is still 96 per cent Good or better. But we know that since the introduction of the Education Inspection Framework the proportion of providers that are Good has increased, but there has been a slight fall in the number Outstanding.

It is fair to say that the sector is struggling with recruitment and retention, but actually one point that I do think is really important that we get across is, it's really important to recognise that work that the sector are doing. And, you know, celebrate that because they're facing challenges, but they carry on and they are doing their best to provide that high quality education and care for our youngest children. And I think that's something that we really should emphasise, we appreciate the work that they do.

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